Acheron (Dark-Hunter Novels)
EUR 21,98
Mixed feelings - Finally, after years of waiting, author Kenyon delivers the story of Asheron- first, oldest, hottest, and most mysterious of the Dark Hunters. It seems nearly inevitable that all the expectations which have grown to tremendous proportions would be nearly impossible to meet. Despite all these rationalisations, I felt a little disappointed. The first part describes Ashs upbringing in gruesome detail. Over 400 pages of sexual abuse, degradation, brutality, torture, castration and much more. While the concept of tortured heroes is a popular one among paranormal romances, this one got way too far for my tastes. Several times I simply did not want to go on reading, not exactly a recommendation for a book. What kept me going was the need to know the solution to all the mysterious bits and pieces of Ash which were shown in the other DH books.Here Kenyon delivers the full background and therefore it was still worth the read. Nevertheless, I certainly will never read this part of the book again.The second part is more traditional, describing how Ash falls in love with Soteria. Sadly, the story didnt sing for me like the other DH ones. After torturing the reader - and the hero - over hundreds of pages and thousands of years with descriptions of unwanted sexual encounters and showing Ash as a self-contained, reclusive, and strictly no-touch person, he begins lusting for a female he humiliated in public who hates his guts. The following events do not click either, as already mentioned in the rescensions above.I got the impression that Ms. Kenyon poured much of her own experiences into the first part of the book - I cant imagine anyone without firsthand experience to invent some of the deatils - which makes it so incredibly dense and hard to bear. The trap lies in creating a believable transition from the tortured to the loving and trusting person and still keeping up the depth. In the previous books, she did this convincingly (p.e. Zarek or Valerius), but in the case of mighty and mysterious Asheron, it fell a little flat. How does an Atlantean god fall in love? This should be an earthshaking, rock-the -house- to its-foundations-story. Sadly, for me, it was not. The timing feels off, the emotional responses are unconvincing, and the chances for a racey adventure-story (chasing after the lost treasure) could have profited from more scenes and details.In a nutshell: for readers interested in the Dark-Hunters, this book is a must-have, be prepared for a bumpy ride.
I m so disappointed! - How excited I was when this book finally made it to my doorstep. If only I had known the strong, sexy protagonist that I came to like so much from the other books had been replaced by the wuss I read about for frankly too many pages in this book.OK, the first 21 years of his life were tough - after 400 odd pages of reading about the various ways he suffered, was tortured, raped, mutiliated, ridiculed and finally killed I REALLY got that. But why in the name of the gods didn t he get to grips with it in the ELEVEN THOUSAND years following that?! Talking about a slow learner... Ater all that time he was still the same small boy that only wanted someone to love him - endearing yes, but hot? NO WAY! I dearly missed some sort of development, of growth, of ways he mastered his tough youth, learned from it and proved to himself and his friends that he was worthy. But page after page he wallowed in his self doubt, and in the end still hid from his friends because he was too ashamed of his past to stand up for himself and say: Yes, this happened, but it didn t kill me - it only made me stronger!The love story didn t help the plot either. To me it seemed he only fell in love with Tory because he needed someone to rescue him from Artemis and be his new babysitter. After the few days they spent together their everlasting love was not convincing at all and frankyl said, I didn t even like Tory that much. Their love didn t evolve, they didn t get to know each other as the people they are. He didn t even trust her with his secrets in the first place but blurted it out in a drunken stupor. To me Tory was more of a mother figure than a lover and he more of a little boy in need of rescuing than a man that can pull his own weight in a relationship. Yes, yes, I know - most fans of this series like insecurities in a tough guy and heroines that can kick butt with the best of them - it s been the plot from the beginning - but for Acheron I had hoped to get MORE. I really wanted his story to be extraordinary!OK, if you are a fan of the darkhunter series, read it. You will probably feel cheated if you don t. But if you want to read a really good book, with a fast-moving, believable plot go buy a different one. PLEASE MISS KENYON. RECONSIDER! WRITE THIS BOOK AGAIN AND GIVE ACHERON THE STORY HE DESERVES.
