Acheron: Sherrilyn Kenyon-Book Fifteen

Redeemed!!!!!!!

Yeah I know you are thinking I mean Acheron and partly that’s right, but this is personal.

Ack-uh-rhan. Turn to page 542 kiddies and look it up. That is the CORRECT pronunciation of Acheron. It’s like Cicero isn’t sis-uh-ro . It’s Kick-a- ro. That’s the way the old fucks did it and when I walked into a shop looking for Acheron under it’s correct pronunciation I got tsked, scoffed and treated like a total newb.

Okay, I was a newb. I hadn’t seen Acheron called “Ash” yet and I admit I like the sound of ASHERON better, but I am an anthro freak and all that historical shit means a lot to me, including pronunciations. So, like I said REDEEMED by the great one herself.

You gonna argue with me now, Miss Store Clerk?

Fuck no, you’re not.

Umm…I guess we can start the review now.

In my hopping around many a book store I often heard that the first half of the way long Acheron was just too harsh and “Kenyon goes on and on. Okay, we get it. His life sucked.” This sentiment and others like it worried me. What the hell was coming up?

Well, I’ve now read the entire book, out takes and all and you know, the first half is harsh. It is brutal. It did make me cry and at times it made me shudder. There were moments I connected to Acheron’s pain in ways I didn’t want to. And it took me four days to read the book because I couldn’t stomach a constant intake of such sorrow. That said, I think Kenyon did Acheron justice by telling his WHOLE story.

But if you have rape issues, molestation issues, or any kind of abuse issues and you are not ready to confront your own demons, skip the first half of the book and go straight to part two that takes place in present time. You won’t lose much by not knowing the gory details of Ash’s life. You will by now, assuming you’ve read the entire series, gotten the gist of everything.

I think it brave of Kenyon to put it out there though. I have stories that I have set aside because I thought the world wasn’t ready for them. I’m reading this stuff thinking that world is ready for such darkness and I will be able to plate up my own tales.

Anyway, let’s get back to Acheron.

The second half of the book brings us back to the “normal” feel of a Kenyon DH book. It’s lighthearted, humorous, romantic and dark all at the same time. We get to see parts of Ash that we already knew were there and we get to see him find his own way, wrestle with his own demons and find a happiness he deserves. Of course…..

Things are never easy and things often have a price. I don’t think, even in this, even in Acheron’s tale that he got out of it unscathed. Do any of our Dark-Hunters?

No, not really. They do find redemption though even if the purity of happiness is forged in fire. Acheron is no different and quite frankly, I don’t think he wants to be, not entirely anyway.

So who is the super chick? (She hates the word chick, by the way.) She is Soteria Kafieri. Hmmmm, sound familiar? It should. Megeara ala Arik is her cousin and we might have spent some time in Tory, Soteria’s, part of the world.

If I have my memory straight, I didn’t care much about Tory when I first met her. I didn’t hate her or like her. She was just there. In this latest piece by Kenyon though, I do like her and what seems like an unlikely match becomes very likely. And I have to say this:

Tory is not stupid. She didn’t let a lot of things slide like her cousin did in her tale. Tory thought things through, questioned and had a balance of curiosity and logic. I guess I’m saying Tory is a believable character.

And I guess I’m saying I like the book. I do, very, very much. ALL of it, too. So nab it if you haven’t. I think it’s still in hardback, but if you get it through Rhapsody Romance the book is a tad lighter than the one you might get at Borders or a place like that.

So what’s next? One Silent Night. I can’t wait. Well, yeah I can. I think I’m going to revel in the idea of Acheron before I move on. It was a long time coming, so I’m going to savor it.

© 2008