Rating:  Summary: Fast and Furious Review: Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series has created the most tortured hero yet manifested in the form of Zarek. We last left off with the emotionless warrior banished to doom for the happiness of Sunshine and fellow hunter Talon and the mess he stirred up in New Orleans. His controller Ash compromises with the haughty Artemis on her decision to send nymph Astrid to judge his fate and whether Zarek is beyond redemption. She unexpectedly falls in love with the haunted man as she delves deep into his psyche and bitter past. Dance with the Devil bounces with a sparkling roguish charm and exuberant characters that Ms. Kenyon passionately shapes to life. Even this entry is not as imaginative as her past effort, Ms. Kenyon compensates with more engaging characters like the freakish hoot Simi and the complexed Daimon villain Dionsyus. The Greek mythic characters jump off the page in another captivating tale of vendetta and poignant love. Ms. Kenyon's dialogue, especially dances with the fast pace of the tale that sends her legions of fans under a magical spell.
Rating:  Summary: Humour, Romance and amazingly, incredible pathos! Review: This is the third book that I read from this author but this is the first review I have felt compelled to write. "Dance with the Devil" is essentially similar in its basic plot to her other dark hunter books. A tall devastatingly attractive male from centuries before meets up with a modern-day female and they fall in love, etc. But this particular book had a greater input of humour and angst than the other two and its primary distinguishing feature from the other dark hunter books is the pathos. Zarek is a man with a tortured past and when I say tortured, that's T-O-R-T-U-R-E-D with capitalised letters! At first, Zarek's attitude is cultivated to annoy or at least to estrange him from people including the reader. Yet snatches of his humanity become evident in scenes cleverly woven into the plot. Irresistibly, the further along the book, we become increasingly drawn to the mystery of him. At this point I would like to point out that this genuine attraction to Zarek is at odds with the previous book's main protagonists. "Night Embrace" had a gorgeous enough hero who strangely left me cold while the heroine, Sunshine, while pretty and "supposedly" funny only managed to annoy me. Here, our hero, Zarek, and our heroine, Astrid can only captivate, particularly after their classically enchanting meeting. Through Astrid's eyes, we are able to observe Zarek's former life - to understand why he is the man he is and to suffer with him the almost unfathomable depths of torture that he has undergone and somehow survived through. Interspersed with our growing sympathy is the humour derived from the magnificent wolf companion of Astrid (who incidentally would also make a really good hero in a future instalment of the series - one can hope). The angst come mainly from the death sentence that our hero seems to be barely escaping from. The other characters in here are also intriguing - in particular, the magnificent Acheron and his complex relationship with Artemis plus her jealousy of his demon. Enough said, I think. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. In fact, I am just about to read this book again - as soon as I finish this review.
Rating:  Summary: Dance with the Devil... one of the best books for 2003! Review: Simply put, Dance with the Devil is one of the best books I've read all year. It made me laugh, cry and wish to see more books written about the Dark-Hunters... great novels written by Sherryilyn Kenyon. I've read all three to date, and am hoping that Sherrilyn keeps the stories coming! This book drew me in and I couldn't put it down the entire day ... I finished it in one sitting and have place it on the shelf with my "must keeps"... which include books by Jayne Ann Krentz, Rachel Gibson, and Kay Hooper. Definitely put this one on your MUST READ list and you won't be sorry!
Rating:  Summary: Interesting characters, but way too many cliches... Review: I mean, black leather pants are an attractive look and all, but do we REALLY have to have every guy wearing them? Yeah, yeah, I get it that Ash and Zarek and their ilk are incomprehensibly sexy, but after a while, all that black leather just kinda runs together. I'm also beginning to see a trend with the heroes always having been chained up and the hell beaten out of them when they were kids. If this had been the only DH novel I'd ever read, I probably wouldn't have noticed. SK has a great deal of talent -- fans should be sure to check out her entry in the Christmas anthology _Naughty or Nice?_ -- but I hate to see her go the way of Christine Feehan, Amanda Quick, and so many others. I know that there's a great deal of pressure to put out a lot of novels in a hurry, but it always disappoints me to see a good series derailed by too much adherence to formula. Put Ash in some garish Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt sometime. :-)
Rating:  Summary: Good... but not great Review: I love all books by Ms Kenyon, however, it was kind of too predictable. Without reading one knew pretty much the outcome. As always Acheron is simply great and Simi is a new character who one just have to love.
