The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, #1) in Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group

Feb 11, 2010 Zeek rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-all-time, favorites-pnr, pnr, angels-gods-demons

Once I picked this book up I COULD NOT put it down!!

Totally yummy, I honestly believe this will be the series to launch Showalter into the stratosphere, much like Kenyon's Dark Hunters did for her. ( And speaking of- if you're anxious to get a fix while waiting for either Kenyon's or Ward's next releases- THIS IS THE SERIES FOR YOU!)

Here's the send up:

The Lords of the Underworld are immortal. Long ago they were guardians of the Greek Pantheon but one day Zeus decided to entrust a dangerous box t Once I picked this book up I COULD NOT put it down!!

Totally yummy, I honestly believe this will be the series to launch Showalter into the stratosphere, much like Kenyon's Dark Hunters did for her. ( And speaking of- if you're anxious to get a fix while waiting for either Kenyon's or Ward's next releases- THIS IS THE SERIES FOR YOU!)

Here's the send up:

The Lords of the Underworld are immortal. Long ago they were guardians of the Greek Pantheon but one day Zeus decided to entrust a dangerous box to someone other than them. Rather than have his strong armed warriors guard the infamous box that contained the most dangerous demons the world has ever seen, he gave them to Pandora to hold. The boys took affront and decided to prove Zeus made the wrong decision. Yeah, it ended up badly for them. With Pandora dead and the evil released, Zeus took his wrath out on the guardians and cast a demon into each of them, thus creating The Lords of the Underworld.

The Darkest Night is Maddox's story- Maddox is the Keeper of Violence.

Naturally life has been torture for Maddox living with Violence for thousands of years, but worse, because he was the one who slew Pandora, each night at the stroke of midnight he must relive her death in his own body with 6 stabs of the Keeper of Pain's sword (Reyes). After that the Keeper of Death (Lucien) takes him to hell where he lives through the fires of torment until morning.

In the beginning of the tale, Maddox is sent out to investigate some activity around the warriors secluded keep located on a mountain in Budapest. It's close to the midnight hour, but he's the only one around to do the job. While out there, he discovers the Hunters have returned- the humans who hundreds of years ago made it their mission to destroy the Lords. He quickly takes care of them, but he also comes upon a lovely lady who, unbeknownst to both of them, is the one who inadvertently led the hunters straight to their doorstep. (He thinks she's bait, she had no idea they were following her.)

Much of the book is taken up with the preceding misunderstanding, but the heat these two generate make up for it. She is, after all, his savior- as he is hers. You see Ashlyn, the mysterious lady, has a gift and only with him does the torment this gift causes her ease.

It truly is a fun read. If you haven't started this series and you love romance mixed with the paranormal like me, go ahead and give a try! ...more

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Aug 15, 2009 Shannon (Savhage Temptrest) rated it really liked it

Gena Showalter's "The Darkest Night" was a very interesting read to say the least! I enjoyed the "fairy tale" aspect of the book, and liked the direction this story took the readers in as well.

The first in the Lords of the Underworld series, this book opened up the world of immortal Greek soldiers possessed by demons as punishment for opening Pandora's box and murdering her. The main focus of this book is Maddox, a double-cursed soldier who is not only possessed by the demon Violence but also d ...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Peep (Pop! Pop!) rated it really liked it

Shelves: insane, read-in-2011, really-liked, liked-cause-im-crazy, manly-alpha-man, adult-cravings

So I have been looking for a book to tide me over until Hawkes book comes out. See, I like this genre. I think it would be considered loose fantasy, maybe paranormal romance? Anywho, I like it. But it has to be done a certain way. There has to be a touch of ridiculous, it has to have humor, and the men have to be men. Oh man, I love that. I'd heard of Gena Showalter but had never read her books. But, I needed a book and I was desperate... and this one was available at the library. Cut to a few h So I have been looking for a book to tide me over until Hawkes book comes out. See, I like this genre. I think it would be considered loose fantasy, maybe paranormal romance? Anywho, I like it. But it has to be done a certain way. There has to be a touch of ridiculous, it has to have humor, and the men have to be men. Oh man, I love that. I'd heard of Gena Showalter but had never read her books. But, I needed a book and I was desperate... and this one was available at the library. Cut to a few hours later and I am done with the book and I can't wait to read the next one.

Maddox is Violence. It was insane being inside his head but I liked it. I liked that he wasn't happy with it. I don't think I would have liked the book as much if he hadn't regretted what he had done in the past. But anyway, he was definitely a manly man and wasn't afraid to get into a brawl - with his friends! After the third fight all I could think was that these guys are crazy! But when you're an immortal dude that's been around for a while, what more can you do??

