Kristalia 's Reviews > Styxx

Final rating: 4.25/5 stars

“The most beautiful heart of all is the one that can still love even while it bleeds, and especially after its been broken into thousands of pieces.”

That's it. That is the book. And i am not even joking. Well, other than that i have a message for Sherrilyn Kenyon:

Dear Miss Sherrilyn Kenyon,

You are a master of sadism, tortured heroes, heroines,tragedies, and everything else. Thank you for making my life miserable by reading this book. Not only have you made my life miserable, but you have also made the lives of Styxx, Acheron (and Seth's, but he is another story) completely and utterly unbearable. They suffered so much that i just had to rip them out from the book and hug them until they got bored of me.

Why? Why can't they have a little break from their pasts and even though they all had (view spoiler)[ happy (hide spoiler)] end it was just completely heartbreaking. You have stomped on my heart, crushed it to pieces and put it back inside again. I will forever love Acheron and Styxx thanx to you, and i shall not blame them for their idiotism and hate and suffering towards each other. I shall forever love those two idiots - and never will hate them.

Love,
~ Kristalia

Onto the real review now: Well, if you have read Dark Hunter series before, you won't have a problem catching up with this book. But if you haven't and you are interested in what happens... just read the whole series. Or read Night pleasures,Night embrace,dance with the devil, Devil may cry, Acheron and The Guardian... I believe they are necessary for your journey for this series (but seriously, just read them all in correct order and you won't have any problems).

Like Acheron's book, this one is split in 2 parts: past and present. Past part was filled with pain,suffering and loneliness, but sometimes, there was a ray of hope and happiness... until it all began from the start... In the second part there is only suffering and in the end came happiness (in like last 10 percent of the book?). But don't worry, this story has so much more in it that you can't even imagine. And most important of all, it has (view spoiler)[ happy (hide spoiler)] ending. The story with characters aside was interesting, especially with Urian!

But i have to say this: i would have given it pure five stars. But i didn't. Why? Because Acheron's book was the only one which made me cry the entire book. And even then, it the misery odds were 70:30... here it was more like 90:10.

I wanted to see Styxx's redemption. Ever since he helped save Tory in Acheron's book, it made me like him and I was interested in him, because it felt like he was finally letting go and wanting peace. Oh, how I was wrong. For everything Styxx has done before, there is usually a solid and bulletproof glass explanation. It felt like Sherri decided that Styxx deserved another chance by making his life as miserable as Acheron's, and neither Styxx nor Ash had time off in their lives. When you read this one, you will understand. Ash was denied that (time off) whole his mortal life and that is what hurt me the most. But over time, he earned his freedom, no matter how thin. And in this book we see another, even darker, aspect of his personality. But i don't blame him - and i will never hate him. He is still my ultimate favorite. Neither Styxx nor Acheron deserved what happened to them, and they will always be brothers - in idiocy, in cruelty, in suffering, in hating each other, in loving each other, in thinking wrongly and so on. They are similar in so many ways. And only one of them knows the true life of the other. We all know Styxx ended up with Ash's memories (which were not so pretty, actually plain horrifying), but Styxx already HAD a lot of burden going on in his soul and he didn't need more.

I don't know if Sherry even planned his redemption before writing his book - so she added lot of scenes form his perspective through the years of which the books happened and events.

Brothers forever and always.
Even through mutual idiocy.

There is something you should know about this book. Like Acheron, this book is very, very dark. Maybe even more than Acheron. Sherrilyn Kenyon was bold with this one. Especially when it comes to make horrifying history of the characters. In this book there is a heavy accent on (view spoiler)[ rape, and i'm not talking man on woman, but man on man, (hide spoiler)] and she did it in that way so you know that it happened, when it happened, who did it, and how it happened, and it happened many times. Brutal. Very, very brutal. And it's also very heartbreaking. And horrifying. Not only that, but also many other triggers. The list would be too long. There is a difference between darkness of Acheron's and Styxx's book. While it was hinted many, many times and we saw evidence of what happened to Acheron, this was very... detailed. It's not for the faint hearted.

