The Dark Hunters
Jun. 4th, 2007 01:39 amI just finished Night Embrace, the second(3rd if you count Fantasy Lover, a book set in the same world, but not about the Dark Hunters) book in the urban fantasy romance series, The Dark Hunters, by Sherilyn Kenyon. The series draws on both vampire lore and greek mythology.
In it, Apollo once created the Apollites, a race superior to man in all ways save that they only lived for 27 years. Certain people got antsy about the Apollites replacing man, so they set up Apollo to fall in love with a mortal woman and view humans as being betterthan the Apollites, which made the Apollites antsy in return so they murdered the woman in their kids. Apollo's response was to try to wipe them all out, but since this would have kinda destroyed the world, Artemis talked him out of it, and instead he just cursed them to live in eternal darkness(couldn't help myself there)
The Apollites found a loophole, though: by draining the life force of a human(suck out the soul by draining blood), they could gain power and extend their lives and hello vampire myth. In response, Artemis started offering warriors who'd died in great pain and/or because of betrayal a chance to be her immortal warriors. They get immortality, strength, endurance, healing factors and psychic powers. Oh, and they lose their souls so that if they lose a fight, the Daimons(bad Apollites) can't suck them up and get their powers. Oh, and just for kicks, sunlight kills them as quickly as it does the Daimons(because, you know, making it so her immortal warriors can just toss them in the sunlight or kill them in their sleep would solve the problem a few millenia too early)
As a fantasy/mytharc, the series is actually pretty good(once you get past the idea of Artemis, the revered virgin goddess of the hunt being an S&M control freak), but as romances...urm...they send the books into "so bad it's good" territory. On their own and together(read: no women) the Dark Hunters are tough, cool, snarky SOBs who like leather, motorcycles and sharp pointy things who can and will destroy anything and everything in their paths, but the second they meet their love interests, they become emasculated, based on the first two books. The heroines are complete Mary Sues and the heroes...well...the author and heroines both spend so much time obsessing on what an angsty long-suffering woobie he is that I really don't care. Amanda in Night Pleasures was a standard, inoffensive Mary Sue: as interesting as dirt, but she served her purpose. However, I actively dislike Sunshine, the heroine of Night Embrace. Ignoring how blatantly she's your standard "refreshing modern open progressive" heroine, I couldn't connect at all to her treatment of sex as a recreational sport, and her attitude about marriage and relationships pissed me off everytime it came up. I mean, geez, sorry you had one bad experience, but to decide that the institution of marriage is horrible and all men in a relationship are controlling scum is overkill(and, of course, since she's the heroine, the author has to back her up) As a result, I spent most parts dealing with the romance going "blah blah...reincarnation...blah blah...soul mates...blah blah...supposed cleverness...blah blah...angst...blah blah..." and waiting for it to get back to the mytharc parts.
Now, the guys are cliches, too, but unlike the girls, they're fun. They snark, they're centuries old warriors, they have superpowers, they like to kill things using sharp pointy weapons. I reserve the right to be shallow when it comes to snarky warriors killing things with sharp pointy weapons.
Of course, due to their emasculation through romance, I don't really care a lot about Talon or Kyrian anymore, though they become fun again once they're back in the testosterone laden zone. As a result, the characters I actively like are:
Acheron: The control freak Dark Hunter from before they really were Dark Hunters who has a mother hen complex and is a goddess's boy-toy.
Zarek: The complete psycho who hates everyone's guts, and it's mutual(though he does seem to somewhat like Nick...)
Nick: The human squire(who, meeting the 6'+ height requirement and having decent angst in his past is clearly meant to become a Dark Hunter at some point) who's meant to be clever and spunky and is, but is actually on the annoying side at times, which is WHY I like him.
and last but not least, Valerius: The Roman general who pisses off the entire cast just by existing, even before you take into account the fact that his ego and superiority complex could fill entire time zones.
Incidentally, I gain great amusement from the fact that all the men are well over 6', despite the fact that many come from time periods where 5'6" was the average height for a man(but then, romance authors like to gloss over that)
So, yeah, there's likely something wrong with me given my preferences in this series, and if![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dangermousiehadn't posted on them, I likely would have left them in my backlog for another year or so, but I like it. And once you take into account the fact that I started skimming the straight romantic parts about halfway through both books, they're relatively quick reads
In it, Apollo once created the Apollites, a race superior to man in all ways save that they only lived for 27 years. Certain people got antsy about the Apollites replacing man, so they set up Apollo to fall in love with a mortal woman and view humans as being betterthan the Apollites, which made the Apollites antsy in return so they murdered the woman in their kids. Apollo's response was to try to wipe them all out, but since this would have kinda destroyed the world, Artemis talked him out of it, and instead he just cursed them to live in eternal darkness(couldn't help myself there)
The Apollites found a loophole, though: by draining the life force of a human(suck out the soul by draining blood), they could gain power and extend their lives and hello vampire myth. In response, Artemis started offering warriors who'd died in great pain and/or because of betrayal a chance to be her immortal warriors. They get immortality, strength, endurance, healing factors and psychic powers. Oh, and they lose their souls so that if they lose a fight, the Daimons(bad Apollites) can't suck them up and get their powers. Oh, and just for kicks, sunlight kills them as quickly as it does the Daimons(because, you know, making it so her immortal warriors can just toss them in the sunlight or kill them in their sleep would solve the problem a few millenia too early)
As a fantasy/mytharc, the series is actually pretty good(once you get past the idea of Artemis, the revered virgin goddess of the hunt being an S&M control freak), but as romances...urm...they send the books into "so bad it's good" territory. On their own and together(read: no women) the Dark Hunters are tough, cool, snarky SOBs who like leather, motorcycles and sharp pointy things who can and will destroy anything and everything in their paths, but the second they meet their love interests, they become emasculated, based on the first two books. The heroines are complete Mary Sues and the heroes...well...the author and heroines both spend so much time obsessing on what an angsty long-suffering woobie he is that I really don't care. Amanda in Night Pleasures was a standard, inoffensive Mary Sue: as interesting as dirt, but she served her purpose. However, I actively dislike Sunshine, the heroine of Night Embrace. Ignoring how blatantly she's your standard "refreshing modern open progressive" heroine, I couldn't connect at all to her treatment of sex as a recreational sport, and her attitude about marriage and relationships pissed me off everytime it came up. I mean, geez, sorry you had one bad experience, but to decide that the institution of marriage is horrible and all men in a relationship are controlling scum is overkill(and, of course, since she's the heroine, the author has to back her up) As a result, I spent most parts dealing with the romance going "blah blah...reincarnation...blah blah...soul mates...blah blah...supposed cleverness...blah blah...angst...blah blah..." and waiting for it to get back to the mytharc parts.
Now, the guys are cliches, too, but unlike the girls, they're fun. They snark, they're centuries old warriors, they have superpowers, they like to kill things using sharp pointy weapons. I reserve the right to be shallow when it comes to snarky warriors killing things with sharp pointy weapons.
Of course, due to their emasculation through romance, I don't really care a lot about Talon or Kyrian anymore, though they become fun again once they're back in the testosterone laden zone. As a result, the characters I actively like are:
Acheron: The control freak Dark Hunter from before they really were Dark Hunters who has a mother hen complex and is a goddess's boy-toy.
Zarek: The complete psycho who hates everyone's guts, and it's mutual(though he does seem to somewhat like Nick...)
Nick: The human squire(who, meeting the 6'+ height requirement and having decent angst in his past is clearly meant to become a Dark Hunter at some point) who's meant to be clever and spunky and is, but is actually on the annoying side at times, which is WHY I like him.
and last but not least, Valerius: The Roman general who pisses off the entire cast just by existing, even before you take into account the fact that his ego and superiority complex could fill entire time zones.
Incidentally, I gain great amusement from the fact that all the men are well over 6', despite the fact that many come from time periods where 5'6" was the average height for a man(but then, romance authors like to gloss over that)
So, yeah, there's likely something wrong with me given my preferences in this series, and if
dangermousiehadn't posted on them, I likely would have left them in my backlog for another year or so, but I like it. And once you take into account the fact that I started skimming the straight romantic parts about halfway through both books, they're relatively quick reads
