Guest Review: Retribution by Sherrilyn Kenyon

As a big fan of The Dark Hunter series, I couldn’t resist reading this book as soon as it was released.
In this installment, we finally get to meet William Jessup “Sundown” Brady. Jess was a famous gun slinger, an outlaw cowboy, a badass of the West if you will. *sucker for the bad boys*
We first meet Sundown in Zerek’s book (Dance with the Devil). He was the cowboy who helped our Z get his HEA. Although becoming a Dark Hunter is a long Story, it is explained and revealed how Jess became one.

If you don’t already know, most of the Dark Hunters have a tormented past and that’s usually the very reason they become a Dark Hunter….. For Retribution.

Our hero here definitely has a reason for requital . This outlaw has found love and lost it tragically. He was betrayed by the only one he trusted. Bart Wilkerson, his confidant, sidekick, best friend, father figure whom had a similar interest…..His Matilda. I won’t go into details because if I do, I will just give up spoilers everywhere. (I probably will anyway but I will try to keep it to a minimum) It is obvious that this love triangle will not end well.

Because Jess is an immortal and unknown to the humans as a Dark Hunter, he was force to watch Matilda from afar. He watched her live her life without him. Anonymously, he took care of her financially and her family line over the course of 1138 year span.. And that’s where our Heroine comes in. Abigail Yager is a descendent of Matilda Aponi. She was orphaned young, was taken in by the Daimons/Apollites and used as a pawn. She started to hunt for Dark Hunters and was damn good at it. In the process, she had set off a series of events that will bring Jess, Ren, Sasha, Choo Co La Tah and herself on a journey to, well, pretty much save the world.

Though this book is good, it is not my favorite among the series. You do see the typical banter among the characters, there is some action and there are twists in the story. But it lacked the Dark Hunter character I have come to expect from Kenyon. It lacked steamy hot scenes and the romance was not as strong IMO. This story is more based on Native American Mythology than the Greek Mythology / DH vs. Daimon story I am used to. ~Way to throw me off Kenyon~

We do get a glimpse of a typical DH story at the end of the book. It’s a bonus story of Ash and Tory as they deliver their baby! Now here we see the usual characters; Ash, Tori, Nick, Kat, Simi, even Nick, Apollymi and Artemis. I give this short story 5 Stars!!!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I love Kenyon’s writing and the magical world she had created in this series.

Favorite Lines:
~Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today. -Cherokee Proverb
~Jess: “I though you were communing with Chocolate tonight.” Ren shook his head. “Choo Co La Tah”. “Ah Potato, Potahto……”
~”Jess: Got to say, dying would really wreck my best day. Been there, don’t that…..Artemis forgot to give me the T-shirt.”
~Jess: “Why’d he call you?” Zarek gave him a droll stare. “My charming personality.”
~Abby: Please don’t drop me.” He actually winked at her. “Not on your life.” (Jess)
~Jess: “C;mon, punks,” he goaded. “You want to fight or sniff each others’ crotches?”
~Simi Explains a Charonte Custom: “When a new baby is born you kill of an old annoying family member who gets on everyone’s nerves which for all of us would be the heifer-goddess…..you just gotta say no thank you. You a mean old heifer-goddess who need to go play in traffic and get run over by something big like a steamroller or bus or something else really painful….”
~Ash and Artemis: “She, a pathetic human, really means that much to you?” “I would die for her”.
~The Happiness on your face when first you touched him was enough. I only wish you’d been there when your daughter was born……..Let’s hope the future is much kinder to all of us than the past has been.”