Swallowing Darkness (Meredith Gentry, #7)

by Laurell K. Hamilton

book data

1,403 ratings, 4.04 average rating, 224 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		40%
4		31%
3		20%
2		5%
1		1%

edit

published

November 4th 2008 by Ballantine Books

binding

Hardcover, 365 pages

characters

Meredith Gentry

isbn

0345495934 (isbn13: 9780345495938)

description

I am Meredith, princess of faerie, wielder of the hands of Flesh and Blood, and at long last, I am with child–twins, fathered by my royal guard. Thoug...more

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | compare prices…

new topic
discuss this book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Who's your author?: * What are you reading right now?	531	514	45 minutes ago
50 Books A Year: Leighann's 50 books in 09	65	127	9 hours, 5 min ago
Novel Ladies: Merry Gentry Series by Laurell K. Hamilton	19	25	1 day ago, 07:47AM
150 Books Read in...: Gail's 2009 Books Read (119)	48	112	2 days ago, 01:52PM
50 Books A Year: nearly half way through 2009 how many you read so far	113	603	3 days ago, 08:40PM

friend reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

lists with this book

Best Paranormal & Fantasy Romances

487 books | 703 voters

Best books of November, 2008

13 books | 15 voters

More lists...

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2,197)

sort: default (?) | date
filters: all | text-only

06/01/08

Heather rated it:

bookshelves: erotica, kindle, paranormal-romance

Read in November, 2008

recommends it for: Fans of LKH books

Wow. Just, wow. This was probably one of, if not the best book in the Merry Gentry series.

I dont want to give any spoilers away, so Im gonna make this review brief.

There is a TON of action in this book. Lots of magic, and unbelievable circumstances... and somehow, Merry doesnt seem quite so helpless in this book. In fact, she pretty much kicks ass!! She's bold and commanding, and acts much more like a Queen should act.

I also didn't feel like I was constantl...more

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

7 comments

11/11/08

Sidhe rated it:

Read in November, 2008

Even if this book had been amazing, I couldn't have given it five stars because of the title. I mean, really, Laurell K?? Subtle sexual references in titles are fine, but if you have read any of these books, you know Darkness is the name of a character, and to call the book "Swallowing Darkness" is a bit crude by any standard. I grimaced the first time I heard the title.

Maybe I'm just getting burned out on the series, but this book left me feeling ho-hum. The ending was...more Even if this book had been amazing, I couldn't have given it five stars because of the title. I mean, really, Laurell K?? Subtle sexual references in titles are fine, but if you have read any of these books, you know Darkness is the name of a character, and to call the book "Swallowing Darkness" is a bit crude by any standard. I grimaced the first time I heard the title.

Maybe I'm just getting burned out on the series, but this book left me feeling ho-hum. The ending was a page-turner, but until you got to the action (when Merry & the boys left the sithen), it was monotonous and I could hardly bring myself to pick it up and read it. Little things that have been true throughout are starting to bug me. Like the fact that the men all adore her and consider her to be the right hand of the goddess, the fact that there are conveniently about a dozen men who were sex-starved for thousands of years, and just happen to all be infinitely beautiful. And if I hear the phrase "We used to have _____ (insert x power/ability/artifact) but it has been lost to us for thousands of years until now" one more time, I might scream. And seriously...the clothing descriptions seemed to go on for way too long, as if Merry and the boys were controlled by like dolls by a 5 year old playing dress up.

There are, if I counted right, only two sex scenes in this book, which I'm fine with...Hamilton writes good steamy sex, but it often seems randomly thrown into her books intentionally. Sadly, one of the two scenes in this book is that way too. Are we really expected to believe that with an intense battle going on, men dying all around her, Merry is able to be transported into a dimension with the god and goddess, and have sex with two men (who, by the way, always treated her like crap in all the other books and now suddenly are whispering confidences to her about how they have to act that way in public, and really just want to make sweet gentle love) for several pages (which, incidentally, I skipped over entirely...seriously, who cares about a sex scene, no matter how well written, that completely interrupts a climactic battle right in the middle??)?

