Death of Darkness

Immortal Guardians Series, Book 9

By: Dianne Duvall

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Seth has led the Immortal Guardians for thousands of years. With them fighting by his side, he has protected humans from psychotic vampires, defeated corrupt mercenary armies, defended military bases under attack, and more. But the latest enemy to rise against the Immortal Guardians has proven to be a formidable one, wielding almost as much power as Seth. His goal is simple. He wants to watch the world burn. And he will use every means at his disposal to accomplish it. Seth and his Immortal Guardians have succeeded thus far in staving off Armageddon despite heartbreaking losses. But they have never before faced such danger.  

Leah Somerson has suffered losses of her own. It has taken her a long time to rebuild her life and find some semblance of peace. Then one night a tall, dark, powerful immortal with what appears to be the weight of the world on his shoulders stumbles into her shop, and everything changes. Peace and contentment are no longer enough. Now she wants more. She wants to find happiness. She wants to erase the darkness in Seth's eyes and replace it with love and laughter. She knows he's different in ways that make most fear him. Even some of his immortal brethren keep a careful distance. But Leah will not. Nor will she shy away when danger strikes.  

Contains mature themes.

©2019 Dianne Duvall (P)2019 Tantor

How Seth got his Groove Back

I didn’t want to say this but unlike other fans, Seth’s book scared me. What was it going to be like for this father figure who was thousands of years old to find love? What was this man who I even see as the adults of all adults going to be like hearing about him having sex? Well y’all, it only took me about six minutes to figure out that I was an idiot.
Seth and Leah are the ideal couple. I adore her. I adore them dancing together and watching television together. Watching Seth fall in love was addictive. I wanted more and more of it and I was jumping up and down rooting for them by the end I was in tears of happiness.
Now, there were twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. I know that, at one point something happens, and I made a very unladylike noise followed by more unladylike words. There were also times I was jumping up and down screaming with excitement and joy, both on the inside and outside. The only thing I can say is GIVE ME MORE DIANNE DUVALL!
There are questions answered but every one answered has another one to pop up in its place. Every new question makes me want more. Can I bribe her to write faster?

Kirsten Potter is amazing. She allows you to get lost in the story and almost forget she’s the only one performing.


GFYDU MTYB DBAD

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Best of the Immortal Guardians so far!

Dianne does an excellent job at keeping the stories fresh and interesting within this wonderful world she has created. Seth's story is my favorite so far - they really keep getting better and better! I can't wait for the next Immortal Guardian book (and the one after that, and the one after that...)!

Best book of the year!!

Finally after years of waiting Seth finally gets his happy ending. As a long time fan of the immortal guardian series I like everyone else that is fan have been anticipating Seth’s book for years. Seth is the leader of the immortal guardians and the most powerful being on the planet. He also takes the responsibilities of everyone around him on his shoulder. After spending thousands of years morning for the death of his wife and children Seth finally lets himself love again when he meets Leah.
Leah is a strong, independent woman with her own tragedies she has had to over come.

This book had everything in it that I couldn’t wish for. We got to make a lot of new friends and see all of our old favorites. We got to see the resolution have a couple on going storyline and some new questions that need to be answered in the next book. This book made me laugh and cry then laugh again and sob. With all the unexpected twist and turns head head was reeling.

Dianne Duvall and Kristen Potter are an amazing team. And This book is worth more than one credit. Now the only thing I have to do is wait for the next book in the series.

Loved it!

Best book ever! So much happens in this book and what's coming next has me so excited. I can't wait for the next book! Job well done Dianne Duvall!

A good laugh, a good cry, and sexy fun times!

A slow burn but it honestly could not have been written any other way for Seth. He was never going to have insta love and the way their relationship builds is perfection. This book is packed with revelations and holy @%^$ moments. Dianne is a spectacular story teller. You can really tell when a writer has passion for their craft and love for their characters. If you've read any other IG books this one is a must read. It also feels like just the right spot for a bit of a storyline reset. I love that these characters will be with us for a long time to come. I for one can't wait to see the future holds!

