Customer Reviews

The Darkest Fire

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Darkest Fire, available so far only as an e-book, is a short story that is a prequel to the Lords of the Underworld series but it is completely standalone, no Dark possessed Lords here. Instead it is the story of the origins of the box which originally imprisoned the demons before being intrusted to Pandora. It is a beauty and the beast style romance between the beastly Guardian of the Gate to the Underworld and the beautiful Goddess of Opression whose strength keeps the walls of the Hell intact and the demons (lust, death, wrath, disease...) from being unleashed on the mortal world. It very much has the same type of feel as P.C. Cast's Goddess of the Rose with the romance between a creature that sees himself as so ugly that doesn't dare to hope that the beauteous object of his affection could see beyond his skin to his noble heart, it also has a similar type of bittersweet happily ever after. I thought that this was a nice little tease to the series before it hit the bookstores, and now that the books are out it's a brief 'just so' historical note to the series, since the box is what got all the Lords into an eternity of trouble. One caution though to readers, if you find a love between beings of two physically different species uncomfortable, this may not be the story for you.

This story is the pre-quel to the Lords of the Underworld Series and can be obtained for FREE in it's entirety by selecting the free kindle sample for the Lords Of the Underworld Bundle (so save yourself the money). It's not a great story, but it does provide the background to the series, and from what I've heard it is not reflective of the author's usual writing. It's worth reading (esp. for free) if you want the background info. Briefly the prequel tells the story of Kadence, the goddess of oppression, and Geryon the gaurdian of the gate of Hell. It's a short story that tells of their love and their quest to fortify the Gate/wall of Hell as well as the subsequent creation of Pandora's Box. The story is bitter sweet. The ending is a little off (anyone who knows anything about poisionous animals would agree - you'll understand if you read it - but it's paranormal fiction anyway, so whatever.). Also, if sex between a human-ish female and a demon male who is described as half animal (sort of like a Satyr) is repugnant to you, you may wish to skip this one. I also recommend getting the kindle samples for the individual stories as well, just to make sure you enjoy the author's writing style before or if you are considering not purchasing the "Bundle", since it is different from this short story. Reading reviews would'nt hurt either! Hope this one helped!

This is the first thing I have read that was written by Gena Showalter. It is a short novella, only available as an eBook, about Geryon - the Guardian of Hell and Kadence - the goddess of Oppression. This is not my normal genre, but I am trying to expand my reading arena. Even if you are not into god/goddess stories - give this one a try. This eBook is a cheap introduction into both the series and to the author, if you haven't read her before.

This is a very short novella, about 30-40 pages, but the impact of the story is outstanding. This is a prequel to the Lords of the Underworld series. The warriors do not appear in this story. This is a stand alone story, but I think it will grab your attention, as it did mine, and you will want to read the series. This is the story of how/why the dimOuniak (aka Pandora's Box) was created.

The Lords of the Underworld series currently has 4 books in the series:
The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, Book 1) - Maddox, the keeper of the demon of violence.
The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld, Book 2) - Lucien, keeper of the demon of death and leader of the Budapest warriors.
The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld, Book 3) - Reyes, the keeper of the demon of pain.
This one is available August 2009 - The Darkest Whisper (Lords of the Underworld) - Sabin, the keeper of the demon of doubt and leader of the Greek warriors.

I actually read the first book of the series before finding this little ebook. It provides a lot of background and is really good...it tells of the Goddess of Opression and how the box was created. I would deifnitely recommend this book first, but I read it out of order and wasn't lost.

I really enjoy reading most of Gena Showalter's books but I couldn't seem to get past the fact that the male character is described as having fur and hooves. I can do horns, claws, sharp teeth and scars...but fur is just too much for me. I liked this story because it gives some insight to what happened before the Lords of the Underworld carried their demons...but other then that it didn't hit the spot for me.

This is totally a beauty and the beast pre-quel to the main books in the series. It's mildly entertaining but isn't going to keep you wanting more.

What I found most surprising was that in choosing to have a "sample" of the bundle sent to me I got this book in it's entirety. I think that says more about the book than I can.

