ARC Review: Stygian by Sherrilyn Kenyon

“…parts of this book were still good.”
~ Under the Covers

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

I think I’ve put off reviewing this book long enough.  I’ve been avoiding it because I’ve had conflicting feelings about it.  I have been a big fan of Miss Kenyon’s work since I discovered her books years back but as of late, her books are not as good as they used to be.

Now, don’t get me wrong, parts of this book were still good.  To start, Stygian is the hero I expected him to be in more ways than one.  His story is not as good as Acheron or Styxx but I liked him. He’s powerful, a  bit broken, and sexy to boot. You get to know Urian inside and out. His childhood love, current love interest, and family history revealed for readers to see.  My favorite is his part in Acheron and Styxx’s life, and how he contributed to their story. I loved the drama, the action, and even the retelling of certain scenes from previous books.  I especially loved reliving parts of Styxx’s story. I will admit there’s one particular part that still had me balling.

However.  And this is where I felt most conflicted with.  Almost the second half of the book was a retelling of scenes from previous books.  At first, I was happy to relive scenes that hit me emotionally, but the familiar scenes kept going from one scene to the next.  Retellings from previous books don’t usually bother me especially when they are told in different POVs. For the most part, most of the scenes are scenes I’ve enjoyed before.  Unfortunately, a big chunk of this book felt like it was exact texts I’ve read before. It felt too much of a deja vu. Despite liking those scenes, I still felt robbed.

Another issue I had and this is a big spoiler, so if you don’t like spoilers, please stop reading now.  

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If you read the previous books, you know that there was a build up to Urian finding the love of his life, Phoebe. Unfortunately, after eons of mourning and yearning for her, he ends up with another.  I’m not sure if I was resistant to the new romance because I was rooting for Phoebe and Urian from the start but the ending just didn’t sit right with me. All the heartaches Urian went through to get to Phoebe to only end it without a backward glance was just too easy.  Way easy.

Despite my complaints, I’m still rating this book two and a half to three stars for the good parts of this book.  Will I keep reading Kenyon? Most likely. I still like this world she brings me in and I’ll take any Acheron/Styxx page time anyway I can get.  

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[about-author author=”Sherrilyn Kenyon”]

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