The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, #1) in Book Bloggers Anonymous

May 07, 2010 Kelly/yllektra rated it it was ok

It wasn't that it was bad, but I don't know for a first book in a series, I was expecting it to be "tighter", you know? The characters were the tortured bad boys, with a heart of gold that we all know and love, but the love story as it unfolded between Maddox and Ashlyn just didn't convince me. It was all too fast, too neat, too easy. I mean I know she couldn't take the voices anymore, but she saw this huge man in front of her - a man she didn't know whether he was good or bad and she wasn't sca ...more

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Oct 26, 2010 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, para-angels-demons

Ok, wow. Just wow. I had read a few Lords of the Underworld short stories in various anthologies and liked them a lot and expected greatness from this series, but even my high expectations were easily surpassed by The Darkest Night.

The Lords introduced in this series starter were enthralling. I couldn't get enough of them, constantly hoping Showalter would give more information about each of them. Maddox, the main focus of The Darkest Night, holds Violence within him. While that should have made ...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Deea (Andreea) rated it it was ok

Shelves: my-audiobooks, pnr

*sigh* I don't know how to rate this book. Let's say... 2.5 stars

I'm going to give the next book in the series a try as well, Anya seems fun and interesting and I'm a bit curious about what's going to happen next with the main story. Besides, long series always get better and better with each new book, right? And I can see the potential here. :D (yeah, this is me trying to see the bright side LOL). I also like the main idea of the series, it's pretty interesting and funny in a dark, twisted sort ...more

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Mar 17, 2010 Larissa rated it really liked it

I don’t know why it took me so long to succumb to The Lords of The Underworld (LOTU) series, but it did. I love the Demonica series, The Black Dagger Brotherhood and the Midnight Breed series and Gena Showalter’s series has a similar structure and always attracted me in some level.

A while back i got the prequel, Darkest Fire, I liked it, but wasn’t that impressed. I started The Darkest Night back then too, but it didn’t really grab me so I gave it a break.

I got an ARC for one of the Series’ 2010 I don’t know why it took me so long to succumb to The Lords of The Underworld (LOTU) series, but it did. I love the Demonica series, The Black Dagger Brotherhood and the Midnight Breed series and Gena Showalter’s series has a similar structure and always attracted me in some level.

A while back i got the prequel, Darkest Fire, I liked it, but wasn’t that impressed. I started The Darkest Night back then too, but it didn’t really grab me so I gave it a break.

I got an ARC for one of the Series’ 2010 release, so i decided to read the rest of the books before digging into it. I just can’t read the 5th or 6th books of a series without reading the rest, does anyone else has that problem? LOL

Well, I am happy to say that this time around, The Darkest Night caught me good! I have been in a LOTU obsession these past couple days and I just can’t stop reading it. I’m on the third book right now and loving it =)

The LOTU series follows the PNR pattern of following a group of supernatural being and each book gives us the HEA (Happily Ever After) of each one of them.

The Lords of the Underworld were Immortal Greek Warriors that worked for the Gods of old, until one day Zeus left an important Box to be guarded by Pandora and the other Warriors felt cheated. They opened the box, releasing a horde of Demons onto the world and killed Pandora. As a punishment for their act, Zeus bonded each of them to a Demon and left them to fend for themselves for all eternity, banishing them from Mount Olympus.

Maddox is bonded to the demon of Violence and since he was the one to kill Pandora, he is cursed to die as she did every night and spend the whole night being tortured in hell and wake up the next day to start all over again.

Ashlyn has always been different, being able to hear whatever has been said at any given time, wherever she goes and has been raised in an institute and unknowingly been used for her ability by a group that has been hunting The Lords since ancient Greece, called Hunters.

I loved both Maddox and Ashlyn, they are such strong characters with such difficult pasts and different kinds of curses. Maddox is Violence, but Ashlyn calms him; whenever Ashlyn is close to Maddox the voices are quiet and he is her silence in midst torment.

"I love you, too. So much. I'm a violent man with violent emotions, but I do not want you ever to fear that I'll become violent with you. I can't hurt you. It would be worse than cutting out my own heart."

They are perfect for each other in every way and their love goes above and beyond any obstacles. The sacrifices they are willing to make for each other are humbling and were really beautiful to read about. They are also sexy as hell, with great chemistry and got me fanning myself whenever they got together!

