Kiss of the Night

Rating:
Summary: When enemies meet...
Review: Wulf Tryggvasen is a man cursed...humans who meet him forget him minutes after he leaves them. Cassandra is the first woman since he's become a Dark-Hunter who doesn't forget him. That's because, Cassandra's not quite human. Her birthday's approaching...a birthday that will either lead to her death, or her becoming Daimon. Wulf is a warrior who has spent centuries killing Daimons...but he begins to doubt if he would be strong enough to kill Cassandra, no matter what. But he'll never have to make that decision because Cassandra doesn't plan to become Daimon. She'll meet her fate. Unfortunately, the gods have other plans...

Kenyon's built a world that seems straight forward...good vs evil, light vs dark. But with each new story, she adds more shades of grey and complexities. The result is each book just gets better and better. Kiss of the Night will keep you turning pages.

Rating:
Summary: The ties that bind the story finally begin. . .
Review: And I cannot believe that D Merlot thinks this is an un-important and poor example of the series. The author is finally beginning to tie in Acheron's ancestry and how and why the Appolites, Spathi, and Skoti are. If you go to Ms Kenyon's webite you will see through reading the profiles and beginnings that this all has to tie in somehow and world building cannot be just about hot sex with it going absolutely nowhere.
Merlot also missed an important clue about this particular Dark Hunter. SPOLIERS Wulf was tricked into giving up his soul and never actually died like the other Dark Hunters. Even Zarek died but he maintained his soul because Artemis was loathe to touch him.
Though I enjoyed these stories, I never sensed for certain that they were going any place. Although they could stand on their own there did seem to be some greater purpose in mind. Kenyon took her time building this Mythology based world slowly. The first book imo was horrid and if I had read it first, I may never have continued with the series. I am very happy that I did and I recommended it to many other readers in hopes that eventually Kenyon would begin to tie all the facets of this paranormal world together. And she does begin in KOTN, indeed, this is the most serious of the books so far and gives us the most clues as to Acheron's identity as well as the relationship between Apollymi, Artemis , Kat and Acheron.
Sadly, when I see that a reader like Merlot missed the full importance of this book in the series I grow concerned. Will she be one of those that runs back to KOTN, many books later, wondering if there was something there she should have been looking for, besides hot sex and the killing of Daimons? Sure this is a fun part of the book and everybody would miss it, if it suddenly dissapeared. I do not see that happening, however. Also, Merlot should remember that the Dark Hunters NEVER EVER kill Apollites. It is forbidden and that is who Kenyon wanted us to sympathize with. If my speculations about this series come to be, I fear our dissapointed reader will be horrified when she learns of Acheron's grander than humble origins.
Well, hopefully there will be enough sex and slaying to keep her happy and if not she can always read a Kinley McGregor gratuitous medieval. For me, give me a solid based world building and a series that titlilates the mind and I am happy.

Rating:
Summary: Dark Hunter meets Appollite
Review: Cassandra Peters is an Appollite, a descendant of the God Appollo. Her race has been cursed and she will die at the age of 27 like all Appollites. She is attacked by Daimons (soul sucking vampires) and is rescued by Wulf Tryggvason, a Dark Hunter. Not long afterwards her dreams are invaded by this gorgeous Dark Hunter. The dreams are so life like that they are almost real. Wulf has been ordered to protect Cassandra, as the last in the line of Appollites, the World will end if she dies.

I didn't like this book as much as the other in the series. I found some of the details confusing. If the World will end as Cassandra is the last in long line of Appollites, then what about all the other Appollites we meet in the underground city? However, the relationship between Wulf and Cassandra was quite touching. A good read nonetheless.

Lea Ling Tsang

Rating:
Summary: Sadly Disappointing
Review: I have read and re-read all the DH series and totally, absolutely loved them -- until this one. Ugh!

SK has gone to so much trouble to set up a wonderful universe --complete with identifyable rules -- then efficiently broke all her rules in one fell swoop. Dark Hunters can't have children -- so the heroine gets pregnant in a dream???? So, now you want us to have empathy for the defined antagonist???? No -- not gonna work.

Besides that, I felt there was no actual romance -- just a marriage of convenience because she got pregnant. I read these types of books to escape from things like that.

Your clever imagination doesn't give you license to stretch it so far that you break the universe you've presented into shreds -- you can't do that and expect your audience to follow along.

Please SK Please -- you have too much talent -- and a delightful imagination. Don't let them push you into writing so fast that your readers don't get what they expect when they pay for it. We don't want filler books -- we want your best every time.




Rating:
Summary: Great read!
Review: I love vampire novels and this one was wonderful. I had never read any of the dark hunter novels but after this one I have been buying everyone of ms kenyons dark hunter novels. I'm a big fan now!

