Customer Reviews

Devil May Cry

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Man, I just love it when an author releases a book in a series that answers a lot of questions. Kenyon has given us answers in spades here: who is Katra, why is Ash tied to Artemis, what is Savitar, and more. Wonderful, action packed story with the steamy romance readers have come to expect from Kenyon. My only disappointment? Kenyon introduced a "Dream-Hunter," Xipher, who I actually want to know more about (not like the disappointing Arik), that won't get his own book until 2008.

Now, please bring on Ash's story, so people can stop griping that the last two books "have too much Ash," "have too little Ash," or just weren't his story.

I've been following Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series right from the beginning and, at first, was avidly eating up every single book and desperate for the next one. Sad to say, I've come to the point where I think she needs to wind up the series ASAP. The books have become dull and predictable. I could tell you exactly what each hero - whether Dark-Hunter, Dream-Hunter or Were-Hunter - is going to be like and what their issues are. They're all gorgeous, they've all got massive chips on their shoulders and they can all be cured by the love of a gorgeous woman - instantly.

Sin is no exception - and, please, WHAT is with the ridiculous names? Sin? Xypher? Zakar (far too similar to Zarek)? And in this book we get Deimos and Damien and many references to Daimons; way to confuse your readers! Sin is a Sumerian ex-god, and he's every bit as whiny as the rest of Kenyon's heroes. He's apparently a Big Bad but, as with all of her characters who are introduced as Big Bads, he's really a misunderstood and hard-done-by good guy. What a surprise!

The heroine is Katra, and unfortunately I'd already been spoiled for the big reveal of Katra's place in Acheron's life because some idiot in Kenyon's publishing company thought it would be a great idea to release this title in hardback, and to release the two following it in paperback. So I read the paperbacks first and finally caught up with this one when I already knew who Kat was.

Far too much of the plot seemed hopelessly contrived. Apparently, Kat is eleven thousand years old... and still a virgin? Yeah, right. Apparently, it would be a disaster on a massive scale were Acheron to find out who Katra really is... and suddenly, two pages later, he knows and it's no big deal. Yet again, we have Acheron missing and unavailable for most of the book, because yet again he's committed to being Artemis's sex-slave and again she's made him extend his promise. That's getting TIRED as an excuse to have him unavailable to help. Also, it's a bit too late, Kenyon, to try to redeem Artemis, given the way she's been set up. If the plan is for readers to feel sorry for her so that she can be Acheron's love-interest... well, then I really will stop reading.

The relationship side of the book is barely credible. Kat and Sin meet when Kat's supposed to kill him. Within hours they're having sex. Within a day they're inseparable. Within a couple of days, apparently millennia of bitterness and enmity are set aside. Except, of course, we have the Big Communication Screwup and suddenly he hates her again. Yawn.

And then there's the Big Danger that they join forces to fight. Seriously, if I never read the words 'gallu demon' again I'll be deliriously happy. Boring. Big-time. I'm usually an avid reader. I never fall asleep reading books. I fell asleep several times reading this one.

Extremely disappointing, hot on the heels of several other disappointing books in this series. I'll give the Acheron books a chance, but if they're as bad as current set-up suggests they might be - because he's starting to look incredibly whiny and poor-me as well - that's it for me and it'll be bye-bye Kenyon.

Wait for the paperback! This is the second book in a row from this author (who I've loved, loved, loved in the past!) that is disappointing.

I read a LOT of romance/paranormal/mystery books every month, between 20 and 30, and I'm going to spend my money elsewhere in the future.

The plot is thin and confused by the introduction of too many characters that yet again require tedious background stories in order to make sense. Where was the editor on this book??? This wasn't so much a Dark Hunter tale as much as a horror novel with sex.

Where's the love story? The refreshing writing that grabs a reader from page one? Its sadly missing in the effort by Kenyon. The violence in her novels is growing more frequent and is basically sickening. I can read the daily newspaper for everyday senseless violence.

I was bored by the last novel and this one just plain grossed me out.

Yes, it was great to have answers to some long overdue questions but this book does NOT measure up to the previous ones in the DH series. I'm back to re-reading my past favorites.

