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The Darkest Kiss was kinda so-so. I'm just invested enough in the Lords of the Underworld as characters to want to continue the series, but one thing I've noticed that doesn't bode well for me finishing it is that Showalter is very formulaic. This is my third Showalter book and they all pretty much follow the same path. Bad boy meets girl, they resist but feel destined to be together. Heavy petting ensues, they declare their undying love to each other, the big bad shows up, the couple fight, they win, and they live happily ever after.
As for The Darkest Kiss, the best part of the book was probably Anya. She was fiesty and loads o'fun. I loved her lollipop sucking self. Paris's side adventure in Greece was also way more interesting than the primary narrative. Push comes to shove, not unlike the other books I've read by Showalter, everything gets wrapped up pretty neatly and pretty quickly by the novel's close. What little tension there is in the book is pretty light and easily mediated. The resolution to Anya's curse, as well as what happens when she gives up the All-Key to Cronos are so easily achieved as to be laughable. That the characters spend so much of the book in a quandary over how to fix the fall-out from those two events would suggest much more difficulty (or complexity)in resolving than actually turned out to be true.
The Lords are all tormented and dark, so even within characterization there hasn't been all that much variety. I am, however, expecting that to change once we get to Paris and Sabin, Gideon, etc. Showalter's men do a lot of roaring and punching of walls and that gets really old after a while. But like I said before, I am just invested enough in the individual lords to try and make it through the series. Plus! they're super easy, quick reading and I need popcorn fiction right now.
As for The Darkest Kiss, the best part of the book was probably Anya. She was fiesty and loads o'fun. I loved her lollipop sucking self. Paris's side adventure in Greece was also way more interesting than the primary narrative. Push comes to shove, not unlike the other books I've read by Showalter, everything gets wrapped up pretty neatly and pretty quickly by the novel's close. What little tension there is in the book is pretty light and easily mediated. The resolution to Anya's curse, as well as what happens when she gives up the All-Key to Cronos are so easily achieved as to be laughable. That the characters spend so much of the book in a quandary over how to fix the fall-out from those two events would suggest much more difficulty (or complexity)in resolving than actually turned out to be true.
The Lords are all tormented and dark, so even within characterization there hasn't been all that much variety. I am, however, expecting that to change once we get to Paris and Sabin, Gideon, etc. Showalter's men do a lot of roaring and punching of walls and that gets really old after a while. But like I said before, I am just invested enough in the individual lords to try and make it through the series. Plus! they're super easy, quick reading and I need popcorn fiction right now.
