One Silent Night (A Dark-Hunter Novel)

I understand it was not supposed to be a "novel-sized" book, as others have said, but it seems to be a trend (with the exception of Ash's book)with SK- shorter stories with less ability of the reader to become immersed in the characters. I miss stories like the 1st 4-5 books of the series, when I couldn't put the thing down at night! I know it must be hard to do all the author does, so maybe she should concentrate on 1 series for a bit and see if she can get that old feeling back. Fingers crossed that Fang and Fury's stories are better, longer (Fang's), and give us that zing again!

Through a thoughtless, selfish act, Stryker is reunited with his ex-wife. Stryker and Zephyra combine forces to put an end to the violence he wrought.

Never thought I'd see the day when I'd give a Dark Hunter novel less than 4 stars. It's a fascinating world Kenyon created, but this book was a disappointment. It was immediately apparent that this would be a quick read given the large print. I felt slightly ripoffed at being charged full price for a novel that was only slightly longer than a novella in a larger anthology.

If I ever reread this book, it will be for the surrounding characters as Stryker was a complete disappointment and Zephyra was plain cruel. Hard to feel the love given their personalities or lack of one. All that saved the story was seeing Ash, Sav, Nick, Jared and a great new demon with a pink bunny.

If you've been following the series, give it a read. If this is your first Kenyon introduction to Dark Hunters, read anything else first.

As a follow up to Acheron, this book leaves a lot to be desired. Stryker's illogical hate for the human race is anathema to my tastes and not well developed. The love story is overly contrived, and I do not appreciate the author trying to "humanize" the actions of such an obvious villain. If nothing else, she gave us an even more dangerous new sociopath that needs to be tamed, his ex-wife Zephyra. This book was along the lines of humanizing the actions of Charles Manson and then giving him an even freakier bride. I have rated the book "ok" because if you have read the series to date, it does offer fantastic plot development and I am interested in seeing where she takes it. I just wish it hadn't been a love story.

I love Kenyon and LOVE each and every one of the DH books- up till now. Here Kenyon really tried to show Stryker's sympathetic side, his regret and the reasons he is a psychotic murderer. However, the "my father never loved me and shamed me as a child" excuse just only goes so far for me.

As for his wife...left for the man she loved- bad. Grandson tortured and killed- absolutely terrible! However NOT really a reason to keep a sentient being enslaved and tortured for an eternity. Not to mention continuing to plan wholesale slaughter of the human race even after they no longer need humans to survive. In short I DON'T WANT THEM TO BE HAPPY. In fact, I would be just fine with Nick/Ash/one of the numerous new pantheon knocking them off.

I did however enjoy seeing Ash and Tory and moving Nick's story along (as well as seeing him mature a bit).

And what is the tension with Appollymi and Savitar? Is anyone else wondering if this is foreshadowing, because that would be interesting!

Yes, the print is large and the book is short. Yes, the hero is a bad guy and his heroine is a b*tch. This novella does go into their background, however, and reminds the reader that most things are not as simple as black/white, good/evil, etc.

Kenyon "warns" her readers that OSN is a major turning point in the series. I liked meeting the new characters, and learning more about a couple of familiar ones. Yes, the DH world is more complicated than we knew, but that also makes it more interesting. I also liked the checks and balances and the uneasy truces that were formed.

I didn't have a problem with the timing issue; it's not the first novella to go back and fill in a story.

Bottom line, for me at least, is that this is a $6.99 paperback. I didn't have great expectations, and it was better than I had hoped it would be.

I actually enjoyed the read. Most people like a plot and a happy ending. It gives you the background on the people you have been reading about. And more knowledge of how all the races go back to what God's. I give this book 4stars.

I never thought I'd enjoy Strykerius's book, but after reading Acheron and being so disappointed, I was eager to read about the "bad guys" especially since I now wanted to be part of their team. Kenyon returns to form in this one, the plot moves quickly, the settings are descriptive and the new characters actually have character. I enjoyed the romance between Stryker and Zephyra and really liked their back story. I also appreciated the length of the novel. This was the first book I was able to read in one weekend in years. Cheers, can't wait for the next one.

The one should be checked out of the library- not worth $6.....more a nouvella .....story was OK as backround for future books but I definitely feel cheated on this one......extra large print to make it a full PB- great for the eyes but bad for the pocket..... could have been 2oo or Less pages easily!

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the Dark Hunter books so far. What I love about Sherrilyn Kenyon's books is her ability to make even the bad guys look good. Nothing is black or white, no one is good or evil. Like mankind, everyone is a mixture of both. Strykerius is a most despicable character and has been from the beginning. But just as she did with Apollymi in Archeron, she showed us Strykerius' most human side and made him a somewhat lovable character who I found myself rooting for in this book. We also found out more about Nick and I am intrigued enough to really want to pursue his story more. I just have to figure out where his books fit into the storyline so I don't jump on them too soon. I am glad Stryker found love and happiness again. The promise of a release of sorts from Apollo's curse looks like another good storyline to weave into the series and I hope it is pursued further in future books. A most entertaining read and I highly recommend this book anyone who enjoys this genre.

The one should be checked out of the library- not worth $6.....more a nouvella .....story was OK as backround for future books but I definitely feel cheated on this one......extra large print to make it a full PB- great for the eyes but bad for the pocket..... could have been 2oo or Less pages easily!

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

We all knew that Stryker would be out for blood, after Nick killed his sister. Now, it’s his time of reckoning! He sneaks down into the Underworld and wakes the powerful god, War, to kill Acheron and Nick. It took the other Gods working together to contain him before and it could take a miracle to stop him now.

When War fights Nick it unbinds his powers, powers that even Ash didn’t know he possessed! Nick is the Malachai, the only thing that can actually kill War. Unfortunately, he doesn’t yet know how to use his powers.

Artemis realizes the only reason that Stryker would awaken War would be to kill Acheron. Even though, Ash wants nothing to do with Artemis, she can’t let him be killed. She sends Zephyra, Stryker’s ex-wife, who he believes is dead, to kill Stryker. Stryker is shocked when he sees the love of his life in the flesh. The woman he left in order to protect her from his father that broke both their hearts in the process. Even more shocking is when their daughter he didn’t know was ever born shows up! Stryker would do anything to be with Zephyra again if only he can convince her to forgive him. And he quickly learns that she possesses the only creature in existence that can kill the Malachai. If he can get her to have Nick killed, then nobody can stop War from killing Ash!

Enemies will have to band together in an unlikely alliance to stop what has been unleashed on the world. But can these enemies put their grievances behind them for the greater good?

This book was okay. The beginning was incredibly boring to me. It got better, but was still just okay. A lot did happen in this book though and I found it to be an important read for the continuation of the series.

And, it looks like Nick just might have to suck it up and work with Ash if he ever wants to truly discover his own capabilities. Maybe; hopefully this will be what the two need to start repairing their friendship.

There is a little romance in this book with Stryker and Zephyra, but it really takes a backseat to everything else that is going on.

I’m interested to see what will happen in the next book, although it does not look good for the human race. Ash’s Dark-Hunters will definitely have their work cut out for them!

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the Dark Hunter books so far. What I love about Sherrilyn Kenyon's books is her ability to make even the bad guys look good. Nothing is black or white, no one is good or evil. Like mankind, everyone is a mixture of both. Strykerius is a most despicable character and has been from the beginning. But just as she did with Apollymi in Archeron, she showed us Strykerius' most human side and made him a somewhat lovable character who I found myself rooting for in this book. We also found out more about Nick and I am intrigued enough to really want to pursue his story more. I just have to figure out where his books fit into the storyline so I don't jump on them too soon. I am glad Stryker found love and happiness again. The promise of a release of sorts from Apollo's curse looks like another good storyline to weave into the series and I hope it is pursued further in future books. A most entertaining read and I highly recommend this book anyone who enjoys this genre.

Let's face it Acheron is a hard act to follow so any hero that came next was going to have his work cut out. I wasn't convinced that Stryker was the best choice, considering all the horrible things we've seen him do throughout the series he was always going to be hard to sell as a hero for me, but I trust Sherrilyn Kenyon and I do adore a great redemption story so I was willing to give One Silent Night the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, no matter how much I wanted to love this story, it just completely failed to win me around.

Stryker in no way managed to redeem himself and he didn't even attempt to make amends for his previous actions. He doesn't seem to think he's done anything wrong and he's STILL plotting against Acheron and the other Dark-Hunters. Zephyra is just as bad and the two of them are determined to destroy all of humanity because of the actions of a few humans centuries ago. I get that the daimons have had a rubbish hand dealt to them but they're not the only people who have had their lives messed up by the gods. They aren't the only ones suffering from curses and we've all just read in great detail about how much crap Acheron has put up with over the centuries but you don't see him plotting mass genocide!

I just don't understand how I'm supposed to feel any sympathy for either of these characters, in fact the best thing I have to say about them is that they deserve each other. At least this way nobody else has to put up with either of them! These two just don't deserve to be happy, I'd rather see them locked up together in a dungeon somewhere to live a miserable eternity of constant fighting until one of them finally murders the other and puts us all out of our misery.

The only thing that makes this book worth reading are the scenes with Acheron or Nick, those two characters steal the show every time they step onto the page and there are some really interesting developments there that I'm glad I found out before continuing the series. That's the only thing stopping me from telling other fans to just skip this story entirely, I would suggest borrowing it from the library rather than paying good money for it though. There is absolutely NOTHING likeable about Stryker or Zephyra, I wasn't at all interested in seeing these two characters get a happy ending and I honestly won't care if they end up dying in later books which is something I never expected to say about any couple in this series. If I had to describe One Silent Night in just one word it would be disappointing and I feel terrible saying that because I normally adore Sherrilyn Kenyon's writing. I guess everyone is allowed a dud at some point though and considering how many books of hers I have absolutely loved I'm not going to let this put me off continuing with the series. I just hope we don't have the misfortune of spending any more time with these two characters in the future!

This book is Stryker’s story. Although he has been the bad guy it was interesting to see things from his perspective. He hasn’t seen Zephyra in 11,000 years. She has hated him for centuries, after he ripped her heart out by leaving. Now she is bent on killing him once and for all. We get some interesting facts about Nick in this book as well as some insight into Apollymi. When enemies must become allies will they be able to defeat a new adversary? Will they be able to put aside their differences or will their fight with each other take precedence? This heralds a new dawn for the people we have come to know.

2.5
Stryker is not all evil, he had been wounded so deeply that his heart just went black. There was a great love once, his father and his youth tore her away and scarred him for thousands of years. When War is released to kill Nick and Ash things go wrong and Stryker must deal with his past and work with his enemies.
This was a short read filled with some background on Stryker which was very interesting. We see how he was formed into his big bad self was not as heartbreaking as some of the other characters but it was understandable. It was just a brief look at him, maybe to brief and his recovered love was too easy. I just didn't connect with this story much it lacked the intensity and the details of previous stories.