Ashlyn I liked a little but in the beginning I wanted to knock her on the head (blame the book for that violent thought!) for behaving the way she did. Maybe she was suffering from hypothermia and that's what made her behave like a ninny, but I looked it up and though confusion is a symptom, lack of common sense is not! No excuse lady! Anywho, she got better as the book went along.

As for the story, I thought it was OK. I didn't really see the Hunters as a threat. From what I saw from their fights, I think the boys could have handled them quite easily. But in their defense a lot had happened that week. There were no real bad guys to me. Just an inconvenient time, really. And then when one of the warriors got his chance to "shine", it was pretty uneventful. Sometimes the dialog between Ashlyn and Maddox got a little taxing.

Remember that touch of ridiculous that I said I liked? Well, there's a lot of that in this book. A lot of crazy and over the top but I still loved it. I loved the banter between everyone. I want to read about the other warriors! How could you not want to read about Death, Disease (poor Torin!), Wrath, Lies, etc?? Well, I could see how you wouldn't want to read about them so let's just pretend I never asked that question. Mmmkay? Still, on to the next book!!!

PS. Bloody kisses are NEVER, ever, ever cool. Ever. Never. Ewww. ...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Julie rated it it was amazing

Amazing start to a series!!!

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Jan 29, 2010 Nisha rated it really liked it

Shelves: dangerous-or-bad-boys, fantasy-romance, alpha-heros, gods-and-elements, mythology, angels-and-demons

While I really enjoyed reading this book, I feel like its a solid four. I give it points for creativity, and points for novel characters, and points for the setting (Budapest), and points for just being plain fun. I've read Gena Showalter before, and I have never been impressed with her until reading this book.

The story focuses on Ashlyn (I like her name), a 24 year old woman who can hear conversations that took place in any location she's at. Pretty detrimental for her social life and her sex While I really enjoyed reading this book, I feel like its a solid four. I give it points for creativity, and points for novel characters, and points for the setting (Budapest), and points for just being plain fun. I've read Gena Showalter before, and I have never been impressed with her until reading this book.

The story focuses on Ashlyn (I like her name), a 24 year old woman who can hear conversations that took place in any location she's at. Pretty detrimental for her social life and her sex life. But when she hears about 'Angels' living in Budapest who may be able to save her, she is compelled to meet them and even goes as far as trying to get to their house/mansion. Maddox, a warrior housing the Demon of Violence, suffers from a curse/punishment that brings him a painful death every night, just to wake up alive and ready to do it again. But the demon also plagues him with moments of an intense need to kill/hurt/destroy things. He is the definition of temperamental. After they meet, Ashlyn enjoys silence for the first time, and Maddox finally (after many many years) looks at a woman face-to-face. They are both attracted to each other, but they have a few secrets of their own that may destroy them.

As a fan of the BDB and other large groups of smoking hot men, I loved the Lords. They each had a distinct personality and a really creative take on demons, literal and figurative. So far, I love Torin (Disease - so he cannot touch anyone, in fear that he would spread a plague), Gideon (Lies - cannot speak the truth), Kane (Disaster - he seems almost accident prone, it's just kinda sad) and Paris (Promiscuity - who lives in a constant state of horniness). It's not often that you see these themes and I am psyched to read their own stories.

But I need to address a few issue. For one, the romance was a little iffy. Maddox was absolutely sucky at wooing Ashlyn. The only way I can explain them together is some cosmic connection, which honestly doesn't cut it for me. He had an almost single minded obsession of having sex with her. *I nearly forgot, the last love scene was very...mind-numbing.

"Hot," he said. "Wet."
"Big," she said, squeezing him. "Hard."

Direct quote, and at this point, it was too much dumbness. I had to tune out all the lemons.*

I was also really surprised about the addition of new characters, halfway into the book. It was sudden and very unexpected, but it did add some new characters to fantasize about. I was also really pissed off with the Lords when they never explained anything. It's not like they were under a vow of silence. Couldn't they explain the situation to the women they uprooted? But I guess it makes sense. These men don't know how to be around women, at all. They are remarkably dysfunctional, so any woman would just want to come over and fix them and rub their boo boo's.

Overall, I liked it, but just about as much as I liked Dark Lover. It's a good start and I see some promise. But mostly, I just like the unique themes that GS is willing to tackle. I would definitely recommend this to PNR lovers. ...more

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