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idratherbereading542 's review for:
The Guardian
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
- FMC: Lydia (Werehunter Jackyl and Dreamhunter)
- MMC: Seth (Egyptian Demigod)
- POVs Included: Dual POVs (Seth, Lydia)
- Book Playlist (Dark Hunter Series Playlist)
- Book Series Cast: http://bit.ly/3CJ3ro9
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SUMMARY: (SPOILER WARNING)
Lydia tries to rescue her father Solin when he calls out to her in his dreams. But once there, she finds herself trapped with an angry enslaved demigod named Seth.
While trapped there with him, the two of them begin to fall in love. And Lydia wants to help find a way to save him. Seth has been enslaved by the god Noir for the past 4,000 years. During which time he has been constantly tortured and drained of his powers.
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REVIEW:
So my journey into the Dark Hunter world started about 13 years ago. Around that time I started reading them and got through Retribution (book #19), at which time I took a very long break from reading in general (for several real-life reasons).
A couple years ago I decided to try to re-read and catch up on this series. But I only got through Seize the Night (book #6) before I realized that I wasn't enjoying them as much as I did the first time around.
So, I decided to just skip the re-reading part, and attempt to start back off where I left off ten years ago (with this book). And...well, let's just say that didn't help. At this point I'm just done with this series. Unfortunately I am not a fan of these books anymore for several reasons (that I'll get to in a moment).
But let's talk about this story first..
We have Lydia (who is part Jackyl Werehunter and part Dreamhunter). She is very...hot and cold. That's the best way I can think to describe her. Or maybe overly sensitive and easily hurt? One minute she's sweet and understanding of Seth, and the next minute she's pissed at him for one reason or another. I was not really a fan of her at all.
I also did not really understand the whole thing about her being the key to Olympus? This was really confusing to me. Maybe because I was reading it as an audiobook, I don't know -- I tend to have a harder time following the plot when I'm listening to audiobooks as opposed to reading a book. But it just seemed confusing and random, which isn't a surprise because that's this series in a nutshell, but I'll get to that more in a minute.
Then we have Seth, who did a demigod -- the son of the Egyptian god Set and a human woman. Seth is basically like the majority of the other tortured and abused MMC's in the Dark Hunter series. If there's one thing that Kenyon likes to write, it's heroes that have been tortured and abused since childhood. It's her number one favorite trope. And the first several guys who were that way (Zarek, Valerius, Acheron, etc.) were interesting. But it just gets old after a while. And repetitive. And boring. It's been done time and time again in this series, and it just makes Seth feel unoriginal and bland.
I also listened to this as an audiobook and I don't think that helped. I really, REALLY hated the voice the narrator used for Seth and Solin. They sounded virtually the same. And they both sounded like stuffy old men. It was bad.
Together Lydia and Seth just fought all the time. Seth has been enslaved for thousands of years and is clueless to basically everything going on outside his captivity. So when he finally leaves, he angers Lydia several times because of doing things that are not socially acceptable, and I found her to be very impatient and unrealistic in her expectations of him.
The story was just bland and boring and slow. Most of it was them waiting around to be freed. Once they get out there's a little more going on, but not enough to pick the pace up to a reasonable level.
Now, I want to get back to why I'm going to go ahead and abandon this series at this point. Like I said above, it's just not holding my interest like it did ten years ago.
But on top of that, I've become really bored of Kenyon's writing. Most of her heroes and their pasts are VERY similar. The relationships are similar as well with a few things changed up here and there. The stories are just not very creative or original like the earlier books in the series were.
In addition to the bland and repetitive characters, relationships, and plotlines, I also find the lore to be TOO complex and confusing. There are so many pantheons and side characters that it's very hard to keep track of it all. The rules of what is and isn't possible are always changing depending on whatever god or demigod or other paranormal creature is involved. It's just difficult and frustrating to keep track of it all.
Overall this book just wasn't good. It was boring and I didn't like the characters. So yeah, I tried. I tried to come back to the series several times and it's just not for me anymore. Oh well. Moving on...