** spoiler alert ** Another Great Read - I absolutely love this series, the more books I read the more I learn about Acheron and his world with the gods, the paranormal creatures, and his Dark Hunters in their other worldly realms.

Stryker (Daimon)and his wife Zephyra (Daimon/Gallu Demon) romance was interesting. Zephyra tells Stryker that if he drinks from the Gallu and then kill it that he can capture his soul and then he would never have to kill a human for its soul again and he is now immortal. Once he learns this, his army goes on a rampage to catch the Gallu Demons so they can be immortal too.

Acheron and Nick Gautier learn that Nick is a Malachai Demon who's powers were held back from the time of his birth. Evidently his father was a Malachai - a demon created to serve as the balance of the universe against other eveil demons. War a Sephiril Demon is one of those other evils and Jarad is the Sephiroth Demon, the other half for the balance of the Universe.

War gets out of control and Acheron, Nick, Stryker, and the other Gods come together to capture him. The put their differences aside for one day to do this.

War is captured and Stryker and his wife now live together after 11 thousand years of separation.

Nick finally realizes that it wasn't Acherons fault that his mother was killed, that it was his fault. Savaitar comes to the rescue of Acheron and protects him and his family from War. Tory, Zephyra, and Simi come to aid the others in capturing War and I love how Simi always saves the day in the end and still wants BBQ on everything she eats.

I totally loved the story, it was full of action, excelent

Each entry in the Dark-Hunter series told of a hunter (were, dark, dream) finding true love and redemption. So, I was thrown for a loop when one of the series mainstay villains found his true love - Stryker. When he releases the primal entity known as War to kill Nick and Ash, he discovers she is still alive and that he still loves her.

More than anything, the purpose of this story seemed to be to introduce a new arc in the overall mythology (rather than a romance), including a new "pantheon" and also to make Nick into a more pivotal player. Nick's not really human; he's the last of the Malachai - uberpowerful immortals created to fight other uberpowerful immortals, the Sephirii, of whom the last is Jared. The groups were soldiers for higher-lever gods who want to rule the world. Blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I think the mythology is getting unnecessarily convoluted, and I'm just not a fan of Nick. Making him half of an innately evil demon race to somehow explain his unreasoning hatred and desire to kill Ash seems like a cop-out. And, it's gotten to the point where the series is no longer about the Dark-Hunters, it's about the ever increasing number of gods. And the "romance" was not romantic, it was strange, to say the least. Stryker wants to kill mankind, and at the end of this story he still does. Only now he has his true love to help him in his war. And for her part, she's a bloodthirsty woman who cruelly tortures Jared when she's not lusting after Stryker. It's difficult to identify with and root for the loving couple who wants to destroy the world.

The mythology has the potential to be interesting, but I'm afraid it's going to take over the series. Overall, this was a weak entry that was already fighting an uphill battle as the book that followed "Acheron," and got lost in the technobabble. It kept me interested and turning the pages, but didn't leave me satisfied. I still recommend the series, but really hope the next book brings the magic back.

First off, I was really excited to read Stryker's story. He has been one of the few recurrent villains in the series who actually puts up a decent fight, and he is fairly complex as well. SK has a tendency to make her villains just too evil and selfish to be believable. They also have a tendency to be a little dense at times. Stryker has always been cool-headed and calculating so I was looking forward to his story.

Summary:

Stryker has awoken the Greek god War to wreak havoc on humanity, but the plan backfires when his ex-wife from 11,000 years ago, Zephyra, shows up to assassinate him on the orders of Artemis. They strike a deal and Stryker gives her two weeks to make her fall back in love with him or he will allow her to kill him.

Pros:

You learn a lot about Nick and Stryker's backstory. Nick ends up playing a big role in this, and we learn exactly how and why Acheron can't control him. There are also several interesting new editions to the cast of characters, and the ending leaves the plot wide open for new developments.

Cons:

This story was enjoyable but very flawed. It clocked in at 310 pages, but it is far shorter due to the larger print. Truthfully, it's probably closer to 250 pages in normal font.

Despite this being Stryker's story, it paid a lot of attention to other characters such as Nick and Acheron. I enjoyed these bits, but I felt like they were distracting from the point of Stryker being the main character. Also, what we learned about him made me like him less not more. I loved him because he was the cold-hearted badass who would do whatever it took to attain his goals. His backstory with Zephyra made him seem whiny and weak. It was 11,000 years ago! Get over it already! The whole romance between them just seemed implausible. I liked that we got a look into his past and his thoughts, but it diminished his character. I actually didn't mind Zephyra. She is evil, and she is unapologetic about it. It's nice to see a character who is bad and doesn't care.

This story introduced a lot of new supernatural and mythological elements, which while intriguing, makes SK's universe all the more confusing. It seems just as you learn everything from the last book she brings out some new gods or class of beings. It's hard to keep everything straight sometimes as to who is fighting who and who can be killed by what.

In conclusion, I liked this story because we do learn about Stryker's past and Nick's origins, but it suffers from an ever-growing and convoluted universe and a far too short storyline. I would suggest checking this out from the library or borrowing it from a friend before buying it.

I really do like this author and this book is no different even if it is a little bit short. :) The only problem that I had was that the lines blurred a little bit more than I am comfortable with. I like the idea of doing a book on your main enemy of the series. I always thought that bad guys who were more human were scarier than the ones who were slobbering mad. This book certainly makes the series bad guy more human, but it greys the areas between evil and just misunderstood. Also the 'good guys' in the book, not the series good guys but the ones for this book aren't that good. The secondary main character in this book to me is actually more evil than the series bad guy whose been doing bad things to the characters we love for books. It makes it hard to hate the guy. Which I guess is the point but perhaps the lines were blurred a bit to much with some of this. Otherwise this was a great little installment to get us from point A to point B.

To kill Acheron Parthenopaeus and Nick Gautier, Stryker, the Daimon lord and son of Apollo, revives War, the fiercest of the Machae -- the sprits of battle. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems, though, and Stryker inadvertently unleashes a power that has the ability and desire to annihilate everyone in its path. Those who love Acheron seek to prevent his death by destroying Stryker. Artemis sends Zephyra to kill Stryker. Zephyra is all too happy to send the man who broke her heart to Hades. She brings more than her dagger with her and the surprise shocks Stryker to his core. Stryker has heaped a whole lot of trouble for himself on his already overflowing plate. If he can survive the battle he started, he might be able to convince the woman to whom he lost his heart to give him another chance. That is, if she doesn't kill him first.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" takes on new meaning with Zephyra. One would have to be crazy to mess with her. Enter Stryker. He's crazy but in a more ruthless, evil, heartless kind of way. Throughout the Dark Hunter series, Stryker is portrayed as pretty close to pure evil, so seeing him with a more human side is odd. I liked it, but it was odd. I like the story behind Stryker and Zephyra's relationship in One Silent Night, but I like the information given on Nick and the confrontation between Nick and Acheron even better. While One Silent Night's story about Stryker's lost love is interesting, I think I would prefer to leave the bad guys bad. The dynamics are changed a bit. One Silent Night delivers bombshell after bombshell in the Dark Hunter world. It explains so much but still leaves you hungry and needing more. The end is an explosive sight. Unimaginable allies join forces to attempt to defeat War. One Silent Night takes us closer to Nick Gautier's story. It's one I cannot wait for!

Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I'm not usually that in the story of the bad guys but at times it really does make you understand and feel bad for them. I wouldn't say that was the case this time around. I mean I have read all of the Dark-Hunter series to this one was a must but I didn't really feel for Stryker.

Well maybe I'm being to harsh. I did feel bad that Apollo was such an awful father to him and that his father would stoop to such a low level to prevent his son from being married to a woman he didn't like. At the same time Kenyon gives this code of ethics to Stryker which I can't think he really followed before and while I actually liked this side of Stryker, I wasn't that impressed by him after all it is his goal to destroy everything.

Very interesting twist with the whole Nick thing. Really looking forward to reading more about that. Also, it looks like she opened us up to a story about this guy named Jared and it would seem there is more to the Savitar and Apollymi story so I'm hoping some day we get stories about those people.

3.754stars - Stryke while the iron is hot!

This quick entry to the Dark Hunter universe gives us Stryker in his star turn as he has finally found a way to rid the world of his primary enemies, Ash & Nick. Unbeknown to him he may have found his downfall in Zeyphera.

I couldn't believe how quickly the pages flew by (this can be read in a sitting), while I enjoyed seeing just how vicious Zyphera could be and we spent all too brief time with the usual suspects from the incestuous Dark Hunter multi-verse. As Stryker was known from previous entries and this was a re-meet for our star couple, the focus wasn't on him as is standard for the series.

If you are a Dark Hunter fan this short shouldn't be missed, while (IMO) not terribly important to the series on the face of it, this is a critical juncture with long reaching effects for a few characters.

~Dark-Hunter Series~
~One Silent Night~
~book 13~

While the world carries on unawares, Stryker, who leads an army of demons and vampires, is plotting an all out onslaught against his enemies--which, unfortunately for us, includes the entire human race. To avenge his sister, Stryker prepares to annihilate the Dark-Hunters. But things go awry when his oldest enemy returns. Enter his ex-wife. Zephyra. Just when he thought nothing could stop him, he's now embroiled in a centuries old war with a shrew who gives new meaning to pain.

Stryker turns lose "War" to kill Acheron & Nick thinking he was smart ...Well his bright idea Blows up in his face! War takes Zephyra Daughter and it will take Acheron himself, katra, Urain, jared,Simi and others to put War Down. Stryker had to go to Ash to beg a favor (an alliance) Temporary one any ways.

I have to admit this book wasn't as good as the others in the Series, But was an enjoyable Read....

Sherrilyn Kenyon needs to start reading the reviews here and doing something about her writing, or about this series. It's been obvious for a long time that the quality of books in the Dark-Hunter series has nose-dived. They've become repetitive and formulaic, and each new set of characters is far from sympathetic. For a long time, I've found it difficult to care about the characters, and the only reason I've kept reading is Acheron, whose story I'm still waiting to read *because I don't read books in hardback*.

So a word of warning here to anyone else who hasn't read Acheron's story: THIS BOOK CONTAINS A MAJOR SPOILER FOR THAT BOOK. Yes, Kenyon's done it again - or her publisher has: a book has been issued in paperback before the paperback issue of a previous book in the series, and it gives away at least one enormously important part of the plot of the previous book. I was furious when last year's (very poor) Christmas instalment in the series revealed Kat's identity before Kat's book was released in paperback, and now this book has spoiled the plot of Acheron's book. There are good reasons why I won't buy the book in hardback: hardbacks are heavy and awkward to hold for reading in bed, for a start. They're also about three times the price of the paperback - and given the quality of Kenyon's last eight or so books in this series I'm not wasting that amount of money on what could very easily be another stinker.