The Lords of the Underworld is a very dark series where the line between Heroes and Villains has never been thinner, the LOTU are strong, cursed, damned and victims of the natures of the demons that inhabit them, but they are also honorable and fight their demons’ natures all the time.

I really enjoyed that duality and I am really looking forward to reading the stories of each lord. This is definitely a greats series to read if you are a PNR fan =) ...more

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Feb 12, 2010 GinBee rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010-read, all-pnr-uf, 1st-in-series, x-reviewed-old, paranormal-romance, read-fiction, owned-physical

Ashlyn Darrow is tormented by the voices she hears, wherever she goes she hears every conversation which has ever taken place there. She travels the world helping the Institute to find out about paranormal creatures, but she knows little beyond her own work. Having being given to the Institute by her parents at only five years old, she has never really know any different until she ascends the hill towards to strange and mysterious fortress where the locals says angels or demons live. Ashlyn hope Ashlyn Darrow is tormented by the voices she hears, wherever she goes she hears every conversation which has ever taken place there. She travels the world helping the Institute to find out about paranormal creatures, but she knows little beyond her own work. Having being given to the Institute by her parents at only five years old, she has never really know any different until she ascends the hill towards to strange and mysterious fortress where the locals says angels or demons live. Ashlyn hopes they may have “gifts” like hers and be able to help her. Her first encounter with the Lords happens when she sees Maddox kill four Hunters and come towards her. Terrified as she is still she realises the silence around him.

Ashlyn is a sweet and innocent character despite being tormented as she is by the voices. As soon as she meets Maddox she is attracted to him and even more to the silence she has when around him. So relaxing yet she is desperate to leave at first, not for long of course being and romance!

Maddox is the keeper of violence, twice cursed since he killed Pandora after being possessed by the demon of violence, he is condemned to die at midnight everyday and spend the next few hours reportedly burning in hell. His curse also curses Lucien (death) and Reyes (pain) to kill him each day. Cursed by the Greek gods they see no way out, that is until Ashlyn and the take over by the titan gods. A huge sacrifice would be needed, can it be done? Should it be done? I can’t tell you with out a huge spoiler!

Ashlyn and Maddox seem a very odd couple at first but end up loving each other and needing each other. A romance with a few steamy encounters and lots of problems.

The fortress in Budapest is a prison for the Lords of the Underworld. The Lords are each cursed to have a demon inside them after opening the box containing them and angering the Gods, they objected to Pandora being given the job of guarding the box. Maddox as the keeper of violence errupts and kills Pandors, condemning him to his curse. The Lords hold the demons of violence, pain, death, disease, promiscuity etc, each bringing with it different issues and problems.

Maddox and the other Lords assume Ashlyn is bait at first, she does not tell them her story for quite a long time, even Maddox after he has started to possessively defend her in a way the rest of the Lords simply can not comprehend. He sees her as beautiful and at first just wants her body, but ends up feeling something much deeper despite still being suspicious of her for quite a long time.

The rest of the Lords are introduced to us and their various demons explored to varying degrees as required for Maddox’s story. Enough so we know which demon they carry and a little about them to help us understand their actions, as well as have plenty of anticipation for future books featuring them.

As the Darkest Kiss is the first book in the Lords of the Underworld series there is inevitably quite a lot of world building and background detail, but I enjoyed that and made me interested to know what the stories of the rest of the Lords are. I enjoyed the book a lot and will definitely reading the rest of the series.
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Aug 04, 2010 Ni_kii rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: alpha-male, dreamy-men, gods

Well this was a good starter to a series I have been meaning to read in a while! I have given it 3 stars because, as a few other people have commented in their reviews, I had problems seeing Maddox as a whole person. I enjoyed his story, but the only thing we really learn about Maddox, as a character, is that he really hates his demon and really loves Ashlyn. I wanted to know more about his relationships with his fellow Lords, about how he spends his time when he wasn't with Ashlyn, but it just ...more

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Aug 14, 2010 Rachel (The Rest Is Still Unwritten) rated it really liked it

Shelves: i-own, favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
*Contains detailed sex scenes*

This book was brilliant. I’m a massive Gena Showalter fan and I’ve been soooo looking forward to getting my hands on this series. I was expecting a good read, and I’m happy to say I wasn’t disappointed. The moment I began reading I didn’t wanna stop and I ended up reading the book in less than a day.
In a lot of ways I was reminded of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward, but Lords of the Underworld is a unique and different concept; one that I found I l ...more

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