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A sensational new chapter in the Dark-Hunter saga begins from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon
As the twin to Acheron, Styxx hasn’t always been on his brother’s side. They’ve spent more centuries going at each other’s throats than protecting their backs. Now Styxx has a chance to prove his loyalty to his brother—but only if he’s willing to trade his life and future for Acheron’s.
There are two sides to every story.
And you don’t know Styxx…
The Atlantean goddess of Wrath and Misery, Bethany was born to right wrongs. She owes Acheron a debt that she vows to repay, no matter what it takes. He will join their fellow gods in hell and nothing is going to stop her. But things are never what they seem, and Acheron is no longer the last of his line…Meanwhile, Styxx is faced with a desperate decision: To save the world, he can either join forces with the brother who betrayed him or battle the only woman who has held his heart. Which will he choose? The real fight for survival is about to begin…
“Sherrilyn Kenyon [is] the reigning queen of the…paranormal scene.”
—Publishers Weekly
Acheron and Styxx are twin brothers with a dark history. More often fierce enemies than friends, they come together in a battle that threatens to consume them both. To achieve victory or even survive, they must learn to heal their differences and gather their strength. A powerful paranormal romance.
"Kenyon's writing is brisk, ironic and relentless imaginative. These are not your mother's vampire novels." —Boston Globe
"[An] engaging read." —Entertainment Weekly
New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon is a regular in the #1 spot. This extraordinary bestseller continues to top every genre in which she writes. With more than 30 million copies of her books in print in more than one hundred countries, her current series include The Dark-Hunters, The League, and Chronicles of Nick. Her Chronicles of Nick series is soon to be a major motion picture. And the Dark-Hunters will soon be gracing both the big and little screens.
Honestly I don't know how to react to this book. I was excited about Styxx. And I must say this book made me love the character. There are people who say they had pitty for Styxx. I didn't. The hell he went through he still remained loving. This book made me also dislike the sister, dislike Ash, hate Este and his Father and so on. What deeply disturbed me was the brutality of the first 600 pages of this 895 page book. Between the Emotional abuse, the physical abuse, sexual abuse, the incest, the pedophilia an the down right meanness and bulling my stomach stayed in a knot and I had nightmares (sounds like an exaggeration). People have nightmares over horror stories but to me this was a horror story. So yeah I had them. I think I will be taking a break from this author and others that write like her because there is already to much ugly in the world. I like to feel good at after reading a book and although there is an HEA I cannot seem to enjoy it because I cannot seem to get the images out of my head.
35 out of 45 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Utterly Brilliant.
I waited eagerly for this book to show up on my kindle at midnight and started reading it immediately. Given that it is eight-hundred and forty-eight pages long and completely engrossing from page one, I did not get any sleep. I wondered how in the world Ms. Kenyon could possibly turn Styxx into a hero, given all the awful things he did in previous novels, but I knew from experience that with her fantastic imagination it would certainly be something to see. Complete. Understatement.
I started to love Styxx as the protagonist immediately; that sad little boy who was neglected and abused just as badly as Acheron, maybe even worse, because he didn't have Ryssa and his father continuously vacillated between hating and loving him. It was easy to pity him at first, then admire and cheer him on.
The majority of Styxx takes place during the same time as the first half of Acheron; every moment, every conversation takes on new meaning from Styxx's point of view. It was utterly fascinating and oh-so very painful. There were times I wanted to kill Acheron and I didn't think anything could do that. The worst of Styxx's torment may have started when he was a older than his twin, but it was just as bad. Sherrilyn Kenyon sure likes her tortured heroes. Emphasis on the tortured.
The romance surprised me in that it started so early. Styxx was such a sweet, innocent young lover. His ever-enduring faithfulness was one of my favorite parts of the whole novel. Beth, however, I wanted to smack upside the head. How could she...do something I can't say because of spoilers? She's a goddess and she was with him for years and yet all the while...grr. Not saying anything more. Despite how much she annoyed me at times, I did like her for the most part, except...I find I really can't say much about her without spoilers. Suffice it to say she is not my favorite of Ms. Kenyon's heroines. She seemed a little lacking in the 'heroics' department. However, she did have a good sense of humor and once she...bother. I liked her more in the second half of the book.
The relationship between Ash and Styxx was brilliantly handled. Their interactions were limited, but when they met...oh, boy. Sparks flew in all directions, sometimes literally. It was so easy to see how alike they are, no matter how much they would like to deny it.
I loved, loved, loved how hints and foreshadowing and characters from the previous novels were worked into this book. I won't say what they were, but I am very interested in what will happen next in the series. I have new questions by the bucket load, especially those stemming from a delightfully shocking little revelation. It's going to drive me mad waiting for answers.
Overall, I loved this book. The fact that I got annoyed with characters just made me enjoy it all the more; that made them more human (figuratively speaking). Plus, who doesn't love to yell at fictional characters? I highly recommend Styxx to anyone who likes the rest of the Dark-Hunter series. I would not recommend reading it out of order. It gives away the ending to Acheron, Night Embrace and Devil May Cry as well as other things. Make sure you have a few to several hours (depending on your reading speed) before opening this book. You won't want to stop.