Anyway, spoiler complaints aside, why else did I give this book one star? First, yet again readers are being gouged. For the second time in this series, we're being sold short: this isn't a book; it's a novella. It's half the size of a normal book, and the print is also almost twice the size. No, we're not fooled.

Second, while Stryker has the potential to be a very interesting character, and I like the occasional attempt to show us that this world isn't simply a question of black and white, this novella is far too shallow and short to do justice to what would be needed to redeem him - or, rather, make us care about him and see him as properly three-dimensional. A book as short as this can only skim the surface of what seems to be a very complex character, so we're left with a superficial caricature instead of what Kenyon did with Zarek, for example - another character who had been introduced to us as evil personified, and turned out to be much more complex, and much more deserving of sympathy, than we'd been led to believe.

So, too short, too superficial, and too many new characters and revelations thrown in. The major danger, too, is resolved far too quickly and too easily. The threat to the human race as they prepare for Christmas? What threat? It certainly wasn't shown. And it was Christmas? Really? Could've fooled me.

I did like Jared - but, again, new character thrown in with very little development. Medea? Could be an interesting character for a future book, but far too little depth here. The development as regards Nick? That needed *far* more explanation, far more analysis and more time spent with Nick working through what he'd discovered and its implications. Many parts of this book felt more like an outline than a novel.

So, yet again, another dud from Kenyon. Acheron's story comes out in paperback at the end of this month and, unless that reaches something close to the standard of the first books in this series and that Kenyon hasn't matched since Valerian's story, it'll be the last of hers I bother reading.

The romance in One Silent Night is perfunctory and treated as almost an afterthought, but the plot moves the Dark Hunter arc forward and is interesting enough to keep a fan's attention. Stryker and Zephyra were interesting enough and written well, but their love/hate/love relationship was a bit cliched. The internal struggle they faced for their love of each other was unconvincing. It was also hard to see Stryker as a hero in any sense of the word and even though you get insight into what makes him tick, it still felt hollow and a bit too "oh, poor bad guy".

Jared has definitely been written with enough interest to take over Ash's role in the series and I can't wait to see where she takes him. Nick has become a much more interesting character as well with revelations in this novel.

This isn't the best book in the series by far, but it is good to see that she can adapt and change and keep the story moving forward with enough interest to keep fans looking forward to the next installment.

I've read the entire Dark/Were/Dream-Hunter series, and I was very confused by this book. The first few books in the series were solid romances involving human women and paranormal men. However, it seems that every new book now has a new pantheon and set of god-killers, killers of god-killers, and killers of killers of god-killers, which makes it very hard to keep track of everyone. There are at least 4 pantheons involved now, Greek, Atlantean, Sumerian and Egyptian, and all their gods, demons, and paranormal entities, and in dark dungeons and hidden rooms we keep on reading about new god-killers who negate the powers of other ranks of god-killers, and the storyline has just become a mess. It doesn't help that the hero is Stryker (who killed his son Urian in Kiss of the Night because Urian was in love with the enemy) and the heroine is an immortal woman who likes to torture a powerful slave she keeps in her dungeon. Charming. On the good side, we learn something very interesting about Gallu demons and daimons, something very interesting about Nick Gauthier, and there are hints that Simi might get involved with War or Jared, mysterious enslaved powerful being types.

At this point, my favourite books in the novel are the were-hunter novels, Night Play, Unleash the Night and short stories Winter Born and Shadow of the Moon, which focus on Sanctuary and the other were-animals. The next were-hunter novel will be about Fang and Aimee.

I confess I was reluctant to start reading this book. It's about Stryker and he didn't strike me as a positive character and I can't say that I was overly fond of him getting his HEA. But it did turn out to be awesome! I loved how enemies united to save the ones they loved. But at the same time it made my heart ache for Ash and Nick to see their loved ones as mere shadows and being unable to help them.

So even though it's the 20+ book I've read in this series starting with this New Year, Ms Kenyon don't cease to keep me addicted and even if it sometimes seem that the next book can't be better than the previous one, it's at least on the same level.

Stryker wants his happy ending and that is only going to come when Ash and Nick Gautier are dead. In order to make that happen he lets War loose on society. Problem with this little plan, one can't plot when one doesn't have all the answers to issues that will help ruin Ash and Nick. On top of that, Artemis wants Stryker dead and sends his ex-wife Zephyra to do the deed. After all she hates Stryker. So why does she team up with her hated husband and why does her heart want to soften just a tad bit when she's with the maddening man?

I have to give Ms. Kenyon snaps for trying to pull this one off. But, sadly I think she failed. Zephyra is a totally unlikable heroine and Stryker, well we've known him as a baddie from the get go. It was hard for me to see him in the role of hero. In many ways this was not a romance, but more of a catch up and set up for possible stories in the future. In the end this was a huge disappointment. I miss the power the witty dialogue and heat of the romance as we had in the earlier DH titles. The large type and the introduction of various elements seemed more like "filler." It was almost as if Ms. Kenyon was having trouble committing to this story. I truly hope that this author finds the joy in writing again as it seems as if this may have disappeared in recent stories.

I actually really liked this book, which is kind of weird as I still don't like Stryker. And wasn't really in love with Zephyra either. Though I will admit I have softened towards Stryker now. However, story progression and plot and the romance somehow made me love this book.

Love this series, these characters hold a special place for me as they introduced me to paranormal reading. And I have rediscovered my love of reading through them, and have found so many series and authors.

Stryker revives War, the most powerful war god, without rival, to kill Ash (Stryker accepts he can't to it by himself), and Nick (because he murdered Satara).
To stop him, Artemis calls Zephyra, Stryker's ex-wife. She accepts happily her mission, because Stryker left her 11.000 years ago and she still hates him. The opportunity to kill her ex-husband is like a dream come true.

The book is a little longer than a novella, too short for all the plot twists and characters it has. Again we have an invincible character that ends not being quite so, because there's someone with more power. This is starting to annoy me. Kenyon is introducing out of nowhere mega powerful characters, in a way that Ash is starting to look weak. Also, if you didn't read all previous books, you will be truly lost.

We learn more about Stryker, because part of his past is shown, but we don't get a very deep insight of him. He seems another character in some aspects. In previous books he never cared about his minions, but in OSN he does. He kills without remorse (he even killed his son Urian), but loathes torture. I never cared a lot for him, and by the end of the book my opinion didn't change.

Zephyra was very unlikeable. She has spent 11.000 years hating Stryker because he abandoned her when they were 14 or 15 years old, and married some months. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", yes, I accept that, but for 11.000 years?? Not believable at all. Also, in the book she is always whining, fighting with Stryker, making out with him or torturing Jared (new character who seems a carbon-copy of Ash). Not very heroine material. I miss the women of the first Dark-Hunter books :(

They don't make a bad couple, but I didn't found very believable their love story. They are so horny for each other they almost don't spent time trying to get reacquainted.
There are also some things that don't make sense. For example, Zephyra was a human and mortal woman, but Stryker sees her alive after 11.000 years, and until half the book he never thinks of asking her why she isn't dead. It's as if Zephyra being alive wasn't strange...
The end of the book was also a little WTF? One never would have though some important things could change in a few days after being 11.000 years in the same way...

The book has secondary characters such as Simi, Ash (since when he is Chthonian???), Tori, Alexion, the demon Kessar, Nick (big revelation included!), Menyara (Nick's aunt), et cetera. Too many characters for a book so small.

The only part I truly enjoyed was the banter between Apollymi and Savitar. I hope to see them together in the future. They would make a great couple. As for the rest, a weak book, with too many characters, confusing plot and a not very likeable lead couple.

I've been reading all Kenyon's Dark Hunter, Dream Hunter, etc books in the order that she recommends and it's becoming very repetitious. The Man, of the book, is the most gorgeous man to walk the earth, the woman is the most gorgeous woman to the man (no matter what she looks like), conflict, they end up together, blah blah blah... I really enjoyed 'Acheron' and was determined to get through all the stories to read his. I'm glad I did, it was a great book.

But before I got to 'Acheron', it was getting monotonous. And she's pulling characters out of the woodworks so she doesn't kill or give all the Dark Hunters their souls back. I keep reading her stories wanting to enjoy them the way I enjoyed the beginning ones but something's lost. By giving them all a story, the character's mystery is gone. And in some ways she changes them after telling their stories...

For example, if I read one more time about those with Acheron in his "paradise" all sitting around, laughing, eating something and when a crisis hits - they all look at him like puppy dogs waiting for his infinite wisdom before saying or doing anything - I just might scream and throw the book away from me!

As she tells the characters' stories, they suddenly become perfect and sappy. They hold no more grudges (or they easily put them aside) and all the passion, fight, anger, etc that made them such enticing characters to read about - that's all gone once she tells that character's story!

I'll probably keep picking up the stories - From the Library - but it's getting old fast. And I have to point out that it seems that Kenyon is just as fascinated by Nick as she was by Acheron. I've never understood Nick's appeal and I'll probably stop reading the stories if she does write his book. She's been telling his story all along, he's the only one that still moody, morose, and a general pain - because she hasn't given him his own book yet - and I don't want to read 'his story'. I don't want to like him, by reading his story, and I don't want him to suddenly become some starry eyed likable hero because he found the 'one for him'. Look at what she's doing to Stryker right here.

You can tell this is Kenyon's idea of paradise. The Ultimate Bad Boys being reformed by the "one woman for him". Vice Versa for the women. And of course none of them are having any problems, no divorces, no issues...

OK - Spoiler - so don't read this if you don't want spoilers -
I'm also annoyed by the sudden 'revelations' concerning Nick and Acheron. Namely that Nick is something called a Malachai and Acheron is actually one of the Chthonian?!? Acheron seems to suddenly know this revelation about himself but there's no real explanation about how it happened, came up, etc. I can see that Nick's 'revelation' is to add more suspense to the story but for me, Acheron's 'revelation' should have at least been a part of his big huge, 736 page book, which was just the last one that I finished reading before 'One Silent Night'... Acheron's 'revelation' that's in 'One Silent Night', wasn't in there. And that annoys me.

And Jared, in the past stories, he'd shown up when called/summoned. Or even play video games every Saturday morning... (see 'Acheron') And now suddenly he's been chained to a wall for centuries... that doesn't fit.

So I can only give this a 3 star and I don't know how much more I can take... I enjoyed the beginning stories and 'Acheron' was worth waiting for, but I don't know how much more I can take.