Rating:  Summary: Very touching Review: Not many books make me cry, but this one just about did it. As much as I loved this book, there were a few red flags that should have had Zarek asking questions. However, since the story was so touching, I easliy overlooked the few flaws. Also, Zarek was a little distracted by Astrid. This is one of the best Dark Hunters yet. I am looking forward to Ash's story, but not if his mate turns out to be Artemis.
Rating:  Summary: The Best Review: I have read Kenyon's other Dark Hunter series books and liked this one the best. Zarek's character is so well-developed, even more so than Kyrian and Talon. Although the other heroes of the DH series have difficult pasts which they need to overcome, Zarek's is the most painful and touching. Sometimes it's difficult to read about Zarek's life as a slave as it is so brutal, but it makes his character and who he has become understandable. Kenyon does a magnificent job at introducing new characters who would make fascinating lead roles in later books, Jess aka Sundown and Spawn and the female Dark Hunter to name a few would be wonderful stories to read about. And it would be very cool to read a Dark Hunter book from the point of view of a squire...Nick or Otto maybe? Of course, the character we are all dying to read about is Acheron. With all of the buildup to his character, I don't know how she is going to fulfill the expectations the readers have for him. I suppose it would be best to hold off on his story, because once she tells it, what else could compare? Right? Although I am begging her, PLEASE do not let Ash end up with Artemis, the 'heiffer goddess' as Simi calls her. But regardless, Dance with the Devil, in my opinion is the best of the Dark Hunter series. Hopefully we will see more of Zarek and Astrid in cameo appearences in future books.
Rating:  Summary: BEST OF BEST. Review: YOU WILL LOOSE YOURSELF IN THE STORY, AND WHEN YOU READ ABOVE ZAREK LIFE YOUR HEART WILL WEAP. THIS IS ONE OF BEST LOVE STORY FOR ALL TIME. I WANT MORE OF THE DARK-HUNTERS.
Rating:  Summary: Zarek is my new favorite! Review: I'm a horror, mystery, suspense, and sci-fi kinda girl. Romance novels just aren't "real" to me. Granted, vampires aren't either but they're a step up from romance and mushy steamy love scenes that last all night. I'm more likely to get bitten by a vampire than I am to meet a guy that is romance novel quality. So, when Amazon recommended this series for me and I found that it was classified as romance, I was a bit hesitant to read it. Sure it had vampires or Daimons as they call them in this series. But it was romance! Ewww!!! So I read the first book that was about Kyrian, and considered it a sweet comic love story with action/adventure. It was good. So I read the second in the series with Talon and Sunshine, and found more of the same. I even read Fantasy Lover because Julian kept being mentioned and I wanted to know his story too. That was good and I would read it again, but then I read Zarek's story... Zarek is one of those guys that I think we've all drooled over at one time or another. Dangerous, "chip on his shoulder", loner. Typical bad boy. He's introduced in Night Embrace where we get an idea of where he got this reputation. But in the very beginning of Dance with the Devil, we learn that the bad boy isn't completely bad. Not an original idea, but Ms. Kenyon used this theme well with this character. Some people have said this book had too much graphic violence and too much humor and some even complain about the few trite phrases like "Revenge is a dish best served cold", not even mentioning that the title itself is a bit of an overused phrase. Someone please explain to me how a novel involving people called Dark Hunters that are soulless and slay Daimons can possibly have too much graphic violence. Violence is almost a requirement and I honestly didn't notice a lot of violence. Given the circumstances in this book, some violence was necessary and the few violent scenes were well written and served to move the story forward. I COMPLETELY disagree with those that give this book a rating lower than 4 stars. This book is so far my favorite in the series! While it shocks me that I read this far into a romance series, if the rest of the series is like this, or even remotely similar, I will continue to read. I suggest that others that usually don't read romance series try this one. It's different from the rest and that's exactly what makes it so good.
Rating:  Summary: Very Good~~~~ But Not Her Best Review: I really enjoyed this book. As others have stated, learning more about Ash and Simi was the best part of the book. I didn't "feel the love" between Zarek and Astrid. Now Ash's story, that is a story to wait for!!!!!
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