Kiss of the Night (Dark-Hunter, Book 5) [Hardcover]

Sherrilyn Kenyon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 2005

Dark-Hunter: an immortal warrior who has traded his soul to Artemis for one moment of vengeance on his enemies. In return, they swear to spend eternity protecting mankind from the daimons and vampires that prey on them. Dark-Hunter Wulf is an ancient Viking warrior with a useful but extremely aggravating power - amnesia. No one who meets him in person can remember him five minutes later. It makes it easy to have one-night stands, but hard to have a meaningful relationship, and without true love he can never regain his soul. Then he meets Cassandra, the one woman who can remember him. However, as the princess of the cursed race Wulf is sworn to hunt, she is forbidden to him

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With its frenetic, Matrix-style fight scenes and feral, leather-clad heroes, this book makes it easy to see why Kenyon's fantasy world has caught on so quickly and even inspired some readers to role-play on her Web site. Like the vampire-battling immortals of Kenyon's previous Dark-Hunter tales (Dance with the Devil, etc.), Wulf Tryggvason is sexy, dangerous and well over six feet tall. He also has a chip on his shoulder because no one, except his blood relatives and fellow Dark-Hunters, can remember him after he leaves a room due to an ancient curse. Then he meets 26-year-old Cassandra Peters, the one woman who can remember him. Unfortunately, she comes with a "short expiration date." Not only is she destined to die on her 27th birthday, but she holds the fate of the world in her hands. The last of her bloodline, Cassandra must have a child before her birthday or the world will descend into darkness. Even those who buy into this premise will find the tidy denouement hard to swallow, but Kenyon is a master at creating spunky characterizations and cinematic action scenes spiced with wry humor. Though she has a tendency to overwrite, especially when it comes to loves scenes ("She moaned at the rich sensation of having all of his lush power lying over her"), this book is an entertaining thrill ride.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From Booklist

The only thing that can free a Dark-Hunter is the love of a woman. Hard to find if you're the only Hunter cursed to be forgotten within five minutes by whatever human meets you. Wulf suffers this fate, finding true companionship only with those who are exempt: his fellow Hunters and his lone surviving descendant. As for love, that's a lost cause, and meeting Cassandra makes the yearning harder to bear. He can have her only in erotic dreams, except that it turns out that those aren't just dreams, and Cassandra is no mere human. Showcasing Kenyon's knack for resuscitating oft-used plot twists with refreshingly different perspectives, the latest installment in the Dark-Hunter series, which includes Night Embrace (2003) and Dance with the Devil [BKL D 1 03], serves up more of what Kenyon fans have come to expect from her paranormal romances: intensely passionate love, laugh-out-loud humor, and drop-undead gorgeous men. Nina Davis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Piatkus Hb/Tpb (June 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074990741X
• ISBN-13: 978-0749907419
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,463,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In the past two years, New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon has claimed the #1 spot twelve times. This extraordinary bestseller continues to top every genre she writes. With more than 23 million copies of her books in print in over 30 countries, her current series include: The Dark-Hunters, The League, Lords of Avalon, BAD Agency and the Chronicles of Nick. Since 2004, she has placed over 50 novels on the New York Times list. The preeminent voice in paranormal fiction, with more than twenty years of publishing credits, Kenyon not only helped to pioneer, but define the current paranormal trend that has captivated the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When love comes with an expiry date..., April 17, 2004

By 

Dr W. Richards "wmr-uk" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kiss of the Night (Dark-Hunter, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

In this latest of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series, we meet again Wulf Tryggvason, whom we encountered very briefly in Talon's story - in fact, we have the same phone conversation again, only this time from Wulf's point of view. A tiny bit repetitive, but I can live with that. Wulf is a Viking, tricked into becoming a Dark-Hunter twelve centuries ago, and one who carries one additional curse: no-one who is not a Dark-Hunter or an Apollite or of his own family can remember him five minutes after they leave him.

Then he meets Cassandra Peters - who does remember him. They share several highly erotic dreams - and then he discovers that she's half-Apollite. An Apollite, who is destined to die on her 27th birthday, unless she decides to become a Daimon. And she's already 26...

If she becomes Daimon, Wulf will have to hunt her down and kill her. If she doesn't, then she'll die. And, as if those aren't difficult enough things to contend with, two more problems get thrown into the mix: Cassandra is the last living heir of Apollo, and if she dies, or dies without leaving an heir, the world will end. And then Acheron informs Wulf that Cassandra is pregnant - and he's the father.

The fascinating thing about Kiss of the Night is the insight we get - as does Wulf - into the Daimons. Thus far, the equation has been simple: Daimons are demons. Killer vampires who must be eliminated for the safety of humankind. But what makes an Apollite turn Daimon? Well, could it possibly be the thought of dying a long and painful death at the age of 27? And are all Daimons evil? Well, we meet one who isn't - and that's a story I sense hasn't finished yet.

Of course, there's also more Acheron, and yet more intriguing hints about who he is, the kind of powers he has and the real power-balance between him and Artemis. In previous books, he's had to dance to Artemis's tune rather more than the other way around, but here he's more forceful than he has been. I have the sneaking suspicion that Kenyon intends to wait as long as possible before giving us Acheron's own story, though.

Good book - not a five-star like Zarek's story, but very readable.

wmr-uk

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If He Doesn't Protect the Enemy's Heiress, the Whole World Will Suffer, July 30, 2005

By 

Dakota "daxydakota" (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiss of the Night (Dark-Hunter, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

It didn't take me long to finish reading KISS OF THE NIGHT by Sherrilyn Kenyon, which is the fourth Dark-Hunters novel (not counting the prologue FANTASY LOVER). It was entertaining and action-packed, and included appearances from favorite characters like Zarek, Julian, and (yummy!) Acheron.

The plot of KISS OF THE NIGHT revolves around the Viking Wulf Tryggvasen, whom nobody can remember five minutes after meeting him. Wulf, a Dark-Hunter, saves Cassandra Peters from a Daimon attack, only to discover that Cassandra is a Apollite - one of a race that Wulf hunts and kills to protect humanity from is evilness. Not only is she the enemy, but she is also the last direct descendant of the Greek God Apollo, so if she dies, the whole world will die with her. As if that's not enough, Wulf and Cassandra become lovers - with some interesting results.

As a Dark-Hunter novel, it wasn't one of my favorites. While it made the Daimons more interesting in that it "humanized" them through Cassandra's point of view, I felt the overall story was rushed. I also would have appreciated more background and detail about other characters that played important roles in the story, such as Kat, Urian, and Stryker. Kat was a big enigma to me, especially since Acheron didn't know who she was (I also was curious about the identity of her father). Speaking of Acheron, I read this book with the express purpose of seeing him, so I was disappointed that he only played a small role in the end.

Also, going back to the background issue ... Kenyon played up the hero's backgrounds big time in her last 4(5) books, letting us "see" how they lived, who they loved, how they died, etc. Wulf's past wasn't brought up much. I wish it had been, since he was tricked into giving up his soul by the Norse god, Loki. I'm a big fan of Norse mythology, so I would have LOVED to have seen Loki play a role in the story. After all, he owns Wulf's soul. But he never appeared. Not once. That surprises me, since Kenyon loves to write about the gods.

Anyway, if you are a Dark-Hunter fan, you'll find this book fascinating just for the detail it gives you about the Daimons. If you've never read a Dark-Hunter novel, DON'T start with this one, for you will be confused. It' best you read the books in order, beginning with FANTASY LOVER, NIGHT PLEASURES, NIGHT EMBRACE, DANCE WITH THE DEVIL (the best one, in my opinion), and KISS OF THE NIGHT.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't believe it - Kenyon only gets better!, April 16, 2004

By 

Cinder (Miami, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Kiss of the Night (Dark-Hunter, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

After several books in a successful series, you sometimes fear that the books will fall into a predictable formula, but this book proves that Sherrilyn Kenyon continues to be an original! First, let me tell you that I have every one of her Dark-Hunter books and I LOVE them. But Kiss of the Night was the first of the series to make me cry! (and as a life-long reader, that doesn't happen very often at all). I laughed, sniffed and cheered the entire time. The moving story of Wulf and Cassandra shred my heart and put all the pieces back together, but I loved every minute of it. All of the previous books are fantastic, but this book goes beyond the surface story and deals with the darker emotions of despair and anguish that exist below the surface of the world of the Hunter. This is the first of the stories that took me on a roller coaster ride with the book in one hand, and a box of tissues in the other - keeping me enchanted every single minute! This time Kenyon raises the stakes even higher, teasing us with a glimpse into new background characters and stories, and shows her readers that we have only just begun to explore the world of the Hunter Legends! The journey has only just begun!