After reaching the pinnacle of the SK series with Acheron, I wasn't sure how much the books after would measure up. I think with her introduction of the Dream Hunters the series lost its way. Even though there were highs and lows, the series as a whole changed course. Once you adjust yourself to the change of course, you have to measure her books on that level. I liked One Silent Night, even though it seems like a lifetime ago from the Fantasy Lover book I first read. We understand the characters, no more mystery. Much like a beloved couple on a tv series finally getting married. The books can still be enjoyable, just not in comparison to the mystery, wonder, thrill of he first 5.

This story was about Stryker. She made him likeable. I loved hearing more of his story and like the now familiar set-up, him reuniting with his one true love. If I was new to this series, I don't think I would like it. It felt rushed. But for those of who have have stuck around 13+ books later, we understand it to be a connector to the next arc of characters in the series. What I didn't like about the book was Stryker's daughter. She seemed pointless and uninteresting. I would have added 10 more pages and had her connect with Urian. But I guess that is for a future book.

I would recommend it as a part of the whole in the series.

Stryker calls up a demon (War) to kill the man who killed his sister. But an enemy he never expected shows up: he's ex wife and daughter. She wants to kill him for leaving her centuries ago. But when their daughter is kidnapped they must unite with their enemies to save her. Ash, Nick and Stryker set aside their differences to stop War.
This book was ok. It's mostly about Stryker and Zephyra trying to come to terms of them still loving each other. But it was one of those where Zephyra see saws back and forth, she loves him and she hates him.

Most people I've talked to said they were disappointed with this book, it was a let down, everything seemed forced or blah blah blah. I have a much different opinion. I happen to love this book. I love Stryker as a villain and I love him as a man. His character was amazing as always, except I think he gets a little off track when it comes to certain things. He's a bit blinded by betrayal, anger, etc. His love interest for the book is not one of my favorites and I wish there had been someone else to pair him with. It isn't that his Zeph is a horrible character but in all reality I wish they'd ended up with completely different people. Though they do make a good team.

There is a lot of interesting little twists with Nick, which I loved and they is a brief scene where Ash, Stryker, and Nick all work together which I also vote is fantastic. I just wish the scene would have been longer, not because the scene was cut short but because I love seeing them all together. And this book continues on with bringing in bigger and badder characters which is fantastic because if Sherri stuck to writing the same thing over and over with nothing to bring out more of a plot, we'd all be bored.

People complain a lot about Sherri giving her characters an easy HEA/Happily Ever After. I would love to know what they expect to happen in a romance novel if not an HEA. And they also say that it's not the same as when she first started out with the series. Well, yes, people, it actually is. The only difference is that we now have an understanding of what is happening to where that HEA can happen for most of the characters.

I personally loved this book. It was interesting, it kept me invested, and it made me want more just like every other book the woman has written.

I read several reviews of this book before picking it up myself and based on those I wasn't looking forward to reading it, but I'm not one to leave out any book in a series. So I have to say I was wonderfully surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It's a fantastic look into what drives Stryker and his unusual moral code. To show that he's not truly evil, only a product of what the world has made him. And I really loved that they revealed more of the history of Jared, Savitar and how Nick's role in this will change. Some people commented on the number of "extra" characters, but I think Kenyon did an excellent job of showing how all these beings lives intertwine and the way the universe has created the series of checks and balances that keep everything going.

I'll admit this book isn't my favorite in the series - but it is a great addition and I would recommend anyone who enjoys this series to not leave it out.

Let me start off by saying that I love Ms Kenyon's Dark Hunter series, her earlier books in this series were a revelation for me as a fan of the romance genre, and consequently have started me down the 'dark' though addictive path of paranormal romance fiction! But I digress, for the majority of this series Keynon has given us great emotion packed stories with strong, yes often times, mistreated characters that as a reader you cared about, and rooted for to get their much deserved HEA! The humor in her books had me cracking up, and cracking up often regardless of where I was when I was happily entrenched in that Dark-hunter world ... luckily at 02:00 in the morning not so much of a problem with the weird,'don't get too close to me 'looks from other people 'privileged' to be in my reading space! Oh yeah, and the sensuality of her love scenes and 'hubba, hubba-ness' of her alpha male characters ... lordy me, just two more reasons I eagerly devoured each new book in this series and kept coming back for more!
Nevertheless, and I write this with much respect to the author who has given me many hours of riveting and much needed escapism, this particular book put me at a crossroads with the whole series, and made me question for a long time whether to continue reading any more books in the DH series ... thank goodness I got over it, because the next books made up for this anomaly in an otherwise much loved series.
Maybe my sense of justice is just too well defined, but I just couldn't understand why a character that in previous books caused so much pain to some of our better loved heroes, should actually get a whole book of his own ... and to give him a love interest with very few redeeming character traits if any ... well it kinda made me question my whole place in the DH universe!
That's why I think this book should only be read by true fans of the DH series, who are strong enough to look past the fact that these two characters, quite frankly didn't deserve their own 'love story', but who need to understand the background of some major players in the series ... and who need to gather facts, for what is becoming, sadly a more convoluted DH universe.

Okay, I LOVE Sherrilyn Kenyon, so I was excited to see this "Holiday" (if you can really call it that) themed Dark-Hunter book.

After reading through the first part of it, the excitement quickly wore off. WTF is up with this story? It's hard to garner sympathy for the main character, Stryker, when Kenyon painted such a terrible picture of him in previous books.

In all honesty, this book was not as exciting or well-written as her other ones. It almost made me feel like her publishers just wanted her to crank out a holiday book -- and she did it -- but didn't put her typical heart, sexiness and attitude in this book, like she normally does with her other Dark Hunter books. I really didn't connect with this one -- and I would recommend skipping it.

I have read all the "Dark Hunter" books since " Fantasy Lover " I loved the character, plot and world development, the banter, the humor, the intensity...on and on I could go, However over the past two years her direction has changed and I have grown dissapointed where Ms. Kenyon has taken us with her writing. She use to be on my auto buy list....no more. I wait untill the reviews are out and hear what customers have to say before I will purchase another one of her books. I could not get through One Silent Night...did not care for the characters....not a likeable sort of crowd...Stryker had never been a favorite character...Heroine ? I dont think so..they deserved each other.
I really miss the human interaction with the Dark Hunters....what happened ? You shouldn't fix what isn't broken.

I can say is that we can see a whole new side of Stryker, and know who is real weakness is. I am making a very short review cause I don't want to say any spoilers cause I can there is a lot that's happening and that's all I am saying Great story, I was hesitant to read this one after reading all the other books and seeing how nasty Stryker is and then reading this I have a whole new opinion of him.

This book is a must-read for die-hard Dark-Hunter fans, but I wouldn't recommend it for someone who hasn't read the other books in the series. It's intended to be read after Acheron and anyone who hasn't read the last few books would probably be lost.

This is a transitional book, meant to set the stage for the direction the series is going in, now that Ash's story has been told. I don't want to give anything away, but this book has some major revelations about Nick and big changes for the Daimons. Fans of the series won't want to miss those things. Ash and Tory also play a significant part in the story and we get a good look at Jared, a tortured hero character I can't wait to read more about. At just over 300 pages, it's also a very quick read.

I gave this book three stars, because while it was very well written, I didn't think it measured up to some of Kenyon's other (stellar) works, such as Night Play, Night Pleasures, Dance with the Devil and Acheron.

I also gave it a lower star rating, because I had trouble really liking the hero and heroine. This book is about Stryker, one of the series' villains, who is unexpectedly reunited with his ex-wife, the love of his life. He left her as a young man and never got over her. For her part, she never forgave him and now wants him dead. The book definitely gave me a better understanding of Stryker and his tortured past, and created some sympathy for him, but it was hard to see him as a hero when he still wants Ash and humankind dead. Anyone expecting Stryker to do an about-face and join Team Acheron in this book will be disappointed.

I also didn't like that it wasn't a full-length novel. It was longer than a novella, but not long enough to have the kind of depth I prefer in a book.

What I did like about One Silent Night is that it show things (and people) aren't always black and white or absolutely good and absolutely evil. It paints things in shades of gray. I also thought it was interesting to read a book where the villain is the hero. I've never read a book before about a villain who remained a villain at the end of the book.

Stryker (the villain in several previous stories) is finally given his own book and his own HEA. The book opens with Stryker plotting revenge against two of his biggest enemies: Acheron Parthenopaeus and Nick Gautier. To achieve this, he brings back some ancient beings that even the greek gods had problems destroying. Yet, when Zephyra, Stryker's ex-wife and one true love enters the picture, all of his carefully thought-of plans go awry. Her presence into his life and his current machinations, has the propensity to turn dangerous situations...deadly chaotic.

Sherrilyn Kenyon's "One Silent Night" has given us even more "beings" for an already overpopulated world. In earlier books, Sherrilyn shaped her world with a myriad of gods, dark-hunters, daimons, werehunters and "others" that created a comfortable balance of "good and evil." As the series progressed, Sherrilyn added even more powerful beings, blurred the line of "good and evil" and started to turn the series into something a "little confusing." Well...the "little confusion" has turned into "full-fledged disorientation," and there is no line between "good and evil." As someone who has read the series from the beginning, even I'm perplexed on the events and the hierarchy.

I did not like this book for several reasons. It didn't flow well. The transitions between scenes was really choppy and the pacing uneven. Unfortunately, that does seem to be a trend for many of Ms. Kenyon's stories. The language in these stories always throw me for a loop. These are people who have lived for thousands of years and yet they talk like teenagers, complete with bad slang. While the plot in this book was fairly original, it just wasn't enough to save this story. Something else that didn't change was the publisher's propensity to make this book seem longer than what it really is. While this book may have numbered 310 pages, it WAS NOT 310 pages. The font was large, and the spacing extensive.

The characters were also problematic: 1)Stryker, who was the villain in most of her previous books, was just not leading man material. Here is a man who killed his own son, and yet, we are to now view him in a different light. A light such as loving husband and doting father...uh, I don't think so. 2) Zephyra didn't inspire "warm and fuzzy" feelings either. She was so evil and cold-hearted that I found myself wishing that she DID NOT get a HEA.

Because I have followed these books from the beginning, I feel compelled to continue to read the series. But quite frankly, Sherrilyn has not written a good solid story in a very long time. I've read her last few books thinking, "Wow. She must have rushed to finish it, trying to beat some deadline!" Unfortunately, "One Silent Night" does not break the trend, as I thought the same thing about this story. I do not recommend it to any readers, whether you are a fan of the series or not.

Why would I care about Stryker finding his love? Would I want to see Oswald or Manson or any other famous criminal find their love? Granted Stryker's ex-wife is a shrew and they deserve each other but again so what? I actually stuggled to read this and hated almost every page and I actually am thankful that the type was big and the spacing spread out. If it was any longer I doubt I could finish it. I'm confused, angry and annoyed with Kenyon for this story and for turning Ash into a whimp and Nick into public enemy number one. Go ahead and read it if you have read all the other dark hunter books and want to continue the series, but don't expect to enjoy this one. I only hope the series goes back to it roots and the next one has characters I care about and want to see happy.