Acheron! Great! - This book is so from great! From the begin to the end was just breathtaking. I have cried with Acheron, smile when he smiles and was sad when he was sad. So much pain and sarrows Acheron must go thru. I was just lost in this book. Wonderfully written.
Perfect - can t wait for more - After waiting for years (not always patiently) the book of the books Acheron finally arrived in August, 2008. First impresisions: the cover looks really beautiful and the book is a big one, 722 pages to enjoy.Like many other fans of the Hunter-series I had high expectations regarding this book. And for me all of them were fullfilled because the book is just perfect. Ok, part 1 is hard too read because it deals with Ash s past and after getting glimpses of it in other books now for the first time you see the whole horrible tragedy of it. I cried several times while reading it because of what Ash had to go through. But you have to read it to really understand the person Ash is today and to finally understand what motivates him to make a change in the human world. Part 2 is all about the present and giving Acheron some much needed happiness. For the second time in the series you meet his heroine, Tory, who is just perfect for him (after reading part 1 it became clear that Artemis could never be his heroine). Tory, more at home in the world of history and books, is the perfect match for Acheron because she has no prejudices and a lot of love to give without demanding anything Ash doesn t want to give. It s nice to see how Ash behaves with someone he truly loves and trusts (ok, I had to cry again, because it s just so beautiful reading about him being happy). Besides seeing Ash truly happy for the first time there are going on other interesting developments involving Nick and Artemis. You also get to see some glimpses of Savitar and his humour and I really enjoyed his interactions with Ash. Hope Sav will get his own book in the future. So as a facit if you haven t already bought yourself a copy of Acheron get one, look for a quiet place, grab some tissues, enough food and water for a couple of days and enjoy this perfect book. Have fun - norarobertsismyqueen.
Lange gewartet und dennoch... - Lange habe ich auf dieses Buch gewartet und nach dem Lesen war die Welt doch nicht so in Ordnung wie erhofft. Die Zweiteilung der Handlung in Acherons Lebensgeschichte und sein aktuelles Schicksal war eine gute Idee, wobei man dazu sagen muss, dass der erste Teil in sich nochmal unterteilt ist. Gerade der erste Teil in der Ich-Persepektive war erst gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber nach gut 50 Seiten hatte man sich eingelesen.Vieles, was hier ausführlich behandelt wurde, kam in früheren Bänden schon mal in einem Nebensatz vor und wie bereits in anderen Rezessionen erwähnt, fast alle Fragen wurden beantwortet.Alles in allem ist das erste Buch durchweg, negativ, grausam und manche Stellen rühren den Lese (zumindest in meinem Fall) auch zu Tränen.Das zweite Buch hingegen ist wieder ganz im Stil der anderen Sherrylin Kenyon Romane gehalten. Während der erste Teil von Anfang an überzeugend und einfach großartig war, muss man hier doch so manches Mal einen Abstrich machen. Perfekt ist es nicht. Allen voran verhält sich Ash an machen Stellen einfach so untypisch im Vergleich zu den vorhergehenden Büchern. Besonders eine Stelle hat mich dann doch den Kopf schütteln lassen. Ohne zuviel zu verraten, verhält er sich hier doch mehr als tolptschig, was so gar nicht zu ihm passen will.Auch die sanfte Seite der Person Acheron Parthenopaeus will nicht immer so ganz überzeugen.Alles in allem jedoch lässt sich das Buch sehr gut lesen und es ist erfreulich, dass fast alle Figuren früherer Werke einen kleinen Auftritt haben.Abschließend ein Wort zum Vorwort der Autorin, die schreibt, sie hätte hiermit das Dark Hunter Universum entfaltet und beschäftigt sich nun mit anderen Figuren aus der Welt. Für einen Fan der Reihe birgt dies gemischte Gefühle und man fragt sich, was passiert, wenn man ab jetzt auf weitere Dark Hunter zugunsten der Dämonenseite, die im nächsten Buch ihren Anfang nimmt, verzichten muss.