This is the first time I've taken the time to write a review. And I did it this time because I couldn't believe that everyone else thought this was a great book. Must be the "Emperior's New Clothes" syndrome at work!!

Cindy

Eons ago, when the universe was ruled by more than one pantheon, Sin was one of the most powerful and revered Sumerian gods. However, power breeds jealousy and everyone knows how vicious those immortals could be. Befriended by the goddess Artemis, Sin had fallen prey for her charm, a mistake that would cause him dearly. Stripped of his powers, Sin found himself at the mercy of the Olympians unable to win the battle that wiped out his entire pantheon. If not for Acheron, he would never have survived. For years he has walked among us, having patiently waited for the day when he could seek his vengeance on Artemis, never anticipating the revelation that would greet him as he finally comes face to face with the goddess.

Fearing for her life, Artemis sends the one person she knows she can rely on. A former handmaiden of the goddess, Katra goes after Sin to try and thwart his plan to kill Artemis. But when she ends up being captured by Sin, she learns of the goddess' duplicity and is racked by guilt over her role in Sin's fate. To make matters worse, she also learns that the biggest threat to mankind is about to be unleashed. Knowing that Sin is the only one capable of defeating the Gallu and Dimme, Katra vows to make up for her errors by helping Sin in the upcoming battle.

We know what happens next from here on. The author tells that they have fallen in love sacrificing every need for character development so she could pen some sex scenes. Frankly speaking, it wasn't so much the characters that held my interest, but the revelations that come after. The Gallu, Dimme and Charonte, demons galore! The truth about Katra and the powerful bloodline that she possesses was a welcome surprise. But paramount of all is learning more about Acheron's youth, his relationship with Artemis and the reason why he cannot destroy her. These were what I enjoyed most about this book.

DEVIL MAY CRY had every possibility of being on par with the earlier Dark-Hunter novels. However, the sarcasm between the hero and heroine bordered on being childish and the romance felt too contrived to be believable. Yes, it was good to see the devil meet his salvation and find that he no longer needs to exist on his own, but the romance wasn't to die for. Yet these gripes aside, there is hope for more as we come closer to reading about the ultimate Dark-Hunter: Acheron. I simply cannot wait!

Perhaps for someone who had never read any of Kenyon's Dark Hunters, this might have been a good book, but for me this was tedious. It seemed as if she had merely churned out a book in order to tie up a few more loose ends in the series which had little or nothing to do with story of the book itself. This plot did not seem to me to contribute much to the overall story arc, nor was the story particularly compelling. Although I like Ash, he is getting very boring. By the time his own book comes out, we will know almost all his backstory anyway, and not give two hoots about his future either. Sin and Kat, supposedly the main characters, were not engaging at all, despite the banter.

On a totally different note, I have to ask: Is America the only Daimon/demon infested place on earth? I mean all these gods - the Greeks, Atlantean, Sumatrean, etc. - all come from a totally different part of the world, not to mention the Dark Hunters (remember them?) who come from Africa, Europe, the Middle East. Do vampires not suck blood on the streets of Delhi? Are the inhabitants of Johannesburg immune to Daimon attacks? Perhaps Parisians have a special get out of jail free card for the end of the world?

Frankly, I am amazed Kenyon's world didn't die out centuries ago. In the beginning of this series there was one hinted cause of the Apocalypse: Ash. In this book I counted aproximately seven different ways to destroy the world: Ash, Ash's Ma; the death of Artemis; the death of Kat; releasing demon species number one; releasing demon species number two; the death of any god/goddess - yet despite the wholesale destruction of at least two pantheons, somehow the world still survives.

It seems that lately each book is getting successively more over the top. Each hero must be more tortured, look more evil, control or have the potential to control more power than the previous one. Never-before-heard-of yet centuries-old threats-to-all-humanity (at least those living in North America)seem to pop up every few books with tedious regularity, each more powerful, violent, potentially destructive yet easily defeatable than the last. The heroines have mutated from being strong ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances, to being powerful goddesses who act like they just graduated from highschool despite being centuries old.

This latest offering was rather like reading an episode of the X-Men. Paranormal adolescents on steroids.

