Scan barcode
A review by narteest
The Darkest Promise by Gena Showalter
4.0
My review on this is biased, I've waited so long for Cameo's book and I think it has definitely met my expectations. I was happy with it. And loved reading it. More full review later.
----------------
Cameo's book has long been coming. It was hinted a few books back who her love will be but with Showalter potentially changing the ship, I waited and held my breath in hopes that it was the one I wanted for Cameo - and it was! This series is my guilty pleasure read. I don't like reading PNR usually. I can't deal with corny lines and supernatural/paranormal romance usually. There's too much mating and bonding and whatnot. But the Lords of the Underworld is an exception! It's romance focussed, yes, but there's also a plot going on that makes the story pretty interesting, plus it doesn't take itself too seriously. We get all the good moments, and we can laugh about it too. Granted, her last few books have been hit and miss for me (Hit: Torin and Paris; Miss: Kane and Baden), but as a loyal fan on these books, I read all of them.
So. Cameo and Lazarus - yessss btw! They were perfect for each other. Lazarus was amusing, while Cameo was heartbreaking. I noticed that a lot more of the recent books contain the big moment towards the end where characters split from each other in one final dramatic sweep of conflict. Cameo and Lazarus don't do that in this one (not like in Torin's), and now that I come to think about it, I don't think it happened often in her earlier books.
Anyway, just to skim over the details (yes, this is going to be a very pointless review on this book since I'm having a very hard time thinking about it in a non-biased manner), Cameo is strong as a person, and I love that she kicks ass, and loved it more when she uses her demon to bring everyone to their knees, literally. Which is in part a shame that she loses Misery at the end (sorry, spoiler), I did feel that was a bit unnecessary but in saying that, the demon WAS making her miserable. As for Lazarus, that guy was as sweet as he was cruel, as per his name. Sweet to Cameo of course, in the way that he would always make her remember him no matter how many times she forgot. His story was also really strong too! I loved seeing how he dealt with his own crisis.
This particular book is different from the other LOTU books in only one sense - the main focus is our only female Lord. Thus, we see her struggles as much as we saw the other twelve struggle. It felt different to me, because of this, yet I didn't dislike it. Since we're always seeing the male acting pretty much alpha dominant (and yet, this was also not taken too seriously) and the female always strong-but the prize, in a way of thinking to the struggle the lords go through. This time Lazarus is the prize, and Cameo is the one gunning for it. And Lazarus is a really awesome prize.
I do wish Lazarus' story could be tied up a bit more - cough, cough, his army. I want to see how he gets his army and gets to his kingdom, seeing as they existed when he was in the spirit realm and not the real one. And I'm still a bit confused about his history (since I'm currently rereading Darkest Surrender, and glimpsing Lazarus pre-Cameo).
Overall, out of the later books in this series, Darkest Promise is pretty good in comparison to a few. I still miss the feel of the earlier books, but like Torin's, I was pretty amused by Cameo's.
----------------
Cameo's book has long been coming. It was hinted a few books back who her love will be but with Showalter potentially changing the ship, I waited and held my breath in hopes that it was the one I wanted for Cameo - and it was! This series is my guilty pleasure read. I don't like reading PNR usually. I can't deal with corny lines and supernatural/paranormal romance usually. There's too much mating and bonding and whatnot. But the Lords of the Underworld is an exception! It's romance focussed, yes, but there's also a plot going on that makes the story pretty interesting, plus it doesn't take itself too seriously. We get all the good moments, and we can laugh about it too. Granted, her last few books have been hit and miss for me (Hit: Torin and Paris; Miss: Kane and Baden), but as a loyal fan on these books, I read all of them.
So. Cameo and Lazarus - yessss btw! They were perfect for each other. Lazarus was amusing, while Cameo was heartbreaking. I noticed that a lot more of the recent books contain the big moment towards the end where characters split from each other in one final dramatic sweep of conflict. Cameo and Lazarus don't do that in this one (not like in Torin's), and now that I come to think about it, I don't think it happened often in her earlier books.
Anyway, just to skim over the details (yes, this is going to be a very pointless review on this book since I'm having a very hard time thinking about it in a non-biased manner), Cameo is strong as a person, and I love that she kicks ass, and loved it more when she uses her demon to bring everyone to their knees, literally. Which is in part a shame that she loses Misery at the end (sorry, spoiler), I did feel that was a bit unnecessary but in saying that, the demon WAS making her miserable. As for Lazarus, that guy was as sweet as he was cruel, as per his name. Sweet to Cameo of course, in the way that he would always make her remember him no matter how many times she forgot. His story was also really strong too! I loved seeing how he dealt with his own crisis.
This particular book is different from the other LOTU books in only one sense - the main focus is our only female Lord. Thus, we see her struggles as much as we saw the other twelve struggle. It felt different to me, because of this, yet I didn't dislike it. Since we're always seeing the male acting pretty much alpha dominant (and yet, this was also not taken too seriously) and the female always strong-but the prize, in a way of thinking to the struggle the lords go through. This time Lazarus is the prize, and Cameo is the one gunning for it. And Lazarus is a really awesome prize.
I do wish Lazarus' story could be tied up a bit more - cough, cough, his army. I want to see how he gets his army and gets to his kingdom, seeing as they existed when he was in the spirit realm and not the real one. And I'm still a bit confused about his history (since I'm currently rereading Darkest Surrender, and glimpsing Lazarus pre-Cameo).
Overall, out of the later books in this series, Darkest Promise is pretty good in comparison to a few. I still miss the feel of the earlier books, but like Torin's, I was pretty amused by Cameo's.