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misskrislm's review against another edition
4.0
Kenyon is still marching to her own drum and bringing a new bunch to the Dark Hunter world with this subset of her characters.
My only fault with her last few books is that there is too much overlap with previous material so that is seems like I'm just reading the same book as before from a different perspective.
My only fault with her last few books is that there is too much overlap with previous material so that is seems like I'm just reading the same book as before from a different perspective.
misskrislm's review against another edition
3.0
Ok, compared to [b:Dragonmark|23492109|Dragonmark (Dark-Hunter, #26; Dragons Rising, #1; Lords of Avalon, #5)|Sherrilyn Kenyon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1446513077s/23492109.jpg|43082415], this was a vast improvement on the dragons' story line she's been working with. However, I spent half of the book being confused about the nature of the locations, side characters, and plot issues due to their being less familiar than the rest of her books and under explained. The other half was spent giddily freaking out about all the developments she was laying the groundwork for and the foreshadowing of future books (a plot line I've been waiting for since the beginning).
snowflake2181's review against another edition
3.0
Repetitive
This book repeats some of the other book Dragonsworn. It's annoying to read the exact same thing. It did have some other information about Illiarion though.
This book repeats some of the other book Dragonsworn. It's annoying to read the exact same thing. It did have some other information about Illiarion though.
see_sadie_read's review against another edition
I have to have a little rant on about this one. Partly because I’m enraged and partly out of pure WTF confusion.
Let me start by saying how much I hate (with a passion I’m not sure words alone can convey) coming across books like this. (And I’ve complained about this before). It’s book number 25 in one series, 10 in another, 5 in yet a third, 41 in another and the first in Dragon-Hunter: Dragon Rising. Apparently all these series intertwine. But can I read it as the first in ANY series, as that number 1 suggests? Or do I need to have read the others. What exactly, as a new Sherrilyn Kenyon reader, should I base that assessment on? Your guess is as good as mine. I picked the audio book up at the library and, despite serious misgivings, thought I’d give it a try.
For the first half the book I was fine. I could feel that there was history I was missing. Characters probably had their own books, but I was able to follow the hero and heroine’s story. I had complaints, such as how fast it all moved and how magic with no defined limits side-stepped so many problems in too easy manner, but it was a readable PNR. And I appreciated that the heroine was a larger lady. Plus, it was funny at times.
Then I reached disk 5, roughly the middle of the book. (There are 8 disks total.) Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, despite having fallen in love in a day, ten years passed and then in a page or two the heroine was dead and centuries had passed for the hero. The story picks up with two totally new people. The original hero becomes a side character in their story and everything moves along as if the train hadn’t literally just changed tracks. I stopped the player to make sure a disk from another book didn’t get mixed in! It’s that abrupt and incongruent.
Logic would suggest that the new characters are the characters from whichever series has Cade and Joe in it and the two timelines are crossing. (As and aside, at least I can pronounce their names, unlike Illarion and his love, whose name I don’t remember and apparently isn’t considered important enough to even include in the blurb of her own book.) And I would guess that at some point it’s all going to wrap back around such that Illarion can bring unnamed love back to life, or whatever. But I can’t bring myself to listen to hours of story about people I literally don’t know, because they literally just appeared with no introduction or explanation, before getting to it. (And that’s assuming I’m right about what happens.)
So, to answer the initial question of can a book with multiple series listed be read alone, even if its called number one in one of those series, no. Half this book can be read as a first book in a series, but half is apparently the continuation of another’s story and can’t be read without all those previous books from multiple other series. That is my take away. I gave up. I didn’t finish disk five and I won’t be finishing the book. I’m left reeling and confused. What the hell just happened.
I can almost imagine the narrator, who did a fine job, calling up the publisher and asking, “Hey, just checking, but you didn’t happen to mix up your manuscripts did you? I’m just making sure you didn’t send me two? Again, just checking.”
What’s worse, in reading the reviews of other readers, this seems to just be rehashing other books in the other series (whichever it is). My advice is don’t bother. I’m going to stick to my initial instinct and steer very clear of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s books in the future. The foul taste left in my mouth from this one is that strong.
Edit for clarification: The one-star isn't because I couldn't read it as a stand-alone, or as a first in a series. (Though I do think labeling it book one in a series implies I should be able to.) But because of the drastic change in plotting midway. It really does feel like Kenyon's publisher demanded a book that wasn't finished, so she slapped some chapters from other books in and called it done. It was unfollowable and made the heroine into nothing but a prop for the man's actions.
Let me start by saying how much I hate (with a passion I’m not sure words alone can convey) coming across books like this. (And I’ve complained about this before). It’s book number 25 in one series, 10 in another, 5 in yet a third, 41 in another and the first in Dragon-Hunter: Dragon Rising. Apparently all these series intertwine. But can I read it as the first in ANY series, as that number 1 suggests? Or do I need to have read the others. What exactly, as a new Sherrilyn Kenyon reader, should I base that assessment on? Your guess is as good as mine. I picked the audio book up at the library and, despite serious misgivings, thought I’d give it a try.
