SuperHeroBooks - The Darkening (Immortals, Book 2)
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List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $2.89
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Manufacturer: Love Spell
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780505527028
ISBN: 0505527022
Label: Love Spell
Manufacturer: Love Spell
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 337
Publication Date: 2007-05-29
Publisher: Love Spell
Studio: Love Spell
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Blah
Comment: I like the premise of the Immortals, and the first story was interesting and set a good basis. But this second installment, by a different writer, was ..... boring. The plot was ok, but the interaction and romance was pretty much blah.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Immortal Darius and a wolfish witch caught between Demon and New York City
Comment: Book 1: In Seattle "the Calling" had failed. The demon "Old One" and Adrian's rogue Immortal brother Tain had been too strong even for the combined power of himself, Amber Silverthorne and their friends with powerful life magic who had gathered on Beltane to summon the Immortals. Adrian had promised Isis he'd back off until all the brothers had been assembled to continue the quest to free Tain and destroy the demon. Amber had promised to continue the search to locate his brothers.
Book 2: In Ravenscroft, home of the Gods, Adrian's brother Darius is dying. For the first time in seven hundred years The Calling has summoned him to earth. He is compelled to go for it is the purpose for which he was created, but he cannot. Sekhmet, the aspect of the Mother Goddess who bore him was holding his life essence in an orb around her neck. Talk about your over protective mothers! Without his essence Darius could not leave Ravenscroft. It is literally ripping him apart. Then the Calling ends abruptly relieving the pain in his body but not in his heart. What kind of life was this for a warrior?
Sekmet refuses to allow Darius to leave, to respond to Earth's summons for aid. He decides he would rather die than continue to live such a life and snatches the orb from his mother's neck dashing it against a wall. It does not have the desired affect however as his essence takes the form of a serpent and touches the area above his heart sketching a tattoo there rather than allowing him to die or being absorbed into his soul making him whole. As it does Darius is abruptly expelled from Ravenscroft, only the look on his mother's face alerts him to the fact that something has gone very wrong. He has lost his immortality and is no longer accepted there! Unfortunately he doesn't know that -- yet.
In New York City crime is at an all time high. Bounty hunter and werewolf, Lexi Corvin has heard about the events that had taken place in Seattle and suspects the super demon is at work here as well. It is the week before the full moon which has left her edgy with pent up aggression and repressed sexuality. She had a job, bills to pay and simply couldn't take off a week per month to satisfy her wolfish urges. She could definitely use someone to rough up and so she'd switched her own case for her male co-workers tougher one, a skip who abused his spouse. She was almost enjoying giving the poor excuse for a human being his comeuppance when a sudden blast of light and the ensuing shock wave knocked her off her feet. When the smoke cleared she was faced with ..... Darius. A witch as well as a werewolf Lexi had seen his face before, in her scrying flame during the Calling. She was looking at an honest to goodness Immortal.
Darius' first thought was to kill the man who would strike a woman, barring that his next thought after taking in the woman's appearance was that he'd been confined in Ravencroft for far too long! Unfortunately as she soon tells him, he has bigger fish to fry. Soon Darius is on the phone with Adrian and learns that his brother Kalen, has been sighted in Scotland (Book 3), that Hunter was still missing, and that his youngest and weakest brother Tain had been taken, tortured and turned seven hundred years ago by a ancient and powerful demon while Adrian had been kept busy with the Unseelie diversion.
Tomorrow Darius would be winging his way to Seattle. Tonight Lexi wasn't the only one with pent up sexual energy! Too bad he was a bit too presumptuous, which found him exploring the city alone while Lexi finished up her paperwork on her skip. When her best friend Mai calls to invite her to investigate the Crypt a new vampire club in town, Lexi is just frustrated enough to take her up on the plan. Before Lexi has a chance to really get to know any of the men there better she bumps into Darius again.
The Calling should have brought Darius to the place he was needed most, where death magic was strongest. It has brought him here, not to Seattle. He'd followed the death magic through the city to the place it was strongest which had brought him to the Crypt. The answer was obvious the demon was here. And he was right.
The demon Amadja is lurking beneath the club with its captive Immortal Tain. After a brief encounter with one of the demon's succubus in the club Darius has been drained of his memory as well as a healthy portion of his essence. The sanity challenged Tain recognizes the essence for what it is and knows Darius has heeded the Calling.