► CHARACTERS:

♦ Styxx is a prince of Greece, and a "beloved heir"... If only that was true. His life was sheer and utter terror and misery. The only one who had accepted him for who he was, was his twin brother, Acheron. But - when they had 7 years, Acheron was taken away from him and Styxx was left alone, without anyone else who cared for him. Ever since then, he was shrouded in misery, despair and cruelty. Until he met Bethany, a blind girl who had accepted him for whom he is... except she didn't know the truth. The truth that he was pretending to be Hector, just another normal person. But he wasn't. He was also a Greek general, and mortal enemy of Atlantean forces and their gods. Especially Bet'anya Agriosa.

“You love me?”
“Like the full moon loves the night. I might always be around, but I only shine in your presence. And no matter where you go, I will follow you, even if I’m a million miles away.”

Styxx is my adorable little baby. I was wrong about him on so many levels, but even he had moments of epic fails and idiotic decisions.

♦ Bethany is the goddess of Wrath and Misery, Bet'anya Agriosa, and she is a force so powerful, that even her own Atlantean Pantheon is afraid of. And yet, after she met this interesting mortal named Hector... she fell in love, despite him being Greek and despite the fact that he was hiding so many things to her. But over time, she accepted him for what he is, but she feels devastated knowing that she was is lying to him. Lying to him that she is a god.

Styxx pulled her against him and held her close as self-loathing and hatred shredded his soul. “I’m sorry, Beth. You deserve a man, not—”
“You are a man,” she said, interrupting him. “More so than any I’ve known. It’s not manly to hurt others or belittle them. Respect and kindness require more courage because people take advantage of those. I don’t know what horrors haunt you, but I know that you haven’t allowed them to destroy the most beautiful part of yourself. You have the heart of a lion. Fearless. Tell me what is manlier than that?”

Beth was adorable, interesting and wonderful character and i love how she accepted everything about him,even his soul and heart.

♦ Acheron is a twin brother of Styxx. Once, they were best friends, brothers, who always sheltered each other and protected each other. But, when Acheron is taken to Atlantis, he is shown a whole different level of pain and misery - and he was completely and utterly broken.

“What are we?” Styxx breathed.
Acheron’s eyes were still red. “Damned.” Then he started laughing hysterically.

If by any chance, you read this book instead of Acheron's first, be aware that not all is what it seems. His past was so cruel and so horrible that he was left bitter/angry/scared. In this book, his much more darker side is revealed, and he did some stuff that were unforgivable... (of which he doesn't actually remember ever commiting, but some of them, he did remember and he thought it was justified. But, knowing nothing, it was his own way of protecting himself), but even after all of that, i still love him. Why? Because when you connect his book with Styxx's book, there is no telling who was wronged more. Acheron and Styxx have been made to fight against each other from the moment they were born, and each side had someone who filled them with lies about the other brother. But... no matter what, i will, never, and i mean never hate Ash. I just can't do that. Too many books in this series spoiled me enough. No matter what he did in the past, he saved more people than the ones he damned (like Nick, or even Styxx, for that matter).

♦ Ryssa is the sister of Acheron and Styxx. While she showed really carrying side for Acheron, she was really and utterly horrible and she constantly judged Styxx. Everything she did, she did for Acheron, because he was the only abused one in her eyes, and she never, ever, lifted her head and saw what Styxx felt about her. She only made him feel worthless, unwanted and evil that shouldn't breathe the same air as her and her other brother.

{It was like reading about two different personalities and after all this, i don't like her anymore as much as i used to.}

♦ Other characters : I thought Artie was the most horrible character that was ever made. She is not. Not when you see what Apollo did in this book. I just had no words - he is sadistic SOB and i hate him with burning passion. The way he was obsessed with his victim and how he haunted him, tortured him and made his life miserable was horrifying. He is a damn monster. I of course, dislike Styxx's and Acheron's father, for many justified reasons and his actions scarred both of them. Don't even get me started on Estes, that f***ing sadistic SOB. I don't know who was worse, Estes or Apollo. At least their father had some minor compassion in his rotten soul.