Overall, I'd say this book is a bunch of boring, badly written pages, with an action-filled, good ending tacked on.

(less)

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

2 comments

11/25/08

Liz rated it:

bookshelves: 2008-reads, urbanfantasy-paranormal

Read in November, 2008

Laurell K. Hamilton managed to write a book with only two sex scenes, both of which were brief.

I am THRILLED that she has begun to listen to some of the fan feedback I've seen. I enjoyed this book more than I've enjoyed any of her last 6 or 7 releases, mainly because I managed to find a plot. I've been reading her books for years and had almost lost hope that she had lost the original magic that I enjoyed. Now, I find myself becoming hopeful that I will enjoy more of her books in ...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

2 comments

12/20/08

Lori rated it:

bookshelves: 09-january, 2009, fantasy, laurel-k-hamilton

Read in January, 2009

Loved this book, loved this series. What a fascinating world LKH has created. I was disappointed with the lack of sex in this book though. I was glad she finally had sex with the yummy goblin twins Holly and Ash but that was it for sex in this book. Poor Doyle never did get his blow job. Why is it necessary to start a hot sex scene and then have them all stop and talk? Then they start up again, only to stop and talk some more. Fuck already!! Some of her guard have gone without for centur...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

4 comments

11/20/08

Trisha rated it:

I've read every book in the series and this, the 7th, is a return to the promise of the first book, before plot was left far behind in favor of porn. Sex is all good and this book has it, for sure, but it also has a plot, finally. Unlike most of Hamilton's later books, I found myself reading to find out what would happen rather than who the lead character would screw next (or what, and how). It's still not stellar fiction but it entertains. I didn't pay for it though. Definitely not worth the ha...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

01/16/09

Elizabeth rated it:

bookshelves: scifi-fantasy

So here's the thing. I tend to cut the Merry Gentry books a little more slack than I do the Anita Blake books, possibly because the Merry books never pretended to be anything other than what they are. So while the power-ups and addition of new men would bother me in Anita-verse, I tend to roll with it in Merry-verse.

And yes, she does add new men, even though she is finally pregnant and should have narrowed her man-harem down the the six (yes, six) fathers. However! Sex is kept to a m...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

10/20/08

Kym rated it:

bookshelves: paranormal-romance-urban-fantasy

Read in November, 2008

Swallowing Darkness is the 7th book in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry series, and the one that will single-handedly make me a believer in Laurell K. Hamilton again.

At the end of A Lick of Frost, Princess Meredith NicEssus finally learned that she was pregnant; she was raped by her uncle, the King of Light and Illusion; and she lost one of the most precious of her lovers, her Killing Frost, when he sacrificed himself so that she could become queen. Now that she’s pregnant, ...more Swallowing Darkness is the 7th book in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry series, and the one that will single-handedly make me a believer in Laurell K. Hamilton again.

At the end of A Lick of Frost, Princess Meredith NicEssus finally learned that she was pregnant; she was raped by her uncle, the King of Light and Illusion; and she lost one of the most precious of her lovers, her Killing Frost, when he sacrificed himself so that she could become queen. Now that she’s pregnant, her aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, should by all rights be keeping her promise to the princess to step down and let Merry become queen of the Unseelie. She also has to deal with the aftermath of being sexually assaulted by her uncle, who demands her return to his court. And finally, she has to cope with the gift of the wild magic that signals the revitalization of faerie and the return of the Goddess, but uses Merry as its conduit.

Swallowing Darkness has Merry stepping up and she’s no longer behaving not in the wishy-washy manner she’s behaved in the earlier books. In fact, Merry begins acting like the monarch she was bred to be, and those around her start to take notice. This is a stronger, more dangerous, and infinitely more ruthless Meredith NicEssus—a woman out to protect her throne, her men, and her unborn children. This is not the same spineless girl who ran headstrong into danger when the Nameless was released or when her men were under siege. This is a woman willing to wield her hands of flesh and blood and harm anyone who would do the same to her. In short, this is the queen we’ve been waiting for.

