Friday, January 20, 2017

The Darkest Torment (review)

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The Darkest Torment - Gena Showalter

Can Beauty tame her Beast? 

Driven to his death by the demon of Distrust, Baden spent centuries in purgatory. Now he's back, but at what cost? Bound to the king of the underworld, an even darker force, he's unable to withstand the touch of another and he's quickly devolving into a heartless assassin with an uncontrollable temper. Things only get worse when a mission goes awry and he finds himself saddled with a bride just not his own.

Famed dog trainer Katarina Joelle is forced to marry a monster to protect her loved ones. When she's taken hostage by the ruthless, beautiful Baden immediately after the ceremony, she's plunged into a war between two evils with a protector more dangerous than the monsters he hunts. They are meant to be enemies, but neither can resist the passion burning between them and all too soon the biggest threat is to her heart.

But as Baden slips deeper into the abyss, she'll have to teach him to love or lose him forever.


Alright lambs, just in time for the movie version of the classic, we have Gena Showalter giving us a grown up version of Disney's The Beauty and the Beast, the twelfth installment in her Lords of the Underworld series. I know people are going to tell you that these are stand alone books and that you won't miss much if you don't read them in order, but they are liars. I'm telling you right now you need to read these from the start not just because it's a damn good series, but because there is so much from the lore and backstory that won't make any sense to you if you just jump in on this book. But I'm telling you it's worth the journey because these guys... woo. It's not just my pre-menopausal hot flashes happening in here, lambs! 

If you've been keeping up with this series then you know that this is Baden's book. Baden is screwed over by the demon of Distrust so you know that he's going to struggle with distrust on his journey. Enter Katarina, who he basically gets dumped into his lap and dun dun dun....he kind of starts falling for though he shouldn't. Never mind that she gets married to a guy so her dogs aren't tortured, so the whole Baden and Katarina relationship is starting off on a terrible foot. I will say that the biggest complaint about this book for me is I'm not loving Baden and Katarina as a couple at all. I think the author could have really done this so much better and it makes book twelve feel rushed and like not as much care went into planning this book out. And it's not much of a spoiler, but it IS a stretch because I went into this book with the romanticized Beauty and the Beast thoughts in my head, then I read this and OK- she treats him basically like a dog while having sex (because he's not used to touch so she's essentially "training" him) and it's just SO WEIRD. So, so weird and I just couldn't get into it and it was just... it was just a really strange way to get yourself to the Beauty and the Beast comparison. There were SO MANY other ways to do this. 

Sigh. 

This is one of my least favorite of the series, but I'm not saying it's worth skipping. You need this in your life if you are reading this series. I'm just.. I'm disappointed that this is where we went with Baden. I liked Baden, though my memory of him is kind of foggy because either I missed something big, or it's a plot hole, but I don't know how Baden got into purgatory with Pandora?? Am I missing something? Granted, I read books 1-11 awhile ago but still, I feel like I've forgotten something crucial. 

Overall I'm giving this a 3/5 stars. It isn't up to the standards of the other books but it's not the worst. It's pretty middle of the road for me. I think if you are a hardcore LOTU fan you are probably going to nitpick a little more and be a little harder to please, but for me, the casual fan, it was alright. 

1 comment:

Heather J @ TLC Book Tours said...

Thanks for being a part of the tour.