ACHERON – THE MAN, THE GOD, THE FIANCE, THE BOOK

 

*****BIG, MAJOR, TELL-ALL SPOILERS*****

 

 

Have you ever read a book that just exhausted you mentally?  The scope and breadth of the story filled every part of your mind, swept you up into a maelstrom, and ran your emotions ragged? 

 

Well, this isn’t that book…

 

***** SPOILERS*****

 

Just kidding.  Holy Mother of Almighty Jesus Christ, the book wasn’t just big and heavy, the story was BIG!  And HEAVY!!!  I was repulsed, disgusted, angry, frustrated, incredulous, and many other adjectives as well – and that was just the first 10 chapters!  It was so spirit-crushingly spirit-crushing, it will crush your spirit!!! 

 

Acheron’s human life was emotionally squalid.  Squalid, I tell you!  If you hadn’t learned to love him so much in the other Dark-Hunter books, you would never have stuck with it to see him to godhood.  And his human life showed me something I’ve strongly felt for a long time – people are shite.  They can’t help it.  They are feeble-minded and at the mercy of their worst compulsions.  More than anything, people love to enjoy the fact that others are suffering and not them. 

 

By the time you get to the second part of the book, where’s he’s coming into his godhood and becomes a trainer for the Dark-Hunters, your body is so relieved to have a reprieve from beatings and scalding verbal abuse and outright torture.  You start to breath a little easier as the pages go by and he’s talking with whoever and not being hit.  Even just arguing is a relief. 

 

The best part of the story for me was the last 3 or so chapters.  Those were the most fun.  He and Tory are a lot of fun together.  I don’t agree with a lot of the plot development as far as their relationship, but the overall logic is sound.  She appears to be the reincarnation (the book never says that, but it should) of the “Librarian/Historian/Guardian of The Gods” of Atlantis.  And his mother likes her!  Talk about “monster-in-law”!!!  I was just as confused as Ash as to why he was attracted to her.  I thought he couldn’t get attracted to human women.  A lot of threads got unwound that I thought were knotted tightly. If you ask me, Artemis let him off really easy.  Maybe she realized that she could no longer subjugate Acheron – not with his girlfriend and mother protecting him.  Also, it was too easy how he mustered up the gumption to tell Artie to naff off.  I think it was all in the focus.  He doesn’t have backbone problems when it comes to protecting others, and apparently Tory was enough of an issue to where he could get the “heifer-goddess” of his back.

 

Artemis got off lightly considering Acheron has Savitar, Sin, his mother, and Katra at his back.  Katra can absorb the powers of gods.  She’s like the “Sham-Wow” of Atlantis. 

 

I would have loved to read about a Dark-Hunter bachelor party, but you know they can’t get together without their powers waning in each others’ presence.  Which is one of the off-kilter details about Acheron and Tory’s wedding.  Several DHs were in attendance.  But really, you couldn’t have Acheron get married and NOT have the DHs there.  Like he said – the shock value alone is probably worth losing your powers for a couple of hours.  Besides, Savitar is there to pick up the slack should any demon or Daimon have a death-wish.  He has a Best Man and everything.  Dark-Hunter theorists will no doubt go nuts trying to figure out which Bridesmaid/Groomsman will end up a couple.  Some are obviously out of it: Simi – duh; Vane, Kyrian, Aimee.  But Katherine, a priestess, and Styxx – why not.  Urian and Cyn, Tori’s nymphet cousin who looks like Artemis.  Pam and Savitar.  Now remember – this is just conjecture on my part.  There’s nothing in the book to suggest that any of these characters are going to get together.

 

What Kenyon has done with Greek mythology is frikkin’ amazing.  What she’s done with Atlantis and their gods is one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever read – in any genre.  As soon as I finished ACHERON, within the minute, I had picked up ONE SILENT NIGHT – the book of Strykerius, a.k.a. “loser”, according to Xirena, Simi’s sister.  Kenyon really wove a web of demon/Daimon action which was difficult to keep up with. I don’t mind.  Nick was prominent in this book. He’s got an extremely cool story arc.  There were no less than 4 pantheons featured in this book: Atlantean, Greek, Egyptian, Sumerian.  Does “Apollite” count?  The only bunch who didn’t show up were the Weres.  But word down the pipeline is that Aimee and Fang are going to get their own story. 

 

Another interesting development is that the bloodlines are mixing.  Charonte and gallu demon.  Atlantean and human.  Dark-Hunter and daimon.  It’s putting the pantheons at odds with each other.  Oh, and one of the other cool things about the DH world – Nick stuck it to Satara, Stryker’s evil sister.  I’d been dying for someone to bitch-slap her through time and space to where she’d become her own ancestor.  Way-to-go Nick!!  Stabbed her in the gut and made it hurt.  He killed her real dead-like.

 

So Ash’s household now consists of him and Tory, Simi, Xirena, Alexion and Danger, and Urian.  He may or may not have replaced the pet dragons.  God or not, there’s nothing sexier than a tall man with an never-ending supply of no-limit credit cards.  In the pro/con ledger of life, ACHERON – man, god, boyfriend, husband – is definitely in the pro column. 

 

ACHERON: HALF-MAN, HALF-GOD, TWICE-BORN, ALL-CURSED

• Acheron
• sherrilyn kenyon
• read in 2008
• series