REVIEW: The Darkest Kiss

Gena Showalter
The Darkest Kiss (LotU #2)
Harlequin
ISBN-10: 0373772327
ISBN-13: 978-0373772322
Paranormal romance
June 1, 2008

Yall know by now, a few spoilers…

Anya is the minor goddess of Anarchy, and she quite likes it that way. A professed liar and thief, she has no regrets, except for when it comes to one thing. Due to an unfairly bequeathed curse, she is doomed to never know pleasure. And until she meets the Keeper of Death, Lucian, she’s never fully hungered for it. Though he keeps her at arms length, she’s enamored of the warrior enough to follow him, haunting his every step. But she harbors another burden, one that the gods crave. Will it keep her from the relationship she wants with Death?

Lucian doesn’t understand the interest Anarchy has for him. He houses one of the deadly demons inside him, Death itself, and spends his days fighting off deadly Hunters and escorts souls to their final destinations. Scarred emotionally and physically, he’s convinced no woman could sincerely be interested in him. Anya’s attentions are becoming increasingly time consuming though and just when her kiss works its sensual magic beneath his skin, the Titans intervene once more and saddle Lucian with his own curse. Kill Anya or all those Lucian holds dear will suffer. Lucian, and soon Anya, must find a way to unravel the gods’ mind twisting machinations, before everything they’ve come to care for is lost.

This series still has not quite reached the level I’d hoped it would. With the first full-length intro, The Darkest Night, I was left immensely dissatisfied with the main couple, Ashlyn and Maddox. Unfortunately, in The Darkest Kiss, Anya and Lucian fell short in numerous ways as well.

But first, what I did like:

• Anya’s determination to buck the Titan system and her unyielding pride at being Anarchy. You go girl. For that you get brownie points. So obviously, she is a strong character…at least some of the time. I ended up wishing for a lot more of the down-to-earth and sensible Anya we get too little of.
• Lucian – despite an overall disappointment in his character, I did love it when he finally removes his head from his butt long enough to devlop some romantic feelings for Anya. Throughout most of the book, there is that sexual attraction, but with their somewhat crazy, UFC style relationship, it just didn’t ring true till they resolved all the tension. When they do, he was magical, hero worthy material.
• The way Showalter is manipulating Greek mythology for a unique paranormal romance experience. Anarchy is of course not really a goddess in the Greek pantheon, but I’m wondering if Anya’s character is loosely based on Eris, who was the goddess of strife or discord and the sister of Ares, god of war. Eris was the infamous producer of the golden apple prize that encompassed Hera, Aphrodite and Athena in a fight for it, eventually bringing about the Trojan War. Too, I’m just still really enjoying the overall concept of the series, that of the Greek warriors opening Pandora’s box and having to take into them one of the demons as a result.
• The set-up of future books – yep, the hook was baited and I willingly took it. I want to read Reyes’ book still, more than ever actually (details as to why below) and I still crave more Paris. Whatever that dude’s demon is releasing, pheromones, something, I. want. more.

And now for the dislikes:

The whole I’m cursed, you’re cursed, I can’t be with you because I’m cursed and this god is after me, to the now the same god is telling me this while he’s telling you that…damn it just got to be way too confusing. The whole pacing of this book, because of the leap-frogging plot, left me plain bored at some points and it took me too long to read the book as a result. Way too long.

Anya, for most of the duration, is a confusing muddle of clever, resourceful goddess and petulant, early teenage years child. It was her interactions with characters at any given moment that almost flat-out ruined this book for me. Sure, she might be Anarchy personified, but her snarky comebacks, flippant disregard and catty, childish answers made her seem more disorganized and bratty rather than the kick-butt and smart character that the word anarchy implies. Yes, she gives the Titans hell and certainly can hold her own in a fight, but man if her cringe-worthy comments didn’t take me out of the story every time.

When I did like her character it was because she had calmed the freak down. She’d let go all the threats from gods, the painful position her own curse put her in and she just became herself; caring, generous and trustworthy, a real heroine. There are even some really great moments of character development, but all mysympathy for her went out the door when her childish alter ego took over again. Too often though, we don’t get to read that compelling side of her. She’s hiding behind a nonchalant, devil-may-care attitude, as if she could care less how much she hurts Lucian, when we can clearly read, again, how much she does care for him. I kept waiting for the ridiculously long cat-and-mouse game on both their parts to be over. As a result, by the time I felt a smile crack at any of her truly heroine moments, I was beyond annoyed with her and looked forward to The End.

Lucian, Keeper of Death, I must admit, was not the same character my first impressions told me he was in the first book. For the most part, he held himself quietly aloof in The Darkest Night, tormented not only by his demon’s urges, but also by his role in Maddox’s nightly deaths. In his book, I was rather surprised to find his struggles overshadowed by Anya’s problems. It reminded me somewhat of a dance pair whereby the woman is decked out in all her finery and the male is really only there to lead her around as she wows the audience. I don’t know, I was left a bit confused as to the less than stand-out quality to Lucian’s personal story. I did love to read about his melting to Anya though. Even all her harping and childish dialogue couldn’t make me appreciate less Lucian’s budding romantic feelings.

And WTF was with all the hitting of each other? I know Lucian was ordered to kill Anya, but DAMN! Get a cage in the octagon already, and be done with it. Have that UFC dream fight and just get past it and down to the romance I could smell beneath all their blood and bruises. I wanted at one point to kick both their asses, but dang it all if I wasn’t exhausted after reading about all their battles.

For the most part, another befuddling, somewhat confusing couple for this one, a pair that I just could not fully appreciate, get into or connect with till almost the end of the book. By about the last quarter, I finally saw some growth in the two, the unveiling of their feelings and a profound relief at being able to somewhat say goodbye to a lot of their more painful interactions. But even the final resolution to their last roadblock to happiness was anti-climactic, too easily resolved and rather like a movie that had gone on much longer than it needed to.

The Elysian Fields are here somewhere, I know it…

After two disappointing books so far in the series, I’m asking myself why I still feel like going on. Reyes’ story is next, Keeper of Pain. So far we’ve not been treated to much of his back story at all, but we’ve at least been getting a somewhat buildup for it and he seems fairly well grounded in the woman who will be his heroine, Danika Ford. So far, their interactions have at least a thread of a mature, adult interaction. She seems to have a level head on her shoulders. And to be truthful, I’m very interested in seeing how Showalter handles a character that truly seems to relish physical pain that comes with pleasure (as was the impression I got from the excerpt for The Darkest Pleasure). He seems to both hate it and love it. Plus, I’m so damn curious to see why in the hell the Titans have it in for Danika’s small family. Like I said in my review for Night, someone sprinkled this series with chocolate-laced crack. That combined with my ongoing curiosity for future books (Paris, you’d BETTER be next after Reyes!) is my frank excuse. If we can be excused from any more childish characters, the third one could indeed be the charm this series needs to be for me.

Only because the build-up for future books and the overall series concept is still good and keeping me with my hand out, and because I never, ever want to read Anya’s and Lucian’s book again, The Darkest Kiss gets:

Rating: Two Scoops

Books released so far, in order:

The Darkest Fire (short story, ebook only), The Darkest Night, The Darkest Kiss, The Darkest Pleasure

for more on the series, visit the Lords of the Underworld.