In fact, Swallowing Darkness is by far the best book in the Meredith Gentry series to date. Quite frankly, when I finished it I felt like I’d been punked. There were some books in this series that were so flat-out awful (Caress of Twilight and Seduced By Moonlight) that I actually didn’t remember why I kept reading them in the first place. It seemed like a joke that there could actually be a book in this series that didn’t ready like Fey Court Politics for Dummies or one in which Merry didn’t spend two thirds of it in bed with any creature who passed her view. No, in Swallowing Darkness, Meredith Gentry is back and she’s ready to show the world—Seelie, Unseelie, goblin, human, and anyone else who doubts her power—that she’s ready to be queen.

I’ll admit that I was one of the primary detractors of this series. I felt like it was going nowhere, but I was helpless to stop myself from reading the next story since I’m someone who finishes what she starts. Laurell K. Hamilton proved me wrong with this book. It’s going somewhere. Meredith can and is ready to be queen. And I’m dreading waiting another year to find out what happens next.(less)

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

08/25/08

Julie (jjmachshev) rated it:

bookshelves: 2008-reads, erotica

Read in November, 2008

Looking for a kickass heroine? "Swallowing Darkness" by Laurell K. Hamilton gives us a pregnant heroine with awesome powers and raging hormones! How can I not love it?

Seriously, in this 7th book of the 'Meredith Gentry' series Meredith is finally pregnant...with twins no less. But instead of becoming softer Merry has had it with her enemies. No more bargaining or backing down. She will do whatever she needs to protect her mates and her unborn children. All I can say i...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

4 comments

03/09/08

Ashley rated it:

bookshelves: faeries, not-my-copy, urban-fantasy

Read in November, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Swallowing Darkness is the seventh book in Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series, which follows the events in the life of Princess Meredith NicEssus, who has finally beat out her cousin Cel in the race for the Unseelie throne by becoming pregnant with twins. However, now she has to contend with (more) assassination attempts and bring (more) power back to faerie as well as deal with the "loss" of Frost.

(Yes, "loss" gets to be put in quotations marks, because...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

11/06/08

Rosalind M rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy

Read in November, 2008

On the one hand, I know that LKH is trying to keep new readers from feeling too lost if they start late in the series. On the other hand, there are way too many character descriptions that we've seen before, in as much detail as we originally saw them. There are too many similes--take a risk and just say he was a hot cup of cocoa on a cold winter's night instead of relying on "as if" and "like"! Too many sudden miracles, one piled upon the other. And the dialogue has gotten r...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

12/28/08

Marian rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, readit

Read in December, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

What you need to know: Major plot points are resolved to the degree that it's really easy to understand why I ended up with a phone call at 2am asking if this was the last of the Merry books. The sex is down to a scene and a half, which might not actually be a selling point for the Merry series, seeing as it was based on the 'sex first, questions six books from now' philosophy.

Of course, for the first 250 or so pages, we repeat the same scenes over and over again to the point even I...more What you need to know: Major plot points are resolved to the degree that it's really easy to understand why I ended up with a phone call at 2am asking if this was the last of the Merry books. The sex is down to a scene and a half, which might not actually be a selling point for the Merry series, seeing as it was based on the 'sex first, questions six books from now' philosophy.

Of course, for the first 250 or so pages, we repeat the same scenes over and over again to the point even I found it tedious. The last few books of the series have essentially been filler. We don't need even more before we get to the good stuff.

And yes, Virginia, there is good stuff to be had. If you've been wondering when we'd learn who killed Essus, Meredith's father, you'll be quite the happy camper to find out that in a move that shouldn't surprise anyone not actually IN the book, Cel pulled off that little trick. Of course, the rest of the characters, Andais included, are amazed and shocked. Right, because the psychopath hellbent on gaining the crown is always the last person you suspect when someone in line for said crown is murdered. Right. Sure.

Merry finally gets a handle on her hands of power and does a couple of nifty tricks. Merry is crowned by faerie as queen more than once, and if you've spent the last, what, day in the books' timeline wishing Frost would return, fear not. You haven't seen the last of him.

