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A review by redheadbeans
Dragonsworn by Sherrilyn Kenyon
3.0
What sets this one apart from most of the books in the recent series is that the story is mostly about a group of characters working together, not just a man and a woman who start hating each other but are also in lust with each other thrown together for some reason, with an end fight between a lot of people. So while the banter between the characters, particularly the male ones, is the same copy-paste casually sexist ridiculous egotistic bs you see in most of Kenyon's Dark-Hunter books (e.g., "I'm a sarcastic asshole and all my male friends and family try and fail to kill me, change up descriptors"), the teamwork aspect in the story is pretty enjoyable. There aren't many Dark-Hunter stories where women who aren't related to each other work together without enmity or build friendships with each other, at least during the story and not during a time skip of some kind. It was so nice to see women making friends with each other - and not just because they both cared about the same guy! I knew catfights weren't your only go-to, Kenyon!
Although it was a bit odd, considering how Medea was treating Nick only a short while ago, but well... Character whiplash and plot amnesia are also typical of the Dark-Hunter books. And Nick's not even really in this book anyway, even if he does get mentioned a couple times, so who cares about him, amiright? - probably something that went through Kenyon/her editor's head at one point, maybe.
And is this... the first Dark-Hunter book to have a canonically non-evil gay character? -scrutinizes book heavily- I mean... it's skirting things, but well. Wow. I mean yeah, he's randomly sexually assaulted by a woman for no apparent reason because that's apparently Kenyon's go-to for LGBTQA+ stuff, but well... progress in the Dark-Hunter series...? -sighs heavily- Bet he dies in the next couple books anyway. But it's okay! Kenyon's clearly setting up a future book by introducing a new(?) minor villain character who's bi/pan and all set for her typical Dark-Hunter redemption storyline, so that's all right! We'll keep our Dark-Hunter quotas a-okay!
There are good banter moments, which help the story. Characters making light fun of each other, showing off their powers, talking about the environment, theorizing about politics and lore... Even some of the generic Kenyon-trademarked 'lol I'm so loony look at this crazy thing I just said' humor is back, and it made me smile. Haven't seen anything in these books do that since like the second "Chronicles of Nick" book came out. Could we just have more of that and less "people are always trying to kill me because I'm ass" and "you're such a pussy" and "she's a bitch" in re: women comments? Please? And more characters for the protagonists to interact with. Teamwork is clearly not Kenyon's forte because there are apparently only two kinds of male relationships she can write (I'd die for you v. Let's out-asshole each other verbally), but this was a good start. Roll with it. And less of the infodumps. Jeez. I still like the mythology of this universe but this is the first time I've felt the need to use index cards to keep track of what was going on.
Although it was a bit odd, considering how Medea was treating Nick only a short while ago, but well... Character whiplash and plot amnesia are also typical of the Dark-Hunter books. And Nick's not even really in this book anyway, even if he does get mentioned a couple times, so who cares about him, amiright? - probably something that went through Kenyon/her editor's head at one point, maybe.
And is this... the first Dark-Hunter book to have a canonically non-evil gay character? -scrutinizes book heavily- I mean... it's skirting things, but well. Wow. I mean yeah, he's randomly sexually assaulted by a woman for no apparent reason because that's apparently Kenyon's go-to for LGBTQA+ stuff, but well... progress in the Dark-Hunter series...? -sighs heavily- Bet he dies in the next couple books anyway. But it's okay! Kenyon's clearly setting up a future book by introducing a new(?) minor villain character who's bi/pan and all set for her typical Dark-Hunter redemption storyline, so that's all right! We'll keep our Dark-Hunter quotas a-okay!
There are good banter moments, which help the story. Characters making light fun of each other, showing off their powers, talking about the environment, theorizing about politics and lore... Even some of the generic Kenyon-trademarked 'lol I'm so loony look at this crazy thing I just said' humor is back, and it made me smile. Haven't seen anything in these books do that since like the second "Chronicles of Nick" book came out. Could we just have more of that and less "people are always trying to kill me because I'm ass" and "you're such a pussy" and "she's a bitch" in re: women comments? Please? And more characters for the protagonists to interact with. Teamwork is clearly not Kenyon's forte because there are apparently only two kinds of male relationships she can write (I'd die for you v. Let's out-asshole each other verbally), but this was a good start. Roll with it. And less of the infodumps. Jeez. I still like the mythology of this universe but this is the first time I've felt the need to use index cards to keep track of what was going on.