Shadow Fallen: A Dream-Hunter Novel

I've been so excited for 'Shadows Fallen,' the new release by Sherrilyn Kenyon in the Dark Hunter universe.. more specifically a Dream Hunter novel. It's been such a long time coming and the road has been a rough one for her, but she remains one of my favorite novelists and I couldn't be happier with her latest book. As this is just the first in the trilogy leading up to Jaden's book, I'm already heavily invested. Jaden was one of my favorites already.. and though I did get one glimpse of my absolute #1 Dark Hunter here, I'm hoping for a lot more of that too. Valteri is wonderful. If anyone wondered if Kenyon would still be able to tug at their heart strings with ease, let me assure you.. she can. Only a handful of pages into the first chapter, I knew he was going to have a horrible backstory and probably an unpleasant immediate future as well. He's gruff on the outside (though not as much as Zarek.. who I also adore) and a squishy soft marshmallow man on the inside. In other words, he's easy to love. Since life caused me to fall behind on a few books in the latter part of the series, there were some revelations here for me regarding some of the other characters that we'd met earlier on. Though, that has only spurred my need to go back and catch up. Ariel is a really sweet character and she means well, but man.. if there is something she could have done to make his journey unintentionally any more difficult.. I have no idea what it would have been. In addition to all the scheming from the enemies, she just makes bad decision after bad decision when it comes to Valteri. I did enjoy my return to the Dark Hunter universe though and I can't wait to see what lies ahead on this path to the Broker we all know and love. (I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)

4.25 stars--SHADOW FALLEN is the sixth in instalment in Sherrilyn Kenyon’s adult DREAM-HUNTERS paranormal/romance series-a part of the author’s DARK HUNTERS world. This is Valteri the ‘Godless’ and Ariel the Arelim’s story line. SHADOW FALLEN can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. NOTE: SHADOW FALLEN is a mediaevil story line that takes place several hundred years before modern times, and reveals some of the events leading up to one god’s powerful need for revenge- a deity war between heaven and h*ll- a prequel of sort, in preparation for the author’s QUEEN OF ALL SHADOWS and SHADOWS WITHIN. Told from third person perspective SHADOW FALLEN follows Ariel, a Arelim, in the wake of a curse against our story line heroine. The Arelim are the guardians of humanity who escort the souls upon the death of the body but an old crone, with the help of demon spawn Belial, has cursed our heroine for taking the soul of the son who died in battle. Having lost her heavenly powers and any memory of the past, Ariel finds herself falling for her would-be rescuer, a warrior known as Valteri the Godless, a man whose true nature has been bound by a seal. As Valteri fights his attraction to Ariel, Ariel will recover her memories, and discover the truth about the curse, and the man with whom she is falling in love. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Ariel and Valteri, and the fall-out as both Ariel and Valteri sacrifice themselves for the love of each other. Valteri the Godless is thought to be demon born, and has spent his life indebted to his ‘brother’ William, fighting on the fields of battle and war. Cursed from birth for his heterochromia aka different colored eyes, Valteri has always considered himself to be the spawn of the devil, and has suffered at the hands of religious men all of his life. Believing himself unworthy of friendship or love, Valteri is caught off guard with the appearance of our story line heroine, a woman that calls to more than his heart. Ariel can no longer remember who she is or what she had done in the past but as her mind begins to heal, flashes of memory reveal a heavenly connection but also a connection to the man with whom she is falling in love. There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including several who have been previously introduced in the author’s Dark Hunters series: Thorn, Shadow, Jaden and Acheron, as well as Mildred the old crone; several friars and monks; Belial the prince of all evil, and his father Kadar, the king of all evil. SHADOW FALLEN is a story of betrayal and vengeance; power and control; retribution and suffering; acceptance and love. The premise is gritty, emotional and captivating; the romance is seductive and tempting; the characters are powerful, broken but healing.

This is the latest book by bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon. It is in the Dream Hunter Series, an off shoot of her Dark Hunter world. This is the story of Valteri (a half-brother of William the Conqueror) and Ariel, an Arel (in essence daughter of Michael and an Angel who takes dying souls to their next place). She does that to a soul and gets cursed by the mother of the soul/man to fall in love and watch him die and feel pain. She is pulled to earth and finds Belial, a demon waiting for her. He messes with her mind making her lose her memory and so she is wandering around. Valteri's people find her and takes her to him. He is attracted to her, but he had a bad life and can't trust her and feels he isn't good enough for her. I have loved Ms. Kenyon’s Dark Hunter Series. She is a great writer with an amazing imagination, and she has created a complex, world with these series. After a while though I stopped reading her books because they all started to blur together. This is the first book I have picked up in many years. I had hoped the time and distance would pull me back in. Unfortunately, it also meant I am no longer familiar with the various players and characters and was less invested. I felt this book was more of the same by Ms. Kenyon. The tortured hero with a dark past (who has literally been tortured by everyone, including parents) who turns out to be pivotal in the war to save humanity, the involvement of Gods and the deeper underlying mission etc. The woman who works hard to save this man and manages to do so and has a HEA. I just didn't enjoy this book. Why then 3 stars you say? Because this is classic Ms. Kenyon and It's another chapter in the ongoing saga. If you haven't tired of it the series, you will love this book. If you have tired of the series, then this book will not pull you back in. If you have never read Ms. Kenyon, then please do not start with this book as you will be left floundering. I recommend starting at the beginning with Dragonswan. I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.