The Guardian

Dark-Hunter, Book #20

Dream-Hunter, Book #5

Were-Hunter, Book #6

Hellchaser, Book #3

By Sherrilyn Kenyon

ISBN#  9780312550059

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

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Seth is a demigod that has been sentenced to hell.  Not for anything he’s done, but for personal gains of others.  His father, the Egyptian God Set, refused to accept him.  His mother then broke his legs and abandoned him in the desert when he was a young boy.  He was taken in by a family of Jackals, but they later sold him to Noir.  He’s lived a life of pain and torture ever since.

Noir has finally released Seth from his latest punishment to put him on an errand for him.  Find the key to Olympus or suffer even worse torture.  The Dream-Hunter, Solin, is supposedly the only one that knows the location of the key.  So, Seth set a trap for him and captured him.  He is in the middle of torturing/questioning Solin when the beautiful little woman, Lydia, appeared to try to save him.  Solin, who hadn’t been giving him any Intel, immediately reacted to Lydia’s presence and would do anything to protect her.  Seth took her captive and gave Solin three days to bring him the key or he’d kill her.

While being held prisoner in Seth’s room, she glimpses a caring side of him that nobody sees.  She tries to help him research the key so she can get home.  However, Noir and Azura keep summoning Seth for progress updates that aren’t good enough, and that ultimately leaves him beaten and drained.

However, when Jaden tells Lydia how to save Seth from this hell, she doesn’t hesitate.  Now, that she’s teleported him out of Azmodea, she has to hide him until his full powers that Noir has stolen can return.  But Noir will stop at nothing to bring him back.  And, Lydia has unknown enemies that won’t cease chasing her until they see her dead.

I wasn’t familiar with either of these main characters and I’m always a little hesitant with the Dream-Hunter books, as they tend to be a bit dull for me.  Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive going into this book.  However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by this story.  It had all the emotion I could ask for bleeding from its pages.

I do love a tortured hero, and it doesn’t get more tortured than poor Seth.  His own parents refused to love him and people hurt and spat on him and his feelings all his life.  To say nothing, of the horrors Noir and Azura subjected him to. *Shudders*  My heart broke for him and there aren’t many more deserving of a happily ever after than he was.

I really liked Lydia too.  She wasn’t raised around the other, often emotionless, Dream-Hunters.  And she’s part were-hunter too.  The combination made for a fun and strong character that I thoroughly enjoyed.  And, she was strong enough to stand up to a Guardian of hell and was a perfect match for him.

“Life’s not about security. It’s about picking up the pieces after it’s all over and carrying on. We can choose to be cowards who fear letting someone inside us, and do that alone. Or we can choose to be brave and let someone stand by our side and help us.”

This book had a sweet ending and I would love to spend more time with this couple and all those now connected to them, especially Solin.

My heart continues to break for Jaden though.  I can’t wait until I get to his book, which I’m sure, with all he’s been through, will be epic!