For the first half the book I was fine. I could feel that there was history I was missing. Characters probably had their own books, but I was able to follow the hero and heroine’s story. I had complaints, such as how fast it all moved and how magic with no defined limits side-stepped so many problems in too easy manner, but it was a readable PNR. And I appreciated that the heroine was a larger lady. Plus, it was funny at times.
Then I reached disk 5, roughly the middle of the book. (There are 8 disks total.) Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, despite having fallen in love in a day, ten years passed and then in a page or two the heroine was dead and centuries had passed for the hero. The story picks up with two totally new people. The original hero becomes a side character in their story and everything moves along as if the train hadn’t literally just changed tracks. I stopped the player to make sure a disk from another book didn’t get mixed in! It’s that abrupt and incongruent.
Logic would suggest that the new characters are the characters from whichever series has Cade and Joe in it and the two timelines are crossing. (As and aside, at least I can pronounce their names, unlike Illarion and his love, whose name I don’t remember and apparently isn’t considered important enough to even include in the blurb of her own book.) And I would guess that at some point it’s all going to wrap back around such that Illarion can bring unnamed love back to life, or whatever. But I can’t bring myself to listen to hours of story about people I literally don’t know, because they literally just appeared with no introduction or explanation, before getting to it. (And that’s assuming I’m right about what happens.)
So, to answer the initial question of can a book with multiple series listed be read alone, even if its called number one in one of those series, no. Half this book can be read as a first book in a series, but half is apparently the continuation of another’s story and can’t be read without all those previous books from multiple other series. That is my take away. I gave up. I didn’t finish disk five and I won’t be finishing the book. I’m left reeling and confused. What the hell just happened.
I can almost imagine the narrator, who did a fine job, calling up the publisher and asking, “Hey, just checking, but you didn’t happen to mix up your manuscripts did you? I’m just making sure you didn’t send me two? Again, just checking.”
What’s worse, in reading the reviews of other readers, this seems to just be rehashing other books in the other series (whichever it is). My advice is don’t bother. I’m going to stick to my initial instinct and steer very clear of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s books in the future. The foul taste left in my mouth from this one is that strong.
Edit for clarification: The one-star isn't because I couldn't read it as a stand-alone, or as a first in a series. (Though I do think labeling it book one in a series implies I should be able to.) But because of the drastic change in plotting midway. It really does feel like Kenyon's publisher demanded a book that wasn't finished, so she slapped some chapters from other books in and called it done. It was unfollowable and made the heroine into nothing but a prop for the man's actions.
tiranth20's review against another edition
3.0
Agree with previous reviews. The direct copy of scenes from previous books was annoying. Understand a little repetition due to the books overlapping but the last couple pages could have been expanded
lyssm's review against another edition
2.0
While I absolutely love Kenyon's world and the intricacies she's created, this book fell short drastically. Illarion and Edilyn's romance could have been developed better. Anyone who read Son of No One already knows the rough story of their relationship. That rough description was barely expanded on in Dragonmark. Kenyon has incredible skill at showing a love story and how healing genuine love can be, as evidenced by Acheron and Styxx (the best two books in the series, in my opinion). Given Illarion's past, Kenyon's skills should have been shining through, but I was left feeling a little ripped off.
Instead of giving readers a copy and pasted second half, she could have followed her pattern for Acheron and Styxx by doing 2 parts in the book. At the very least we could have learned more Edilyn and what she goes through, rather than rehashing the major moments from Son of No One and Dragonsbane.
With all due respect, Ms. Kenyon, you're a better writer than this. I hope the next Dark Hunter shows us that.
Instead of giving readers a copy and pasted second half, she could have followed her pattern for Acheron and Styxx by doing 2 parts in the book. At the very least we could have learned more Edilyn and what she goes through, rather than rehashing the major moments from Son of No One and Dragonsbane.
With all due respect, Ms. Kenyon, you're a better writer than this. I hope the next Dark Hunter shows us that.
astarinlife's review against another edition
2.0
I just read the previous book yesterday and now i feel like i read the same exact book again today save for maybe 30%. I still really like the main couple but the focus was way too much on the parts of Illarion, Max and Cadegan's books that overlap.
zimebelle's review against another edition
1.0
One thing that I really didn't care for, and maybe for anyone who recently read Son of No One and Dragonbane, pretty much pages 153-314 are pointless. For real, go ahead and skip right to it. You have permission. They happen during said books and are almost word for word with a handful of sentences from Illarion thrown in. (I even grabbed my copy of Son and looked through it to make sure that I wasn't making this up in my mind, but no it's verbatim) They're not even from his point of view but rather read from the characters in said previous books making it feel more disjointed and like a direct cut n paste. It doesn't add anything to the story of this book, but does give the sense of time passing, grounds it into the series, and shows/ reminds of the sequence of events. (But again, if you've recently read them, or even vaguely remember them feels kind of pointless).
That being said I liked it and probably would have felt better if it was just a novella of Illarion's story. Great read (for those 180 pages) and can't wait for the next (that is set hopefully after this and not the same events to be read for a third time.)
That being said I liked it and probably would have felt better if it was just a novella of Illarion's story. Great read (for those 180 pages) and can't wait for the next (that is set hopefully after this and not the same events to be read for a third time.)
naughtynicky's review against another edition
3.0
This book shouldn't have been a full novel. It was just a recap of the last 2 books from Ilarions perspective