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Darkest Knight (Knight's Curse #2)

3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 · rating details · 50 ratings · 16 reviews

"Betray your sisters or your lover. You choose."

After the warrior she loves saved her from a murderous gargoyle, Chalice watched helplessly as Aydin turned into a gargoyle himself. Now, free from the curse that enslaved her, Chalice pledges to join her sister knights in The Order of the Hatchet—and do whatever it takes to regain Aydin's humanity…and his love. What she enco...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published March 20th 2012 by Luna

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Sep 26, 2012 Bonnie Ramthun rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a terrific sequel to Knight's Curse, Karen Duvall's first Hatchet Knight series. You can read Darkest Knight as a standalone, however. Everything about Chalice and her world is included in the opening sequences, backstory that you won't really notice because the story starts out fast and just gets better and better. Chalice is a tough twenty-first century girl but she feels, deeply, for those who suffer. This endearing heroine is catapulted into some frightening situations that are writt...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Dark Faerie Tales rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-by-kristie

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Dark Urban Fantasy with a likeable heroine and a steady plot.

Opening Sentence: “You’re coming with me, right?” I asked Rafe when he opened the silver veil that separated the physical world from the realm of angels.

Review:

After the events of Knight’s Curse, Chalice has spent the last month in the light veil learning from her father how to control her gifts. Now that she has been released from her gargoyle curse and her evil mentor is dead, sh...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Vicky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, paranormal-romance

This is the second book in Karen Duvall's series about Hatchet Knight, Chalice. I absolutely loved the first book, "Knight's Curse" and really liked this one. Like all series books, there are enough threads left dangling that we know there are going to be more books, but unlike some series (which I do not like), this one is a complete book. Not everything gets settled, but enough, and the main plot line that I was satisfied with the way it turned out. There is enough background information in th...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Alice rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: harlequin

thank you harlequin for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review

SPOILER ALERT!!!! DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE READ KNIGHT'S CURSE

this book takes place one month after the ending of knight's curse. Aydin is a gargoyle, and now that Chalice is no longer bound to a gargoyle she has finally been able to meet her guardian angel Rafe. he is totally swoonworthy, wouldnt mind him being my guardian angel ;)
this book is all about chalice finding her fellow sisters and helping them to protect...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Jen (Red Hot Books) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Since I finished this book, I've been wracking my brain, trying to put my finger on what keeps this series from reaching its potential for me. And I think I've finally come up with the answer. It feels like a YA book. Yes, I know the heroine is 28, but I stand by this and I'll tell you why. She doesn't really act her age. Chalice has lived most of her life enslaved to an organization of dark magic. She only became free at the end of the last book and really, this series is her journey of self-di...more Since I finished this book, I've been wracking my brain, trying to put my finger on what keeps this series from reaching its potential for me. And I think I've finally come up with the answer. It feels like a YA book. Yes, I know the heroine is 28, but I stand by this and I'll tell you why. She doesn't really act her age. Chalice has lived most of her life enslaved to an organization of dark magic. She only became free at the end of the last book and really, this series is her journey of self-discovery. She is learning about who and what she is. She is learning about her parents and how her family fits into her world. She is falling in love for the first time. And she is surrounded by a bunch of young women, also just coming into their powers and learning their place in the world.

As the story begins, Chalice is planning to meet her "sisters" in the Order of the Hatchet. But just as she is on her way, many of them are mysteriously slaughtered. She travels to her grandmother's home to meet the woman and some of her surviving sisters in training. Though she is looking for connections, she finds a lot of jealousy and immature cattiness from the other girls. (It was unnecessary and felt like high school, by the way.) Chalice quickly solves the mystery of who is behind the murders and spends the rest of the book trying to save the day.

In the meantime, she is also working to turn her love interest, Aydin, back into his human form. (He became a gargoyle at the end of the last book.) While she had affection for him before, that has now morphed into love. The growing relationship between Chalice and Aydin was very subtle in the last book and I was happy that it looked like it was going to take a bigger role here. Until I got to the first love scene, which was so vague, I had to read it three times to determine whether they actually had sex. I'm pretty sure they did. But you can be the judge. At this point in the story, Aydin is still a gargoyle and can only visit Chalice in dream form:

His body appeared hazy, like a blurred rendition of his former self, yet I could sense every part of him, smell his skin, taste his lips as he kissed me. I pressed against him and felt the hardness of his body as sensations thrilled my every cell. Dream or not, my body was consumed by passion that melted into me like hot lava.

Aydin filled my mind, which enabled me to get inside his. I found love there, and concern, and hesitation. His need overwhelmed me, yet knowing his feelings were as strong as mine put me at peace.

