Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Narrator: Holter Graham
Series: Dark Hunter #29
Published by Brilliance Audio on August 28, 2018
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Length: 26 hours, 5 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble





Born before man recorded time, I lived for thousands of years, believing myself to be something I’m not.
Someone I’m not.
Lied to and betrayed by gods, Daimons, and Dark-Hunters, I’ve struggled to find my way in a world where I’ve been cursed since the moment a vengeful goddess prematurely ripped me from my mother and planted me into the womb of an innocent woman who thought me her son.
Trained as a slayer and predator, I’ve learned to fit in and stay low. To become a tool for evil. Until I was sent to kill the one woman I couldn’t. My hesitation cost her, her life.
Or so I thought. In an act of betrayal that makes all the others pale in comparison, I’ve learned that things are not what they seem in this world and that my Phoebe still lives.
Now I will have to travel into the very pits of Hades to try and save her, even as everyone around me attempts to steal what little soul I have left. There’s only one person at my back and I’m not sure I can trust her either, for she was born of an enemy race. Yet sometimes the road to redemption is one that singes us to our very core. And if I fail to find the answers I need to save Phoebe, more than just my wife will die.
We will lose the world. Both human and Daimon.
~Urian of the House of Aricles
The Dark-Hunter series is one of my favorite paranormal romance series. Stygian is the 27th book. I read all the books 1-21 and then I missed at least 6 books up to this one. I really meant to read about Styxx which is the first one I missed. Because these are paranormal romance, you can read these out of order, but you do get more depth on some characters and locations when you have read the whole series.
I’d never listened to any of these on audio, and Urian has always been a favorite character. These are LONG books. It’s been at least 6 years since I read the last one and I didn’t feel lost at all. To the contrary, I felt some of the story was repetitive having read the other books. I knew some of the outcomes and many other characters well. So there were some battles I already knew all about, from another character in their book. Having not read for awhile, this helped me, but I might have found it slightly irritating if I was up-to-date.
The timeline is also very long and covers over 11,500 years. There are some big time jumps. Every character in this series gets put through the wringer and Urian is no exception. I am so happy he was able to have a good conclusion with his family and find some love in his life.
Narration:
Holter Graham is a well known narrator. He also does some other series I have on audio. There were a wide range of voices which were well performed. Some of the male voices seemed very low. The female voices were very good. I listened at my usual 1.25 speed comfortably.
Listen to a clip: HERE
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2018 Audiobook Challenge
- 2018 New Release Challenge
I loved this series but stalled on it a couple of years ago. All of the books read to date were on audio and they’ve been good experiences. Holter Graham is also one of my favorites and it’s great seeing him associated with the series. Your review is a reminder to resume reading but 27 books is daunting (I’m up to #7)!
It is daunting. I only made it to 21. They need to be read in order for the world changes, but after Archeron, I would pick characters or topics which interest you.
Interesting that you found it maybe better that you weren’t up to date on the series. I loved this series hard and made it to … maybe the cowboy one? A few books after Ash. It just got so convoluted, and the mythology was shooting off in so many directions, without closure on early storylines. It was hard to let go, but ultimately worth it for me. Knowing Holter Graham does the narration, tho… maybe I’ll start again?
I got to 21. It sounds like you got to 16 or 17. I also found it getting too many mythologies. But I couldn’t miss Urian, since I always liked him. I don’t know if I could read them all now or the ones in between. The world has certainly gotten so complex. And yet, the stories were familiar in this book from the other perspectives. I guess I’d only pick characters you like or parts you want to read.
One day I am going to start this series, and oh I love Graham…he is an awesome narrator!
You will have to try it. I love all the earlier books up to where I stopped. I didn’t like Nick, and that whole spinoff.
I did read a lot of books in this series when I was younger and then it was starting to feel the same so I stopped. Maybe one day I’ll go back to them but I don’t know
Well I like this one! I would consider reading the ones with characters you loved or families you liked best.
I still have several books in this series to finish. It’s nice to see you are still enjoying it.
It’s a great series with many great books. With this many books, I’m always going to like some more than others or at least some characters more than others.
Wow. 27 books. I don’t think I could start another long series at this point. I do love PNR though so maybe I’ll try one someday. Happy that you are still liking them even though you missed a few.
Lorna, you should at least try the first 10 or so as they are some of the best PNR out there. Because the world and stories are different and not a typical version. The mythology gets more complex as we learn more.