Wow! It's pretty funny to read all the hating going on in the reviews. All those out there who complained about how evil Striker and his lady love are...umm...(clear thoat)...they are suppose to be evil--helllooo?---they are the BAD GUYS. Get a clue, people.

I happened to like it. I thought it was fun to read about the "Bad Guys" falling in love...I mean how often does that happen? Of course there is a happy ending, I mean it's a romance, right? So what if the heroine is cruel to her prisoner (I'll say it again...SHE'S THE BAD GUY).

Another plus here, is that a character finally tells Nick to get over it. It's not Ashes fault his momma's dead. The dude has a serious denile problem. To Kenyon, if she reads these things, I'm usually a tough cookie on books that bite, but I still think your doing a great job---I get'cha humor, girlfriend, keep being orginal!

Daimon Stryker, leader of the vile army of demons and vampires, is obsessed with one thing; destroying Acheron and Nick Gautier and the Dark-Hunters for their killing his sister. He loathes his two enemies so much Stryker vows to do whatever it takes to kill them. However, even his supporters fear the deranged Stryker has gone too far when he makes a Faustian deal with the Titan god War. He will free the imprisoned War in exchange for the God killing Acheron and Nick.

Artemis, realizing the potential danger to Ash, "frees" Stryker's supposedly dead ex-wife, Zephyra, who has an agenda of vengeance also against her former husband who deserted her and their daughter Medea. Stryker is stunned to learn he has a warrior daughter while War begins the assault on Ash and Nick. The stake is a world as strange bedfellows line up on both sides for what appears to be the final battle.

Throughout the Dark-Hunters saga, vile villain Stryker has been in some ways the most interesting character; sort of like a Darth Vader who mostly displays evil but once in a while shockingly seems to care. This is his tale, which means 98% fantasy thriller. Fans of the great mythos will not be disappointed as Stryker gets a taste of vengeance from the untamable shrew. He celebrated her death when he thought she was out of his life. This is a great entry in one of the best epic fantasies of the past decade.

Harriet Klausner

This is the second Dark-Hunter book that has been a letdown. Like the second half of ACHERON, this book felt as though it was rushed to the presses with little thought and poor editing. It starts off with Ash, the primary character in this series, engaged, when he was married in the last book, and as this was not a prequel that was a definite poor editing slip-up. It didn't flow from the ending of the previous book in the series, which implied a major conflict AFTER Ash's wedding in the last book, not before. The print was large, perhaps an attempt to disguise the lack of content. If this had been the first Kenyon book I'd read, it would definitely be the last. If the remainder of the books in the series are like this, then it's a death knell to the Dark-Hunter books.

I want to know what happened to this series. My faith was returned after reading Acheron, but this book was a dismal let down. I feel like Sherrilyn is just putting out words in order to get a paycheck. There is no passion, no thought process, and no enjoyment.
This novel is rushed. I couldn't get emotionally involved with the characters. In fact, I still feel ambivalent toward Stryker. I know that this is most likely the set up novel for Kenyon's upcoming "nick chronicles," but if this is an insight into how those novels will be, I am sure that I won't be buying them.

I couldn't even finish it. I'm waiting for the old Dark-Hunter's to return. What happened to this series. It started out so good. I'm not going to bother to continue reading this series. There are too many other good books out there. Although some of hers are hot, some are just too cold.

If it were possible to offer a review without giving any stars, I would. Unfortunately, I can't. Now, I've read every single book in Kenyon's Were-series, and she's one of my favorite authors...but come on! Stryker is the bad guy. He's bitter and evil. In the book, he explains how he won't kill children...but if his victim is over 18 years old, then it's okay. He justifies by saying that if he doesn't take people's souls, then he would die. And he's only like thousands of years old. Yeah, that would totally be a shame.

Explain to me why I'm rooting for his happily ever after, again???

Look, just because a book is well written, it doesn't mean its plot is believable. It's fiction. You don't root for the bad guy.

I gave the DH a good rating and I'm glad that I can once again.

I truly do enjoy this book. There were flavor and we get to see the other side of Stryker. He is still evil and but you can understand him so much more. He's not just purely evil at heart but he does what he does for the love of his people. The people that did nothing wrong but got punish due to the action of a few. We all can relate to that at the moment can't we?

While this story made me adore Stryker a little more, I can't seem to warm up to his HEA for some reason. However I love their daughter and I can definitely see her with Nick. Wouldn't that be spicy? lol. And speaking of Nick, wow, what a revelation for him. I'm starting to have hopes with this series again. I'm starting to once again believe that SK will take us back on track now that she finally got Ash's story out of her system.

I'm glad that I didn't really give up on this series. Can't wait for more (still excluding the Dreams Hunters of course.)

The way I judge a good book is by how much I can remember the day after I read it and how much I want to go back and reread again. With One Silent Night I have a slight need to go back again but I really can't remember what I read yesterday...nothing stood out for me. This story could have been AMAZING, it was way too rushed and way too short. You learned almost nothing about Stryker and really nothing about Zyphera. I feel no rush during the fights, I can't predict anything new and unbeliveable popping up. Plus all the new characters are driving me nuts...half of the names look the same and they are just tossed out there without any back story at all. I end up having to reread a paragraph like 4 times before I can make any sense of where the new person came from. I have read each book in this series MULTIPLE times and even I am confused. I would not want to be a person who has never read any of these books. I had the same problems with Acheron..all the emphasis was placed on the past story and the present story (which we all were pining for) was WAY too short. There is hardly any romantic tension and it just doesn't flow to me. I would rather have a book of good length and quality that leaves me wanting more than a book every two months that is way too short, with humongous font, high price and lackluster story.
I am also begging to bring back a real Dark Hunter story. This whole series is termed Dark Hunter but the last Dark Hunter story was Danger and Alexions book...that was from like 4 years ago. I think the whole storyline is going in way too many directions...it needs to regain its focus as real Romantic novels...its missing right now.

It pains me to write a bad review but I feel I must. I loved all the DH books...dream hunters well thats another story but the Dark hunters are my loves! This book...this one was...interesting. I felt cheated yes cheated! like she wrote this book on a whim an after thought. after I read it I was like is that it? At least we learned something new about Nick that was about the only thing interesting about the book...
*sigh*
I will be waiting patiently till my Dark hunters book return in all there glory!
...I hope

I patiently waited for this installment book from the DH series and when it finally came out, i bought it, read it and did not like it as much. I can't really pinpoint it but it seems like there is something missing on this book. I did not like Zephyra as much, there is something about her that is kind of annoying so that did not go well with me. Well I hope for all you fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon's DH series, don't get too turned off by the reviews. Give yourself a chance to read the book then you decide if you liked it or not. Remember, people's opinion differ from one another so buy and read at your own risk. I am not saying that it is not good but again there's something missing.

Yep. It really was that bad. When I finished this book, I threw it across the room. It was disjointed, silly, at times kind of boring, and really just a bad read.

In regards to Sherrilyn Kenyon, I find myself in an interesting dilemma. I've come to the conclusion that she is no longer capable of writing good stories. I really don't think I've enjoyed one of her books since "Night Play." However, because I've read the entire series, I really feel as if I'm invested. I genuinely want to find out what happens to Nick...and some of those other characters that she's forgotten about, like Cael (remember him from "Dark Side of the Moon?")

But her stories are a complete ripoff! In regards to the bad plots, now she's taking short stories and charging full-price for them. On this last story, the font was huge. The stories are NOT worth the time it takes to read the book. I refuse to waste any more money on this author. If I can't find these books at the library, then I won't be reading them.

What a disappointment! So many things were off about this book, I'm not bothering to write a synopsis in my review. I read the first half, then got so bored that I skimmed the second half. Then again, with a type font large enough for my third grader to read, the book was a quicky anyway.

Why the book lost my interest:

1. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Stryker the mean bad-a** Daimon who slaughtered his own son, Urian, in cold blood? How can it be that he is now a teary-eyed sentimental sap, with too much honor to stomach the torturing of slaves? How is it that he is now a voluntarily whipping boy for his ex-wife, Zephyra?

2. The total lack of basis for Zephyra's blood thirsty hatred of her ex-husband. (She wasn't Urian's mother.) I understand... he left her. Yeah, that's it. He walked out on her... 11,000 YEARS AGO! You would think time would have calmed her anger a bit by now. No, she is salivating at the thought of ripping his throat out. Ummmm.... we've all had a relationship go bad, but how many of us wanted to commit violent murder over it? The whole thing was beyond ridiculous.

3. Way too many new uber-powerful characters are popping out of the woodwork. At least three of whom are so powerful they can wring Ash out like a wet rag. That much power, and none of them were heard of until now? It seemed like Kenyon was desperately throwing new faces into the mix to revive the DH storyline.

4. Nick's new found identity... Oh please.

5. Total lack of any actual DH activity. Nothing but gods and demons/Daimons.

6. BORING story. No part of this book got my adrenaline pumping. I was never worried for any of the characters. Never really cared what happened to any of them.

7. The ending... Ugh! Is Kenyon joking? In less than one page, the Daimons are suddenly able to walk in the daylight? After 6 years of this series, one of the main species is rewritten. Unbelievable. Even for fiction.

This was a good read (not great) & free (from library) so I have no complaints. This author is still a good writer, with all the really bad and boring books out there, I appreciate her writings. I enjoyed the large font, made for easier reading. The characters I wished she had wrote more about was Nimrod with his stuffed teddy bear, Simi and Ash.

For not a very large book the story got a little crowded with: Menyara, Nick, Mache, Stryker, Zephyra, Jared, Nim, Simi, Ash, War, Ker, Hades, Katra, Sin, Cherise, Tannis, Ryssa, Urian, Artemis, Athena, Davyn, Apollymi & Savitar

S. Kenyon really made me enjoy Stryker's story, but like the last few books the books have fallen into a catagory I can only say is like she has removed the humanity. The humans now have to become "OTHER" or gain powers. Humans who are really part Demon. Part of the wonder of the series was although our Dark Hunters are vampire like they weren't most used to be human so there was always a bit of that in the story.
Stryker's story was much too short a few things of his past were mentioned in passing that I thought would have been nice to hear. And although I appreciated the lost love found love story between him and Zephyra, but the fact that after S.Kenyon gives an answer to the curse the Daimons/Apollites are under she loses me with the fact that Zephyra continues her slavery of Jared.
As much as I enjoy the relationship with her and Stryker that just made me dislike the humanity that is missing in this story.
I go back to Dance with the Devil where Astrid is a Goddess of Fate but Zarek was human and broken.
The fact I have always liked Stryker made it easier for me to go with the fact that he has done horrible things, but there was so much missing from the story. Like the fact that we are never told what type of Daimon Stryker was he has a honor code but what souls did he take? Was he one that fed off of the criminals or the innocent? That was an important point missed.
One of the best parts of the book though was Ash, Stryker and Nick working together.

