[Archive] LITERAL ADDICTION's Review of Darkness Hunts

Keri Arthur  author of the New York Times bestselling Riley Jenson, Guardian series, has now written more than 25 books. She's received several nominations in the Best Contemporary Paranormal category of the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards, and recently won RT's Career Achievement Award for urban fantasy. She lives in Melbourne with her daughter and two crazy dogs.

Darkness Hunts, Book #4 of the DARK ANGELS series
Author:  Keri Arthur

Synopsis:

Risa Jones, half-Aedh/half-werewolf, can enter the realm between life and death. She can speak to the dying and the dead, and she can see the Reapers, collectors of souls. What she can not yet see is the identity of a stranger murdering women and draining their blood. Now Risa must summon her gifts to find him, even if it means putting her own life in danger. But Risa needn’t look far. The killer knows who she is.

He tells her his victims are infected by darkness and he’s fated to destroy them. Fascinated by Risa, he engages her in a sinister game: the chance to save the life of his next victim by deciphering his series of clues. In a race against time, she enlists the help of the Reaper Azriel.

But as an attraction between them grows, so does the fear that the stranger’s motives are only part of a larger, more dangerous scheme—one that has lured Risa and Azriel into the dark.

Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Michelle L. Olson:

If you follow my reviews, you know that I'm a huge fan of Keri Arthur's. You also know that I LOVE the DARK ANGELS series. So, when I received an advance reading copy of Darkness Hunts from the Publisher in return for an honest review I was thrilled.  I have absolutely devoured every installment of the series thus far with nothing but rave reviews and couldn't wait to see what happened next.

This book was a little different than the ones before. It wasn't quite as action-packed; at least not until closer to the end. It was, however, one of the most emotion filled books I've had the pleasure of reading all year.  The over-all feel of the story was incredibly visceral and while immersed in the tale I almost found it hard to breath in sections because it was slightly overwhelming (in a completely wonderful way).  

I switched rapidly from doubt, betrayal, frustration, yearning, worry, fear, apprehension, and many more.  There was something incredibly organic about Darkness Hunts and I thoroughly enjoyed it, though for different reasons than I loved the first three books of the series.  

I have to be honest and say that I'm not sure if all fans of the series will like this installment.  Keri gifted us all with something we've been waiting long and hard for in Darkness Devours and Darkness Hunts doesn't quite continue that gift giving.  It instead pulls back, and in doing so, explores the more human side of the characters.  It was beautiful and yet utterly frustrating at the same time.  

Risa continues to get herself into bind after bind and Keri takes us, as readers, along with her. There's actually a quote from page 237 of the ARC that I have to share because it's gorgeously written and so encompassing of the series thus far.  Risa's dwelling on things that have happened and thinks: "...because I knew, no matter what, there was no going back. This path, this journey, was leading me inexorably into darkness, and I knew with every fiber of my being it was a darkness from which I would not escape."

LITERAL ADDICTION gives Darkness Hunts 5 Skulls for its viscerally organic nature and beautiful prose that literally made my heart ache, as well as for an ending that will have all DARK ANGEL fans clamoring for more!

Darkness Hunts