33 out of 39 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Pisafe
Posted Wed Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I really hoped we'd get out of the slump, I really did. I just can't stomach that much torture, rape, and sadism. I liked the first few books, felt a bit invested in the characters and wanted to find out what happened. However, much like Christine Feehan's Carpathian novels, there seems to be a need to "up the ante" for each tortured hero. At this point, the books are less about romance and more about a voyeuristic thrill from a characters pain. I know this isn't real. It's fiction. However, I suspect that indulging in this is probably not beneficial, and I'm going to have to stop reading this series. Which bums me out. I know there are other true fans, or people for whom the first half (hundreds of pages) of horror, will have a different message. Perhaps it will bring the character's motivations more to life, or make their foibles more understandable, the character more sympathetic. I wanted to add this, however, as the other folks who put in a low review didn't bother to include a reason. I'm not done with the book, I think I'll skim to the end, which I believe I did with one other recent novel in the series. Sorry now I didn't wait and check this out from the library.
28 out of 35 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Fri Sep 06 00:00:00 EDT 2013
Too much abuse! I found this book exhausting to read. As with several of Ms. Kenyon's other books, this does contain abuse (physical, emotional, sexual) -- approximately 650 pages out of 896. I knew the story was going to be somewhat depressing, because of Ash's back story. However, I didn't realize his emotional misery was going to continue another 150 pages.
In my opinion, it barely included a love story. Oh yes, it did have one, but it wasn’t fulfilling. Abused teenager meets girl, and since she’s the only person nice to him they fall instantly in love. So it was like “wham!” they were in love and being sickly sweet with the two cooing at each other.
Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. I have noticed a trend with the last few books she’s written have had heavy amount of abuse. And, I have to say, I can read about it, but it doesn’t need to go on and on and on, etc. We get it! The character was abused, now move on. I think I heard somewhere that the author is a survivor of some type of abuse, and I really think she should see a therapist and stop inflicting this on her readers or write a self-help book before she alienates all her readers.
Unfortunately, I have to say I think this is the last book I will purchase from this author. I really wish her the best, but she’s appears to continually be taking a path with her writing that I’m not interested in reading.
24 out of 32 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I love Sherrilyn Kenyon, but was so bogged down in the most depressing, sadomasochistic, abuse relationships I just couldn't get past.
What a disappointment. I don't understand how this happened. The book fell completely flat for me. I understand that there is a back story for every DH, but this was just too much. 3/4 of the book was based in ancient Greece. Sometimes it felt more like a history lesson than a romance. Sad to say, sorely disappointed.
16 out of 22 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sat Sep 07 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I can't believe this was actually published. It's disturbing and shouldn't be masquerading as main stream media. The constant abuse that permeates the book was just unnecessary and made it unreadable. Unless you are interested in a boy being constantly abused and raped stay away from this.
If I could I would have given zero stars
14 out of 23 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013
Best Dark Hunter book since Acheron!!
They say there are at least two sides to every story. Ms. Kenyon has done a wonderful job of showing us just that.
When I pre-ordered this book, I went back to Acheron to remind myself of all I knew about Styxx. I came away, as most all have after reading Acheron, with a complete and utter disgust for Styxx.
Then, I read Styxx. I didn't think it was possible to cry that much from just reading a story, or for any book to make me cry harder then I did while reading Acheron. Boy was I mistaken.
If you cannot take stories of abuse, this story is ABSOLUTELY not for you. What was done to these brothers while they were such young boys was atrocious and the wost of horrors, and Ms. Kenyon pulls no punches in her descriptions. I found myself with a mountain of used tissues next to me every I sat down to read some more; however, as no other author can do quite like Kenyon, in the middle of all the horrors, a true love story emerges with all the mushy-gushy hotness that Kenyon also does sooooooooo well.
Loved this one, and cannot wait for the next! Thank you Ms Kenyon for another great book!
-- SPeeD
12 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Sep 09 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I wouldn't read a book with this much violence towards a woman. I just don't know if I can stomach reading the rest. The graphic deatils of the rape and abuse of Styxx in this book seems to do nothing but make me sick and it doesn't even really move the story along. This may be the last book I read by Ms Kenyon.
12 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MaggiemaeNY
Posted Wed Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I would have given 3-4 stars for 2nd half of book, but first half was too torturous for words! I don't mind a sad & painful background to give explanation for a character's current status (eg DWTD), but this was just way too much. Enough already with the painful narrative that only a sadist could love. Oh, and the heroine needed a good boot up her a$$,
9 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Sep 16 00:00:00 EDT 2013
its really sad that most ppl that are giving this book 1 or 2 stars can't see past the abuse mentioned and see the story for what it really it is. So instead of bashing this author and saying the nastiest things you can think of, you need to take a look at yourselves and wonder why YOU can't get past the abuse mentioned in the book. And besides, its not like the author or the publisher did not mention this before YOU brought it. I mean seriously did you buy just so you can say mean things about the book & its author? because if you did...then you are truly the pathetic ones. And I finish by saying that this was an amazing book written by an amazing author.