I totally loved this book. I wasn't fond of Stryker at all in the other books Kenyon wrote, but this book totally changed my mind about him. The story is a little slow at first but after those first 50 pages the book is absolutely a page turner. The bad guy from all the other Kenyon books gets a chance to love the wife he thought had died centuries and get to know the daughter he didn't know he had. During the story you learn why Stryker is why he is and what he had to deal with.
I don't know what all the other reviews are talking about saying that One Silent Night was a poorly written and a waste of time, but to each their own. Awesome book in my opinion and can't wait for future Sherrilyn Kenyon books. :)

I spent about a half hour in the middle of the night crackin' up from all of the reviews I've read on this book. I'd pretty much decided to end my Dark Hunter association with Acheron and after reading all of this I'm sure that I made the right decision. Maybe, like Feehan, her series will pick up again later on down the line and I'll come back to it - but for now I'll get my DH jollies from the reviews.

I've read each of the dark hunter novels (loved them all especially
"Acheron") and found "One Silent Night" truly lacking. How do you go from pure excellence w/Acheron to this pathetic short story. There's nothing like large font and blank pages to make 200 pages appear 310 pages long. The story seemed rushed, disjointed and more than anything - it read like someone else wrote it. This was nothing like Ms. Kenyon's other novels, I was sadly disappointed. I only hope that this was only a fluke...

Perhaps there's something to 13 being an unlucky number, crossing my fingers that no. 14 makes up for this mess.

The good: I found One Silent Night packed full of adventure and excitement. I was doubtful that S.K. would be capable of making me feel any love for the character Stryker but I was wrong! I enjoyed seeing his softer side and the relationship between himself and Zephyra was exciting and new. Zephyra was a breath of fresh air. I think many of the female characters of the Dark Hunter series were begining to get a little redundant. There were lots of twists revealed in this book... mostly to do with Nick and his true nature. I was caught off guard but I'm willing to be open minded about it. Especially given the last page of the book and Nick's reaction to Menyara's big reveal. The next book should be interesting.

The bad: This book wasn't perfect. After having just read Acheron (which was HUGE and packed full of background) I was taken by suprise with some of the new twists and turns introduced so quickly in this book. For instance War and the other gods... where did they come from? I was so confused by the end who was who. I still don't quite understand what Jared is and what Nick now is. How does that fit into the whole god order?? I feel like I now need a flow chart to remember it all. Also there were moments where Stryker's extreme emotional state got on my nerves (and I'm a girl!). It seemed a bit forced. I liked how the characters came together at the end but it all happened so quickly. And my biggest question... WHAT HAPPENED WITH URIAN AT THE END?!?! I thought he agreed to come help fight?? I kept waiting for him to appear and shock his father.

The bottom line: I really enjoyed the book but after the amazing depth shown from the novel Acheron- I was a bit diappointed by the brevity of this novel. The only relationship which was fully expressed was the one between Stryker and his wife. His relationship between himself and his daughter was brief and detached. Another problem with this series is S.K. has chosen to write soooo many books (all of which I've read of course) but it's left the plot in a place where she'll either have to continue writing HUGE novels like Acheron or she'll have to keep writing novels like this one where the plots become a bit disconnected and forced. I guess I was spoiled by Acheron and now I want every book to be that great! :)

There are many things I love about the Dark Hunter series. One being that you can virtually read them out of order and still have a great story. I loved "One Silent Night", which is the first Dark Hunter book I read. Sherrilyn Kenyon weaves a mythical, modern, comedy of a story, while captivating you mind and interest in reading her books. Those who are Greek mythology geeks will love the stories, while those who aren't so failiar will enjoy it non the less. The more you, the more you want to read. :)

Well, I have to say that I've hated Stryker all through the series. However, reading his book has shown me a "human" side to him. Although, I don't want him to succeed in his evil plans, I now want him to turn "good" instead of something (or someone) vanquishing his Daimon ass. Great book!

I wasn't sure I'd like this book but I did. Finally, some answers about Nick. Stryker sort of needed his own book, as one reviewer said, character development, but also just ongoing story development. Why wouldn't we want more insight into the enemies of the DH's and know somewhat why they do what they do. I thought this book was well done. Yes, it focused more on the "bad" guys then the "good", and some of the previous books were more romantic for the Dark Hunters, but this was a good story, one that needed to be told IMHO.

Unlike a lot of these reviews I throughly enjoyed Strykers' story. Granted, If you haven't read any of the previous books in this series you may find yourself saying "what the??". Seeing that i am a new fan as of a few months ago, I started at the beginning back to back and i still had to reread some things bc i didn't understand.
Needless to say i felt like the story wasn't solely focused on the "love" battle like books before it which was a breath of fresh air. I'm a big fan of S.K. and cant wait for more.

I'm not going to go into a lot of plot detail because its been explained before, but I will warn you this, you have to have read at least 80% of the other books in the series in order to know whats going on. As it was I still couldn't remember half of the old plot details from books I've read in the past. If you've read any of the Dark Hunter Series before this you know that Stryker is the evil leader of the Daimons who once partnered with Apollomyi to destroy the human race and is now trying to become the ruler of the world. Son of Apollo but cursed to walk in the darkness like his Daimon brethren he is at the end of his desire to live. He summons War, a demon that does in fact cause War to break out, to kill both Acheron and Nick Gautier, two of his nemesis. In the meantime his ex-wife the equally evil Zephyra is asked by Artemis to kill him but he cons her into living with him for two weeks so he can win her back.

The romance was lukewarm, the character of Stryker as a loving man seemed forced to me. Zephyra, the love interest was mean and cold, which should be a perfect match for Stryker the king of evil, but unfortunately she just seemed like a whiny, ungrateful brat. She also introduces several new characters and plot twists that just add more confusion to an already weird plot. I'm starting to have a hard time keeping up with all of the otherworldly beings and their powers and weird names they have, but maybe I'm just slow. Oh and did I mention that the book is only 310 pages long, which would usually take me a little while to read but it looks like she increased the size of the typeface and spacing to make the book seem longer then it actually is. In total it took me three hours to read, which makes me want my money back. I used to love the Dark Hunters but this book seemed like a forced effort to produce more novels rather than something that took time and heart to write. If this was the first book in a new series I wouldn't have even made the effort to finish the first half of the book. This may be my last Sherrilyn Kenyon novel, but being the stupid person that I am I'm sure I'll buy and read the next crap she produces. If you want to try a new paranormal series that is pretty interesting I would try Kresley Cole's "Immortals After Dark" series.

Save your money. If you have to keep up with the series, borrow this from the library and skim it. Weak plot, unlikable characters, cliched resolution. Instead of making me sympathize with Stryker it made me dislike other protagonists. Minor characters thrown in with minimal character development... basically who cares is the whole point to this review. Very disappointing, even the sex was lame!

Let me preface by saying that I am a huge fan of the Dark Hunter Series. That being said, can we get our old author back. When I saw how big the typeface was, I was really ticked off. It was like she had a bunch of ideas and characters that she needed to continue the story and needed a mechanism to introduce them, hence a story about Stryker and his ex wife.

Here's the thing, readers don't care about the bad guy. We don't want Stryker to be happy. We want Ash and the DH to keeping kicking Daimon butt. She is making the pantheon way too convuluted.

It is exceptionally difficult to follow who belongs to what and who is stronger than whom. These concepts are great but they need to be better fleshed out before putting them in a book about a character we don't really care about. His heroine is an uber witch that doesn't deserve any happiness either. I thought that Artemis was bad but at least she doesn't torture for no reason.

Get this book from the library or used book store.

Is this really only the 13th book? It seems like it's the 1,300th...That's not a good sign.

Like most of Kenyon's recent books this one had me constantly saying "What..?" BUT something great did happen. It's obvious she has a pseudo-goth fetish (With the constant references to Ash's Hot Topic-esque attire) but she introduced a new (annoying) character who is a steampunk! I love steampunk! For that reason alone, I give this 3 stars.

I concur with many of the reviews when I say that I was seriously disappointed by this installment of the Dark Hunter Series. Zephyra was not a character to be emphathized with and I did not believe in her and Stryker's love. I am concerned because I am about to read Dream Warrior and after reading One Silent Night and the reviews of Dream Warrior, it seems as though I may be setting myself up for a disappointment.

I am a big fan of Ms. Kenyon's earlier writing so I hope the latest lukewarm installments are not setting the tone for all future writing because if so, I will have to stick with Lara Adrian, J.R. Ward, and Christine Feehan.

I really wish I had taken the advice of other reviewers and just skipped this book. I have been a huge fan of the Dark Hunter series and I get it that Stryker's story is a bridge between the first arc and the second. But, I just didn't care anything about Stryker or Zephrya. I don't care that Stryker was misunderstood and had a horrible life. So did Ash and he didn't choose a path of destruction. I just wish Sherrilyn Kenyon had found some other character to bridge the arcs. I too have to recommend that you look for this book at second hand stores. The only reason I even gave it 3 stars was because I did enjoy catching up with Ash, Nick and Savitar and look forward to reading more about Jared and Nim.

Come on people give it a chance! This isn't all about the Dark-Hunters anymore. Acheron ended that. Sherrilyn Kenyon has said so. Acheron marked a new beginning in the series. Here it is verbateum from her website "As far as the series goes, we are currently in stage 1 of it and Acheron will launch us into part 2. I see the entire series as one large, ongoing story that has 4 major parts: The first part is Acheron. Part 2 will be Jaden. Part 3 will be Savitar, and 4 involves a character the readers aren't yet familiar with." So open your mind to a new perspective on old characters; walk in their shoes, see their side of the fight. You won't be dissapointed :)

Ok, so I was having a hard time seeing Stryker as any kind of a hero. BUT Sheri changed my mind. He's no angel and never will be, but I did come to see him as more sympathetic that I had before.

Styker didn't have an easy life, cursed by Apollo in his anger, a lot of Syrker's problem is understanding and accepting what jerk his father is, and how he has no care for anyone save himself.

There were a lot of surprises in the book and while I would not say it is my favorite, I definitely enjoyed it and look forward to more of the DH series and whatever revelations will come next. It will be interesting to see what effect the changes in this book will have down the line.

All in all, I give it an A!

Thanks, Sherri!

