Customer Reviews

Acheron (Dark-Hunter, Book 12)

5 star:		(382)
4 star:		(88)
3 star:		(59)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(36)

 

 

Acheron is the latest romp in the Dark Hunter series. This is the book that answers all the questions about the book's protagonist, Ash. I must admit, the first half of the book is very sombering...the tortre Ash must endure is heart-wrenching. Yet, if it was not for all Ash had endured...would he be the same god we have come to love? Everyone who reads the series knows Ash is a god; they know who his parents are...yet as the God of Destruction he does have a kinder side for the meek and defenseless. And while it is the humans that tortre him...he still defends and protects them. Case in point: Tory is Ash's equal and while searching for the mythical land of Atlantis she makes some amazing discoveries...and while Ash feels for her, he must discredit her in order to save the humans and the earth. Yet his curiousness for her is unending and he asks Savitar for enlightenment on why Ash can't foresee Tory's future. Tory sees Ash as the perfect companion and delves into his past to understand the mangod. Acheron is a great addition to the series and while it does answer some questions...it raises many more. I can only say that I am glad the series continues and can't wait to find out what is coming next...maybe Artemis will finally get what's coming to her. One can only hope! --- Another book I would highly recommend is--Sirens-- by Geo Tin: Sirens (Mass Market)--a great novel that follows the same formula of mythology.

I spent August 5th into the 6th reading Acheron and was not disappointed in the least with the story line. Acheron's past is what it was and needed to be explained in the graphic detail that it was. In fact, SK was pretty tame in my opinion of the sexual horrors that Ash underwent as a human. I was pleased to see that she talked to the reader prior to the start of the book and gave us a warning of the darkness that was part of Acheron from his past and that it wouldn't be a pretty picture. Acheron's past made up who he was in the present and NEEDED to be explained the way it was and in doing so answered so many questions of mine from the DH series. The present storyline of the book wowed me as well and I did a happy dance to know that his heroine was who I thought she would be! Past DH characters were brought into the storyline and Simi as usual came thru as endearing and funnier than hell like all good quality demons should be! Acheron was a FANTASTIC read and wrapped up the DH portion of the series nicely. I'm still thinking about the book today and continue to wait with anticipation on where the series will lead too next. Congrats to SK on a job well done and thanks for taking me along for the ride. I wouldn't have missed reading the DH series for the world.

Eleven thousand years ago, Archon's three illegitimate daughters, The Fates, accidentally cursed Archon and Apollymi's son Apostolos. The curse would kill them all so Archon wanted the babe killed. To save her unborn child, Apollymi had the infant raised by mortals. When Apostolos and his twin brother Styxx were born it was apparent that Apostolos was not identical in every way to his twin. To them, he was an abomination. He was named after the River of Woe. They called him Acheron.

Present Day:

Eleven thousand years is not long enough to banish the horror of his past. Acheron doesn't get close to anyone and he doesn't trust. He still thinks he is unworthy of love. Then he meets Dr. Soteria Kafieri. Tori is an archeologist trying to uncover the mysteries of Atlantis. She is determined to finish her father's work and bring dignity back to her family. Acheron is determined to keep his past hidden. If it means ruining Tori's good name to do it, so be it. Tori uncovers more than ancient artifacts. She now has the power to destroy Acheron and the world, but she doesn't know it. As they begin to fight a battle that will either save or kill them all, Tori becomes the one person who may finally be able to save Acheron.

Acheron is the baddest of the bad boys. He's sex personified. To see him is to want him. He is a legend in any time. He rules with righteous indignation and he never breaks a promise. Acheron is one of the most compelling characters I've ever read about and as such his story needed to be as well. Acheron is that, and more. Part one delves into Acheron's past. It's brutal, agonizing, and terribly unjust. No mere mortal could have survived such pain and torture. Acheron is constantly persecuted and violated. It is emotionally draining to read. He suffers unimaginable pain and anguish. He brings new meaning to the phrase "tortured hero". Sherrilyn Kenyon excels at creating descriptive scenes and imaginative characters. Part two is just as thrilling and action-packed as all of the Dark Hunter stories. Battles, car chases, gods, demons, and more make every page exciting. At first, I wasn't sure how things would work between Tori and Acheron, but Tori quickly proved to be the perfect woman for him. Her strength and compassion shines on every page. After reading Acheron my hatred of Artemis is justified, and even if Acheron weren't a god, he still would be to me. There is no man more appealing, more charming, or more sexy than him. There is also no one more deserving of a happily ever after. Acheron is a story of revelations and confirmations. Questions are finally answered and doubts are cast aside as Acheron's story is told in its brilliant entirety. If you thought you loved him before, wait until you read this! Sherrilyn Kenyon raises the bar once again with Acheron. It is an epic tale that surpassed my highest hopes. It totally rocks!

Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

What a massive let down!!! I can't believe THIS is how time will record Acheron's life. I get that he was abused and humiliated, but seriously, did SK set out to deliberately create a whiny, wimpy guy no one would be even remotely attracted to? 'Cause that's how I'm going to see Acheron from now on. Sorry, but having him say "please, just don't pull my hair" just before he starts making love to Tory doesn't exactly inspire romance in this reader. Maybe it was a good thing that Tory was a virgin, because honestly, who else would have put up with all of his much-vocalized angst? Oh, and DO NOT get me started on what a idiot Tory was. Seriously, she couldn't have been less obnoxious or annoying if SK tried to write her as so. Then again, maybe that's what she did........... Ugh, trust me, read Night Pleasures (i.e. Kyrian's story) to get this incredibly pathetic book out of your mind. Unfortunately though, you'll never recover the lost hours of reading Acheron. P.S. I had to give this novel "1 star" because Amazon wouldn't let me give it "0 stars."

I've just finished the book - 728 pages in two days while not going into seclusion has been a whirlwind. Just to give some perspective to my comments. I have read every DH book in the series. I stopped purchasing them several books ago, because I thought the series was growing weak, with too many characters, and too many fragmented, surprise story lines. For every decent/good book there would be a couple of stinkers to follow. Everyone who has followed this series knows that Acheron's story has been many years overdue. For such a central and powerful character to go so long without his own story really watered the series down for me. The mystery and intrigue, became frustration, and disinterest.

That said, I want to thank Kenyon for taking the time to write a good first half giving us all the details of Acheron's back story. It connected all the dots of how, what, where, and when of Acheron, Apollymi, Artemis, and the Daimons. However, I have to agree with others who were disappointed with the romance portion (second half) of the book. For all the time and effort taken with the first half of the book, the second half felt rushed and weak. The second half of the book was definitely a let down after the powerful emotion of the first half.

This is a must read for anyone that wants to know Acheron's history, but I don't think the romance was worthy of him.

Acheron (Dark-Hunter, Book 12)

First, I would like to say that I am a Sherrilyn Kenyon/Dark Hunter RABID FAN. I buy all her books the day they hit the store, and even have my copy pre-paid and special ordered to ensure that I get a copy whenever possible.
I waited for Ash's story with the anticipation of a child for Christmas to hurry up and get here...only to find coal in my stocking.
This book ACHERON in one word: VAPID
Ash's story was to be the BE ALL of all the Dark Hunter books. He was the leader. He was ALL POWERFUL. He was a GOD....
He was a wimp in "Acheron" and his love interest Tory was weak. Ash's powers in previous DH books were more impressive than used in his own story. His battle was to be so much more intense and harder to overcome than those previous stories he participated in, only to be a big flop. The plot was thrown together. The story was more about his horrid and abusive past and what made him the Dark Hunter Leader. 400+ pages of anguish that could have been done in far less pages and then 400+ pages of sappy wounded animal and weak dim wittedness. It was like 2 stories in one. The first half/story was overkill. The second half/story felt like a "hurry up and get this over with" story. I can not express how sloppy and poorly written the story/plot and character development was for this book.
Recent books by Sherrilyn Kenyon have been rather weak in their story lines, as though they are hurried stories rather than well thought out characters and plots. ACHERON was the worst of them. To have grown to love the Dark Hunters, the characters webbed through the books, the intense stories... and to be rewarded with the most anticipated story of the series being a HUGE disappointment.
I can only hope that Miss Kenyon takes a moment to look back at her older DH books and then look at the vapidness of her most recent ones and does her fans a favor by adding more heart and thought to her stories, even if that means slowing down. I, for one, would rather wait longer for a better story than to pay $30 for a vapid disappointment.

First off Kenyon's writing style is just awful, very cartoonish. I hurt my eyes by rolling back too much and my brain by saying "omg, you've GOT to be kidding me!" way too many times.

Seriously I didn't like Ash in this book nor did I like the heroine in this book. I mean come on, who in their right mind would believe a hero who for 11,000 years been feeling pathetic and unworthy of love, that within a few days with a slip of a girl makes him feel worthy of love and everythings all right? Not to mention that this hero is a God and has been for 11,000 years.

Puhlease, don't insult my intelligence.

This book had too many things going wrong and too many things going right to be a believable book. The plot was cheesy, the dialogue was cheesy, the characters were cheesy. I wish the author would have delved into the mind of Ash more than relying on dialogue between the characters to tell his story. I liked Ryssa and hoped that she would be the heroine because you could feel her pain.

