Scan barcode
A review by solaceinprose
Born of Silence by Sherrilyn Kenyon
5.0
I've said this before about Kenyon, but for me, reading her is definitely like coming home. There is a way she writes that is just so familiar to me. That feeling didn't change with this book. I've been a huge fan of Kenyon's for years. I've read her Dark Hunter/Were Hunter books since there was only a handful of them published. I love that series with my entire heart, but I have to say that Kenyon really has found her niche with the League Series. You can obviously tell that science-fiction is a deep love for her. It's not that she doesn't write the other series with the same passion (although, the last few books in the DH series, I've begun to wonder), but she really shines with this genre.
I have to say that Kenyon really knows how to make her characters suffer. I mean, REALLY make them wish they had never been born. Darling saw no shortage of horrors in his lifetime. From the time he was a young lad up until his late 20's, he had been tortured, sodomized, beaten to near death, disfigured, stabbed, shot, mocked, humiliated, and everything else that is horrible in the world. By the middle of the book, you kind of just want to go, "Jesus Christ, there's more?" Every time you thought it got as bad as it is going to get, something else happened to Darling to make the last bad thing seem like it was just any other day. I'll be honest, it kind of got tedious after a while, but before it could be come too overwhelming, Kenyon finally puts a cap on the torture porn, and puts on track to getting Darling on the path to healing.
The love story between Zarya and Darling wasn't the best. I like it when it starts fresh, and we can see that love blossom. In this book, the love was already there, it just took severe damage because Z is probably the WORST Resistance Leader on all the planets, and just let her crew do whatever they liked. It was a clear case of letting her emotions rule her job. I kind of have an issue with that, because it seemed like if it had been the other way around, Darling would have been shown as the clear headed hero who didn't let past prejudices get in the way of doing what was right. I guess Kenyon had to have the snag in the love tapestry, I just wish that it wasn't the woman who screwed up ALL the time. Granted, Darling was pretty freaking intolerable after he killed his uncle and decided to take a Swan Dive off the deep end into the crazy pool, but for the most part, it was Z trying to make up for her gross insight. I really wished she had finally told Darling that she made a mistake, yes it did cost him a lot, but he did some crappy things as well. I guess he forgot about the time he indirectly had her sold into the sex market.
The book was rather brilliant in its subtle commentary on gay people. The derogatory terms were a bit much at times, and I wonder if Kenyon was doing that to be a little sensational, but nothing the "bad guys" said aren't anything that I'm sure homosexuals don't hear today. It's still a little saddening, though, that even in an alternative universe, homosexuality is still considered a 'sin' and an 'abomination'. Then again, if it wasn't, then Darling wouldn't have had half of his back story.
All is well, though, and eventually they make up and she gets pregnant (another thing I find redundant in Kenyon's verses), he becomes the Darling the Greatest Emperor To Have Ever Emperored and everyone lives happily ever after...with the League waiting in the shadows to strike. I'm interested to see where she goes with the next book, and if Kyr will finally meet his doom. I hope, above all hope, that is' Maris that finally takes him down.
I don't think I've loved a character as much as I loved Maris. I hope he's featured more in the other books, because he is amazing. A-MAH-ZING.
I have to say that Kenyon really knows how to make her characters suffer. I mean, REALLY make them wish they had never been born. Darling saw no shortage of horrors in his lifetime. From the time he was a young lad up until his late 20's, he had been tortured, sodomized, beaten to near death, disfigured, stabbed, shot, mocked, humiliated, and everything else that is horrible in the world. By the middle of the book, you kind of just want to go, "Jesus Christ, there's more?" Every time you thought it got as bad as it is going to get, something else happened to Darling to make the last bad thing seem like it was just any other day. I'll be honest, it kind of got tedious after a while, but before it could be come too overwhelming, Kenyon finally puts a cap on the torture porn, and puts on track to getting Darling on the path to healing.
The love story between Zarya and Darling wasn't the best. I like it when it starts fresh, and we can see that love blossom. In this book, the love was already there, it just took severe damage because Z is probably the WORST Resistance Leader on all the planets, and just let her crew do whatever they liked. It was a clear case of letting her emotions rule her job. I kind of have an issue with that, because it seemed like if it had been the other way around, Darling would have been shown as the clear headed hero who didn't let past prejudices get in the way of doing what was right. I guess Kenyon had to have the snag in the love tapestry, I just wish that it wasn't the woman who screwed up ALL the time. Granted, Darling was pretty freaking intolerable after he killed his uncle and decided to take a Swan Dive off the deep end into the crazy pool, but for the most part, it was Z trying to make up for her gross insight. I really wished she had finally told Darling that she made a mistake, yes it did cost him a lot, but he did some crappy things as well. I guess he forgot about the time he indirectly had her sold into the sex market.
The book was rather brilliant in its subtle commentary on gay people. The derogatory terms were a bit much at times, and I wonder if Kenyon was doing that to be a little sensational, but nothing the "bad guys" said aren't anything that I'm sure homosexuals don't hear today. It's still a little saddening, though, that even in an alternative universe, homosexuality is still considered a 'sin' and an 'abomination'. Then again, if it wasn't, then Darling wouldn't have had half of his back story.
All is well, though, and eventually they make up and she gets pregnant (another thing I find redundant in Kenyon's verses), he becomes the Darling the Greatest Emperor To Have Ever Emperored and everyone lives happily ever after...with the League waiting in the shadows to strike. I'm interested to see where she goes with the next book, and if Kyr will finally meet his doom. I hope, above all hope, that is' Maris that finally takes him down.
I don't think I've loved a character as much as I loved Maris. I hope he's featured more in the other books, because he is amazing. A-MAH-ZING.