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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
Oh, man, this book was so fantastic! And seeing the future, with all the kids that have and haven't yet been born yet, yeah, so fantastic! And what happened in this book! Oh, wow, can't wait for the next one!
I see what other reviews were talking about, this book is a big information dump that I couldn't keep straight, and then there's Nick finding out that the future doesn't turn out how he thought it would. One thing I will say is that the epilogue has set up the stage for some serious craziness
I have said before and I will say again, I love these characters and this world so much. And this book was no exception. We saw Ash, Simi, Styxx and Kyrian and it made me so happy. Also we got to see Nick and all his squad, whom I've grown to love.
I love being inside Nick's head, he's so sarcastic and funny. But my favorite is Caleb, the more I know about him, the more in love I am.
I loved all the flashbacks in this book, also the flashfowards. I love seeing our character's pasts and their kids in the future. I just wish they would have been happy instead of in a warzone.
One thing I hate about this is that with so many characters and mythologies and everything I get confused. Sometimes a name is mentioned and I know I've heard about that character before but I can't just keep track of them all. It's so confusing. After a while I catch up, but really. It's really confusing.
The spoiler, more than my opinion is details I'm sure I will forget and I think they are important for the next book. Feel free to read them, but they are more notes than part of this review.
Also Jaden is Appolymi's brother! That means Xev and Caleb are Ash's cousins!
And Jaden is Nick's great-great-grandtfather. Xev is his great-grandfather. And Jared is his grandfather and Cherise's father. This family tree is so freaking confusing. Does this means that Ash and Nick are related?! Oh god. My brain is starting to melt.
And Kyrian's son is named Val! Yes, I approve! It's good to know that Kyrian and Val ended up being good friends in the end. Also who are Lucien parents?! It must be someone Nick hates. Who could it be!
I can't believe Cyprian is Nick's son, with Laguerre! WTH. How did that even happen?!
And what's up with Nick's new neighbour?! I'm sure there's something off with him, otherwise he wouldn't be there.
And how is Madoc Nick's brother?! I'm sure they explained it in one of the previous books but I can't remember.
I love being inside Nick's head, he's so sarcastic and funny. But my favorite is Caleb, the more I know about him, the more in love I am.
I loved all the flashbacks in this book, also the flashfowards. I love seeing our character's pasts and their kids in the future. I just wish they would have been happy instead of in a warzone.
One thing I hate about this is that with so many characters and mythologies and everything I get confused. Sometimes a name is mentioned and I know I've heard about that character before but I can't just keep track of them all. It's so confusing. After a while I catch up, but really. It's really confusing.
The spoiler, more than my opinion is details I'm sure I will forget and I think they are important for the next book. Feel free to read them, but they are more notes than part of this review.
Spoiler
And Jaden is Jared's grandfather?! Who saw that one coming?! I really, really wanted them to be a couple, and now that I know the truth about their connection it's weird to think about it.Also Jaden is Appolymi's brother! That means Xev and Caleb are Ash's cousins!
And Jaden is Nick's great-great-grandtfather. Xev is his great-grandfather. And Jared is his grandfather and Cherise's father. This family tree is so freaking confusing. Does this means that Ash and Nick are related?! Oh god. My brain is starting to melt.
And Kyrian's son is named Val! Yes, I approve! It's good to know that Kyrian and Val ended up being good friends in the end. Also who are Lucien parents?! It must be someone Nick hates. Who could it be!
I can't believe Cyprian is Nick's son, with Laguerre! WTH. How did that even happen?!
And what's up with Nick's new neighbour?! I'm sure there's something off with him, otherwise he wouldn't be there.
And how is Madoc Nick's brother?! I'm sure they explained it in one of the previous books but I can't remember.
Actual rating: 2.5/5 stars
This book was so fucking boring from the get go. And, it's really sad, too, because the first three books were awesome. But, since the fourth, the quality is just dropping to and fro, and it all feels like filler to me. The ending promises interesting things to occur in the next, but I don't even know :-\ I don't want to drop this series, but I don't want to waste my time on it, either, when there's so much more to read. And, even though there is the Dark Hunters series that'll explain the plethora of characters in this book, I'm just not really interested.