From the present time, Urian and Simi were absolutely adorable and interesting and i always love to read about these two! :D And we find out something very interesting about Urian, Apollymi (hope I spelled her name right) and we also get to see Danger, Alexion and some other main characters like Savitar, Simi, and so on.

“Again, French Revolution here. Les Mis, I get. This…” She wagged the spatula. “My extent of Greek history is Troy with Brad Pitt and,” she looked over at Alexion, “Mr. Luscious in his armor.”

► OVERALL:

Oh my god. What a roller coaster of emotions. Don't read this book in public places like i did - you may embarrass yourself. I welcome Styxx in my collection of fav characters of all eternity. IF you still haven't read this series, JUST DO IT. IT IS WORTH IT.

BYE!

EDIT: I have to sit and reread all books in order because i need to write reviews for all of this fantastic books. Just read the whole series, trust me on that. And since GOODREADS gloriously screwed up the Dark Hunter book order, i have written them all down earlier... List can be seen here: (view spoiler)[
00. The Beginning (Acheron and Artemis) (short story)
00. Fantasy Lover (Julian and Grace) (full book, has two of important characters of the DH universe, but their story does not affect DH plot)
· Dragonswan (Sebastian and Channon) (short story)
01. Night Pleasures (Kyrian and Amanda)
02. Night Embrace (Talon and Sunshine)
· Phantom Lover (short story)
· A Dark Hunter Christmas (short story)
03. Dance with the Devil (Zarek and Astrid)
04. Kiss Of The Night (Wulf and Cassandra)
05. Night Play (Vane and Bride) [Were-Hunter Series]
· Winter Born (short story)
06. Seize The Night (Valerius and Tabitha)
07. Sins of the Night (Alexion and Danger)
· Second Chances (short story)
08. Unleash the Night (Wren and Maggie) [Were-Hunter Series]
09. Dark Side of the Moon (Ravyn and Susan) [Were-Hunter Series]
· A Hard Day's Nightsearcher (Celena and Rafael ) (short story)
· Until Death Do Us Part (Esperetta and Velkan) (short story)
10. The Dream Hunter (Arik and Geary) [Dream-Hunter Series]
· Fear The Darkness (short story)
11. Devil May Cry (Sin and Kat)
12. Upon The Midnight Clear (Aidan and Leta) [Dream-Hunter Series]
13. Dream chaser (Xypher and Simone) [Dream-Hunter Series]
14. Acheron (Acheron and Soteria)
· Shadow of the Moon (Fury and Angelia) (short story)
15. One Silent Night (Stryker and Zephyra)
16. Dream Warrior (Jericho and Delphine) [Dream-Hunter Series]
17. Bad Moon Rising (Fang and Aimee) [Were-Hunter Series]
18. No Mercy (Dev and Samia) [Were-Hunter Series]
19. Retribution (Sundown and Abigail)
20. The Guardian (Seth and Lydia) [Dream-Hunter Series]
· Redemption (Seth and Lydia) (short story)
21. Time Untime (Ren and Kateri)
22. Styxx (Styxx and Bethany)
Other:
Ø Dark hunter companion
Ø Dark Hunter: An Insider's Guide
· Atlantean Family Tree
· Inferno - bully letter
· Ash's letter to DH
Chronicles of Nick – spinoff
01. Infinity [DH 17.5]
02. Invincible [DH 18.5]
03. Infamous [DH 20.5]
04. Inferno [DH 21.5]

Chronicles of Nick can also be placed between dark hunter books, as seen by the numbers :)
(hide spoiler)]

This review can be found on my blog: infinity-of-time.blogspot.com also known as...