His arms held me close, his chin pressed against my neck as we lay spooned on the bed. I snuggled against his naked chest and his hold on me tightened as he gently nibbled my ear.

"I wish this was real," I told him. He kissed my hair.

"It is real."

I smiled. "I know, but I mean physically real."

"Felt pretty real to me." He rolled me over onto my back and ran a finger from the hollow of my throat down to my navel. "I still need to get some sleep."

"You are asleep."

I sighed. "You know what I mean. Dream sex is confusing."

"But you enjoyed it."

I reached up to pull his head down close so I could kiss him. "Yes I did. Very much."

Wha?? That was the whole scene. I can't begin to tell you how cheated I felt here. There is one other sex scene in the book, and while it's not very long, at least that one acknowledges the necessary body parts to complete the act. But again, a first love scene like the one above reinforces my whole YA theory. Not what I'm looking for when my hero and heroine finally get together. (I should also point out, there's a minor secondary love interest, as well, but there is no way to take him seriously.)

The world-building is interesting and it's different from a lot of what's out there, so I must give the book credit for that. I can also say it wasn't predictable and I enjoyed the direction that the author took the story. It just didn't strike a great chord with me overall. Maybe it would be a better fit for someone with different expectations. 3 stars.

*ARC Provided by NetGalley(less)

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Mar 11, 2012 Michelle, the Bookshelf Stalker rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 out of 5 stars

When I first read Knight's Curse last year, I thought the book was unique, full of interesting characters, and the lead character, Chalice, was fascinating. Book 2 was not unique and it wasn't as addicting as book 1. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it. While the uniqueness was gone, the storyline held my attention.

Chalice, a member of the Hatchet Knights, is trying to save Aydin in the opening pages of Darkest Knight. If you haven’t read book 1, none of this will make sense. It’s har...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Jenn of Frequent Reader, Infrequent Blogger rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-pub, own, fantasy-books, review-written

RECEIVED FROM: Net Galley For Review

***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***

Chalice has left the realm of the Arelim and is on her way to join the Hatchet Knights and finally meet her grandmother. She only has one stop to make first; she needs the heart of Shojin to save Aydin from eternity as a gargoyle. That Shojin would offer his heart willingly is a surprise, but when Aydin can’t take it because of pain from the loss of his longtime friend, Chalice doesn’t know what to do. Worse than thi...more RECEIVED FROM: Net Galley For Review

***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***

Chalice has left the realm of the Arelim and is on her way to join the Hatchet Knights and finally meet her grandmother. She only has one stop to make first; she needs the heart of Shojin to save Aydin from eternity as a gargoyle. That Shojin would offer his heart willingly is a surprise, but when Aydin can’t take it because of pain from the loss of his longtime friend, Chalice doesn’t know what to do. Worse than this while she’s robbing the Vyantara of a gargoyle assassin, most of the Hatchet Knights are murdered in their sleep, suffocated with no evidence of how or why it was done. Chalice must now find a place for herself in the world of the Knights, try to convince Aydin to return to his human form and discover just who is murdering the Knights and why before the Order kills Aydin for crimes he didn’t commit. Will she stop the killer before all of her new family is lost?

