MichaelKatsuro
Since: Apr, 2011
01/07/2013 00:00:00
Isn't the entire thing about Greek gods that unlike, say, Jesus, they have petty fights and act selfish? Like for instance how Zeus kept cheating on his wife, how Hera tormented Heracles for being the bastard son of Zeus even though he hasn't done anything to her?
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Good Idea, Poor Execution
To be fair to Sherrilyn Kenyon, the basis for her Dark Hunter series is neat. She brings a unique twist to the word "vampire," creating a combo of ancient mythology and paranormal fantasy.
Onto the negative, though it's hard to be informational in only 400 words. [SPOILERS]
Kenyon's writing style is very juvenile. Each of her books follows the same story with similar characters - Darkhunter meets girl, Darkhunter falls in love, Darkhunter gets his soul. All of the Darkhunters have extremely traumatic pasts, are incredibly attractive and very skilled at fighting. This may be forgivable but it's hard to do so when each character seems the same - the notable exception being Zarek, who just has bad attitude problems. The women they fall in love with tend to be very attractive without having to work at it, and can kick ass most of the time if need be.
Few of the villains are interesting or well thought out.
Kenyon's pet character, Acheron, is especially tall and good-looking, and has the troubled backstory to prove it. You'd have to read a plot summary to get all the horrible things that have happened to him, and to get a decent scope of his powers, but everyone in the story seems to like or respect or fear him. A few exceptions are notable but few and far between. Acheron is constantly described as beautiful, intimidating, powerful, and in general pretty Bad Ass and awesome. He displays all the hallmarks of a traditional Mary Sue, and if he's not Kenyon's favorite character I would be very surprised.
My final beef with the Dark Hunter series is Kenyon's seemingly unrealistic portrayal of ancient mythology. She humanizes the gods to the point that they lose any interesting aspects of godhood, and are just overpowered jerks who do what they like. Artemis, the "virgin" goddess, is especially warped. It may be an alternate take on ancient Greek mythology, but it's not done in a way that's creative or interesting to read.
Kenyon's book have a great premise with a lot of promise. The main problem I'm finding is that they read like a bad fanfiction of her own idea. Kenyon's not all bad, and I certainly wouldn't say don't check the series out. Just be prepared for disappointment if you can't wade through the poor writing.