Born of Silence

By: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

In a universe where corruption and deception rule all aspects of life, sparks of rebellion threaten to ignite.

As the Resistance leader, Zarya Starska's only goal is to topple the government that destroyed her entire family and left her penniless. Her biggest asset is a mysterious man known only as Kere.

But Kere has a dark secret. Born into a world that is as privileged as it is corrupt, his real name is Darling Cruel - and he is heir to the government Zarya wants to overthrow. No one has ever seen the real man behind the legend - no one except Zarya. But when she allows a weapon he designed to be used against his beloved sister, all bets are off.

Betrayed by the Resistance, Darling's goal is not only to reign, but to kill every Resistance member he can find. Zarya must stop Darling's reign of terror, but can she reach past his insanity to restore the hero who once fought by her side?

©2012 Sherrilyn Kenyon (P)2012 Hachette

Vintage Kenyon- Heart wrenching story

What did you love best about Born of Silence?

I adore Darling and absolutely love Maris. Even though this is Darling's main story, Maris is one of my favorites from this series, along with Callien and Chayden, and he was featured a lot in this book, for obvious reasons. The relationship between Darling and Maris never overshadows the relationship between Darling and Zarya, which was something I was worried about. Even though Maris's opinions and feelings are never in doubt, he never forces anything on anyone in the book. A true brother he is, regardless of the situation. Maris is the kind of man I'd want to endure hell with, or at the very least, have around when I was done with hell.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked Darling's character arc, even though it was hard to listen to, much like Acheron's. Even though we know he's had a very rough life, you constantly hope that someone protects him, but it doesn't happen until he's hit his breaking point and crashed into Crazyville. His unwavering commitment and love for his family is mirrored in Maris's care for him when he needs it, even though the care Darling needs is from a different character. As always, Ms. Kenyon rips out your heart but pieces it back together with a strong cast of characters that make you value the people you have in your life.

What does Holter Graham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He is the best narrater on the planet. Enough said.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Too many to mention, but I cried when Darling tried to protect Zarya's ring that she gave to him, and it was brutally taken from him. I don't usually cry, but I did for Darling and Maris in several spots of this book.

Any additional comments?

Have a new box of kleenex with you when you listen to this one, and don't listen to it in public for the first time. You don't want to be in Starbucks and people think you're crazy because you burst into tears as you order your coffee with your earbuds in. Yep- that happened to me.

Several details left out in the void!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I love the League series and that being said, this was not one of Ms. Kenyon's best. Nykerian's story, Syn's story and Callen's story were all drool worthy the other book about Nykerian's and Kiera's son not so much. Darlings beginning was impressive. The mysterious stranger, badass, scarred, tormented but strong hero meets the woman he's destined to be with, started out terriffically like a balloon you are inflating. Getting, bigger and bigger. Then it developed a pinhole leak that slowly deflated and all you were left with was (life has kicked the crap out of me, my lady betrayed me and I've gone mad). Which is not a bad premis but where was his justice, good triumphing over evil, good slaps the s**t out of the bad guy. After Darling was tortured by the resistance, time spent in the hospital was the blink of an eye, nothing was heard about Zarya until she was sold into slavery. Darling goes on a rampage kills his uncle quickly and very unsatisfyingly, kills the soldiers who mistreated him quickly and withput explainantion the Maris finds Zarya brings her back which no one objects to notwithstanding all of his friends blamed her for Darlings torture, but yeah, they and Darling bring her back into the fold like nothing ever happened. What about the perv Nylan and his evil social climbing wife, the schemeing med tech in the palace, Zarya's second in command who was responsible for torturing Darling, the little girl Darling gave the medal to, her father who was head of the workers and Zarya's BFF Torre was mentioned once in the beginning, and could Pip's death been any more anti-climactic, it was just a side note. I wanted to see all of them get was was due them but the were never mentioned again. Then all of a sudden Zarya calls Torre (why him) to go to the resistance HQ with her. Oh and he just turns out to be gay and guess who he ends up with. Why weren't the positive deeds Darling orchestrated used to build him up with the workers and the media. And Mind Control, REALLY! REALLY! the citizens thought Zarya was under mind control devices. Ms. Kenyon would have done better had they thought traitor to the cause because she regained her social status or even STOCKHOLM would have been more believable. It seems to me the story would have infinately been more whole and believable had these details been resolved. I was initally excited about how lengthy the book was but needless to say it was just filler and nothing to enhance the storyline or make the characters more three dimentional. A lot of contradictions in personalities i.e. Darlings Mother, Sister, Little Brother and Big Brother. Bringing the mother into the story at the end after the things she said about Darlings scars was totally the wrong move, should have just left her as the coldhearted Witch she had been all along. And Yeah the bratty brother all of a sudden an ultra cool cimerian killing machine totally not believable. But hey folks that's just my personal oppinion, if I could write books I'd be an author. Still Love Ms. Kenyons books.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The friendship between Darling and Maris was the most interesting. The least interesting was Maris' wedding fiasco.

