Gena Showalter - The Darkest Kiss

Now for a more recent favourite series of mine; Lords of the Underworld.  After reading the first one as a taster, I immediately bought four more to add to my collection because I was hooked.

The Darkest Kiss is the second full length novel in the Lords of the Underworld series from Gena Showalter.  This series follows the same twelve warriors from the first book that released the demon lords from Pandora's Box and were subsequently cursed to be possessed by one of these demon lords and each book focuses on a different warrior and their separate experiences as immortals.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Those that like paranormal books, though definitely for an adult audience.

Favourite Characters: Lucien - really interesting

Favourite Part: "I remember Tartarus," Lucien said.  "I used to bring him prisoners.  He was an honorable man, even handsome, but I did not want to strip him."
"Lucien just made a funny."  She grinned.  She couldn't help herself. - Page 212

Good Points: The love interest wasn't human; completely different story to the others; expansion on the main warrior; makes sense more now after The Darkest Fire

Bad Points: Only a few of the other warrior were featured

The Darkest Kiss focuses on Lucien, the warrior who is the keeper of Death, almost the embodiment of Death; as he is this personification of Death, Lucien is tasked to eternally escort the souls of those that have died, both innocent and wicked, to the place they are destined to end up in.  His task absorbs most of his time, keeping him from indulging in his own pleasures, women or anything else, until Anya, the strawberry and cream scented goddess of anarchy and chaos.  Both immortals are drawn to one another but keep each other at arms' length so that neither would get hurt; Lucien doesn't want to hurt her emotionally and physically because of who he is and Anya is hiding a dark secret from him that she's hidden from everyone.  However as they both begin to consider even letting the other close, Lucien is ordered by Cronus, the "King of the gods" to kill Anya because there is something he wants from the goddess of anarchy and chaos.  Despite their attraction that draws them together, they know Lucien has to do his job willingly or he will be driven mad, like Aeron, so they begin to battle over her soul for reasons unknown to Lucien.

What's great about this book is that Lucien's love interest isn't human, unlike Ashlyn who was Maddox's, though she had a supernatural power.  They seem to make sense to me because they are both immortal, and while they can be killed in some way because they are not invulnerable to harm, they won't have to watch each other die of old age, meaning their love could be eternal literally, as long as they don't get sick of one another.  I also loved how Anya's presence has influenced Lucien's life where it used to be ordered and structured until Anya enters his life.  First, she helps him rid himself of his curse to escort Maddox's soul to the afterlife every night as he has done since Maddox killed Pandora centuries ago and then she continues to follow him around because she is fascinated by him.

If I hadn't of read The Darkest Fire recently, the second paragraph of the entire novel wouldn't have made sense, with the mention of the box being made of a goddess.  I loved this because it further implied that these books are in their own little world and not standalone from one another, they are interlinked despite focussing on different people.  This kept me interested by didn't overwhelm me because it's never completely about the same people but does look back on them occasionally.

I absolutely love how this series, particularly this book, further explores the focal warrior, in this case, Lucien.  Basic knowledge about Lucien and the other warriors, such as who they are, what they do and which demon lord they are possessed by (except Maddox who was the focus of The Darkest Night so the reader has already learnt a lot about him at this point) but more is learnt about Lucien - how he feels about everything in his life, what his personality is really like, and what really happened in his past.  There is the briefest mention in The Darkest Night that no one should piss Lucien off and it really isn't shown until The Darkest Kiss when he nearly destroys a room; the reader could, or I could at least, begin to finally understand Lucien and empathise with him and understand why even Maddox seems to fear Lucien's temper.  I love getting inside the character's head and Showalter enables this by writing Lucien's internal monologue about his innermost worries - from how attractive he is to how he feels in that moment.  This further allows a bond to be formed between Lucien and the reader and this can be carried on through the series like the bond that was formed with Maddox was brought forward in his brief appearance.

Another good point about this book was that it was different from the first book because the protagonist, Lucien, and his love interest, Anya, were pitted against one another and they even fought to the point of injuring one another while Maddox and Ashlyn just tried to fight Maddox's curse until they conquered it.  The story didn't bore me as it wasn't a repeat of the others I had read from this series despite there being similar elements such as the love interest's vulnerability and the protagonist's temperament as well as the physical relationship of these two.  These similarities were what attracted me to the series and the differences continue to keep me wanting more.  I hope this continues into the other books and I won't become bored like I am with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series.

I have to say Lucien is definitely my favourite character from this book and it's probably the same reason Maddox was my favourite character in The Darkest Night; I identified with him through Showalter's prose.  Having already met Lucien, the calm leader of the Budapest warriors who even terrified the warrior house Wrath, but little was known about him.  Once his character was explored further in this book and the prose that focussed on Lucien engaged me and sucked me into his life, allowing me to connect with him and understand him; this connection was formed like with every other protagonist and the reader because you are literally in their head, learning about what makes them tick.  I really felt my own heart breaking when he was reminiscing about a woman he loved when he was finally able to control the demon within.  Another great point of Lucien's character was that learning more about Lucien also means learning more about the entire group of warriors' past.

The only downside for me was that only a few of the other warriors were really featured unlike in the first book where they were ALL introduced and I became curious at what they were doing while Lucien was with Anya.  This might be because of my curious nature so it wasn't a massive deal and I know they are going to be explored in other books but even the briefest mention other than they were all somewhere else as a group would have been good.

"I remember Tartarus," Lucien said.  "I used to bring him prisoners.  He was an honorable man, even handsome, but I did not want to strip him."
"Lucien just made a funny."  She grinned.  She couldn't help herself. - Page 212

It was good to see the stoic immortal of Death cracking a joke because it shows a sense of humour, breaking out of the stereotype of him being stern, strict, and rigid.   He also seems to soften in Anya's presence and this shows a depth to his character, making him even more interesting for me.

There is definitely more to come from both this author and this series as I am hooked.  Next up is the story of Reyes, the warrior bound to pain.

Predictions

1. Reyes convinces Danika to trust him

2. Reyes and Aeron battle one another
3. Paris continues to struggle with his demon

Other Books By Gena Showalter