- MMC: Seth (Egyptian Demigod)
- POVs Included: Dual POVs (Seth, Lydia)
- Book Playlist (Dark Hunter Series Playlist)
- Book Series Cast: http://bit.ly/3CJ3ro9
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
SUMMARY: (SPOILER WARNING)
Lydia tries to rescue her father Solin when he calls out to her in his dreams. But once there, she finds herself trapped with an angry enslaved demigod named Seth.
While trapped there with him, the two of them begin to fall in love. And Lydia wants to help find a way to save him. Seth has been enslaved by the god Noir for the past 4,000 years. During which time he has been constantly tortured and drained of his powers.
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
REVIEW:
So my journey into the Dark Hunter world started about 13 years ago. Around that time I started reading them and got through Retribution (book #19), at which time I took a very long break from reading in general (for several real-life reasons).
A couple years ago I decided to try to re-read and catch up on this series. But I only got through Seize the Night (book #6) before I realized that I wasn't enjoying them as much as I did the first time around.
So, I decided to just skip the re-reading part, and attempt to start back off where I left off ten years ago (with this book). And...well, let's just say that didn't help. At this point I'm just done with this series. Unfortunately I am not a fan of these books anymore for several reasons (that I'll get to in a moment).
But let's talk about this story first..
We have Lydia (who is part Jackyl Werehunter and part Dreamhunter). She is very...hot and cold. That's the best way I can think to describe her. Or maybe overly sensitive and easily hurt? One minute she's sweet and understanding of Seth, and the next minute she's pissed at him for one reason or another. I was not really a fan of her at all.
I also did not really understand the whole thing about her being the key to Olympus? This was really confusing to me. Maybe because I was reading it as an audiobook, I don't know -- I tend to have a harder time following the plot when I'm listening to audiobooks as opposed to reading a book. But it just seemed confusing and random, which isn't a surprise because that's this series in a nutshell, but I'll get to that more in a minute.
Then we have Seth, who did a demigod -- the son of the Egyptian god Set and a human woman. Seth is basically like the majority of the other tortured and abused MMC's in the Dark Hunter series. If there's one thing that Kenyon likes to write, it's heroes that have been tortured and abused since childhood. It's her number one favorite trope. And the first several guys who were that way (Zarek, Valerius, Acheron, etc.) were interesting. But it just gets old after a while. And repetitive. And boring. It's been done time and time again in this series, and it just makes Seth feel unoriginal and bland.
I also listened to this as an audiobook and I don't think that helped. I really, REALLY hated the voice the narrator used for Seth and Solin. They sounded virtually the same. And they both sounded like stuffy old men. It was bad.
Together Lydia and Seth just fought all the time. Seth has been enslaved for thousands of years and is clueless to basically everything going on outside his captivity. So when he finally leaves, he angers Lydia several times because of doing things that are not socially acceptable, and I found her to be very impatient and unrealistic in her expectations of him.
The story was just bland and boring and slow. Most of it was them waiting around to be freed. Once they get out there's a little more going on, but not enough to pick the pace up to a reasonable level.
Now, I want to get back to why I'm going to go ahead and abandon this series at this point. Like I said above, it's just not holding my interest like it did ten years ago.
But on top of that, I've become really bored of Kenyon's writing. Most of her heroes and their pasts are VERY similar. The relationships are similar as well with a few things changed up here and there. The stories are just not very creative or original like the earlier books in the series were.
In addition to the bland and repetitive characters, relationships, and plotlines, I also find the lore to be TOO complex and confusing. There are so many pantheons and side characters that it's very hard to keep track of it all. The rules of what is and isn't possible are always changing depending on whatever god or demigod or other paranormal creature is involved. It's just difficult and frustrating to keep track of it all.
Overall this book just wasn't good. It was boring and I didn't like the characters. So yeah, I tried. I tried to come back to the series several times and it's just not for me anymore. Oh well. Moving on...