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Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Book: The Guardian
Series: Dark Hunters #22
Reviewer: Mona Leigh
Source: Get Red PR
Purchase: – Barnes & Noble

As a Dream-Hunter, Lydia has been charged with the most sacred and dangerous of missions. She’s to descend into the Nether Realm and find the missing god of dreams before he betrays the secrets that could kill all of them. What she never expects is to be taken prisoner by the Realm’s most vicious guardian.

Seth’s time is running out. If he can’t hand over the key to Olympus and the heart of Zeus, then his own life and soul will be forfeit. No matter the torture, he hasn’t been able to break the god in his custody. But when a rescuer appears, he decides to try a new tactic.

When these two lock wills, one of them must give. But Lydia isn’t just guarding the gates of Olympus, she’s holding back the darkest of powers. If she fails, an ancient evil will roam the earth once more and no one will be safe.
But evil is always seductive…

Danger, violence, and abuse are common in Seth’s hell where he’s been chained and tortured for over a thousand years. Without warning, he’s released so he can torture the dream god, Solin, because only Solin knows where to find the key that will allow primal god Noir to overthrow Olympus.

Years ago, Solin rescued and raised Were-Hunter Lydia after her mother was murdered, so Lydia’s determined to rescue him from the depths of Asmodea. Everything was fine until she found his prison cell, then suddenly, she’s the prisoner and Solin is free.

I’m still trying to discern my feelings over this book. In a lot of ways, I really enjoyed it, but I found myself wanting to skip over some passages. Seth’s detailed torture eventually became tiring, and I would have preferred more focus on the relationship between him and Lydia. Also, the ending where everything is made right was a bit too pat for me. Seth takes away Lydia’s memory of him and their time together, and she wakes wondering how she got to Solin’s house. Then out of the blue, she and several others are rescuing Seth from Asmodea. How did she remember him? How did he get back to Asmodea? There’s a huge gap where everything happens off page and it’s very annoying. Both characters had enough charisma to fuel more of the story, but instead we got bits and pieces, and holes where there should have been detail.

I’m a huge fan of the Dark-Hunter / Were-Hunter / Dream Hunter series, but this book simply wasn’t up to Ms. Kenyon’s previous standards. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to like about it, but new Kenyon readers may be more than a little put off by the repetition and gaps in the story. For her established fans who simply want to read without taxing their brains, this is the perfect story for that. You can read and enjoy without becoming vested in the characters or outcome. Like I said, enjoyable, but not a lot of substance.

Mona's first grade teacher, Mrs. Stanford, gifted her with the love of reading. For that, she'll always live in her heart. But reading took over Mona's life, eclipsing everything but playing sports, and has continued to be a huge part of her life. Although she has always written poetry and stories for her self, last year she decided to try her hand at writing fiction. She is currently editing her first urban fantasy and hopes to have it ready for the agent by summer's end. Besides reading, Mona loves speed in the form of fast cars. The faster, the better! In her next life, she plans to drive race cars (or whatever happens to be their replacement in the future) all while reading and writing. She has also taken up rune reading, and find it to be disturbingly accurate and exciting.

Doll Mona Leigh

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