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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
prrrrr... I've never been into Violence before, but Maddox definitely changed my mind ;)
DNF - so boring. Got to 38% but was skimming the last couple of pages. Just don't care what happens. The book is full of cliches.
Read Count: 2
- Main Couple: Maddox(demon-Violence)/Ashlyn(human)
- POVs Included: Dual (Maddox, Ashlyn)
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RE-READ 2/19/2022
UPDATED RATING (3 STARS -- SAME)
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ORIGINAL REVIEW (1/11/2011):
ORIGINAL RATING (3 STARS)
So I've had this series on the back burner for a long while. I seem to be the last person in the world to read this so I figured it was about time I jumped on the bandwagon. I read The Darkest Fire prequel in the Into the Dark anthology first, and then moved onto this one. I liked this a lot better than the prequel (of course, it's not a short story though), but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.
The main reason I didn't give this four stars was because I thought it lacked a more solid storyline. Most of the story was just about Maddox and Ashlyn, which is fine, but it was lacking a "bigger picture" kind of feel. The series' I tend to like the most are the ones where there is an overall story going on in the background of all the love stories. I just think it adds a certain layer to the world that I'm reading about.
In addition, I thought that a little action could have gone a long way in this story as well. There really wasn't much action at all and while I'm a sucker for the romance and the sex (which was great btw), I also like to have a bit of action going on in between. Since there wasn't too much of a background story going on, there wasn't really a place for too much action to happen.
However, I will say that near the end of the book (probably the last 50 pages or so), there seemed to be a bigger picture forming. We get to hear from the daughter of a god named Anya who I believe will play a bigger role in the future books. I like her personality a lot so far so I hope we get to hear more from her. Also some other things happen later in the book that seem to be driving at an overall storyline for the series. This is good, but I thought that it could have happened earlier in the story so that more could have played out in this book.
Now, onto the things I did like. I really liked Ashlyn as a heroine. I thought she was a kick ass heroine. She wasn't whiny, scared all the time, or bitchy. I truly liked her character. I also liked Maddox, but I think that he could have showed a little more emotion sometimes. I get he has his demon (Violence) to deal with, but sometimes he would just say these really short sentences (fragments, if you will) that were absolutely void of emotion even when he was telling her he loved her. It's hard to explain. But I did still like him and I liked how their story came full circle in the end.
Overall I liked the story, but it wasn't my favorite first in a series for sure. I will give it the benefit of the doubt though in that this one was really setting up the series, characters, and world, so that might be why it was a little slower. I really like the concept though and I think there's a lot of room for really interesting stories and different types of heroines to come into play. I look forward to the rest of the series and learning what kind of heroine ends up with each of them.
- Main Couple: Maddox(demon-Violence)/Ashlyn(human)
- POVs Included: Dual (Maddox, Ashlyn)
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
RE-READ 2/19/2022
UPDATED RATING (3 STARS -- SAME)
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
ORIGINAL REVIEW (1/11/2011):
ORIGINAL RATING (3 STARS)
So I've had this series on the back burner for a long while. I seem to be the last person in the world to read this so I figured it was about time I jumped on the bandwagon. I read The Darkest Fire prequel in the Into the Dark anthology first, and then moved onto this one. I liked this a lot better than the prequel (of course, it's not a short story though), but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.
The main reason I didn't give this four stars was because I thought it lacked a more solid storyline. Most of the story was just about Maddox and Ashlyn, which is fine, but it was lacking a "bigger picture" kind of feel. The series' I tend to like the most are the ones where there is an overall story going on in the background of all the love stories. I just think it adds a certain layer to the world that I'm reading about.
In addition, I thought that a little action could have gone a long way in this story as well. There really wasn't much action at all and while I'm a sucker for the romance and the sex (which was great btw), I also like to have a bit of action going on in between. Since there wasn't too much of a background story going on, there wasn't really a place for too much action to happen.
However, I will say that near the end of the book (probably the last 50 pages or so), there seemed to be a bigger picture forming. We get to hear from the daughter of a god named Anya who I believe will play a bigger role in the future books. I like her personality a lot so far so I hope we get to hear more from her. Also some other things happen later in the book that seem to be driving at an overall storyline for the series. This is good, but I thought that it could have happened earlier in the story so that more could have played out in this book.
Now, onto the things I did like. I really liked Ashlyn as a heroine. I thought she was a kick ass heroine. She wasn't whiny, scared all the time, or bitchy. I truly liked her character. I also liked Maddox, but I think that he could have showed a little more emotion sometimes. I get he has his demon (Violence) to deal with, but sometimes he would just say these really short sentences (fragments, if you will) that were absolutely void of emotion even when he was telling her he loved her. It's hard to explain. But I did still like him and I liked how their story came full circle in the end.
Overall I liked the story, but it wasn't my favorite first in a series for sure. I will give it the benefit of the doubt though in that this one was really setting up the series, characters, and world, so that might be why it was a little slower. I really like the concept though and I think there's a lot of room for really interesting stories and different types of heroines to come into play. I look forward to the rest of the series and learning what kind of heroine ends up with each of them.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It’s bad like wow bad. How did this dialogue ever get printed. Do not read the rest of the series. Remember the guy that says the opposite of what he means? Ya think of him
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
I found this book a bit confusing and a bit boring. There was a little bit too much jumping from perspective and the world building left something to be desired. But the storyline was interesting so I’ll pick up the next book.
DNF. Nothing about this book made sense. There are some long reviews on this site that lay out all the issues that I had.