So. eighth book (EIGHTH??? REALLY???)...My faith is on you to rise up my interest
This book was so fucking boring from the get go. And, it's really sad, too, because the first three books were awesome. But, since the fourth, the quality is just dropping to and fro, and it all feels like filler to me. The ending promises interesting things to occur in the next, but I don't even know :-\ I don't want to drop this series, but I don't want to waste my time on it, either, when there's so much more to read. And, even though there is the Dark Hunters series that'll explain the plethora of characters in this book, I'm just not really interested.
So. eighth book (EIGHTH??? REALLY???)...My faith is on you to rise up my interest
06/05/2016: Ok, I collected my thoughts and I think I'm ready to give my opinion on this one. Final verdict: 3 STARS.
Now, before anyone starts throwing stones at me, let me tell you that it hurts me more than you to give this rating to a SK book. However, after the last CON books, there are some things I cannot get past anymore. It's one thing to leave your reader mildly confused and wondering what you mean because they are consumed by the mistery. It's an entirely different thing to make your readers feel stupid because they do not understand what's happening and feel like they missed a book between this one and the one before. And that's how I felt while reading most of this book.
First of all, you cannot drop bombs in the first two pages of the book and pretend like nothing happened. You cannot take for granted that the reader will connect the dots and fill in the blanks and then act like if it's the most natural thing in the world. And yes, I'm refering to the fact that
Following that thought, the genealogy on this book got too much confusing. I had to literally take a stack of post-its to take notes of what I was reading along with the journal I was writing on to make this review. If I have to take notes like I'm studying to read a book, dear author, you're not doing it right. When I come to a SK book, I expect it to be a fun time, not a chore; not like I'm writing a paper on the genealogy of the Summerian pantheon or whatever. While this info-dump on ancestry gave many answers to questions I hadn't even asked, the problem remains in that it's basically info-dump. SHOW, DO NOT TELL. AND THE EYE OF ANANKE DOES NOT COUNT AS "SHOWING".
Next point, the characters. Surprise, Nekoda is still here, I still do not know why because she literally adds nothing to the story, and oh, yes, now I cannot get rid of her because she's predestined to meet Nick across time because timey-wimey-reencarnation-thingy. Yes, you can see I do not like her. I have never considered myself a hater of anything, but Nekoda is one of those characters that baffle me. If I cannot find a reason to think of her as interesting after 7 books, gurl, you're not it. Next in line is Nick. I like Nick, I get it that everything that is happening to him is more than he can take and he resorts to sarcasm and awkwardness, but it's been 7 books. You're almost 18, I think? Boy, take something seriously. I always say the same because I still hope that SK will give me that Nick in the next book, but I better just keep hoping. Also, his obsession and posessivenes towards Nekoda is not pretty nor romantic. Your woman? Your girl? You're a teenager, and you already think of women as your posession, way to go Nick.
This book relies heavily on secondary characters, through who we discover all this mess of genealogy that I cannot keep track of. That's good and bad. Good because it gives depth to the characters, we can connect with them and finally care for them. It's bad because that's basically the whole book. There is no distinct plot, nothing that really compels the reader to keep reading except be done with the book. If you like character-driven stories and can really keep track of SK's mythology, you're gonna love this book. But if you like some story mixed with that, this book is going to frustrate you.
I'm giving this book three stars instead of two for 2 main reasons: First, it's the guest starring of classics such as Kyrian and Acheron. I actually think that we did not need a whole flashback for Kyrian's story. We've been told that tale a thousand times in both series, DH and CON; repeating it just takes space away from more important matters...like a proper plot. However, any book that has any classic DH, and specially Acheron (because Acheron is my bae no matter what), gets an extra point from me. I'm that lame.
