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A review by beneatthetrees
The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter
1.0
This book is definitely perfect for a reading experience where you just want to turn off your brain and read a (very) steamy romance based on 7th grade mythology stories. But, if you're like me, even when your brain is mostly turned off, it MIGHT get a little tweaked by some of the gems in this novel.
First, we have the super sexist Violence-driven (no, really, he's possessed by the demon of Violence. At least Showalter is upfront about it) man of beautiful mysterious hotness. He's almost... angelic. Oh, he's also an angel? How very complicated and being complicated is hot, right? Especially when he unleashed demons on the world, as an angel, because he was pissed that a woman took his job and that's why he's now possessed? Hell yeah. Sexism is so hot. Tell me what to do with my life, you possessed hunk of man that killed thousands of men and one woman you were mad at who stole your job, you. Through the whole beginning of the novel we get to hear his deep innermost thoughts and feelings about using random women for sex (he refuses to even look at them, he's just satiating a need-- WE GOTTA MAKE SURE HIS LOVE FOR THE MAIN GIRL IS PURE Y'ALL), about his intense desire to maim/kill/slay/stab everybody around him because he's just. so. violent. But it's all good because the second the young, voluptuous-but-doesn't-know-it, and too "weird" for relationships gal who hears voices shows up, his demon says "aw yiss, I've just been overreacting *purr purr* we must love and protect this female we have known for an hour because even if she's Bait she's perfect." I'm still unsure why Bait was always capitalized. Was that just an official position or ? And why does his demon purr contentedly? Why does she purr contentedly? There's so much purring happening and there aren't even any cats around.
There's also the issue concerning the whole Greek mythology part. A lot of Greek myths were used to explain natural phenomena in the world. Like sin. And Pandora's Box was DEFINITELY trying to explain naturally occurring sin. Pandora opened the box the gods gave her with all of the demons of vice inside and released sin into the entire world. This translates very awkwardly into this novel. The demon of Violence, for example, is concentrated into only one man. Our handsome and volatile hunk. Yet, somehow, if they are able to find Pandora's box and open it, it'll suck all of the demons back into it, like Violence, and there will be no more violence in the world. And yet, were that to happen, our beautiful cast of ripped and possessed angels will DIE. And, excuse me, but the idea of one of our gorgeous hunks biting it in exchange for getting rid of violence or even death (how does that work????????) is just too PAINFUL for me to even fathom. So when humans come along hoping to accomplish that, we all need to just feel okay when they get decapitated by our main guy (because they cut the neck of one of the angels and we gotta avenge him even though he isn't dead and lives forever and heals really fast??) or are afflicted by a plague of massive proportions (that is also treatable by modern medicine?????). And then there's the problem where his immortal hotness talks about wanting to slay his roommates but they're also immortal so I couldn't really reconcile that one. Or the constant worry that these men all need to live far away from society in a remote area so they can escape the Hunters and not be slain by them. But again, they can't be killed and the Hunters are all human? And even though they live in an extremely remote area, the demon of promiscuity is able to sleep with a MINIMUM of two women a day (or else he does horrible sex things that torture him) with no repeats? It's all very confusing.
So, yeah, if you're okay with a plot with more holes in it than a "you might have Trypophobia" post and a disturbing sexist element to the main guy who fits all of the abusive stereotypes but you just really want to read a lot of explicit sex scenes (that are also pretty damn extra), this is the book for you.
First, we have the super sexist Violence-driven (no, really, he's possessed by the demon of Violence. At least Showalter is upfront about it) man of beautiful mysterious hotness. He's almost... angelic. Oh, he's also an angel? How very complicated and being complicated is hot, right? Especially when he unleashed demons on the world, as an angel, because he was pissed that a woman took his job and that's why he's now possessed? Hell yeah. Sexism is so hot. Tell me what to do with my life, you possessed hunk of man that killed thousands of men and one woman you were mad at who stole your job, you. Through the whole beginning of the novel we get to hear his deep innermost thoughts and feelings about using random women for sex (he refuses to even look at them, he's just satiating a need-- WE GOTTA MAKE SURE HIS LOVE FOR THE MAIN GIRL IS PURE Y'ALL), about his intense desire to maim/kill/slay/stab everybody around him because he's just. so. violent. But it's all good because the second the young, voluptuous-but-doesn't-know-it, and too "weird" for relationships gal who hears voices shows up, his demon says "aw yiss, I've just been overreacting *purr purr* we must love and protect this female we have known for an hour because even if she's Bait she's perfect." I'm still unsure why Bait was always capitalized. Was that just an official position or ? And why does his demon purr contentedly? Why does she purr contentedly? There's so much purring happening and there aren't even any cats around.
There's also the issue concerning the whole Greek mythology part. A lot of Greek myths were used to explain natural phenomena in the world. Like sin. And Pandora's Box was DEFINITELY trying to explain naturally occurring sin. Pandora opened the box the gods gave her with all of the demons of vice inside and released sin into the entire world. This translates very awkwardly into this novel. The demon of Violence, for example, is concentrated into only one man. Our handsome and volatile hunk. Yet, somehow, if they are able to find Pandora's box and open it, it'll suck all of the demons back into it, like Violence, and there will be no more violence in the world. And yet, were that to happen, our beautiful cast of ripped and possessed angels will DIE. And, excuse me, but the idea of one of our gorgeous hunks biting it in exchange for getting rid of violence or even death (how does that work????????) is just too PAINFUL for me to even fathom. So when humans come along hoping to accomplish that, we all need to just feel okay when they get decapitated by our main guy (because they cut the neck of one of the angels and we gotta avenge him even though he isn't dead and lives forever and heals really fast??) or are afflicted by a plague of massive proportions (that is also treatable by modern medicine?????). And then there's the problem where his immortal hotness talks about wanting to slay his roommates but they're also immortal so I couldn't really reconcile that one. Or the constant worry that these men all need to live far away from society in a remote area so they can escape the Hunters and not be slain by them. But again, they can't be killed and the Hunters are all human? And even though they live in an extremely remote area, the demon of promiscuity is able to sleep with a MINIMUM of two women a day (or else he does horrible sex things that torture him) with no repeats? It's all very confusing.
So, yeah, if you're okay with a plot with more holes in it than a "you might have Trypophobia" post and a disturbing sexist element to the main guy who fits all of the abusive stereotypes but you just really want to read a lot of explicit sex scenes (that are also pretty damn extra), this is the book for you.