Year of Acheron

A year ago, my good friend Den introduced me to Sherrilyn Kenyon's series, Dark Hunters. It is a romance novle series, but a supernatural one at that.

So who are the Dark Hunters?

Dark-Hunters are warriors who have made a bargain with the goddess Artemis: their soul and an eternity of service in exchange for one act of vengeance against the person who caused their untimely death. Their job: to protect humans from Daimons—creatures who live by devouring human souls. Without souls themselves, Dark-Hunters are able to hunt the Daimons undetected, but they must avoid the touch of daylight. Dangerous predators, they walk forever in the night, seeking out the evil that lurks in the shadows. However eternity is a long time and if a Dark-Hunter can pass Artemis’s test, they can return to a normal life (normal being a relative term). Yet if a Dark-Hunter should choose wrongly, something far worse than death awaits him or her... But don’t feel badly for them because these warriors love being the scary things that go bump in the night.

Their backstories can be really more complicated than that, so desribing them in detail may take more time. But in a nutshell, that's what they are.

So, after reading the first book in the series ("Fantasy Lover" which technically isn't really a part of the DH continuity but crosses over to that world. Told you it was complicated), I got hooked. Oh there's the romance, yes, but I enjoyed the fight scenes and the action that you get as the story progresses. Not to mention the fact that Ms. Kenyon describes her characters as... well, I can just imagine them as a lucious chocolate dessert.

What's interesting with the series is that you'll meet characters that you will encounter in future books. Even the "bad" guys get their turn in the spotlight, and you'll be amused at how good they become.

One character you'll encounter in the series is Acheron. His story is so much more complicated than everyone else's, and he's know to hold the Fates (both of the world and of the goddesses themselves) in his hands. Acheron is currently the "boss" of all the Dark Hunters, but very little is known about him.

This month marks the release of Acheron's story.

I finally got my hands on a copy and sped-read like crazy. The Acheron story is done in two parts. The first tells of his past: his birth, his life growing up, his heritage, and how he became to be who he is now. The second part tells of Acheron's new life, how he discovers that he isn't as worthless as he thinks he is, even if people find out who he really is.

And that is all I can say without giving any spoilers. I have to admit that I skipped out so much of the first part. One, because it was too painful to read about Acheron's past (you would really feel sorry for the guy), and two, I really wanted to know who Acheron's partner is, and if she meets the expectations I have (not that I really have any, but due to Acheron's appearance in the past books, it's kind of hard to imagine who will make him a good partner). Lastly, some of the information about Ash was already revealed in the previous books, so delving deeper into his past wasn't something I wanted to do.



I enjoyed this book, as much as I enjoyed the others in this series. Ash acts more human that he has ever had, partly because he finally realized that he was worth something to someone, and that he truly had friends he can count on. I found plenty of funny scenes, especially when Ash, who is normally a very graceful guy, acts really clumsy and so out of character.

Ash's story isn't the end of the series. I don't think Ms. Kenyon will write about all the Dark Hunters and Dream Hunters, but there's still plenty of unresolved conflicts, especially with Ash. So there's still that to look forward to.