Omg!! Awesome

This book was amazing I couldn’t stop listening. Loved it. Dianne- you simply out did yourself. Thank you!!!!!

Now where's book 10?

Really liked the story and Kristen Potter is great with voices!
The only thing why it's not a 5 star is that for a 40 something already married and widowed, Lea was Really immature,
She acted and sounded like a 13 year old.
She was funny had good comeback quips but it felt like she was on speeds most of the time.
Really enjoyed the 2 little ones.

I really, REALLY wanted to love it, but...

I debated strongly about whether or not to even do a review for this one because, as Thumper would say, “If you can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” I decided to sit on my thoughts for at least a week and let them marinate to see if I still felt the same. Let me stress first and foremost that I am a fan of Dianne’s and I wouldn’t want to slight any of her work based on a kneejerk, emotional reaction to something that didn’t go the way I’d hoped. However, a week later my feelings haven’t changed, so here are my takeaways, for what they’re worth…

Like everyone else, I’d been counting down to release day. I have read all of the IG series, including The Gifted Ones series. I’ve enjoyed each and every one immensely. Normally, there is a rich, believable love story woven seamlessly into the continuing plot line of the series, and the couples have never failed to drench the pages with scorching, undeniable chemistry. It had never failed, until now.

Was there a high expectation for Seth’s book, being that he is their leader and probably the most tortured soul of them all? Yes. But I’ve thought about it a lot, and I just don’t think that’s the reason it fizzled for me. It was pivotal that the romance in this story outshine them all, even if only a little, but it didn’t even come close for me.

The first part of the book was spent making Seth into a grandfatherly figure. This is a man who has spent millennia as a warrior and suddenly he’s shopping for toddler clothing and going on playdates with children in the park. While it was endearing, to a point, his behavior for most of the book was completely and totally out of character for him. I found myself repeating over and over throughout the book’s entirety “That’s not Seth.” There were some situations (mainly the action sequences) where Seth seemed like his normal self, but for the majority of the book he was a completely different character—and not in that it’s-just-a-different-side-of-him kind of way…he was a totally different person.

As if that weren’t bad enough, the romance between Seth and Leah was nonexistent. There was no romance between them. No sweet tenderness. He felt tingles. She felt tingles. They grinded on one another a lot. He lusted. She lusted. Then BAM…true love???

The only thing that seemed to pull them together was that she could accept his supernatural abilities without freaking out. Everything was 'sooo cool'. Which was another thing that annoyed me. Her character was pretty ridiculous. She is a 46 year old woman (which the book continually reminds you of over and over, even though you may be trying to forget because that felt weird, too…I’m 42 and it still bothered me) who behaves like a 19 year old with no filter on her big blabbermouth. I mean seriously, some of the things she said (while mildly amusing) were downright stupid. I mean, really...who talks like that? It felt like the romance was sacrificed for humor OFTEN.

Without getting spoiler-y, the way she took control when in situations with the other IGs was pushy at best. She just jumped in and took over like she was entitled to do so several times (before she knew any of them on any sort of real level), and Seth just let her say or do whatever she wanted…without saying one word…and everybody was just fine with it. Peachy keen. Really? This is Seth we’re talking about, right? He barely knew her!!

There were parts about her character I liked and parts I hated. That’s fine. All characters should have flaws. But the problem is, there was far more for me to hate than to like, unfortunately. Yes, she was quirky and could make him laugh, but she was also annoying and highhanded. She felt so immature to me at times, it was almost like she was two different people. Was she the mantronly aunt type or the wild hedonistic type, because I seriously got whiplash trying to figure out who she was. While a person can certainly be a little of both, this felt more like a split-personality. :-/

Her personality didn’t mesh with his at all and I felt zero chemistry between the two. That’s my biggest complaint about the book. This love story wasn’t realized nearly as well as all the others have been. The emotions were rushed and the heroine didn’t feel like “the one.” The criteria that supposedly made Seth fall for her could’ve been found in a million other women.

