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kathydavie's review against another edition
4.0
Ninth in the Dark-Hunter and fourth in the Were-Hunter paranormal romance series. This one is set in Seattle, Washington with the couple focus on Ravyn Kontis, a Katagarian turned Dark-Hunter, and Susan Michaels, a disgraced journalist.
My Take
Stryker has a new plan to eliminate the Dark-Hunters and he's making Seattle the kick-off for their eradication. It's ideal with his new human allies. Man, Kenyon knows how to hit all the buttons that make people crazy: anger, hate, love, joy, lust, and greed. All while combining the mythos of a range of gods and goddesses along with her own reasonably complex set of cultures and the action never seems to stop whether it's fighting in the streets and boardrooms or in the bedroom.
The basic formula is the same but it's always fascinating to see how we get there from here. Part of the attraction is how she brings in characters from earlier installments so we get to see how things are going for them. Most of the attraction is the depth of involvement Kenyon wrings from her readers and the incredible detail she creates without being overly verbose.
I do like Savitar. He's the most benevolently selfish and straightforward god I've ever met!
If only she could find a job on a respectable paper, Susan wouldn't have to be checking on lame stories about killer moths invading from South America or this new one that Leo was assigning to her. Vampires? Oh, please. Maybe this call from Angie will be a break for her; she only has to look at the cat.
A quick visit to the shelter, her allergies gone crazy, and her best friend's husband, Jimmy, has gone nuts. Vampires on his brain. Fine. Fine. She can take the cat home. Wait for Angie to come pick it up. Except it all goes to hell. And Susan finds out that, yeah, there are vampires.
The Characters
Ravyn Kontis is a Katagarian turned Dark-Hunter when his brother, Phoenix, killed him. Now, he's assigned to the Seattle area with Erica as his temporary Squire. Thank god it's only temporary! He's also been assigned to train the newly Dark Nick Gautier. Savitar isn't interested in teaching Gautier fighting skills. Claims he hasn't any fighting skills as he simply zaps people at whom he's pissed. Cael is a Celtic Dark-Hunter married to Amaranda, an Apollite these past four years. The enemy-in-waiting.
Susan Michaels is a former award-winning journalist at the Washington Post; now she's lucky to have a job on a tabloid reporting on Elvis' alien love child with Leo as her boss. Angie, works at the animal clinic, and Jimmie, a detective, are her best friends. Her only family.
Acheron "Ash" is the head of all Dark-Hunters. In charge of their training, their morale, and saving their asses when it gets too deep. His "boss" is Artemis, the creator of all Dark-Hunters and the meanest, nastiest bitch you will ever encounter. Stryker is his opposite number—the head of the Spathi, a Daimon, and he's made an alliance with the humans to take out the Dark-Hunters in Seattle. Satara is a handmaiden of Artemis and Stryker's sister spying on the Dark-Hunters, informing him when Ash is with Artemis.
There are a number of other characters on both sides.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a deep red sunset over a nightlit cityscape with Ravyn in a calf-length, black, leather coat making a stand on top of a building, staring out at us.
My best guess is that this new war unleashed by Stryker is on the Dark Side of the Moon, which represents all night creatures.
My Take
Stryker has a new plan to eliminate the Dark-Hunters and he's making Seattle the kick-off for their eradication. It's ideal with his new human allies. Man, Kenyon knows how to hit all the buttons that make people crazy: anger, hate, love, joy, lust, and greed. All while combining the mythos of a range of gods and goddesses along with her own reasonably complex set of cultures and the action never seems to stop whether it's fighting in the streets and boardrooms or in the bedroom.
The basic formula is the same but it's always fascinating to see how we get there from here. Part of the attraction is how she brings in characters from earlier installments so we get to see how things are going for them. Most of the attraction is the depth of involvement Kenyon wrings from her readers and the incredible detail she creates without being overly verbose.
I do like Savitar. He's the most benevolently selfish and straightforward god I've ever met!
"Remember, Nick, there are only two people in the universe I care for...and you're not one of them."The Story
If only she could find a job on a respectable paper, Susan wouldn't have to be checking on lame stories about killer moths invading from South America or this new one that Leo was assigning to her. Vampires? Oh, please. Maybe this call from Angie will be a break for her; she only has to look at the cat.
A quick visit to the shelter, her allergies gone crazy, and her best friend's husband, Jimmy, has gone nuts. Vampires on his brain. Fine. Fine. She can take the cat home. Wait for Angie to come pick it up. Except it all goes to hell. And Susan finds out that, yeah, there are vampires.
The Characters
Ravyn Kontis is a Katagarian turned Dark-Hunter when his brother, Phoenix, killed him. Now, he's assigned to the Seattle area with Erica as his temporary Squire. Thank god it's only temporary! He's also been assigned to train the newly Dark Nick Gautier. Savitar isn't interested in teaching Gautier fighting skills. Claims he hasn't any fighting skills as he simply zaps people at whom he's pissed. Cael is a Celtic Dark-Hunter married to Amaranda, an Apollite these past four years. The enemy-in-waiting.
Susan Michaels is a former award-winning journalist at the Washington Post; now she's lucky to have a job on a tabloid reporting on Elvis' alien love child with Leo as her boss. Angie, works at the animal clinic, and Jimmie, a detective, are her best friends. Her only family.
