Review: Acheron — by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Other Reviews: Goodreads

Intro:

Sherrilyn Kenyon’s world of “hunters” (Dark, Were, and Dream) is one full of magic, death, pain, hope, and love.  For an overlook of the series, check out my landing page of the Dark Hunters series.  Finding profound quotes from this book is extremely easy, characters like Tory, Ash, and Savitar speak philosophy as if Plato.  That being said, I tried to limit the quotes in this review.

Basic Plot:

Acheron “Ash” “Apostolos” as the leader of the Dark-hunters has sacrificed much blood and pain for his Dark-hunters.  Now he has found a Greek scholar, Soteria who is seeking the lost city of Atlantis.  But her discovery will be Ash’s downfall.  Will he help her to seek her destiny, by revealing his darkest secret?

Background:

This is book #15 of the series (not counting anthologies), and Acheron has been in most/all of them, as the hot but aloof leader of the Dark-hunters.  I have been looking forward to this book the entire series.  Ash was always the suffering leader, you knew he deserved more than the pain that he received from the twisted relationship with Artemis.

The novel Acheron is broken into two parts: Part I (9548 BC to 7382 BC) and Part II (Present).  Part I is Ash’s back-story, but beware it is horrific at times and you will have copious tears.  But knowing his past makes us understand how much he needs his salvation in Tory.

Female Lead:

Soteria (Tory) is a female that we can relate: average in appearance, committed to her work, and dedicated to her family.  She pursues the discovery of long-lost civilizations.  But most of all, she recognizes in Ash a man first, a leader second, and then the god.  She sees his value when others only see him as rubbish.  Tory speaking to Artemis:

“I love him.”

How can you say that?  You don’t even understand what love means.  Love isn’t being ashamed to be seen with the one you care about.  It isn’t about punishment or hurt.  Love is what gives you the strength you need to face anything no matter how brutal or frightening.  It’s what allowed Ash to be beaten rather than tell his father about you.  It’s what allowed him to be gutted on the floor at your feet rather than publicly shame you.  And you spat on him for that love and tore him apart.  For a goddess, you’re pathetic.”

What Ash needs is a strong female, who can stand by him and support him when he needs comfort and affection.  Ash has never had love and no one has ever really sacrificed for him.

Male Lead:

I believe that Ash is my favorite Alpha male: the strong, intelligent, and tortured fighter who keeps on in life when a weaker man would have given up.  He is deeper than his punker looks:

“It’s easy to look at people and make quick judgments about them, their present and their past, but you’d be amazed at the pain and tears a single smile hides.  What a person shows to the world is only one tiny facet of the iceberg hidden from sight.  And more often than not, it’s lined with cracks and scars that go all the way to the foundation of their soul.”

I love the personality of the biker philosopher; in Ash we see that appearances are not always true.  It is worth getting to know someone before you make assumptions.

Theme Summary:

One of my favorites is a quote by Ash’s Dark-hunters that seems to be his mantra: “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”  Often in this series our protagonists are asked to make difficult decisions that at first seem to take them away from their desires, but in reality it brings them closer.  For both Tory and Ash they need to discover what is really important, their past or their love?

Strong Points:

The world is amazing; we get to see past characters like Talon and others like Takeshi, Simi, and Savitar.  The strength of the storyline and the love story is #1.  The Part I portion of the book, while difficult to get through is important to the reader in understanding where Ash is in his life.  Kenyon does an excellent job of getting us to care about both of the protagonists.

The other strength is the dialogue, humor, and philosophy.  Ms. Kenyon has the ability to break down core philosophical statements and illustrate them throughout the story.   Example:

“How could one sentence uttered in anger cause so much damage?  But then words were the powerful thing in the universe.  Cuts and bruises always healed, but words spoken in anger were most often permanent.  They didn’t damage the body, they destroyed the spirit.”

Ms. Kenyon knows the power of the written word.

What could be better?

The problem with having such as a long series, in which Ash has participated, is that our expectations are so high they will never be met.  We have had years to create this perfect (imperfect) man, so once his book occurs, it almost feels anticlimactic.

Conclusions:

Overall, this is an excellent book and is my favorite in the series.  The problem being, after Acheron, I just lost interest in the series.  The series is often hit or miss for books, some characters are repetitive, but in this book Ash and Tory are 100% unique to me.

Bea