LoveVampires - the website dedicated to vampire fiction.
With vampire book reviews, information and author interviews.

Dance With The Devil

Sherrilyn Kenyon

Published 2003            343 pages

Synopsis

Zarek is the most dangerous of all the Dark Hunters.  Unable to follow orders, he is considered to be violent and insane by his fellow Dark Hunters and, after the village he was charged with protecting was slaughtered, he has spent the last 900 years in exile in Alaska.  For a Dark Hunter this is harsh punishment, unable to endure the sun without bursting into flames, the long Alaskan summers meant he was an isolated prisoner in the wilderness.

Briefly released from his exile to fight Daimons in New Orleans there was an unfortunate incident where Zarek beat up some cops and Artemis, the goddess who created Zarek, decides she has finally had enough of his bad behaviour.   Archeron, the leader of the Dark Hunters, persuades Artemis to give Zarek a fair trial before condemning him.  Artemis gets to choose Zarek’s judge and she chooses Astrid, a justice nymph who has never judged a man innocent in her entire career.

Astrid is tired of judging men, only to find that they are always guilty and she reluctantly takes the job.  Yet once she meets Zarek she is strangely unwilling to give up on him.  Even though he trusts no one, is suspicious, surly and rude.  Somehow she sees through his tough exterior to the deeply wounded man underneath. 

While Astrid struggles to maintain her impartiality in the face of her growing attraction to Zarek she may not get the chance to deliver her verdict because Artemis has already sent an executioner for Zarek.  Unfortunately the Day Slayer will stop at nothing to settle an ancient score with Zarek - even if he destroys the whole world in the process.

The Review

This is one of my favourite Dark Hunter books.  There is something about the story that just grabs you from the first few pages and keeps a hold of you until you finish the book. 

Zarek is a deeply wounded character.  He was a Roman slave who, after a brief and miserable existence, was executed for a crime he didn’t commit.  He has so much anger, carried over from his mortal life, that he never got over being a slave.  In his own mind he is still a slave and he lives in his own private hell. 

Throughout the story Zarek is slowly revealed to have a well hidden softer side and eventually, through his love for Astrid, he proves himself to be capable of acts of kindness and mercy and he is redeemed.

Dance With The Devil is a fast-paced exciting read full of hot romance, heart rending emotion and vampire (Daimon) slaying action.  Sherrilyn Kenyon has taken Greek mythology blended it with romance and vampires and created her own exciting and unique world.  The Dark Hunter series of books are recommended reading for anyone who enjoys kick ass vampire slaying and hot romance.

LoveVampires Review Rating: