Hero: Xypher
Heroine: Simone Dubois
Grade: 4 out of 5
Hades doesn’t often give second chances…
Xypher has one month on Earth to redeem himself through one good deed or be condemned to eternal torture in Tarturus. But redemption means little to a demigod who only wants vengeance on the one who caused his downfall.
Until one day in a cemetery…
Simone Dubois is a medical examiner with a real knack for the job. Those who are wrongfully killed appear to her and help her find the evidence the police need to convict their killers. But when a man appears and tells her that she’s more than just a psychic, she’s convinced he’s insane.
Now the fate of the world hangs in her hands…
It was bad enough when just the dead relied on her. Now’s there’s the seductive Dream-Hunter Xypher who needs Simone’s help in opening a portal to the Atlantean hell realm to fight insatiable demons. The future of mankind is at stake—and so is her life. The only question now is: Who is the bigger threat: the demons out to kill her, or the man who has left her forever changed?
I’m addicted, what can I say?
I can’t stop reading these Dark Hunter books, it’s like they’ve got a hold on me and won’t let go…not like I’m trying really hard to quit this addiction. I just can’t seem to get enough.
This book is a Dream Hunter book and it’s Xypher’s book. We all remember the pissed off Xypher from Sin’s book, Devil May Cry. He’s the one that’s got a bone to pick with Satara and he’s out for vengeance. He was granted a free month’s pass on Earth to redeem himself and if in that time, he’s learned his lesson, he’ll be released from Tarturus and get to live happily ever after, whatever that means.
So Xypher, who knows he’s going back to Hell and will not go back without sending the woman who sent him there in the first place.
So he comes to Earth and he runs into the heroine, Simone while she’s fighting off the gallu and they get stuck together (literally) with these binding bracelets that binds them together. Should one die, the other will die as well. If they’re seperated, they’ll die so they have to be in constant contact with each other and because this is a romance, we all know that this is how they get close and fall for each other.
I never thought Xypher was this billy bad ass, I thought he was just pissed off. He was menacing and lethal but more than anything, he was just mad. I really enjoyed his character though, I don’t think Holly would though because he really does remind me of Zarek (as a lot of them do), where he hates the world but all he wants is someone to love him for him and not for what he can do for them.
All of these stories have the same storyline, the same good people fighting the bad demons to save the world, only in this story, the demons were the good guys. It’s so weird because in DMC, The Dimme were these fierce, killers who had no conscience and the gallu were basically the same as Dimme, just less menacing and then we get this book and the bad guys from the last book aren’t so bad in this book.
This is what confuses all of the readers but as lame as that is, I still enjoyed this book. Yes, I know this review is all over the place but as lame as I thought the storyline and the bad guys were, I still enjoyed the book. It was still a fast read, a book that I zipped right through. I thought Simone was a great heroine and I loved her for Xypher. I love their journey to true love and I just really liked them together as a couple.
I also enjoyed the secondary characters, Jesse, Gloria and it was good to see the other folks mentioned in this book. Oh and in my last DH review, I said how I missed the New Orleans cast and so I’m happy to report that we see Julian in this book and though it’s not Kyrian or Talon or Zarek, Val…I still enjoyed Julian in this book.
Should you read this book? Yes, I enjoyed it and thought only some of it was lame but it’s still a fun read. What I want to know is, what happened to Gloria then? Did we find out, did I totally breeze over that or is whoever killed her the bad guys in the next book? Curious minds want to know and if you know the answer, please drop me a line and let me know, would ya?
THANKS!
Now, I’m off to buy Upon the Midnight Clear, since I don’t have that book.
This book is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
Okie, you’ve made me want to read this book now… hmmm… I hope I have it in my TBR pile!!!! Did this one come out before or after Upon the Midnight Clear?
I’ve been debating about this- Just a question:
Do I need to read it before Ash’s book comes out????
I haven’t read this one yet, but glad you liked it. 😛
I need to hurry and catch up with this series before Ash’s book comes out.
Nope, I think this is the latest DH release. I think UtMC one came out before Devil May Cry.
Zeek,
Hey sweets, no you don’t have to read this before Ash’s book…I don’t think you do because though Ash is in this book, they don’t talk much about him.
Sigh. I’ve had this book ever since it came out and haven’t read it yet. I have forgotten most of the plot of Devil may Cry and don’t remember much about Xypher, so I wanted to re-read at least the last 2 books before reading this one. Yet even knowing there’s an excerpt for Ash’s book at the end of Dream-Chaser wasn’t enough to make me start the re-reading. I lost a lot of my interest for the series when Sherri moved the action from New Orleans and it has decreased ever since. I still have Ash’s book on pre-order, though. Because, hey, it’s ASH. 😀
Rowena, I liked this book, too. I’ll have to go skim it to answer your question about Gloria. Sorry.
Upon a Midnight Clear was a waste of money, though. Can you borrow it from someone? It’s short, big type, double or triple spaced and full book price! WTF? Right off the bat, that made me mad. And the story? Ugh. The hero was annoying. I was expecting something really horrible from his past to make him as “damaged” as he was… and pfft! Get over it dude. The best part of this novel was the bonus ‘chapter’ in the back of the book. Those handful of pages actually moved me way more than Leta & Aidan’s story.