Really, just about everything you need to be tied up is set up in a pretty, shiny little bow.

The problems, fluff notwithstanding, come with the writing [I admire LKH's ability to come up with two fantastic worlds, but she needs someone to pretty the writing up because the words "thicker things" should not show up twice in the same paragraph, let alone in two back-to-back sentences.] and Merry's pool of kings.

I fear I'm hoping for the impossible when I hope that Merry lets the men she isn't madly in love with [anyone who isn't Frost or Doyle] find someone else, even if they do still get together for good times, because it's terribly unfair to hold onto them when she doesn't love them, she merely doesn't want to let them go. (less)

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

11/10/08

Casta rated it:

Read in November, 2008

The long-awaited "culmination" of Hamilton's "fey" series. It wraps up so many plots and loose ends that Hamilton has posted notice to her web site that 'this is not the end.' For folks who've stuck with the series this long (and I know folks who've given up a few books in for want of plot), this is your reward. There's plot, plot, and more plot. More magic, and less s*x. In fact, she goes all the way to the second-to-last chapter for an actual s*x scene... There's one ...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

11/28/08

Melissa rated it:

Read in November, 2008

mmm...better, at least there was more plot development than just gratuitous sex.

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

11/08/08

Lori rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy--traditional, paranormal, popular-fiction

Read in November, 2008

I was getting tired of this series. The last few have not held my interest... they've been short time periods, and convoluted plot lines and shifting loyalties. And, though I never thought I'd say this, the sex scenes were even dull. How many times can Merry say, "I don't want another lover. I won't take another lover! What? I have to, in order to save all of Faerie? Oh, OK."

This time, though, what scenes there were, were relevant, and there were way less of them, ...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

01/17/09

Stefanie rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Ponder if you will for a moment these things... 1) The vast majority of Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series has been more sex than plot (a recent book had a 90+ page sex scene); 2) One of the main characters in the series is nicknamed Darkness; and 3) The latest, seventh, book in the series is Swallowing Darkness... Combining those three facts, what would you think was awaiting you if you picked up this latest novel?

Surprisingly, the first sex scene doesn't even begin until page 150, an...more Ponder if you will for a moment these things... 1) The vast majority of Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series has been more sex than plot (a recent book had a 90+ page sex scene); 2) One of the main characters in the series is nicknamed Darkness; and 3) The latest, seventh, book in the series is Swallowing Darkness... Combining those three facts, what would you think was awaiting you if you picked up this latest novel?

Surprisingly, the first sex scene doesn't even begin until page 150, and though Meredith starts, um, doing what's necessary to bring about the title of the novel, it never actually happens. They get interrupted by Sholto, king of the sluagh offering one of his tentacles to, um, pleasure her (I said the only thing I could think of when a man offers me oral sex. I held my hand out toward him and said "Yes.") and the fact that the other man in the room, Mistral, takes this moment to admit that he was once a death god. The only other sex scene in the entire book (I know! I too was surprised at the restraint Ms. Hamilton showed this time around) did end with half of the title coming true. It just wasn't her Darkness, however. In order to bring them their due power, Merry, um,joins simultaneously with goblin twins Ash and Holly. Ash is doing things the, um, normal way, while his twin is changing the title of the book to Swallowing Holly. I wonder if that was a publishing typo. Hmmm.

Yes, the above paragraph may be a little raunchy for a book review, but if you're reading a review of any of these books, you're not above it and you can't fool me into thinking that you are. With only 25 of the 365 page novel taken up with sex, there is actually a semi-plot to be found here. I was quite surprised since I'd come to read these books mostly as an exercise in self-punishment. Picking up where the last book Lick of Frost left off, Meredith finds herself in the hospital after being raped by her Uncle, King Taranis of the Seelie Court, finally pregnant with twins (each baby has three genetic fathers). Based on an earlier promise, Merry is now within her rights to claim the crown as Queen of the Unseelie Court.

