The Darkest Whisper is the fourth full length novel and sixth story from the Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter that focuses on a number of immortal warriors, both male and female; each book in the main series focuses on a separate Lord and the short stories focus on other warriors that are distantly connected to the Lords. Now that I am further into the series, I want to make a note to say that you could pick up any of the books because they focus on individual warriors so they are mostly self-contained though there are other storylines about the other Lords which continues throughout the series.
Rating: 9
Recommended To: Those that like paranormal books, though definitely for an adult audience
Favourite Characters: Gwen - the not so timid; Paris - love the progression of his story
Favourite Part: An earsplitting squeak suddenly erupted from sweet little Gwen.
Both he and Kaia froze. Even Taliyah and Bianka stopped their sparring to face Gwen as she crouched, sights locked on her redheaded sister. The whites of her eyes had already turned black. - Page 249
Good Points: New mythical creatures; progression of the story; Sabin grew on me
Bad Points: Gwen's parentage seems too much
The Darkest Whisper focuses on Sabin, the leader of the Greek warriors and the warrior possessed by the demon of Doubt who whispers words of uncertainties in the minds of its victims (as well as Sabin's eventually) to satisfy its needs like Reyes needs to either inflict or receive pain to satisfy his own demon. On a mission to stop the Hunters and find Pandora's Box. Sabin and a handful of his fellow Lords come across a number of women caged, some pregnant and all some kind of Supernatural being; among them is Gwen, a harpy, who hasn't been harmed at all but is dishevelled and dirty. The moment Sabin sees her, he is smitten and his demon wants her much like his fellow Lords when they first saw the women they fell for. Once Gwen is released from her glass cage, she incidentally attacks those that held her hostage savagely, terrifying the Lords who subsequently take her home to keep her (and others) safe.
Recommended To: Those that like paranormal books, though definitely for an adult audience
Favourite Characters: Gwen - the not so timid; Paris - love the progression of his story
Favourite Part: An earsplitting squeak suddenly erupted from sweet little Gwen.
Both he and Kaia froze. Even Taliyah and Bianka stopped their sparring to face Gwen as she crouched, sights locked on her redheaded sister. The whites of her eyes had already turned black. - Page 249
Good Points: New mythical creatures; progression of the story; Sabin grew on me
Bad Points: Gwen's parentage seems too much
The Darkest Whisper focuses on Sabin, the leader of the Greek warriors and the warrior possessed by the demon of Doubt who whispers words of uncertainties in the minds of its victims (as well as Sabin's eventually) to satisfy its needs like Reyes needs to either inflict or receive pain to satisfy his own demon. On a mission to stop the Hunters and find Pandora's Box. Sabin and a handful of his fellow Lords come across a number of women caged, some pregnant and all some kind of Supernatural being; among them is Gwen, a harpy, who hasn't been harmed at all but is dishevelled and dirty. The moment Sabin sees her, he is smitten and his demon wants her much like his fellow Lords when they first saw the women they fell for. Once Gwen is released from her glass cage, she incidentally attacks those that held her hostage savagely, terrifying the Lords who subsequently take her home to keep her (and others) safe.
While there
has been a few mythical beings featured in this series, angels, demons,
immortal warriors, and gods (of some sort), I love that there is a new type of
mythical being because it brings a breath of fresh air to the series and made
Gwen extremely intriguing as I didn't know what to expect because harpies
haven't been seen before. I loved how
surprised the Lords were when they found out Gwen is only in her 20s despite
harpies living for centuries, if not forever, because it sparked questions such
as why she was young in comparison to her sisters who are centuries old. I found it interesting as Showalter delved
into the traits of the harpies because every new piece of information adds to
the world of the Lords of the Underworld,
allowing a picture to become better formed in my imagination.
While I
mentioned previously in this review that these books can be read out of order
because each book focuses on separate Lords (as well as other warriors in the
short stories), there is an underlying story with the Lords trying to find
Pandora's Box so that the Hunters can't rip the demons out of each of them
which would kill them. I love how this
story is progressing and developing over the course of the series because the
pace has allowed me to get to know each warrior individually and from my point
of view, a bond was able to form between myself and each Lords which meant I
could understand how each of them felt throughout their own book and
thereafter. As the story progressed,
I've not been able to second guess what happens which is great because the
unpredictability draws me in and keeps me interested.
