Paranormal

An incredibly boring, generic, and sometimes painful read of a bunch of mostly and vaguely related short stories to the Dark-Hunter universe, plus two that might have nothing to do with anything. Kenyon's protagonists are pretty much all the same so it's a bit hard to keep track of average humans who may or may not be someone we've met before.

Most of the couple stories - which are basically pared down versions of the average DH book - are, like most of the books, the same, but with slightly different dressing. A man and a woman, both of whom probably hate each other for some reason that happened years ago. Both are a bit of an ass to the people around them but the woman is really hesitant and just wants to do what's right - and who's also kind of dense - and the guy is an outright jerk but with a tragic past and a heart of gold, who also apparently doesn't realize that terrifying at least specific people is a stupid idea if you want to be happy. They want to kill each other on sight but end up rekindling their "romance" by realizing how in lust with each other they still are. Generic ending to the non-romance plot that's mushed into a corner while there's maybe 2-3 generic sex scenes with lots of mentions of large manhoods and layers and things. And a wedding for characters you might have forgotten about because they were a few books ago. And something about a seraph. And Nick Gautier angsting, as a reminder of "why are people in the Nick spin-offs so worried about him going nuclear when most of the things that happen in the original timeline clearly aren't going to happen now" because essentially it's just a summary of when he went off the rails initially and honestly it was so long ago I've forgotten most of the details but the timeline felt vaguely off - not changing the timeline off, but like "author didn't reread notes" off. It just felt confusing. Time travel and messing with it are fudgy at best in this series and this random little segment did nothing to help, other than maybe pinpoint what helps Nick go over the edge? If that made any or no sense to you, basically that's how reading this "story" felt.

As for the new story about Styxx and Bet's 'origins'... it kind of just demonstrates how weird pantheons are. I don't know if that's a Kenyon thing or just her pointing out that mythology is weird. I'm also not sure that this is how war works but hey, whatever. And I think someone really liked writing "Styxx" because this feels kind of like a chapter pulled out of that book and rewritten a bit. Overall, a lackluster read.

The questionably non-DH stories are completely uninteresting, dragged out, and just plain "why are you in here". One's about a genius computer programmer(?) and his fangirl. In summary: they're really in lust with each other but will office politics get in the way? Will poorly written miscommunication and catfighting -it's not a Kenyon story without women hating each other typically because Their Male is looking at/near another woman- destroy their relationship before it's barely begun? I was actually vaguely excited because I thought the guy might be gay - which would be a change of pace for Kenyon - but no. That was not to be.

The other questionably non-DH story is so forgettable I read it earlier and can't remember anything other than I think it's vaguely Western/mafia-movie inspired. If you like Kenyon's style of writing romance, you'll like these, too. It's more of that. If you don't and you're here for the mythology and familiar characters... well... you can skip these.

Overall... long, boring, predictable, adds nothing of value to the universe, as far as I can tell. I didn't like the Dracula story when I read it originally. Still don't like it. It's nice to see what Fury is up to at long last, I suppose, but the story he's in is so generic it's just like... oh. Right. If you like the DH universe a lot, you'll like this one. If you're expecting a good follow-up to "Styxx"... well, keep looking! If you'd like some good romance tied into mythology, read "The Last Unicorn". If you'd like some good modern mythology, "United States of Asgard" is great. And as for good romance and vampires, check out "Carmilla" - it's an old short story that's basically free everywhere, was used to create "Dracula", and still holds up pretty well.

Also, what's with the stupid cover? What the heck does a hand have to do with anything? There's no story in here where a hand or claws has great importance other than brief offhand physical descriptions of a couple characters appendages. Why not take a stab at drawing any/all of the protagonists. Maybe some were-hunters versus some dark-hunters. Maybe something other than a cover that is completely uninformative. ( )

A collection of mostly previously published stories, with most stories taking place in Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series. I've never read any of this series before, so I came to this as a total newbie. And I am wildly confused. I had to consult Kenyon's website to figure out who was who and how they're all related. I was disappointed to find out that characters from one of my favorite stories (Bathymaas and her husband) did not exist in other stories in that same format. I also just really cannot get into this universe, probably because it is so huge and confusing for a new reader.

If you enjoy this sprawling series you'll probably really enjoy this collection.

(Provided by publisher) ( )

Great set of short stories ( )

Read So Far:

Phantom Lover - 4 Stars
I was enjoying it so much I didn't even see that twist coming.

Winter Born - 5 Stars
Faaantastic! Loving these bits of spicy goodness from Ms. Kenyon's imagination. I find that I normally have to force myself to read short stories from series but I'm loving these so much I can't wait to gobble them all up.

A Dark-Hunter Christmas - 4 Stars
Such a sweet little morsel. I loved this so much, wish I had read it during Christmas time, I would have probably felt even more touched by it. It was also a surprising departure from the typical Dark-Hunter story. And Simi is the best, kinda scary sometimes with that appetite of hers, but she is the smartest and most adorable demon ever. ( )