The second reason is the epilogue. Let's put this out there, the only real piece of story worth in this book (apart from all the info-dump that could have been done better) is the epilogue. The epilogue is the only reason I'm still craving for the next book. The book left me so numb and overwhelmed at the same time that even the Dark Hunter progenie that makes an appearance here could not shake my from my stupor. BUT THE EPILOGUE IS LIFE!
So, would I recommend this book? Well, if you're invested in this series and in the Dark Hunter Series, well, yes. I would. It's not a terrible book, I'm just a bit disappointed because SK has me used to a different type of story. So yes. Even though my review is a little ranty, all over the place, and the rating is not that great, I think people will still enjoy this book and have their minds blown with the pieces of information that SK gave us here.
05/05/2016: I just finished this. I need to reflect on what I just read beacause I'm not sure how I feel. I took a tone of notes. I'll write a complete review once my brain is functioning again.
EDIT 16/02/2016: I made my preorder the other day. AND NOW THEY'VE PUSHED BACK THE BOOK A MONTH. I'M NOT HAPPY.
EDIT: HABEMUS COVER, YAY! It's messing with my OCD that the title and symbol is not centered, but the cover is prettyyyyy.
Instinct hasn't even come out yet and I already need this one.
GIMME NOW.
No, really. This series has become my "most expected book of the year". I need my fix of the Dark Hunter world or I'm gonna go cray-cray
Now, before anyone starts throwing stones at me, let me tell you that it hurts me more than you to give this rating to a SK book. However, after the last CON books, there are some things I cannot get past anymore. It's one thing to leave your reader mildly confused and wondering what you mean because they are consumed by the mistery. It's an entirely different thing to make your readers feel stupid because they do not understand what's happening and feel like they missed a book between this one and the one before. And that's how I felt while reading most of this book.
First of all, you cannot drop bombs in the first two pages of the book and pretend like nothing happened. You cannot take for granted that the reader will connect the dots and fill in the blanks and then act like if it's the most natural thing in the world. And yes, I'm refering to the fact that
Spoiler
Xev is Nick's whatever-grandad and I do not know where that came from, I do not remember it being explained in the previous book and there is not a single line in this one that makes reference to how Nick came to that conclusionFollowing that thought, the genealogy on this book got too much confusing. I had to literally take a stack of post-its to take notes of what I was reading along with the journal I was writing on to make this review. If I have to take notes like I'm studying to read a book, dear author, you're not doing it right. When I come to a SK book, I expect it to be a fun time, not a chore; not like I'm writing a paper on the genealogy of the Summerian pantheon or whatever. While this info-dump on ancestry gave many answers to questions I hadn't even asked, the problem remains in that it's basically info-dump. SHOW, DO NOT TELL. AND THE EYE OF ANANKE DOES NOT COUNT AS "SHOWING".
Next point, the characters. Surprise, Nekoda is still here, I still do not know why because she literally adds nothing to the story, and oh, yes, now I cannot get rid of her because she's predestined to meet Nick across time because timey-wimey-reencarnation-thingy
Spoiler
Seriously? Bathymaas, Aricles, and all that stuff AGAIN?This book relies heavily on secondary characters, through who we discover all this mess of genealogy that I cannot keep track of. That's good and bad. Good because it gives depth to the characters, we can connect with them and finally care for them. It's bad because that's basically the whole book. There is no distinct plot, nothing that really compels the reader to keep reading except be done with the book. If you like character-driven stories and can really keep track of SK's mythology, you're gonna love this book. But if you like some story mixed with that, this book is going to frustrate you.
I'm giving this book three stars instead of two for 2 main reasons: First, it's the guest starring of classics such as Kyrian and Acheron. I actually think that we did not need a whole flashback for Kyrian's story. We've been told that tale a thousand times in both series, DH and CON; repeating it just takes space away from more important matters...like a proper plot. However, any book that has any classic DH, and specially Acheron (because Acheron is my bae no matter what), gets an extra point from me. I'm that lame.
The second reason is the epilogue. Let's put this out there, the only real piece of story worth in this book (apart from all the info-dump that could have been done better) is the epilogue. The epilogue is the only reason I'm still craving for the next book. The book left me so numb and overwhelmed at the same time that even the Dark Hunter progenie that makes an appearance here could not shake my from my stupor. BUT THE EPILOGUE IS LIFE!