This is another novel where I debated on rating, I chose to give this a four stars because it offered a lot more of story arc than the first novel in the series and the world Duvall creates is really interesting. I do however still think that book has some issues. First of all, and this could be said for both novels in this series, the book could use and extra fifty to a hundred pages just in fleshing things out. Duvall’s stories read less like a singular story arc and more like a journal from someone who has a very strange and exciting life. I say this because yes I guess there is a main story arc, last time it was Chalice getting free of the Vyantara, and this time it was discovering and stopping the person who’s killing the Hatchet Knights. But she doesn’t focus on the story arc and it really isn’t until you get to the final climatic scenes of the book that it’s clear what that main story arc is. In the mean time she begins all these subplots that aren’t really fully explained or played out and which leave you with a lot more questions than answers when the novel is done. She also creates this who subculture of Arelim, Hatchet Knights, Vyantara and the Fallen without fully explaining how the organizations came to be, what they exist for and the whole magic creature subculture is more like a naming of all sort of creatures rather than really weaving them into the world Duvall’s created. Her works feel like I’m only getting half the story and I think would be considerably better with more length and fleshing out. She’s created and story and world that are really interesting but it’s like we only glaze the surface of that world. This story does move the series in a more adult direction because it does include a semi-graphic sex scene which is always a little uncomfortable to read in a first person narrative because it feels almost like one of those T.M.I. conversations with a girlfriend who doesn’t seem to realize her friends really don’t want to know anymore more than he was hot and good in bed or bad in bed whichever the case may be. Maybe extending to a he’s really good at or really bad at such and such but never into a play by play of their sex life because nobody really needs that much detail about someone else’s sex life. I think the reason first person sex seems like that to me is because the first person is probably the closest point of view you can get and it’s a lot more personal reading a sex scene in that point of view than it is from the outside with a close third person point of view. The first novel in this series I would have easily said would be fine for teen readers, but with this new addition I’d now say it’s more for older teens and adults only, meaning my eleven year old won’t be reading this for many years to come. Duvall creates a sort of love triangle with this new book by bringing Chalice’s guardian angel Rafe who was briefly introduced at the end of the first novel in as a more constant character in this novel. It’s sort of a one-sided love triangle however as Chalice is completely wrapped up in Aydin who’s still a gargoyle for much of the book even though he could have been human in the first couple chapters. Rafe wants to father a child for the order and become human to raise that child and as Chalice is the one who he’s supposed to guide from the way things are set up it seems as if Chalice is his only option to do that. The other Knights are of course pushing her toward Rafe in this very medieval arranged marriage sort of set up, but even though I still don’t get that connection because Duvall never really fleshed it out, Chalice is in love with Aydin. Again Chalice is quick to accept her new life and her new family as if she’s always had them which doesn’t fit with the lifestyle previously created for her. Also some of the things established in this novel don’t really make sense. Like everyone in the Order seems to know all about Chalice’s life before even meeting her, but none of them came to get her in those thirteen years when she lived in the monastery before the Vyantara found her? You’d think the angels guarding over and mating with the Knights would notice a young knight living in a monastery and since her grandmother’s already kind of running a half way house for orphaned knights it would make sense she’d be brought there. The story never explains why that didn’t occur other than Chalice needing a different background to be a more interesting character for the plot. Which isn’t really an explanation or said in the novel, it’s just well interesting characters are a lot of what sells books, so it’s just a logical deduction on my part. The book was well written and fast paced as well as a lot more intense than it’s predecessor. The final scenes were more climactic than the first novel and I’d definitely describe the book as a page turner. I think the main fault I find with this book is that it needs more fleshing out of ideas and character relationships. It needs the extra time and space to finish out the half done subplots and to better build the world. Duvall definitely has the talent to make the extra length interesting and I think it would definitely enhance her work if she’d slow down and really take the time to build the world and the character relationships rather than focusing on having constant action occurring in the story. Chalice is always in some predicament or another, she doesn’t really get downtime and though I’ve always been a fan of the fast paced novel, what the series really needs is a little downtime to flesh out histories, backgrounds and establish realistic relationships between characters as well as character motivations. We as readers need to know more than just the what that’s occurring, we need to understand the why and that’s not really offered so far in the series.

Chalice is as always an extremely well developed character, this is pretty much a given for a first person novel. Aydin is fairly well developed as well but he’s built more on what Chalice tells us rather than what his actions show us. Other characters are distinguishable and Maria was decently built as a character, but as I said above motivations for their actions weren’t really offered. The secondary character were moderately built, but not really fleshy. I mean each was definitely separate from the others, but at the same time, time isn’t really taken to understand each of the secondary characters.

Overall I’d definitely recommend the novel to readers of fantasy and probably paranormal romance. It’s an exciting fast paced read that keeps you interested from beginning to end. I just maintain that if Duvall slowed down and fleshed out the plot, character and world know the book would be so much better than what is currently offered. (less)

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Mar 20, 2012 ☆Jessie☆ (Ageless Pages Reviews) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: series-ongoing, supernatural-fiction, netgalley-arc, nephilim-angels-demons, tales-of-fae-and-faery-tales, arc, pre-review, 2012-reviews, 2012-reads, reviewed

3.5 out of 5!

Read the Review On My Blog ---> Ageless Pages Reviews: Darkest Knight

This is the second novel in Duvall's creative series centered around Chalice, a member of an order of knights (The Hatchet Knights) who have been around since the Crusades and mate with the Arelim, the lowest form of angel, to propagate their order. The same original and quirky ideas for magic present in the first are contained here in second, but I have to say that overall, Ms. Duvall definitely got off on a...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Kristin (MyBookishWays Reviews) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/03/...