Nothing is ever that easy with the fey, however. Merry and her band of bodyguards/lovers/kings/father of her unborn children make the decision to leave Faerie and move back to L.A., where they believe they'll be safer from the conspiracies against their lives.

Ok, ok... so I didn't say it was a great plot. All I said that there was more plot than sex for once. Unfortunately, even with a plot, I didn't like Meredith too much and since the book is written from her perspective, it kind of ruins everything else. I found myself feeling very sorry for any of her men that weren't her two favorite. Many times those other four feel left out because of her actions and reactions, and yet they'll never be allowed to pursue other women, fey or human. Now tell me how that can be fair or right? To be fair, that line of thought has nothing to do with the book at all. Just a little something that irked me.

The book reads very quickly and if you've read the first six you'll probably already have read this one anyways. The end of this one wraps almost everything up in a neat little package and one of those despicable epilogue chapters telling you where everyone is and what they're doing. This conveniently allows Ms. Hamilton to cease writing this series, or the option of creating new monsters and conflicts in the next misnamed book.

Two stars just because there was actually a plot. It's akin to giving points on a test for the child remembering to put his or her name on the top.(less)

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

01/16/09

MissM rated it:

bookshelves: read-2009

Read in January, 2009

Well, I'll give it two stars instead of one since she managed to actually have plot and not just orgies this time around. But it was very frantic, hodge-podge plot rather than enjoyable plot. It was OMG SO MUCH MAGIXZ kind of plot and of course, a bazillion amazing, never-before-known-possible things happened.

The book ended in a quick, couple paragraph summery (a la Anita Blake style) and made it sound like the series was over and done with. It could have easily been a final book. Supp...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

11/20/08

fbuser1313786504 rated it:

Read in November, 2008

recommends it for: those who have given up on Laurell K. Hamilton

Finally! Redemption for Laurell K. Hamilton. I have invested a lot of time into reading both of her series and this one is finally back to where it should be heading. Enough of every other page with mindless s**, she has gotten back to the story, the magic that we are all looking for. Let's see if she can continue with the next book and also spread this into the Anita Blake books. It seems Ms. Hamilton has finally realized she is loosing faithful readers and needs to change her path.

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

06/26/08

Jodi rated it:

bookshelves: authors---hamilton--laurell-k-

Read in November, 2008

While this is not my favorite series, this book took us where we needed to go. While it is not the end of the series, it could have been had she wanted to make it so. It ends a critical story arc and opens the path for more intrigue and mystery. There is almost no sex in this book, which will surprise many Hamilton readers but it wasn't called for and wasn't necessary. This tied up external plots and even a few internal ones as well. I hear Laurell's voice, literally, as I read this. She has exp...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

11/15/08

The Listmaker rated it:

bookshelves: paranormal

A vast improvement over the last few books in this series.

Fast paced action and developements move the story forward after it seemed to have stalled last year.

Obviously Ms. Hamilton listened to the criticism of her fans and gave them what they've clamored for in the last year or more.

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

02/23/09

Ashley Ann rated it:

bookshelves: my-personal-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Like this review? yes

add a comment

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 109 110 next »

polls

What is your favorite Merry Gentry Book so far?

A Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry, Book 1)

7 votes, 15.6%

A Caress of Twilight (Meredith Gentry, Book 2)

7 votes, 15.6%

A Stroke of Midnight (Meredith Gentry, Book 4)

0 votes, 0.0%

Seduced by Moonlight (Meredith Gentry Novels)

6 votes, 13.3%

Mistral's Kiss (Meredith Gentry, Book 5)

7 votes, 15.6%

A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry, Book 6)

9 votes, 20.0%

Swallowing Darkness (Meredith Gentry, Book 7)

9 votes, 20.0%

45 total votes

8 comments Sign in to vote!

More...

recent status updates | recommend it | blog it

combine
other editions (6)

More editions...

quotes from this book

"But I knew she was gone. There might be moments of breath, and pulse, but it was not life. It was what the body does at the end sometimes, when the mind and soul are gone, but the body doesn't understand yet that death has come, and there is no more (58)." More quotes...