Darkness Unbound

By: Keri Arthur

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Keri Arthur received the coveted Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for her urban fantasy tales.

In Darkness Unbound, Risa Jones’ werewolf-and-Aedh lineage allows her to see reapers - supernatural beings that escort the souls of the dead to the afterlife. But when Risa discovers that a practitioner of blood magic is preventing souls from moving on, she knows she must set things right before all hell breaks loose.

©2011 Keri Arthur (P)2012 Recorded Books, LLC

Okay

I struggled a bit with this book. The plot line was good and kept me interested. However, there were unnecessary, gratuitous sex scenes that were unrelated to the story. Those scenes could be completely removed from the story without impact. It annoys me when those types of scenes are thrown in for no reason. The plot did not outweigh my annoyance so I will not be continuing this series.

Great narrator, great series!

The narrator is a big deal breaker for me. Even if the story is great, but the narrator is bad, I just cannot listen to the story. I won’t. A good book deserves an equally great narrator. If Saaskia didn’t narrate this series, I probably would’ve given up on it. So glad she’s in all of them! It’s a great series and really sucks you in. I will definitely continue to listen!

Interesting and different

I bought this on a whim and a sale, so without much review or research. It was interesting, but I won't be getting any more of the series, I just didn't like the lead character that much so I don't really care about what happens to her or the unresolved elements of the story.

I liked that the author did not spend time on explaining how the 'reality' or 'world' of this book came to be, just accept that there are humans, vampires, werewolves, witches, and other creatures that all exist and many have interesting powers. If you are the sort who needs explanations, this might be bothersome. It didn't seem to be necessary, just go with the flow so to speak.

I'm thinking this might have been listed under romance, but I'd put it under fantasy/sci-fi. There isn't any romance but there is sex.

Good but......

Keri Arthur is not one of my favorite authors and the Riley Jenson series is not one of my favorites. Fortunately, it isn't necessary to read the Riley Jenson Guardian series first in order to understand and appreciate the Dark Angels series in my personal opinion.

Darkness Unbound

I liked the story, although it took a while to lay out all the elements before it really got started. What I didn’t like was there was no obvious romance. Even allowing for the story to build in subsequent books, I prefer some feeling behind the sex, not just for it’s own sake. YMMV.

But the narrator wasn’t very good. She started out with an American accent with just a touch of an accent, barely recognizable & by the end of the book she wasn’t even trying anymore, lol. The story takes place in Australia, why should the narrator have an Aussie accent?!
But even overlooking that, her delivery was a little flat, with little voice definition between characters. If you love Keri Arthur, I wouldn’t let that deter you, but I won’t be listening to any more books in this series.

not worth it

will it was slow boring i want to do any thing than to finish it. even the fights are boring its like some pointing at another person to run.. that was not a fight.

Didn't do it for me

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Bringing more information to the reader about the other characters

Would you ever listen to anything by Keri Arthur again?

This was my first read by her so maybe I would try another but not of this series

What didn’t you like about Saskia Maarleveld’s performance?

She's got right voice I just didn't care for the story

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No i listened through till the end and had to drag myself there

Wow, blew me away! Fantastic Listen

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Oh yes, very exciting and I've been following the whole series. I did not see this ending coming at all. I was stunned.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Darkness Unbound?

When Rissa realized who killed her mother and kills the bastard.

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

It's her voice and they way she weaves the story line. It's like she is all the characters and really gets into character.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

How far can you push one person?

Any additional comments?

The whole series is fantastic. I am amazed how the story line continues and does not get boring. Rissa is a fantastic character. She has so many skills, but is still so very human in her emotions. She sometimes makes bad judgments, but isn't that what life is about? I would highly suggest listening to book one and going through them in sequence. You don't really have to as the author catches you up, but you miss a lot about how all the characters, evil and otherwise have connected.

Story drags...

I had to re-listen to try to pay attention. Felt like I should finish but never was engaged in story. Characters lacked emotion and didn’t pull you in.

Never could finish.

I started this dragging book. At the fastest speed I still couldn’t keep listening to them. I guess I will never know if the was a plot/point.
( I always finish even if it takes a while but not for this one)