In Darkest Knight, Chalice has joined her fellow sisters of the Hatchet Knights at Halo House, which is run by her grandmother, Aurora. Chalice is thrilled to meet her grandmother and is also excited (and nervous) about her role in teaching the squires in the art of using charms. She has her guardian angel along with her, and is no longer under the thumb of her evil adoptive father, Gavin. Not everything is good, though. H...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Scooper Speaks rated it 2 of 5 stars

Maybe 2.5
Favorite Lines: "I had no problem facing a dozen gargoyles or a dozen nasty sorcerers, but threaten to take my family away from me and I'm shaking in my boots." (p. 152, egalley)

Last year Karen Duvall introduced a woman named Chalice in Knight's Curse. We learned Chalice was a slave and watched her discover her lineage and win freedom. She had help from a man named Aydin. A man who sacrificed his humanity in order to save her. Darkest Knight picks up a month after the events which culmi...more Maybe 2.5
Favorite Lines: "I had no problem facing a dozen gargoyles or a dozen nasty sorcerers, but threaten to take my family away from me and I'm shaking in my boots." (p. 152, egalley)

Last year Karen Duvall introduced a woman named Chalice in Knight's Curse. We learned Chalice was a slave and watched her discover her lineage and win freedom. She had help from a man named Aydin. A man who sacrificed his humanity in order to save her. Darkest Knight picks up a month after the events which culminated in Chalice's freedom.

I had high hopes for Darkest Knight. It started out pretty good with Chalice determined to make her love interest human again. She finds help in an unexpected place, but it goes down hill after that. All sorts of bad things begin happening.

The reader learns about the role of knights and their guardian angels and gets to see Chalice introduced to her grandparents. Obstacles are thrown in Chalice's path as she searches for the threat to her sister knights. And Aydin's only hope of becoming human is threatened. You'd think that would be enough to keep the reader interested and invested in the story. It wasn't enough for me.

It was okay. I had no emotional connection to the story and the story lacked depth. I didn't care if Aydin became human. (It was his choice. You'll know what I mean when you read the book.) I didn't care if Chalice and Aydin advanced to the next stage in their relationship. (Hello, he's a gargoyle.) I didn't understand Chalice's reactions to different situations, nor did I care. I even rolled my eyes as the character's spoke. My reaction only got worse as the story progressed.

I will say that there was a major surprise revealed about a character. I didn't see it coming. Unfortunately, it couldn't make up for the cookie-cutter characters and lackluster story. I feel like 75 percent of the book was filler material. It showed the character's relationship to one another, introduced and took away characters, but really didn't do more than take up page space.

I know it sounds like I hated the book. I didn't. I liked it less than an average book, but I never thought about putting it down and walking away. I'd suggest if you feel wishy-washy about Darkest Knight that you borrow it from your local library. I'd also suggest you read book one, Knight's Curse, before starting Darkest Knight.
Scooper Speaks (less)

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Mar 07, 2012 Shelley aka Gizmo's Reviews rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-releases

*Rating* 3.5
*Genre* Paranormal Romance

*Review*

Darkest Knight (Knight's Curse #2) is once again told in the first POV by Chalice. Chalice is a member of the Hatchet Knighthood of Medieval Times by virtue of her birth from a human mother and a guardian angel named Barachiel. If you haven’t read Knights Curse, please try and do so before starting this book.

As the story opens, Chalice is trying to find a way to turn the one she loves, Aydin, back into human form. It has been over a month since the e...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Ms. Duvall has done it again with the second thrilling installment of the Hatchet Knights books. I only hope there are more books to come!

Duvall has created a powerful world within our own full of angels and demons and ghosts and fae... she has done this all seemlessly and in such a way as to immerse the reader. I read this book in one day. I couldn't put it down. The end of every chapter had raised stakes that made me have to find out what happened next.

A great read from start to finish!

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May 16, 2012 Diane Whitton rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really like this series. It brings something new to the table.

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Apr 01, 2012 Harlequin Books added it

Shelves: harlequin_luna, 2012

miniseries: Knight's Curse

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Mar 02, 2012 Melindeeloo added it

ARC provided via NetGalley release date 3/20/2012

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Mar 12, 2012 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 out of 5

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May 22, 2013 Anne added it

Shelves: paranormal-romance

May 17, 2013 TC marked it as to-read

May 10, 2013 Maggie Faire rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 27, 2013 Tami rated it 2 of 5 stars

Apr 25, 2013 Jess headland rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 06, 2013 Freya rated it 2 of 5 stars

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Shelves: wish-to-buy

Apr 11, 2013 Crystal marked it as to-read

Shelves: need-prequel-or-sequel, sequels-of-books-i-haven-t-read-yet, books-i-want-to-read

Apr 04, 2013 thevintagechronicles marked it as to-read

Apr 04, 2013 Ryan Snyder marked it as heart-heart-maybe

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Apr 16, 2013 Joy Radcliffe rated it 5 of 5 stars

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About Karen Duvall

Karen Duvall is a native Californian who grew up in Hawaii, lived in Colorado most of her adult life, and now lives in Bend, Oregon with her husband and four incredibly spoiled pets. She has three grown children and five grandchildren.

Karen has been telling stories since the age of three, when she wasn’t yet able to write but could tell her tales to her mother, who wrote them down for her. Illustr...more

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