8 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sun Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013
this book sounded good so i went ahead and purchased it, BAD IDEA! this is a terrible book i didnt even finish the whole thing because the book mostly consisted of styxx getting gang raped every other page, i guess if your into reading about children/teens getting gang raped by their uncle and his friends then this book would be for you...SO DISGUSTED WITH THIS BOOK!! i will never read another one of sherrilyn kenyons books! PATHETIC!
8 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Sep 09 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I have read every single book in this series and have loved them all, but Styxx is by far my absolute favorite. You will cry, get angry, laugh, and cry tears of joy. Styxx makes you fall in love with him and I saw a totally different side of Ash that I was surprised to see, but in the end, Ash is awesome still. Urian, you rock! And Simi is still a joy. Thanks for creating a world that is fun and exciting. This book and all the others will suck you in and not let go.
8 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sun Sep 08 00:00:00 EDT 2013
After reading this book i was more than a little annoyed at Ash and struck by the man Styxx is.
Deep, rich, characters and engaging plot
8 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Fri Sep 06 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I had to do most of my reading alone because Styxx's story kept bringing me to tears. I think we all hated him after reading "Acheron". Ash hated him because he had it so bad but that didn't mean Styxx had it good. I loved the way she made me love this man who none of us really knew before. It just goes to show you may have it bad but there is always someone who has it worse. I loved this book, my favorite Dark Hunter book so far!
8 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Readermom26
Posted Thu Oct 03 00:00:00 EDT 2013
THIS BOOK SHOULD COME WITH A WARNING LABEL
Warning 1: If you haven't read the series, don't start here!
Warning 2: If you have read the series, remember the uncomfortable, awful first half of Acheron; multiply it times ten; read about it for the first THREE-FOURTHS of the book.
There is so much suffering, abuse, rape and neglect, it made me physically sick to my stomach. There is simply too much bad and not enough good. I suggest checking it out from the library, skimming the first 600 pages, and then reading the action/romance part at the end. Here's hoping the next book has a LOT more humor, romance, action, intrigue and adventure. And a lot less rape. Please, no more rapes.
6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sat Sep 07 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I agree with others regarding the amount of abuse in this book. It was too much for me to even enjoy the story. Writing is quality but I read these kinds of books for enjoyment and I found it difficult to enjoy this book. Which was frustrating since I love this author. Hopefully the next one lightens up a bit!
6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I really was hoping to love this book, but sadly it was a difficult read. This is obviously just my opinion, but I felt like the really disturbing graphic darkness that sadly seemed to last two thirds of it, was just a little much. I have loved the majority of the dark hunter novels...and this one was a lot better the last third or so....but I just found the constant theme throughout, while I understand that she wanted to describe the horrors Styxx suffered in great detail, it just seemed so constant and repetitive that it really just was hard to read. Again, I feel it was much improved closer to the end, and I did care about the characters, but personally do not know if will revisit this book as I have so many of the others over and over.
6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.EclecticTastes
Posted Mon Sep 16 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I, for one, absolutely LOVED this book one of my favorites along with Acheron. However, I'm highly disappointed by the readers giving it a rating of anything below the value it truly deserves. Anyone who read Acheron had to expect this. It's his twin! But we will ignore the cognitive abilities of some people, and go with the book is well written, and while graphic in its portrayal of Styxx's suffering, did anyone really expect her to phone it in?! Especially after reading the Acheron. Honestly... if anyone has read the dark-hunter books (any of them) and could look past the gooey love and sex they would realize that !!ALL OF THEM!!, had they gone back to the beginning of the character they would have had horrible amounts of suffering as well. *talking to a kindergartener tone* "That's kinda one of the reasons they are chosen as dark hunters..." As an after note though... People that are of a weak constitution or they just can't handle violence and abuse (you name it... it has it in there.) Shouldn't read Acheron or Styxx. Any of the others... yeah... mostly because while there is violence there is more than enough fluff in there to make them forget ALL about their stomachs turning at people being turned to dust, and OTHER OTHER Side note.... If you can get past the abuse it also give a health incite to what was happening on the other side of the spectrum in Talon and Acheron's books.
4 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Thu Sep 12 00:00:00 EDT 2013
Before i bought this book i read the reviews. That being said it made me angry seeing all the one star reviews. If you were moved by this story you should appreciate how much passion the author puts into her writing. Great read that made me cry and laugh.
Thank you for writing this book about Styxx!
4 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Sep 09 00:00:00 EDT 2013
Styxx omada!!!!!!!!
3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
A sensational new chapter in the Dark-Hunter saga begins from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon
As the twin to Acheron, Styxx hasn’t always been on his brother’s side. They’ve spent more centuries going at each other’s throats than protecting their backs. Now Styxx has a ...