Which character ??? as performed by Holter Graham ??? was your favorite?

Holter Graham always does the lead character well but in a previous story didn't Nykerian have an awsome accent? I kept listening for different accents since these were all beings from different worlds but they all sounded like they hailed from Mid-West America. That aspect was pretty disappointing. I've heard Mr. Graham do much better with the different character voices.

Could you see Born of Silence being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I would pick another League story to hit the Big Screne. Darling's story was like a 5000 piece puzzle that you assembled only to realize 20 or 30 pieces are missing from the box.

Any additional comments?

Ms. Kenyon's story of Darling Cruel closely resembled the beginning of Acheron's story but where Acheron got retribution and justice in the end, poor Darling just left me disappointed and unfulfilled.

this book is a must read book if you ask me

Would you listen to Born of Silence again? Why?

oh yes i would listen to this book again and again. why would i it is a great book that keeps you wanting more

What did you like best about this story?

the hole store was good i liked that it has a lot of detale of what has happen to him in his life.

What about Holter Graham’s performance did you like?

i was hoping that the women that read born of night was going to read this book but when i found out that Holter Graham was reading it i knew right off this book was going to better then i ever could hope for i think he is the best at what he does with the books he knows how to bring them alive.Holter Graham can read to me any time

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

the love she has for him no matter what he looked like or what he has done just makes me wish that people in real life would look at each other in that way.

Any additional comments?

this is a great book

It was a lot

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I was very invested with the characters, the fact that a character we previously thought was gay was actually straight wasn't as problematic as I would have thought. The love story was moving. I guess it might be that it wasn't that much fun. What I love about this series is space adventures with quit witted roguish pirate-types. That's not what this was. And while I love a "tortured hero," I don't need or want that hero's torture on the page. And I get that some bad stuff has to happen for a plot. But it's just there was a LOT of gruesome torture & I didn't know that was on the table here. I just didn't know what I was in for. I mean, it's pretty rough. It just kept getting worse. There is a very definitive and satisfying HEA but I'm just unsure if I want to continue. While it was a good book I just don't know if I would sign up for it again. Am I signing up for that in future books? Was SK okay at this point? Was she going through something? The other reviews were like "it's heartbbreaking" & "I cried through the whole thing" and yes that is all accurate. What they mean is that many chapters of this book just depict the main character being tortured as brutally as possible. I'm kind of at a loss... On the plus side it's 18+ hours so good value

I love this book

I love the books I've been reading her books since I was 16 but the audiobooks have a problem the readers don't know how to pronounce the characters names and it drives me nuts the is literally a website on each character and how to pronounce it and it's in every book

What a Darling!

This book was heart breaking and exciting and more! I can’t say enough good about this one. Saw some tragic similarities with a certain 11,000 yr old *Dark Hunter* in this story (wink). I also love Maris and cant wait for the book following this one!

Great job!

I love this series and have read it multiple times. I’ve slowly been collecting the audible book and begun listening to them. Now I can do my housework AND “read” as I go. Great narrator and great book.

Darling is darling!

Finally learned more about Darling and his back story! Great read..on to the next book.

The best Kenyon book ever

Absolutely a must read/listen. I've read everything Sherrilyn's ever written, and Darling's story is by far my favorite! Action packed, romantic to the core, and such a wonderfully heartwarming story that reminds us no matter what we go through in life, we can still be a great person and do great things for others.

One of my Favorite League stories.

One of my favorite league stories with plot twist and turns. You don't want to mess with Darling.