Darius and Lexi keep turning up in the same places for completely different reasons, he hunting down the demon, she in an effort to save her best friend who the demon has chosen as a pawn in its latest bid to purge the world. It's clear they are attracted to each but either something gets in the way of them getting together or they are interrupted mid-encounter. It's no wonder Lexi is starting to get a complex. She tells herself their attraction is just moonlust; that any attractive healthy man will do. She'd watched her twin perish, a sacrifice to true love and sworn to herself never to allow a man to touch her heart. Darius doesn't believe what Adrian has told him about Tain. He is certain that all he has to do is get him away from the demon. Unfortunately in his current state he is vulnerable.
Amadja and Tain's latest plan is unleash the "hounds of Hell" and will allow no one to interfere. When it become obvious that Tain truly wants to die, and has no qualms about taking his brother with him, Lexi comes to understand her sister's sacrifice. A world without the man she loves is not worth living in.
This installment spends less time on the actual romance than on building the Demon's plot, nevertheless it works. Stopped for now the Demon and his Immortal captive, Tain next appear in Scotland where they will take on Kalen, son of the Etruscan Mother Goddess Uni. ~ for PNR Reviews
Customer Rating:
Summary: awesome!
Comment: I highly recommend this book, as well as the entire 4-book series. (Note, this is not just one author.) This is an awesome series on immortal warriors and their fight against evil. Lots of vamps, witches, etc. help join the fight as well. Very well written. Three authors got together and each wrote a book (Jennifer Ashley wrote two.) They did such a good job of keeping the story line going and coordinating it that you can actually read out of order and still follow the flow just fine. Very good books!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Series
Comment: : Immortals: The Darkening is book 2 of the fabulous Immortal series. Robin T. Popp has penned an action packed story for the Immortal Darius and a bounty hunting werewolf in heat named Lexi as they join the battle to stop an ancient demon and a rogue Immortal from ending the human race. Darius is forced to stay in his magical home of Ravenscroft because of his goddess mother, Sekhmet, and her overprotective interference by holding his life-force captured in an orb about her neck. Darius is determined to answer the Calling and destroys the orb, which returns his life-force to him but in a more vulnerable way. A spell is cast as he vanishes from Ravenscroft that creates complications for him on Earth as he finds out the reason for the Calling, Lexi's part in it and the uncontrollable passion between him and Lexi. Lexi is trying to help Darius get to his Immortal brother Adrian, which isn't easy with her being in heat, warring vampires, a leprechaun, and her wood nymph friend all becoming intertwined in the latest scheme by the powerful demon and the rogue Immortal.
Darius and Lexi will take you through the streets of New York as they attempt to stop the death magic from overcoming the life magic. Their relationship erupts from a build up of unleashed passion and untold feelings into an emotional experience that will touch your heart. The story's trail of intrigue flows endlessly throughout the plot with plenty of action and passion. Well developed and memorable characters will pull you into this exciting story and hold you captive to the climactic end. What comes next for the Immortals is now left to Joy Nash as she continues this series with Immortals: The Awakening. I recommend Immortals: The Darkening as a definite keeper for the excellent reading pleasure the Immortals are giving me and I look forward to the next Immortal story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good story, but more of an erotic / action novel than a romance. Sex took a bigger role than love.
Comment: The Immortals Series:
The Calling
The Darkening
The Awakening
The Gathering
The Redeeming (Tain's Story) September 2008
The Immortals series is a joint venture for three different authors. The first, fourth and fifth books are by Jennifer Ashley (AKA Allyson James). The second book is by Robin T. Popp, and the third by Joy Nash.
If you haven't read the first book, you really should before reading this one. It's a great story (I liked it more than this one.) and it sets the stage for the series.
If you have read it, you can skip this next paragraph:
The paranormal beings in this series are witches, demons, vampires, "The Immortals", and shapeshifters. "The Immortals" are five sons of the Celtic gods and goddesses. (Adrian, Darius, Kalen, Hunter, and Tain) They were created to protect the world from death magic. (Death magical beings include demons and vampires.) After several millennia, the Immortals have been all but forgotten. In the past, witches would chant "The Calling" spell to summon the Immortals for help whenever evil threatened. Those of the 5 whom are still fighting evil today, are doing so at their own leisure. Once these brothers realized that they could live in freedom, they each went their own way. They have not seen one another for hundreds of years.