I feel a bit cheated out of Ash's story, and the relationships with his brother(Styxx), Nick, Simi, Apollymi, Savitar, Jaden, Takeshi, and esp the chosen heroine, Tory, should have been explored further rather than throwing the characters together and expect me to take everything at face value. Like I said, don't insult my intelligence.

I am unable to fathom that after torturing his brother and plotting the demise of his father, that Styxx is all of a sudden a good man. And I am unable to believe that Nick can't see how sleeping with Simi would be wrong. I mean for god's sake she's 15 in human years! And why would he turn against everything he believed in just because of his anger and pain at Ash?

These are my criteria for each star given:

1) Well-written - Kenyon failed to deliver with her cartoonish and childish prose - no star

2) Well-developed characters - as I said above, she didn't delve enough, there were too many dialogues and plots rather than going deep into a person's mind and psyche to get a real feel and love for the characters - no star

3) Plot - there is enough that keeps it going but overall it was cheesy and made me want to step in and rewrite to make it more believable - half star for effort

4) Power - did it have the power to keep me up all night to finish? Yes it did, but I skimmed over a lot just to finish it and I just wanted the injustice of the book to be over - half star

5) My keeper shelf - hell no, I will never come back to this book. It's in the trash and will remain there forever. Even the trailer doesn't do Ash justice. This man deserved to be portrayed as the greatest hero of all time and Kenyon betrayed him herself - no star

I'm obviously going to be in the minority here but I just can't give this book a glowing review. I LOVE Acheron and I've loved almost every single book that SK puts out but she didn't do enough justice to the character that she's been building up. I liked the first half of the book where it gives you the background of what makes Ash who he his today. That was great. But I think she really should have stopped there and dedicated a whole separate book to the current day and his love story. It felt WAY too rushed and quick for a man who has lived 11,000 + years. And too easy and unbelievable. She sort of turned Acheron into a sissy man or something compared to the force to be wreckoned with that he his in every other book. I think his love story should've been been way more explosive and dangerous than it was. The character she wrote to play his love interest was extremely bland and seemed undeserving of Ash, maybe its because SK spent almost zero time creating that character so there was nothing really to love or relate to with her. This won't keep me from eagerly awaiting the next book from SK but I do think she did a disservice to Acheron.

This is the best DH book in a long while. I got it yesterday and sat up late to finish it. It is over 700 pages so you know it held my attention. All the questions we have had about Ash are answered and although it is hard to read about the things done to him you realize that they made him the God he is today. He is a God of Destruction, but Ash is filled with compassion, because he has been abused, tortured, and maimed himself. I hated Artemis for a long time and I have to say the whole situation is handled in a wonderful way. So many ends are tied up and there is still room for more DH novels. This is an awesome read.

Ash faces hatred and exile in the first 400 pages. Along with torture it is very hard to read without feeling his pain. I really think only someone very strong could come out of it with his mind intact.

Ryssa is his sister and the only one who seems to care for him. She is chosen to be offered to Apollo. But even serving the God she takes time for Ash.

Styxx is his brother, and the hatred and jealousy that he pours on Ash is horrible.

Tory is in our time, she is hunting for Atlantis. Ash meets her when he goes to a seminar that she is leading, and makes her look like an idiot. Shortly their paths cross again and he finds himself protecting her from a group led by Artemis. They are told to kill her, when she finds something that should never have been written down.

Satara is determined to find what was lost and use it to destroy those she hates.

Everyone in the Dark Hunter universe somehow is involved in the mystery and all the secrets are revealed. Do not miss this book. It is outstanding.

I was anxiously awaiting the paperback release of Acheron's story. I purposefully did not read the reviews since I didn't want to spoil the story for myself. I did however note with great joy the 4 1/2 star rating. After reading over 200 pages of child abuse, rape, and every conceivable type of torture including castration and beatings so numerous you want to vomit, I have to say I just don't understand why people think this book is entertaining. Yes it was important to understand Acheron's background, but everything we needed to know could have been put in one chapter, or maybe 50 pages at the most. I am sorry that Ms. Kenyon suffered abuse as a child, and perhaps this book was intended to be cathartic, but the sadistic, varied nature of Acheron's abuse, the severity of the torture, and the sheer volume of it says to me the author needs more therapy.

The second half of this book is suppose to be a love story for the ages. I wish the love story and character development in this part of the story was as developed as the brutal torture was in the first half. The two parts of the book seem incredibly disconnected.

I have liked the Dark Hunter series very much in the past, and the majority of the books in this series are wonderful. This isn't one of them! I honestly can't understand the reviewers who have given this book 5 stars. We must live on different planets. I find nothing remotely entertaining about such sadistic horrors and the trauma that was inflicted an innocent child.