Ex-god Sin hates Artemis--he hates her a lot. After eleven thousand years, he spends most of his time thinking about how he'd still like to kill her. So, it's only natural that he want to kill Artemis's daughter, Katra Agrotera, AKA Kat. There's this pesky detail of the world ending soon with the escape of a group of demons fellow members of Sin's Asyrian pantheon locked up eons earlier, but getting revenge on Artemis would come first.

Dark hunter leader Acheron Parthenopaeus (AKA Ach) hates Artemis, too. Boy would he like to kill her--except he's also in love with her and killing her would result in his own death. Still, it bugs him that Artemis orders him around all the time. Hate, Hate, Hate.

Kat thinks of herself as a clever sarcastic person but she acts pretty juvenile--you'd think eleven thousand years or so and she'd grow up a bit. When she meets Sin, she is initially turned off--after all, he doesn't seem to care about people, employs demons, and her mother accused him of rape. But his hot (scarred) body turns her on and he does deny the rape charge. So, time to give up her eleven-thousand years of virginity and engage in some hot sex. Not to mention working with him to save the world--when Sin isn't being all protective.

There really is the core of a great story here, along with some intriguing world-building. I enjoy the way the various pantheons mingle and battle with one another. Author Sherrilyn Kenyon writes hot love scenes and her action scenes aren't bad either. Unfortunately for DEVIL MAY CRY, there are too few of those action scenes and too much time spent with Sin obsessing about all the betrayals in his live (once in eleven thousand years--oh the pity). When interesting things do happen (like Kat being transformed into a form of vampire--which really could have been the basis for an incedible conflict) they seem to get lost.

Kenyon is a talented author and I've enjoyed other novels by her. The writing in DEVIL MAY CRY is capable and compelling enough that I finished the novel. Although this one has its moments--and definitely picks up toward the end when the fighting actually starts--it also had its problems. For me, the joke of the Valley-girl-talking demons and the 'everyone hates Artemis' choir got real old long before the book ran out. Characters incapable of holding more than one emotion and the frequency in which the fast-coming end of the world is simply forgotten, make it hard to really form any attachment to the story. As Artemis says, so what if the world ends--the gods can create more people. Because I didn't feel like this was my world, wasn't brought into it, I didn't much care whether Sin and Kat won or lost. Too bad because there is some cool stuff here that Kenyon could have run with.

So lately, like everyone else, I have been getting disappointed with what used to be my favorite series. When I learned that this book was going to feature Kat, I got really excited and finished the book in less than 24 hours. While Devil May Cry didn't finish off to the level as say, Dance With The Devil (1 of my faves!), it certainly was a lot better than The Dreamhunter (I didn't even get past the first chapter!).

Good Points:

1. Less outside plots. While this book still has a couple plots intertwined, Kenyon avoids confusing you too much. I think it was in Ravyn's book where I was so confused with all the different side plots that I didn't even know how they were connected to the main story or even why they were included in the book at all!

2. History makes sense! Kenyon does a good job tying things together so the reader understands more about the relationship regarding Ash/Artemis/Kat/Apollymi. I learned a lot.

3. Great characters! I really enjoyed Kat, a heroine who can kick major butt and her dialogue was hilarious. Sin is not my favorite hero, but I didn't really mind him. I also enjoyed the other secondary heroes like Xypher! I'm intrigued and want to read his upcoming book.

Neutral Point (As in it depends on you):

1. More violence! The scenes in this book involving the new bad guys make the daimons seem like pokemon, but sometimes it could seem sort of senseless. However, I think Kenyon wrote these scenes in so we could understand the gravity of the situation and how powerful they are.

Bad Points:

1. It seemed too short. The novel expands over a short time period and because of that, the chemistry between Kat and Sin seemed slightly forced. And everything involving the enemy just seemed too quick and not enough happened.

2. Repetitive! Artemis being the bitch and Ash being stuck with her while the protagonists encounter twenty million different characters seems like something that happens in every novel now...