So, would I recommend this book? Well, if you're invested in this series and in the Dark Hunter Series, well, yes. I would. It's not a terrible book, I'm just a bit disappointed because SK has me used to a different type of story. So yes. Even though my review is a little ranty, all over the place, and the rating is not that great, I think people will still enjoy this book and have their minds blown with the pieces of information that SK gave us here.
05/05/2016: I just finished this. I need to reflect on what I just read beacause I'm not sure how I feel. I took a tone of notes. I'll write a complete review once my brain is functioning again.
EDIT 16/02/2016: I made my preorder the other day. AND NOW THEY'VE PUSHED BACK THE BOOK A MONTH. I'M NOT HAPPY.
EDIT: HABEMUS COVER, YAY! It's messing with my OCD that the title and symbol is not centered, but the cover is prettyyyyy.
Instinct hasn't even come out yet and I already need this one.
GIMME NOW.
No, really. This series has become my "most expected book of the year". I need my fix of the Dark Hunter world or I'm gonna go cray-cray
This book felt like a fluff book that had nothing much to offer to the plot. We learn a lot about the secondary, supporting characters, but not much about Nick considering the whole book is supposed to be about him and his hero's journey.
Also, completely unrelated and a personal complaint is that Mark was not in this book at all! Sure, he was mentioned, but there was no dialogue nor actual interaction with him. There was too little interaction with Bubba, Acheron, and Kyrian too. I love all of those characters and we hardly see any of them!
The only thing that really saved this book was the epilogue and maybe the interaction with some siblings and their father. But that's it. Everything else felt fairly unnecessary. Especially with all of the dazed visions from the Eye? What was up with that?
Quotes from Invision:
• "Sooner or later, everyone paid for the wrongs they did to others. And when karma came home to roost, she brought nasty, irritable friends with spears."
• "..lives were a tangled tapestry of overlapping threads that spanned centuries. Souls born and reborn, always reconnecting when they were supposed to...DNA of previous generations left a permanent imprint on each person when they were born, and that when two people whose DNA had interacted in another lifetime came together in their current one, some primal part of their anatomy sparked like dormant neurons in the brain firing awake. That was why Madaug thought humans had that feeling of having met someone before or having known them 'forever.'"
• "Sad really that people would rather focus on what makes them different than on what makes them the same...compassion, hope. Love. For all the difference between us, we're more alike than anyone wants to admit."
Also, completely unrelated and a personal complaint is that Mark was not in this book at all! Sure, he was mentioned, but there was no dialogue nor actual interaction with him. There was too little interaction with Bubba, Acheron, and Kyrian too. I love all of those characters and we hardly see any of them!
The only thing that really saved this book was the epilogue and maybe the interaction with some siblings and their father. But that's it. Everything else felt fairly unnecessary. Especially with all of the dazed visions from the Eye? What was up with that?
Quotes from Invision:
• "..lives were a tangled tapestry of overlapping threads that spanned centuries. Souls born and reborn, always reconnecting when they were supposed to...DNA of previous generations left a permanent imprint on each person when they were born, and that when two people whose DNA had interacted in another lifetime came together in their current one, some primal part of their anatomy sparked like dormant neurons in the brain firing awake. That was why Madaug thought humans had that feeling of having met someone before or having known them 'forever.'"
• "Sad really that people would rather focus on what makes them different than on what makes them the same...compassion, hope. Love. For all the difference between us, we're more alike than anyone wants to admit."
I knocked off a star just because this book was, more or less, a filler book. Amazing story, well-written like all of Kenyon's books, and such wonderful characters. In no way does it being a filler lessen the writing quality *cough unlike City of Fallen Angels cough*, but it IS from a filler. Just so you know. I can't wait for the next book!!