Acheron "Ash" is the head of all Dark-Hunters. In charge of their training, their morale, and saving their asses when it gets too deep. His "boss" is Artemis, the creator of all Dark-Hunters and the meanest, nastiest bitch you will ever encounter. Stryker is his opposite number—the head of the Spathi, a Daimon, and he's made an alliance with the humans to take out the Dark-Hunters in Seattle. Satara is a handmaiden of Artemis and Stryker's sister spying on the Dark-Hunters, informing him when Ash is with Artemis.
There are a number of other characters on both sides.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a deep red sunset over a nightlit cityscape with Ravyn in a calf-length, black, leather coat making a stand on top of a building, staring out at us.
My best guess is that this new war unleashed by Stryker is on the Dark Side of the Moon, which represents all night creatures.
yodamom's review against another edition
4.0
I heard mixed reviews on this book and I almost just skimmed through it. I am so glad I read this book, it has a very important turn of events evolve in this one. Plus, (a big plus for me) it has a Jaguar shifter, and of course he is HOT. Susan and Ravyn are a wonderful mix of Romance, pain, struggle and hope. They have seen the worst, felt it to their cores,and yet their journey is a wonderful read. Oh, Nick what is going on with him, read and find out, it is shocking !
erikajay's review against another edition
4.0
Definitely one of my more favorite Dark Hunter books. I like that Ravyn is a were-leopard. I loved Susan’s backstory. I feel like the story and their romance progressed wayy more naturally than several of the other stories.
It was pretty low on the Artemis scenes, which I’m very happy about! I really need Ash to break out of that unhealthy relationship though. Also it was kind of nice to have a break from Simi.
As always, Holter Graham is a fantastic narrator!
It was pretty low on the Artemis scenes, which I’m very happy about! I really need Ash to break out of that unhealthy relationship though. Also it was kind of nice to have a break from Simi.
As always, Holter Graham is a fantastic narrator!
christilovesbooks_smut's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
5.0
Dark Side of the Moon, book 19 of the Dark-Hunters/Were-Hunters series, by Sherrilyn Kenyon (McQueen) @mysherrilyn. This is a reread of this series for me. Long overdue, at that! 😂 I am reading this series in the order from Sherrilyn’s website.
Raven & Susan’s book was so good! They stood up for each other & knew they wanted eternity today. If you like shifters, PNR, strong FMC, & an unbreakable fated mate bond, this book is for you.
keykraft's review against another edition
3.0
My first book of the series (this is not THE first book of the series lol)
threeundertwopnw's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This one didn't work for me. The characters had no personality and no chemistry. The fact that he was a cat was wasted because it never really came up after the beginning of the story. Overall the book advanced the overarching plot of the series but didn't have much to offer on its own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Self harm, Death, Grief, Gore, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Police brutality, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Body horror
winterscape's review against another edition
2.0
I got this book for Christmas from a well-meaning relative who knew that I loved to read. That was back in 2007. I was fourteen.
If they knew the contents of this book they would be horrified that they gave it to me, so I never told them.
Well, at fourteen, this book was very shocking to me. I had never read a book with a sex scene before, let alone ones that went into such graphic detail.
But other than that, I guess it was fine. I found the story and characters a bit hard to follow, as I'd never read another book in the series. I was never quite sure what a Dark Hunter or a Were Hunter actually was. I thought that the "romance" between Ravyn and Susan was taken way too fast and dealt more with lust than with the relationship that was constantly trying to be legitimized with scenes about tender words about the ghosts of their past. None of these scenes changed the fact that they had only met a few days before and had multiple bedroom romps in that time.
There were some funny scenes and some sad scenes and the whole thing was well-written. I liked the relationship between Ravyn and the young girl who was like his family. With all of the super sexual relationships around, I liked the change of pace with the platonic love. I thought that the beginning was very well-done, with her picking up the cat from the shelter and how that all played out. I also liked Cael and his dilemma with his wife, though I have no previous understanding of who that character really is.
I think that this book will always have a special place in my heart from the accidental way that it came into my possession at a young age. I give it two stars not to be harsh, but because "it was okay" is the best description of my feelings towards it.
If they knew the contents of this book they would be horrified that they gave it to me, so I never told them.
Well, at fourteen, this book was very shocking to me. I had never read a book with a sex scene before, let alone ones that went into such graphic detail.
But other than that, I guess it was fine. I found the story and characters a bit hard to follow, as I'd never read another book in the series. I was never quite sure what a Dark Hunter or a Were Hunter actually was. I thought that the "romance" between Ravyn and Susan was taken way too fast and dealt more with lust than with the relationship that was constantly trying to be legitimized with scenes about tender words about the ghosts of their past. None of these scenes changed the fact that they had only met a few days before and had multiple bedroom romps in that time.
There were some funny scenes and some sad scenes and the whole thing was well-written. I liked the relationship between Ravyn and the young girl who was like his family. With all of the super sexual relationships around, I liked the change of pace with the platonic love. I thought that the beginning was very well-done, with her picking up the cat from the shelter and how that all played out. I also liked Cael and his dilemma with his wife, though I have no previous understanding of who that character really is.
I think that this book will always have a special place in my heart from the accidental way that it came into my possession at a young age. I give it two stars not to be harsh, but because "it was okay" is the best description of my feelings towards it.
haloslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a while to get into this book just because I had so much going on. But damn. What a nice and entertaining book with witty and funny characters. A nice addition to the series.
alexandrabree's review against another edition
2.0
I just couldn't get through the story, I didn't care for Ravyn and Sue I found no connection.