Lil

I may be in the minority, but I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was refreshing change and a daring move for Sherilynn Kenyon to tell a romance from the perspective of two villains and not to have the villains be redeemed in the end. To have a romance novel end with the heroine evilly plotting against the human race in the end was hysterical! I also liked the fact that Sherilynn Kenyon finally decided to tell a story from the Daimon perspective--I always felt that they got the short end of the stick in these novels. However, I do feel Sherilynn Kenyon is getting too lost in the elaborate mythology of her own world--which in this novel was getting confusing and a tad tedious. However, generally, I did enjoy this novel.

I liked this book a lot, as most of Sherrilyn Kenyon's books are very good, and all of her DH series never
seem to get old or boring. This is a good edition to the series, as it is just telling Stryker's story.

I have never felt and will never feel sympathy for Styker. I always felt and still do feel he makes his own problems. He is not a likable character and I do not understand why he had his own story. I feel that Sherrilyn needs to end this series and maybe start another with a whole new set up characters and a whole new problem. This series reached it's pinnacle with Ash's story and I don't think she can do any better with the other characters,(mostly unlikable) that she drags into the story line. I fee that I am done with this series and will be moving on to other books. Sorry Sherrilyn

I had a feeling this wasn't going to be my favorite Dark Hunter book and it definitely isn't. My advice is to check it out at the library and save your money for the next one.

I had a very hard time keeping some of the names and origins straight. I don't mind having to think while I'm reading but this was a little extreme. It's also very hard to enjoy when the main characters are so unlikable. How can you like someone who enjoys torturing?

The best parts of the book were about Nick and Ash but the main characters really should have been just a sidenote in another book. They certainly didn't warrant a book of their own.

I think this novel is a very good example of Sherrilyn Kenyon's work but it should not be read as a romance. The two characters who end up together are not good people and for the most part I didn't like them but they were interesting. What happens with Nick and Jared is what makes this book truly interesting. These story lines are not romantic but when the worlds about to end in every story someone's life has to suck. The way these characters deal with the hand fate dealt them was far more interesting than the romance which I took as almost a secondary plot. I loved the multitude of mythological references and the novel was fast paced and entertaining. It was a great read and I think it is an important one to read if you enjoy this series because it pushes the plot forward in a myriad of ways. I definately recommend it but you should not read this book if you are not already familiar with the series.

I have read all the DH Books, and I have always been fascinated by Stryker, so I was really looking forward to his book - what a rip-off! This book jumps from action scene to action scene with no character development like in her previous books. Way too many new characters are introduced and make the story confusing. It is like this book was written by a different author! I loved Ash's book, but I personally thought it was a bit too long, but this book is not even a short story! Stryker, as such a central character in the DH world deserved a much better story.

The revelation on Nick, Ash, and others, was a pleasant surprise, as well as the appearance &/or mention of other pantheons than the G-R (FINALLY, other than Sin's Sumerian).

Over all, worth my money & time. *VERY* glad it didn't come out in HB first - otherwise, Stryker's story would've been waiting to come home for a few months.

As for Stryker - interesting. Still think he's a prick, but knowing a bit more *why* he's a prick, fleshed him out. 3.5/5

I was excited because the author website said that Nick was in this book. I read parts of it and was disappointed with the values. He is found in bed with a lady. They were naked!!! Yuck. I much prefer her young adult series "The Chronicles of Nick".

I did like that it showed his powers a little. I almost always like those parts. I maybe tempted to look at some of her Dark Hunter books at the Library but I'm not going to buy them. The whole idea of selling one's soul is just sad.

I found this book a terrible read. Not a worthy addition to Sherrilyn's writing. She's introducing so many characters and so many wild explanations about what is occuring in her Dark hunter world that I can hardly keep up. How the heck is Nick a gallu demon clothnian, Malachi or whatever the heck he is. Things have gone just way to far off kilter even for Sherilyn's world. I realize that authors evolve, but man this is just ridiculous. I long for a good old fashioned dark hunter novel now or even a werehunter novel. Too many characters have crowded into Sherilyn's world.
In this book, stryker, Ash's mortal enemy (aside from Nick) has found his soul mate some gallu demon woman from 11,000 years ago. (rolling eyes). More torture as Jared (yet another strange character) is beaten mercilessly for an unknown reason.
I tell you, after this novel, I'm taking a break from Sherilyn's writing and perhaps she needs to as well. I read Ash's novel (I liked it except for the first depressing 400 pages of torture), and the novel before that with Simone a gallu demon and the introduction of the demon broker character.
Now I can't keep up, too many characters, underdeveloped. No indepth story line. Something got lost in her journey towards the 'ever crazy'.
I miss stories like Zarek, in my book, her best dark hunter story to date.
Get back on track Sherilyn.

I have loved Stryker's character since he first began in the series, but this book was a total let down. The series has become too full of otherworldly characters and lost that bit of human contact that made the series great.
Now, every time one of the lead characters fall in love there is an easy out their HEA(Happily ever after for those unfamiliar) Stryker's heroine is his exwife from 11000 plus years ago and not worth my time she was so unlikeable. The fact that she tortured one of the characters Jared that we fans know is to be another Arc of the story was just a yawn we just went through that with Ash for years dealing with Artemis.

War was the best part of the book and it became kind of bland in the end. There was a bit of interesting dynamic in which Stryker, Ash and Nick had to work together, but it was much too brief.

Also, Savitar another character I adore basically got his whole HEA set up with the basic love/hate thing S.K. has started to make her central theme with what I am sure will be his relationship with Ash's mother Apollymi.

There was promise but the story just seemed as if it was an after thought, as if the author, said, well since we are beginning a new section of the story let's just throw out the whole history of the series.

Unlike others I personally adored the once great play between the Dark Hunters, Dream Hunters, Were Hunters and now even the baddies like Stryker, I'll base this on the male leads but it seems to me that it was much better when the women they came across weren't all superwomen who all knew Judo, Karate or could kick butt with the guys. I don't have anything against it but it's almost like I preferred the opposites attract angle she began the series with like in the first 6 or 7 books. Although there was the supernatural elements the heroine wasn't always perfect. They had depth and I loved to find out what happened next.

In Stryker's story I found it hard to sympathize or even care of his relationship with Zephyra. Yes, they once loved each other and although a bad guy Stryker was always one to go by his Honor. But adding his HEA as a demonic hit woman for Artemis who keeps a slave to torture and do her bidding just was too unlikable for me.
Even the similar story line from Devil May Cry where Ash finds out he has a daughter with Artemis and now we have Stryker finding out the same thing was a big yawn. All, I could think was how pitiful it was to read about the basic story of Ash's life.

What would have been good? More of the history of Stryker that was mentioned the horrors that he went through. It was mentioned that he'd been torn apart or something similar and then never mentioned again, by who and when?

And Zephyra yes they loved each other, but she can't forget or forgive what happened those 11,000 years ago? Just too much of nothing. There was not much empathy to the book at all which was so prevelent in previous books.

Between Ash's miracle heroine Tori who became powerful too it's just too many easy outs for a series that was once wonderful with intrigue, twists and just a great spirit.

It always made me happy to read a Sherrilyn Kenyon book because even though I am not those characters the women in the beginning were likeable and unique.

One Silent Night like Acheron has fallen into what appears to be a fill in the blanks style of writing.
A. Hero is this and can't have a human love interest for whatever reason.
B. Female either is supernatural already or has to get great powers too.

I am not against the Gods, Goddesses and other otherworldly creatures getting their happy ending but make it exciting, wonderful, not just a repetition of old ideas.

Bad pun but bring back the magic. The days of Bride and Vane, Tabitha & Valerius, Grace & Julian, Zarek & Astrid, Talon & Sunshine and Kyrian & Amanda.

I started liking Stryker in the book about Raven but I loved Stryker in this book! I can't wait for one about his daughter. You just know that she will end-up with a Dark-Hunter! Let the sparks fly!!!

This will be the last time to read sherrilyn kenyon books.. they get worst then better. it seems evil can conquer over the good. Ash character seems to get weaker and i think Ash is alot people favorite character...I think Christian Feehan and J.R Ward are better writers.. Kenyon needs to improve her books....

I have enjoyed SK's books for years but this was just painful. I didn't even bother reading the last few chapters because I simply did not care. I agree with previous commentators - her first 7 or so books in the series were wonderful but have gone steadily downhill since. This book was more along the lines of a story rather than a novel and I definitely had a sense that it was a rush to print.

Normally I would recommend taking mediocre books out of the library but this book was so far below mediocre I would recommend skipping it altogether. I wish I did.

First, about the length, I think this book was another "holiday gift" (in air quotes not to be sarcastic but because I don't know what its official name is) like last year's Upon the Midnight Clear. It is meant to be shorter than Kenyon's regular novels. I just wish the publishers would sell it for an equivalently less expensive price.

As a romance, this book was less than stellar. One main thing that didn't work for me, and it seems for many others also, is that Stryker became a whole new character with only the name and looks in common with the previous Stryker that we loved to hate. Also, Zephyra came out of nowhere. There was no hint from Stryker previously that there had been a Zephyra in his life.

(On a side note, this is a problem I have with Kenyon's heroes. If it's their book, they are perfect. They are all tall, buff, gorgeous, merciless to their enemies, tortured and rejected by people they have loved but still have a great capacity to love, gruff on the outside but perfect lovers - physically and emotionally - on the inside, and they will prove over and over through perfectly timed acts how much they love their partners. But even with all that, they are scared that their heroines might not want them. Basically she took every hero you could ever want and wrapped it into one...and then cloned that with different hair and eye color and wrote a book for each clone.)

One commendable thing, though, was that the couple, Stryker and Zephyra, both had issues with each other they needed to overcome (though Zephyra's seemed a bit trite after all the tortures other heroes and heroines have gone through. She just had to deal with her man walking out because his daddy wanted to kill her.) They were equals in the relationship in terms of strengths and weaknesses, both physical and emotional. He wanted to hand his heart back over to her, but she wanted to do the same for him.

Ultimately, though, the purpose of the book was to bring the Dark Hunter world to a different place. I thought that it worked on this level much better than as a romance novel. There was a quite a bit of logistics to wade through, but it was nicely spread out throughout the book and worked fairly well into the plot. The new characters are a bit repetitive (aren't they all?) but interesting. I also like that Nick is becoming who he's meant to be and the Daimons have "new life".

At this point, this series is straying quite far from our original beloved Dark Hunters and squires. Although, now with so many new creatures not bound by the tenets that Dark Hunters are bound by, maybe the heroes and plots might vary a bit more.

Overall, this book was average if you accept the presets of Kenyon's world and her writing style. If not, this may prove to be a tough book to get through. So, buy it if you really love the Dark Hunter world. Otherwise, just borrow it from the library. Don't skip it if you plan on reading more of Kenyon's books, though, because many new premises get established.