Okay, here is the deal Nick is one of my favorite characters in the Dark Hunter series this one is spun off of; so I am invested in this series and will stick it out no matter how frustrating I find it at times. I will admit that this book was tons better than the last one. This one struck a better balance between info and action. It still takes place over one freaking day… When is this boy ever going to age? And if there is going to only be one book a year, with 14 titles and only half way through it means we have to wait seven more years until Nick gets his Dark Hunter book. Seven more years!!! I am going to be 49! I might stop caring by then… I know Kenyon has a plan, and it will probably be worth it, but I wish she would release more than one of these a year. Let’s speed things up a bit shall we?
Anyway, bitching done. Like I already said this book was a much better balance and the characters actually did something besides stand around and talk. I still feel like Kenyon is trying to catch all of the YA Only readers up to speed and prep them for the jump to the adult Nick book that is coming…eventually… This time, she did so through a series of flashbacks, flash forwards, flash sideways, alternate timelines, etc. I kind of liked this approach except for it got to be a bit confusing as to when we left reality and entered a flash. Perhaps a paragraph or page break would have made that a bit clearer I know it was meant to be confusing for Nick, but as the reader, I wanted to know what the hell was going on.
Some of the main characters from the adult series had just minor cameos in this book which as fine as this is a series centering around Nick, and some like Simi did have a more prominent role in this book. There were a few new characters introduced and I am looking forward to learning more about them. There were some peeks into the future and I definitely want to know more about what the hell happen there, how did that come to pass. Kenyon also throws some hints into Nick’s future H.E.A and that it might not be Kody. I’m not sure what I think about that. I like the character but am not sold on her destined to be with Nick.
There were some info-drops that came out of the blue. Some important information just casually mentions like it was common knowledge already and I’m not quite sure it was shared in an earlier book. Oh well, I’m not going back and re-reading this one yet. I will just move on for now. It is interesting to see how these characters all are connected and if you are a fan of the adult series then I would highly suggest reading this one as well. Sure it is an alternate timeline, but we still get to learn interesting tidbits about the characters we love.
One character I was thrilled to see was Jaden. He has always interested me in the Dark Hunter world and I crave more details about him. Which we got in this book, in spades. This was one of the better books in the series, kept me interested and revealed quite a bit. Too bad it ended with the mother of all cliffhangers and we have to wait another freaking year to find out what happens… Channeling my inner teenager: Life is so unfair.
Anyway, bitching done. Like I already said this book was a much better balance and the characters actually did something besides stand around and talk. I still feel like Kenyon is trying to catch all of the YA Only readers up to speed and prep them for the jump to the adult Nick book that is coming…eventually… This time, she did so through a series of flashbacks, flash forwards, flash sideways, alternate timelines, etc. I kind of liked this approach except for it got to be a bit confusing as to when we left reality and entered a flash. Perhaps a paragraph or page break would have made that a bit clearer I know it was meant to be confusing for Nick, but as the reader, I wanted to know what the hell was going on.
Some of the main characters from the adult series had just minor cameos in this book which as fine as this is a series centering around Nick, and some like Simi did have a more prominent role in this book. There were a few new characters introduced and I am looking forward to learning more about them. There were some peeks into the future and I definitely want to know more about what the hell happen there, how did that come to pass. Kenyon also throws some hints into Nick’s future H.E.A and that it might not be Kody. I’m not sure what I think about that. I like the character but am not sold on her destined to be with Nick.
There were some info-drops that came out of the blue. Some important information just casually mentions like it was common knowledge already and I’m not quite sure it was shared in an earlier book. Oh well, I’m not going back and re-reading this one yet. I will just move on for now. It is interesting to see how these characters all are connected and if you are a fan of the adult series then I would highly suggest reading this one as well. Sure it is an alternate timeline, but we still get to learn interesting tidbits about the characters we love.
One character I was thrilled to see was Jaden. He has always interested me in the Dark Hunter world and I crave more details about him. Which we got in this book, in spades. This was one of the better books in the series, kept me interested and revealed quite a bit. Too bad it ended with the mother of all cliffhangers and we have to wait another freaking year to find out what happens… Channeling my inner teenager: Life is so unfair.