Final Verdict: While this book isn't the best, it certainly isn't the worst either. In certain aspects, Devil May Cry completes its job by tying up a lot of loose ends in Ash's past. However, you have to ask yourself if you even care anymore. I remember that when I first met him, I was really curious and read all the books just to find out even a smidge! Now though, several books later, I find that my excitement is running low for this series which is a shame. I recommend that you either borrow this book or wait for paperback. I'll end on a good note: there were some scenes that I believe no Dark Hunter fan should miss, so you should read Devil May Cry if you're still a fan!

I waited and waited for this book. I even paid hardcover price which I never do, because I was so antsy to read this latest book. I used to LOVE Kenyon and have been really disappointed with her last couple of books. Yes, it cleared a couple of things up about Ash, but other than that...blah. The love story was so "ho-hum". There was no build up and the story line was just too lame between Kat and Sin. Where's the passion? I really felt ripped off with this book. I kept reading and reading thinking it would get better. But, alas, it was all about fighting and Ash/Artemis. And really, don't we have two books coming out in the near future to enlighten us about Ash's life? I feel like this book was put out just to drag us along until Ash's story comes out. And due to the disappointment I've experienced with the last few books, I will NOT purchase that one. I'll check it out at the library..maybe. Don't waste your money on this one.

My review will be short many others here have given you the detailed version of Sin's story & Katra's. My review is about the book itself, I did enjoy it I really have loved the humor that S.K. has added to some of her books the banter is a well deserved break from some of the daily stuff, but I must say Devil May Cry was important in the series as far as getting some answers to questions that I'd had hanging around in my head, but it seemed entirely too rushed. It wasn't extremely short it was about 300 pages, but it seemed as if someone had cut out about 150 pages of it so it boom here's the answer about who Katra is, but it's a secret, but then a few pages later everyone seems to know the secret.

I was thrilled to have more of Acheron, but I am so tired of him being an 11,000 year old God who is locked into sitting around for Artemis that I find it tedious. No matter how S.K. tries to explain why he continues to put up with her for the sake of the Human race it just feel contrived and stupid considering the many things she has put him through.

As I said I did like that we got some answers and I was happy to find some more bad guys added to the bunch, but where it's losing me now is that what was once great about the series was that the women were real women all shapes and sizes but real. Now she has fallen into the Beautiful Goddess yes they have problem but I find it hard to feel sorry for someone immortal who is perfect. It takes away from what added feeling to the story. It was one thing to have a perfect yet flawed hunter whether they were male or female but for the other character to be equally as gorgeous just makes me yawn. Takes away from the why would these two be together aspect of the story and falls more into DUH of course they'd get together.

Sin was a decent character, but really he was a weak rip off of Zarek.

I still would recommend the book, but I hope with the upcoming Acheron book that she makes it longer and doesn't go for any easy outs.

Sin, an ancient Sumerian God of the moon is tricked by Artemis and lost his powers. He has a major grudge against her ever since. Enter Katra, Artemis's illegitimate daughter. Misled by her mother to believe Sin is evil, Katra decides to attack Sin, only to discover he is not the nasty baddie mommy dearest made him out to be. Instead he is an extremely hot fertility god. Sin and Katra hook up. Together they decide to rescue Sin's twin brother and stop a demonic invasion. Can their love survive a secret in Kat's past and the demonic horde they are both striving to fight?

I liked elements of this story. contrary to how he was portrayed, I didn't find Sin to be that hot. He seemed like a big sulky baby half the time. I know he lost his powers. I know it was Artemis who betrayed him, but I really wanted him man up and stop complaining. Watching a grown man rant and rave about revenge against a woman just was off putting.. Likewise, I found Kat to be a bit of a Mary Sue. She didn't have much personality, except for loving the unlovable- her hopelessly flawed mother. Even Kat's big secret was sort of contrived. I found it difficult to believe that Sin would hold it against her considering what he knows of Artie and how she manipulates people.

Since Sin was a Sumerian, I was hoping to see a bit of detail about his background and culture. Instead Sin had fully adapted to modern life (well, aside from wearing leather pants), so he could be any mix-and-match dark hunter. The sex scenes were really flat. Especially the scene where Kat loses her virginity. Very cookie cutter.

Overall, an Ok read, but nothing to get me too excited.