Rating:
Summary: Hot Hot Hot
Review: I bought this book on a limb, wasn't for sure if I would like it or not. Once I read it I was hooked, I am now ordering the rest of the set. This book had it all: PASSION, STRENGTH, ANGER, EVEN RAGE, SEXUAL TENSION AND MOST OF LOVE. I would definately buy this book if I were you. This book made me hot and it also made me sad and even made me laugh out loud. But you know that a book is good when it makes you seem like you are in it yourself.


For Sherrilyn Kenyon, I thought I would let you know, just incase you check on these, that you are a great author, you are now my 2nd fav author. My first is Laurell K. Hamilton ( Merry series) and Anita Blake series ) keep your dark hunter novels coming. I am now waiting on the others to be released so I can read them.

Rating:
Summary: A kiss to die for
Review: "Dark-Hunters are immortal protectors who save human beings from the vampires who prey on them." -Sherrilyn Kenyon

In KISS OF THE NIGHT, the fifth of the Dark-Hunter books, readers are introduced to Cassandra Peters and Wulf Tryggvasen. Cassandra is a descendant of mythical Greek bloodlines that has their roots in the city of Atlantis from hundreds of years ago. Cassandra carries the future of her race if she can make it past her 27th birthday. There is another race, the evil Daimons who would like to see Cassandra dead. Daimons are vampires that have been banished to the darkness by a curse that Cassandra's death would reverse. However, her death would also mean the end of the world. Wulf is a Dark-Hunter. He is an immortal Viking warrior that has hunted and killed the likes of Cassandra's race and Daimons for many years. A chance meeting in a club of questionable reputation puts all three adversaries together at once. What emerges after the melee is a love story that starts out as a kiss and a dream, but transcends all evil and unites Wulf and Cassandra together in a fight for their lives.

KISS OF THE NIGHT is an action-packed thriller that incorporates some steamy sex, a little tinkering from the gods, a dash of mystery and a hefty dose of evil vampires with powers that are out of this world. Sherrilyn Kenyon has put together enough drama to make you want to hold onto the seat of your pants for this rather bumpy and thrilling ride. As with all of the Dark-Hunter books, this one is a stand-alone and I was able to pick up on the action and keep up. Although the story surrounding the hero and heroine was a little unbelievable at times, it was the depth and stories of the supporting characters that held my interest and kept me in this one. A fascinating read.

Reviewed by Brenda M. Lisbon
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers


Rating:
Summary: SKIP IT!!!
Review: I've read (I believe) all of Kenyon's works up to this point. Her last novel, Dance With the Devil, I particularly enjoyed. That said, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. The only reason I'm giving it one star is because Amazon won't let you give it zero.

One thing you have to give Kenyon credit for, she has a mythology. Most of the time it's interesting, but this particular novel is crushed by the dead weight of the universe she has created. I swear, you need a flow chart to be able to keep up with all the different gods, goddesses, Apollites, Dark-Hunters, Daimons and the twenty-five different sub-sects to each. Not to mention, she goes to all the trouble of creating these various caste systems and then doesn't use them! The heroes of her last two novels were both ostensibly Dark-Hunters, but not really ... When you already have twenty different confirmed castes, races, species, can't you just pick one and use it? Why go to all the trouble of creating this overly tedious universe and then not use it? Not to mention her particular end around in this novel that she used to get Wulf out of his Dark-Hunter vow left me completely confused.

The interaction of the two main characters in this novel ... aside from all the mythology BS she uses .. was okay. It wasn't great and I think she's done far better in other novels. Her attempts to make Wulf deep didn't work. Mostly she just made him a contradiction in terms, and not in an interesting way. Cassandra was largely forgettable. The idea that a young mother who is desperate to stay with her child and an immortal hunter who has finally found love and a family are going to allow this to be undone because they're freaked out by the idea of drinking blood? Ugh. What a lame plot device. And then for them to succeed, only to be undone by the gods, and then undone again by another mystical intervention ... it gets old very, very quickly.

I have no problem with a story that twists and turns, but Kenyon doesn't know how to execute it. It's annoying enough in books like LKH's Anita Blake series to have a Scooby Doo ending. But at least there, it's first person narration and you can sort of buy that the heroine was shocked. But Kenyon uses a third person omniscient POV, so her twists and turns are particularly difficult to swallow and her explanation for them later leave me feeling like I'm being treated like a moron. And a final niggling problem I have with this series is her continual use of pop culture references. Yes, I like the modern feel of the novels, but she's intentionally giving herself a shelf-life of about two years. I just don't get it.

In conclusion, Kenyon has a lot of potential. It's just not utilized in this book. Skip it.