So after the rush of finally reading Acheron's emotional hurricane of a book you get to this one. Stryker's. And you think, "Huh." It's small, and is obviously set around Christmas but it's about Stryker. The bad guy that's been hanging around for like 10 books now, so it would be interesting to see a love situation for this antagonist. Then you meet his lady love who has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

I get it. They're the "bad" guys. They're supposed to be evil. But even Stryker has shown depth beyond, "Evil! Evil! Evil" with his relationship with Apollymi and his Daimons and even the way in which he's battled the dark hunters. He's a formidable villian who fights with a warrior's code. His ex-wife is brought back onto the scene by Artemis because Stryker has awoken War in his effort to kill Acheron and Nick this episode, and we all now Artie just wants to protect Ash in the end. For Kat. Right. So yes, here is Zephyra, who was once the 14 year-old wife of Stryker, and was the timid, tiny blond daughter of a poor fisherman with a mean right hook. The two 14 year-olds met and fell in love and got married because that's what you did back then, and in there time together had really heated sex that they both still think about. Stryker had to leave his teenage bride because Daddy Apollo picked a more suitable choice for him, and amongst his "Daddy! No's!" He ended up peacing out anyway, because there were threats of rape and murder so he left behind his pregnant teen wife who then gave birth to both a daughter and a mean chip on her shoulder. Enter Apollo's curse and some wheeling and dealing and you've got a pissed off ex and a curious daughter who both enjoy torturing the mysterious character Jared who they keep locked up in their basement. To these broads killing children is nothing to freak over. Check your morals at the door when it comes to fighting with these ladies. And yes, one of them we're supposed to root for to fall in love. How...romantic. And I love two romantic leads that fight it out until the love kicks in, so it wasn't them trying to kill each other that threw on the brakes for me. It was the heated memories of 14 year-old sex and him instantly wanting to bone her and her wanting to kill everything in sight. Painfully. All very weird.

That being said, aside from crazy bloodthirsty Zephyra, I enjoyed the glimpse of Ash with Tory at home together. That was worth trudging through the strange romance of the main characters. This book is rolling in the new battlefield for the dark hunters, which hasn't included many dark hunters yet. It's been a minute since we've seen those guys do their work. This is the organization of the Daimons and this is the entrance of who Jared is and the Source and all these evil Greek ghosts. Like War and his friends. Savitar shows up, which gives me an Acheron-like thrill. Apollymi and him seem to have an interesting back and forth, which may or may not be a prelude to something, even though Savitar always calls Ash his little brother. Oh, and some WTF revelations are made about Nick. So it was all of that that made this book enjoyable and hurry up let's read the next one. Not the romance. But when you're as deep into this world as you are by this book you'll forgive the hiccup.