The world of magic is divided between those who live in "life magic", and those who live in "death magic". Life magic lives in the Immortals, good witches, the Celtic gods/ goddesses, and shapeshifters. Death magic lives in demons and vampires. For millennia, they have battled. Now, some vampires are joining with the beings of life- magic to prevent demons from overtaking the world.
"The Darkening":
Something was missing... I believe the best word for it is "charm".
Robin Popp's addition to the Immortals series was full of action and suspense. Unfortunately, it was not really a love story. While I enjoy steamy love scenes, far too many scenes in "The Darkening" were centered upon open sex, or the quest for sex, between various characters. It interrupted the plot for me. Still, those scenes were short enough that I didn't get bored before the plot came back into play.
One very engaging aspect of the first book, "The Calling", was the charisma of the hero's partner in battle, Ferrin. Ferrin, a cobra snake, had a sarcasm that was the comic relief that kept the story lively. He was both vulnerable and powerful. A weapon, and best friend for the hero. In "The Darkening", the hero (Darius) has a similar partner named "Fury". A very cool dragon who was powerful and loyal. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to mind- speak like Ferrin did, so we didn't get to enjoy him. He was just there when needed in battle.
The hero, Darius, held the emotion that saved this story for me. He wanted nothing more than to unite his family and find companionship. He was lonely after 700 years of being kept prisoner in his mother's realm. When he finally escaped and reached Earth, he had only a portion of his life- force. Although born immortal, Darius could now be killed. Despite that, he risked everything to try to save his youngest brother from the demon who captured him.
Also, Darius has a very unique gift that makes his character fascinating. His body is covered with tattoos that are actual weapons. A dagger, sword, rope, skeleton key, shield, and a dragon. At the touch of his hand, these tattoos leave his body and become real. The battle is on!
New York, Modern Day:
Upon reaching Earth, Darius sees a man beating a woman in a parking lot. Immediately, he rushes to her aid. When the woman realizes that he is one of the Immortals, she offers to help him get to his oldest brother Adrian in Seattle. Before he can go, Darius finds reason to believe that his missing youngest brother is in New York. He will stay and try to save Tain from the demon leader.
Lexi is a werewolf/ witch who works as a bounty hunter. While trying to apprehend a "skip", she finds herself in a tough fight. Out of nowhere, a warrior enters the battle and quickly downs the skip. She is shocked to learn that he is one of the 5 Immortals that she and several other witches attempted to bring to Earth with The Calling spell weeks earlier. Excited that the spell may have worked after all, she takes him to her apartment to contact Adrian.
Tain knows his brothers are searching for him. After 700 years of torture, his mind is bent. He is in love with the female glamour that the demon leader wears. He will kill his own brothers to help destroy the world. Now that Darius has arrived, Tain will pretend to be a victim. It is an easy way to lure Darius to his death.
Darius refuses to believe Adrian's warning about Tain. The oldest must be mistaken. Tain was the most gentle and loving of the 5 brothers. Darius is sure Tain is being held against his will. Whatever it takes, Darius will find and free Tain. When the work is done, Darius will be free to pursue his feelings for Lexi. After centuries of loneliness, he knows he has found the love he always dreamed of.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Created at the dawn of time to protect humanity, the ancient warriors have been nearly forgotten, though magic lives on--in vampires, werewolves, the Celtic Sidhe, and other beings. But now one of their own has turned rogue, and the world is again in desperate need of the IMMORTALS. A werewolf and bounty hunter, Lexi was badass to the bone. She had no problem protecting herself in the seedy underground vampire clubs of New York City. Until the Immortal she had tried to summon actually appeared. It wasn't the intricate tattoos around his well-defined muscles that intimidated her; it was the raw power she saw shimmering in his golden brown eyes, power mingled with lust. Though she longed to give in to the passion and pleasure he promised, they first had a curse to break, a brother to find, and a whole legion of vampires to prevent from joining ...THE DARKENING.
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