Styxx

Dark-Hunter, Book #22

By Sherrilyn Kenyon

ISBN# 9781250029881

Author’s Website:  https://www.sherrilynkenyon.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

He should have been born into a life of luxury, one where he was pampered and given everything his heart could desire.  He was heir to the throne after all.   However, since his “twin” was born with those strange swirling silver eyes, obviously a god’s by-blow, his father could never completely trust that Styxx was truly his child.  He and Acheron, instead lived through horrors that others couldn’t even fathom, the main difference between the two being that everyone thought Styxx lived the pampered life he should have had being born a prince.  At least Acheron had Ryssa on his side, but Styxx had nobody.  That is until he met his beloved Bethany, but because of jealousy and vengeance of the Gods Styxx lost her as well.  All he wanted is to die, but with his life force tied to Acheron’s it wasn’t possible.  Instead, he lived a life of torture, pain, and loneliness.  Even Acheron turned his back on Styxx thinking him selfish and pampered like all the others thought.  Ash thought that his suffering was a result of Styxx’s actions forcing the brothers further apart.  Ash is horrified when his discovers the truth, but is it too late to change all the sins of the past?

I figured this would be an epic book in this series, and it was.  However, the reader in me hated that there were no chapters… just dates.  This actually put me off on reading it so I delayed it longer than I normally would. 

This is basically Ash’s story, but told from a different point of view.  Obviously there is a lot that didn’t happen in Ash’s book that happened in this one (and vice versa) since it was Styxx’s life and the two lived separate for most of their lives thanks to their “father” and “uncle”.  If you thought Ash’s story was hard, you haven’t seen anything yet!  We had to re-live the horrors of these young boys being sold and abused, which is something I didn’t enjoy reading.  I know it’s been awhile since I read Ash’s book, so it could be that so much time has passed, but the horrors seemed much more detailed in this book.  However, you have to read through all the darkness to truly appreciate the ending.

This book reminded me of how much I dislike Ryssa as well.

I loved Ash, but this book made me view him in a completely different light.  I hurt horribly for Styxx for the way everyone treated him, especially his own brother.  This novel did have a great ending though. And, I look forward to seeing Styxx in the remaining books of this series, now that we can truly understand and appreciate him.

This story, however, is not for the faint of heart.  It is filled with rape, torture, incest, and pain, which is why it was so hard for me to read.  You must prepare yourself for that before endeavoring to read it as this novel will completely rip your heart out in a long agonizing way.  It will try to patch it up by the end of the book.  However, what is read can never be unread and the pain and sadness will not easily be forgotten.

“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.”