I'm still debating the actual purchase of the bundle.

Not sure this was worth the price of even the ebook. It was ok - provided an interesting little story as to how the demons got into Pandora's box (which is what the Lords open and get themselves into the "trouble" they are in throughout the series). It did explain (in passing) the relationship between Hades and Lucifer (which I questioned in my review of the Darkest Passion). And while I really liked the idea of the Goddess of Oppression, no matter what her childhood, it seems to me that a Goddess of Oppression should be such a wimp. It was a quick read - took me about 20 minutes to read it (if that) and the writing is definitely better in the later installments. This could have absolutely been an entire book - or we could have gotten some background so that we could see some of the interaction between Kadence and Geryon. Instead, we are just told that they have seen each other every day for years and years and they are propelled together to try to save the walls of hell from breaking and they are battling telling each other they love one another. Additionally, the price Kadence pays to free Geryon would have been more interesting if it was more then a sentence.

If cross species love isn't appealing - might want to skip this. And, the one little scene was interesting, but tempered by the cross species thing. And, again, this is really a very short story. I've written school papers longer then this.

I think the story itself was interesting, but it was definitely too short for my taste. It was just barely enough to wet my appetite for another dose of the series. So, it a lot of ways, it was a disappointment even though I knew from the start the page count was small. And I must say, this is why I don't like the ebook thing - let's authors sort-of "half ass" it - in my opinion. It doesn't cost quite as much because it's not actually printed, so it's not a big deal to dispense with an interesting story idea in very little time, with very little effort - and yet it can still present information important to the overall story arch of a multiple book series (although this can be read as a stand alone, and I am not sure any of the information is really helpful, having read the 5 books published so far before reading this). I won't buy another ".5" book in this series - will just catch up on the reviews with spoilers in them. I would have liked to see the details of the story, not just the outline, which is what this felt like.

Despite the negative comments, I read this book as a prequel to the Lords of the Underground series. I am now reading book 4 of the series and I am not sure what help this book gives to the series?!? The story was pointless and there was a very thin line connecting this story to those of the Lords. Read it, I guess because its free. But it doesn't impact the series at all.

This is certainly another beauty and the beast type story. (A short novella).

"He is the guardian of hell, more monster than man. She is the goddess of oppression, more angel than woman." Yep, that just about sums it up. While I liked this story, and the character had some emotional depth, I would have enjoyed the story if there was more to it. More time to advance the relationship, develop the world etc.
As it was it felt too fast for the type of love it would take to overcome the guardian's physical differences. Yes, I'm all about equality and true love between people no matter what form it takes. (The beast's physical form isn't exactly human) I think most of the issues I had with this story might have fixed themselves if the story had actually been a novel length work. I would have liked to see the goddess Kadence with a little more back bone--her power is oppression and she's supposed to be the warden of hell. Ms. Showalter explains why Kadence is the way she is, but still....more would have been good.

I'm a tad sad at the bittersweet ending. But it was needed, if I understand that this is a prequel to the Lords of the Underworld series, and there needs to be a pandora's box to get the Lord into trouble in the first place.
Overall, I liked this story. I was emotional attached to the beast and Kandence. I've read other stuff by this author before and will probably read more in the future. (I'm just a tad tire of all the vampire stuff--bring on the other mythological beasties!) It wasn't as good as Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning, Book 4) or Stone's Kiss (The Avatars) but I still enjoyed this little story.

Prequel to the series, this is more short story than anything else. Funny how you can find a sweet story amid fire & brimstone.

This does NOT need to be read in any order and stands on its own quite nicely. This is something of the set up for the rest of the books. In fact, you will probably enjoy it more if you already HAVE read some of the other books.

The writing is thick with imagery and sensuality- as is Ms. Showalter's trademark. Don't look for depth- just desperation and passion. It is more of an experience than a story. It wraps around you like a smooth glass of port.

In case you are not familiar with the series, you should know that this novella is actually a bit of a departure from the style of the rest of the books. This is one of my favorite series- hot, sensual, dark & dangerous. This story is more of an aside, like a fable within the Lords of the Underworld universe.