Title: The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld, Book 3)Author: Gena ShowalterGenre: PNR"Why can´t I be normal?"p.198
Because of reasons I can´t quite explain, I haven´t read the Lords of the Underworld Series until a while ago, even though I´ve heard a lot about Gena Showalter´s books. After I´ve read an interview and review
here, I´ve decided it´s about time to change this.
I´m glad I did.
Reyes, possed by the demon of pain, doesn´t know pleasure without pain. Yet one day, Danika steps into his live and changes everything. For her, he´s willing to take on everything, even the gods.
We´ve met Danika in the first book, where she, her sister, grandmother and mother have been kidnapped by the Lords, partly to keep them safe but also to figure out what to do with them, since Aeron, the Keeper of Warth has been ordered by the gods to kill them all. Ever since meeting her then, Reyes hasn´t been able to forget Danika.
*I try to avoid any spoilers for all of you who haven´t read the book yet.*Now, Danika has been sent to the Lords by the Hunters to act as bait. Even though Reyes knows this, he still can´t change how he feels for her. Both however struggle with admitting the truth about their feelings. Reyes because he´s afraid of hurting Danika through his uncontrollable need to inflict pain. Dannika because she knows who Reyes is and thinks she should hate the man who has once kidnapped her and those dearest to her.
Their story is very compelling and passionate and you can feel with both of them as they try to figure out whether to listen to their heart or the voice of reason and battle each with his/her very own demon. The depiction of the characters´ thoughts and feeling makes you think they are actually real.
At first, I was a little concerned about how the author would deal with the "no pleasure without pain" situation, but while some of the scenes (of which one takes place in a bathroom) are mildly disturbing, they are still in line with the caracter and neverunnecessarily crass or even disgusting. Quite the contrary, Gena Showalter manages to add a very sensual note to the whole play of pain and passion (at least as far as I´m concerned.)
Aeron plays an essential part in this story and he´s shown at his worst, completly overcome by his demon, moody and enraged. I guess you could see this part of the story as a kind of prologue to his book. Even though he is only a secondary character (at least in this book), the desperation and hopelessnes ofhis situation really touched me just as much as the love story between Danika and Reyes. It was also one of the most endearing traits of Reye´s character to see how much he cares about his friend Aeron, how he really suffers with him and blames himself.
I also like the smaller yet still importent side story featuring Paris, which is kind of heartbreaking and makes me hope for the book where he´ll find the right woman.
Besides all that, the war with the Hunters also reaches a new dimension, as one of the major players is revealed.
All in all, The Darkest Pleasure a very intense book with dark and compelling characters and intersting sidestorys that make you want to read the next book as soon as possible.
In the end, the story of Reyes and Danika is completed while other storylines are to be continued in the following book.
My rating: 4.5 of 5
The next book in the Series called
The Darkest Whisper.
You can read an excerpt
here.For other books of Gena Showalter and more free excertps, please visit her
homepage and her
blog.