And what was all that stuff involving Roland, which wound up playing no part in the book whatsoever?

All that said, the other facets of the book were on par with Dianne’s other work. That’s why I’m giving it 3 stars. The action was well-structured and interesting. Lots of ongoing plot details were finally explained, thankfully (even though it was odd that Seth dropped the truth-bomb on the IGs despite thousands of years of keeping it quiet to avoid bloodshed…hmmmm….). All the major players made satisfying appearances. I have no complaints on those fronts.

I didn’t hate the book, but as someone who has waited for Seth’s LOVE story since the beginning, it was a huge disappointment for me. I do take comfort in the fact that it wasn’t a reincarnation story, which I hate and had been hoping Dianne would avoid. But, it definitely wasn’t what I was hoping for.

I listened to the audiobook, and actually stopped in the middle of chapter 4 to call a friend (who is also invested in the series and was reading as well) to rant. She was having the same issues I was, and had trouble even getting into it. *sigh*

There is usually so much heart in these stories, and it just wasn’t there for me in this one, which hurts a lot because Seth’s was the one I was looking forward to the most. I will probably listen to the next one in hopes it will be better, but I’m not going to anxiously count down days or bother with a preorder again. I’m so let down. And if the series is headed in the direction it seems to be headed in (ala cliffhanger) I’ll lose interest fast. I prefer fantasy over sci-fi. Hopefully it doesn’t go that way.

So, overall, solid storytelling but the romance fell flat. :(

One of Dianne’s Best

Riveting! Hold on to your seats IG lovers because this one will blow your mind!

Well worth the wait !

Been a fan of the whole series. Glad for Seth to have his story. Well worth it. Love the ending.

An Amazing Story Full of Action, Fun and Romance.

I really LOVED this story. I have waited for Seth to find his love since meeting him in Book 1 Darkness Dawns and this story didn't disappoint.

I really love Ms Duvall’s writing style and find her books very easy to read (but impossible to put down! Lol!); she writes intelligent, engaging stories with a collection of well written characters, set against an imaginative world that cleverly mixes fantasy and reality, making it so easy to submerse oneself completely in her books. The pace of her stories is usually fast, full of action and contains a couple of plot lines which run alongside the main romantic story arc, but fear not lovely readers, she manages to pack this all in without making you feel overwhelmed, bewildered or lost. Existing fans of this series have been eagerly awaiting this book since the series began in 2011; Death of Darkness was worth the wait!

I loved the narration, I didn't want to turn it off. Kirsten Potter's performance was one of the best I've heard and I loved the voices she gave the characters' dialogue; Ms Potter's performance made for a very believable experience.

I enjoy books more where the characters are not purely good or evil but a multifaceted mix of positive and negative traits and thankfully all of the characters within the Immortal Guardians world have been created like this. The fact that the characters within these pages have been written with personalities that we can see in the real world around us - even though the majority of them are mythical, paranormal beings - adds that level of believability to this fantasy tale for me.

If you’ve read my reviews before, then you’ll know that I connect to a story more when the main female character is intelligent, resilient, self-reliant and has plenty of gumption; I wasn’t disappointed here. Leah was perfect. She has oodles of gumption with a fantastic sense of humour that had me COL (Chuckling Out Loud!) numerous times. Of course, as the leader of the Immortal Guardians we had already met him in the previous books but I loved spending a day in Seth’s big shoes and finding out more about the man behind the name legend.

The mystery and thriller aspects of this tale kept me guessing, the action kept me on the edge of my seat, the romance between Seth and Leah warmed my heart, the banter kept me giggling and the passion set my tummy a-tingling. *oh my*

Fantastic

Absolutely loved it, it's and amazing series and this book did not disappoint. Thank you.

Long worth the wait

Brilliant listen, well narrated, great story. hope the next book is out soon.well worth the money