The Darkest Night

Lords of the Underworld, Book 1

By: Gena Showalter

Narrated by: Max Bellmore

Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

His powers - inhuman; His passion - beyond immortal. All her life, Ashlyn Darrow has been tormented by voices from the past. To end the nightmare, she has come to Budapest seeking help from men rumored to have supernatural abilities, not knowing she'll be swept into the arms of Maddox, their most dangerous member - a man trapped in a hell of his own. Neither can resist the instant hunger that calms their torments...and ignites an irresistible passion. But every heated touch and burning kiss will edge them closer to destruction - and a soul-shattering test of love.

Don't miss the other books in the Lords of the Underworld series.

©2008 Gena Showalter (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Possibly good, with bad narrator, hard to tell

What did you like best about The Darkest Night? What did you like least?

I liked the character of Ashlyn, vulnerable and fiesty at the same time.

I hated the conversation between the Lords.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Darkest Night?

The sacrifice by Ashlyn. No spoilers here.

How could the performance have been better?

Too often the male voices failed to match the character, or the narrator spoke with a different characters voice. Was confusing and bad

Was The Darkest Night worth the listening time?

Not particularly.

Immortal Warriors Possessed by Demons.

Any additional comments?

I have heard a lot about this series and seen the abbreviation LOTU so much that I decided everyone must have read this series except me. So I decided to take the plunge.

This story is about some immortal warriors that opened Pandora’s box and released demons into the world. As a punishment, the Gods decided that each warrior would have to host one of the demons.

This book sets up the groundwork for the series, so there is a lot of information given out and then some story telling. The main characters in this story are Maddox (who is hosting the demon Violence) and Ashlyn (a mortal human with the ability to hear voices of the past.) And of course they fall in love … this is a paranormal romance after all!

I really enjoyed how Maddox was portrayed as fighting his demon. Especially when he had to really look into what he was feeling and decide if it was what he was feeling or what the demon was feeling. I enjoyed the steamy romance between our two main characters.

Things I didn’t like were the mono-syllabic responses from Maddox when he was with Ashlyn. I think those dialogs the first time were okay, after that … not so okay. Also, Paris having to find at least one different woman everyday in a remote isolated place. How many women were there and how long had they lived in that place? Don’t see that. They had people delivering stuff to their house, yet Ashlyn couldn’t find the road to their door? Hmmm.

Overall, I think it is a great addition to anyone’s paranormal romance collection and I am looking forward to the next in the series.

The Narration Review
I really must ask if it is alright just to put down … holy smokes! And have that cover my narration review? No… hmm. It could be because I have not listened to a male narrator for a long time, but Max Bellmore’s voice was very enticing. When it came to the intimate scenes between Maddox and Ashlyn, listening to Max made me feel like I was eavesdropping on a love scene in the next room. He inserted just the right amount of emotion to drag the words off the page and whisper them gently into my ear. Great job!

Narrator is horrible!!! read series only!!

If you want your sexy badass alpha men to sound like a semi-monotone and nerds like idiot , then sure, listen to this story. This narrator doesn't even try. mispronounced words, doesn't understand exclamations, or whispers, or any sort of a man persona. NO deep careful words, just blahhhhh. Also, doesn't seem to grasp the story line, when to sound excited and when to be serious. AHHHHH. I absolutely LOVE this series. But this narrator ruins it. totally. completely. absolutely. READ UNDERWORLD SERIES ONLY! DON'T LISTEN!!

Reading the book is a lot better

I've read the series a long time ago and loved the books, so I decided to listen to them. First, after the first few chapters, I had to force myself to continue listening, while forwarding through it off and on. The narrator was best with the woman's voice as opposed to the mens'. It was hard to follow which male character was which. Secondly, each of the warriors have their own book and story, so I'm not sure why there was so much inner dialogue with the other characters. I understand the writer was introducing each of the characters, but there is no need to focus on their inner thinking, for this book to progress. Also, there is too much inner dialogue with the main characters, back and forth, yes or no, should I or shouldn't I.... Since I loved the books so much, I can only assume it is because of the narration highlighted a lot of the issues that I had with the audio, that I struggled to get through this one.

Just A OK

If anyone has ever read the male character in a JR Ward or Anne Bishop novel, perhaps you'd understand what I mean when I say the male demons in this novel seemed empty. I had no empathy nor understanding of who they were and what punishment drove them to be murderous bullies. . .What I felt after listening to this book was impatience which may have driven me to keep forwarding ahead to chapters. The male characters seem like thirteen year olds starting fights in their living room rather than the school playground. As a matter of fact they even cmmunicated lke middle schoolers.

So...I'll end this by saying, I didn ot like this book. Perhaps it was the narrator who seemed to have a frantic tone all the way through the reading or the characters.

Perhaps in the future I'll change my mind and order the other books. As it stands now, there is no way. .

boring

I do not like all of the sex. way over done. the reader had me almost asleep. I do not recommend

Hot and steamy..wow!

Good story. A little cheesy at times but the author definitely knows how to describe a hot scene. The narrator did a good job.

Listening to this epic tale adds a new dimension!!

It has been so long since I read book 1 of the Lords of the Underworld and now I wonder why I waited so long?! Listening to it only added a new amazing dimension that I didn't know I craved so much!

Knowing that this was the first of a series I realize (again) how beautifully Gena built this world. How she shows that even demons have some small spec of good in them. How demon possessed does not equate to evil. How love can change you, mind, body and soul as well as break curses! I miss the original stories and beginnings and cannot wait to devour book 2 again!

Hard to get into

This story ended on a really high note for me, but the beginning dragged until approximately the tenth chapter. Stick with it, and it will pay off immensely.

People are petty no matter what species.

I loved Maddox and Ashlyn together. There is something about them that made me think they are a wonderful couple. When we are first introduced to Ashlyn she is trying so hard to get help with her abilities. She has been abandoned and then rescued by someone she believes has her best interest at heart but he isn't trying his hardest to actually help her control her gift.

Ashlyn can hear voices in the past and she hears about these warriors who have Supernatural powers. She goes on a journey to find them in order to see if one of them or even all of them can help her control her gift little does she know she is in for a major surprise.

Maddox, has the demon of violence within him. Him and his demon are on a tentative truce. The demon is not going to go on a rampage and kill anybody and Maddox is just fine with that. However when his demon and Maddox see Ashlyn they know that there is just something about her that draws them to her.

I'd love this entire world that Gena Showalter created. It is a mix of Mythology, paranormal, Christianity, and a whole bunch of other things mixed into one amazing story line. I am completely committed to all of the characters that we were introduced to and I am really wanting Torin’s book which happens to be, The Darkest Touch.

I am looking forward to figure it out if Maddox and Ashton can have kids but I am that person that doesn't mind spoiler so I kind of already know the answer to that. I just want to know what the outcome would be of that child.

I enjoyed Max Bellmore's narration. He is committed to all of the characters and following along to his voice is very smooth. He reminds me so much of Jim Frangione but the only difference is Jim Frangione is way more animated than he is.

There is a lot of action, suspense, mystery, and all around a good time. There were some funny moments and there was also some moments were I felt sad for most of the Warriors. I really am hoping that every single last one of them gets a happy ending because tortured heroes all deserve happy endings. Also I hope that nobody ends up dying and staying dead forever. I follow a lot of paranormal authors so in this genre nobody stays dead forever so I'm hoping if somebody does 'die' they don't stay dead forever.