As I said
of the beginnings of this review, I said that I didn't like Sabin because he
was quite harsh with the women that had moved into the Budapest fortress, even
though it is his nature; I found it really off-putting and was dreading to read
this book. However, Sabin actually grew
on me because his character softened as Gwen hooked herself into his heart and while
I don't love him as much as I did the previous three Lords (Maddox, Lucien, and
Reyes), I became fascinated by him as I began to understand why he behaved the
way he did towards Danika in The Darkest
Pleasure. After this book, I hope I
won't be so quick judge any of the other Lords though I am curious to read
Amun's book seen as he never speaks which could be interesting or a really short book.
I really
loved Gwen because she was a new kind of mythical being which was interesting
and she became even more interesting when she out against her fellow harpies,
her sisters, because they are blood thirsty and extremely vicious throughout
the book. Despite her initial attack on
one of the Hunters which tipped off the Lords of her true nature, Gwen seems to
be the complete opposite as she is reluctant to embrace her true nature; she
lives up to her nickname "Gwen the timid". However, Sabin brings her out of her shell by
challenging her and allows her to fully embrace her harpy nature, pulling
herself up onto the same level as the other women of this series who are as
equally protective and formidable as the men they have fallen in love with.
I've always
loved Paris because I thought he was the most intriguing Lords because I found
him to be the most tortured (except Torin as he can't touch anyone) because
unlike his fellow Lords, he can't find a woman that he can love for eternity
because his demon is unable to bed the same person, be it man or woman, more
than once, until his story developed and he discovered he was able to become aroused
by the same woman more than once. This progression
gave a hint of hope for Paris's happiness but it was then ripped away by
Sienna's death. It was heartbreaking
because Showalter made me root for every Lord from the very beginning and
seeing Paris hurt and emotionally broken is upsetting. He's hard to predict how any of these stories
are going to progress but I hope for a happy ending for Paris.
Now the only thing I didn't like about this book was Gwen's parentage (her father anyway) seemed to be too coincidental and forced. It could have been anyone in the world but this was too obvious as you get further into this book. While it keeps the characters connected, it could have been interesting to bring in a different character so there is less baggage weighing the Lords down because they already have a lot of problems without throwing Gwen's in. I apologise that this point is vague but I don't want to give too much away.
Now the only thing I didn't like about this book was Gwen's parentage (her father anyway) seemed to be too coincidental and forced. It could have been anyone in the world but this was too obvious as you get further into this book. While it keeps the characters connected, it could have been interesting to bring in a different character so there is less baggage weighing the Lords down because they already have a lot of problems without throwing Gwen's in. I apologise that this point is vague but I don't want to give too much away.
An earsplitting squeak suddenly erupted from sweet little Gwen.
Both he and Kaia froze. Even Taliyah and Bianka stopped their sparring to face Gwen as she crouched, sights locked on her redheaded sister. The whites of her eyes had already turned black. - Page 249
I love how
this shows how protective/possessive Gwen is, just like Sabin; she doesn't like
the fact her sisters are being cruel towards him so she fully embraces her true
nature and is willing to someone she loves to protect someone else she
loves. I loved how it also shows the
other side of Gwen's personality, the Harpy as she calls it, and it was
refreshing to see Sabin intimidated by someone.
Well now I've read about four of the Lords and while I dreaded this particular book, I have enjoyed them all and even grown to like Sabin (though not as much as Maddox, Reyes, or Lucien). I have another full length novel from this series to read in my stack but I don't intend to read it at the minute, though I have another short story to read which follows this so a review for that will be up soon but not until I've read the sequel to Resenting the Hero, The Hero Strikes Back.
Well now I've read about four of the Lords and while I dreaded this particular book, I have enjoyed them all and even grown to like Sabin (though not as much as Maddox, Reyes, or Lucien). I have another full length novel from this series to read in my stack but I don't intend to read it at the minute, though I have another short story to read which follows this so a review for that will be up soon but not until I've read the sequel to Resenting the Hero, The Hero Strikes Back.
Predictions
1. Aeron discovers who is following him and they fight
2. Aeron's pet returns to hell
3. Paris
discovers Sienna's alive
Other Books By Gena Showalter
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