I could write a very long review of this book, but the synopsis has been covered by many others. However, there does seem to be a bit of confusion about why Kenyon would write a story about a well-known villain, much less one that gives said bad guy a happy ending that has its warm and fuzzy moments.

As stated in the title, I'm pretty sure this new side of Stryker is character development in action. Granted, Stryker has been seen many times in the preceding novels, but he has always been a secondary character. We saw only the parts of him that played into the stories at hand. I've read several reviews that castigated Kenyon for "springing" this kinder side of Stryker on readers, but I don't understand what other option was available to the author. Stryker's character had never been utilized in a manner than would have required--or even supported--a deeper analysis of who he is. It would have been far more contrived to throw in personal details about him before this point. Why in the world would we have cared about Styker's personal demons in any previous story when all previous stories focused on SOMEONE ELSE? It wasn't as if there was NO clues about Stryker's capacity for love and kindness before "One Silent Night."

Finally, I am similarly confused by anyone's shock over the revelations about Nick. Seriously, while the clues might have been well-written and therefore subtle, I'm guessing most readers knew that Nick was something more than met the eye way before this novel. His reunion with Ash, while stilted and far from joyous, was one of the best parts of this book. I love that it gives us hope for the future of their friendship.

This was a really enjoyable book that showed the expanding world of the Dark Hunters. I can't wait to see how the new characters (especially Jared) will fit into the future of the series. I also can't wait to see if my guess as to which new character will be Simi's hero proves to be true. Well worth the time and money for any DH fan.

I loved this book. Unlike some of the others here, I had no problems with Jared being a "carbon-copy Ash," which I don't agree with anyways. I also had no issues with understanding that this book runs parallel to Acheron, which is why Ash and his HEA are not yet married.

This showed another facet to Stryker, who is one of my favorite characters. It portrayed him as a real man, not just a typical one-sided villain who only enjoys negativity and doing "bad things." Stryker became more real to me because of this novella. I also really enjoyed Zephyra and Medea, because they were not the nicest women, but lots of fun. I know people like that in the real world, just as I'm sure many others do.

Yes, I've also heard the complaints about the larger font size, but I remind everyone that Sherri had no control over that, St. Martin's Press does it to rake in more profits.

The other thing I loved about One Silent Night is that it allows the Dark-Hunter series to continue to grow as the world becomes more complicated and a new arc (Jaden's) starts.

People may down this one, but it's a necessary read for any fans who want to continue to understand what's going on in the DH world. A word of warning though, you do need to be up to date in order to understand what's going on.

This book is a complete disappointment. There is little to no character development. The author felt the need to add new characters in a world that is already overrun with more characters than she can handle. I wouldn't bother to read this book unless you feel the compulsion to read all the books in a series.

I can't imagine why Sherrilyn Kenyon thought that writing a romance about a bunch of cruel, hateful characters would appeal to anyone. I find it impossible to think that Stryker (who murdered his own child) deserves a happily ever after with Zahara who frequently tortures another character in the book. This whole story was totally icky.

If books can jump the shark, I think this one just did the job for the Dark-Hunter series. Kenyon tries to pull too many characters in to a very short story and fails at giving any depth to any of them. Stryker's HEA is annoying and trite. The "revelations" about Nick and Ash are completely absurd and don't do much to intrigue the reader to want to read more about him. This book leaves little for Kenyon's longtime fans to dig their teeth into.

Stryker has finally devised a way to destroy his long-time enemies. To this end, he rouses an ancient evil - War. Virtually unstoppable, War will not rest until his mission is accomplished. But War's agenda reaches far beyond the plans Stryker has, and the world will never be safe while he walks the earth.

Having lost everyone he loved, Stryker was prepared for his own annihilation as long as it meant that of his foes as well.

Enter Zephyra, the ex-wife he never stopped loving. The woman he believed dead centuries ago. The lover he once betrayed.

Zephyra may be intent on killing Stryker herself, but Stryker wants nothing more than to win his way back into her heart for good. Now Stryker has a reason to want to live, he must stop War before it is too late.

How do you take a villain who has long been reviled in a popular series and make him a sympathetic character? You tell the story if his life, the betrayals that turned his heart to stone, the incidents that erased any trace of humanity from his soul until he was left a cold-hearted creature bent on vengeance against a world who wronged him. You show his doubts, his fears, and meet the people he once loved more than life itself.

Believe me, I had misgivings about how Sherrilyn Kenyon would make me actually like Stryker. But this author has never let me down yet, and so I looked forward to ONE SILENT NIGHT with great anticipation.

Ms. Kenyon does indeed show Stryker in all of his faults, never glossing over his misdeeds. Yet she also shows him as a being with a strange, yet somewhat honorable, code of ethics. Yeah, he has no qualms about going after those he deems his enemies, but there are some limits as to just what he'll do to achieve his nefarious goals.

We feel his regret over the way his relationship with his son Urian ended. The loss of his son is something that haunts Stryker without mercy, just as the loss of his other children and grandchildren throughout the centuries has done.

When Zephyra unexpectedly enters his life again, she returns his soul to life, his heart to warmth, and restores in him something long ago lost - hope.

Will Stryker ever change his ways and give up on his vendetta against Acheron, Nick, and humanity as a whole? Only time will tell for sure, but with the return of love in his life, there is a very good chance that Stryker will seek redemption for his past evil. To say more would certainly be a huge spoiler here, and I wouldn't want to spoil the story for other readers.

What I will say is that Sherrilyn Kenyon has succeeded admirably in fleshing out a character who had been easy to despise up to now. After reading this story, I may not like what Stryker does, but I can understand how he became the way he is.

ONE SILENT NIGHT is a fascinating character study exploring just what events create a villain, and demonstrating once again that all creatures have the capacity for good and evil. It is the way we respond to the obstacles and tragedies in our lives that determine who we are.

**Courtesy of Wild on Books**

Series Order:
There are many books in the Dark-Hunter series. For a list of those books in reading order, check my the store Listmania list for Sherrilyn Kenyon's HUNTERS series.

I agree with the other reviews about the large print of this book. It was more like a short story. Before I read it I kinda liked the idea of having this book be about the bad guy....but I think it would have worked better if the heroine was likable...in any way. There was nothing really to like about Zyphera. She was cruel and seemed to have no redeemable qualities. It just didn't work. I love Sherrilyn Kenyon but this was a very poor effort on her part. Oh and their daughter was a b*tch too.

I can't get over all the bad reviews--and the people who claim they don't like the book because they didn't want to see the bad guy happy!!! Duh, it's not like SK didn't let everyone know this was STRYKER's book! You know, Daimon King--he hates Ash, hates Nick--really hates Mankind!!!
I think SK did an excellent job of explaining why.

I enjoyed the story and I know it was shorter than a full length novel, but I was expecting that. What mattered to me was the fact that I liked the characters, enjoyed the story--and I'm glad SK didn't sell Stryker short by turning him into someone who likes Ash, likes Nick and loves mankind...too many things --bad, heart-wrenching things had been done to the ones Stryker loved to have him every have such a change of heart.

He sees us as the bad guys.....

It wasn't a great book, it didn't live up to the series as a whole. There is one thing that I dislike overall and it was Stryker's wife. It's a very short book, I understand that but Stryker was glazed over, his inherent evil qualities shifted so fast that it was annoying. There are too many races to remember now and the ultimate dislike of this book, Nick. People'll see when they read it.

It was...decent for a very quick read. Don't pick it up and expect it to take you long, it's big print so it's really only 100 pages total, not 300 and something. Also, there is a Carbon-Copy-Ash Character in the book named Jared, it was a total eye-roll book. Don't expect too much from it.

Kenyon is an amazing talent. She can write a book about a bad guy, make him the hero of his own story, and still keep him a bad guy! The characters and detail of this imaginative world are continually entertaining. Can't wait for the next one. I'm glad she's chosen to share her creations with us.

My first alarm bell went off when I saw the huge type. My initial excitement upon finding another book in the series and looking forward to a rainy weekend read turned into a book throwing, bored and confused experience. I kept picking it up again, thinking it would be getting better, different and more. Wrong. Sherrilyn, find better ghost writers!

I loved the twist in perspective where it really brings a lot of in depth understanding to the "antagonists" of the series. Stryker, though far from moral, is hard not to love and sympathize with. The history and romance between he and his wife was very TOUCHING! It went perfectly with the plot, and absolutely satisfied me.
I am so happy with Nick's portrayal in the book. I really loved the human Nick, who was so funny, goofy and carefree. But after his mom died, his personality, understandably, changed to being really bitter and depressed. I was really disappointed at how EMO he was becoming, not at all like the Nick we knew and loved. But this book sows a change in Nick for the better, bringing back the Nick that I really missed in the last few books.
The appearance of more new characters and a wealth of information was mind-boggling and intriguing. AI am going crazy cuz I really can't wait to learn more or read about so many characters, and the least keeps on growing and growing.
I have been consistently devoted to the series, but this even further brought back why I love this author. I think part of the book's appeal is the novelty of it, how it really focuses on the other side. There is no black or white, but a gray shade of reality and character. The ending's implications REALLY just knocked me off my seat. This novel is pivotal in this series as it spins the balance of power in another direction.
This novel was consistently amazing, I have no complaints whatsoever about it, though it just makes me more frustrated as I have more and more things to look forward to and wait for.

When I saw this book was finally out, I picked it up but didn't buy it. The font and spacing were both larger making it a 150 to 200 page book. Since I have not read it I can't comment on the content but from reviews it doesn't look good. Since I really like the Dark Hunter & Dream Hunter series, I feel cheated.

I truly enjoyed this book...actually it is one of my top 5 favorites from Sherrilyn Kenyon! It was great to see all of her powerful male characters, hero's and villians, come to together after a common enemy, War. It was great to see how some of the god like powers were off-set by one another.

I thought Sherrilyn did a great job explaining Stryker's character and his relationships with the people he supposedly loved. His ex-wife was a perfect mate for him...she is a bit of a shrew!

I noticed other book reviews and people were disappointed because they hadn't read previous books. I have read every book in the Dark-Hunter and Dream-Hunter series and therefore I loved this book.

I couldnt put any of the series down once I picked it up.. In fact I ordered as many as I could so that I would have another one when I finished the one I was on.. Also you dont have to read them in the order they were wrote.. altho I pretty much did.. they all relate :)

If you are enjoying the DH series, you will enjoy this addition as well. My only complaint is that this book should have had more too it. It is obviously shorter than the others, but it adds so much new storyline to it that it could have been longer.

After Acheron, which was awesome, its a let down, but I expected that.

Ms. Kenyon has managed once again to grab the reader with more larger and greater characters, plot twists, and new "can't wait to know" questions in this book. "One Silent Night" does exactly what it was supposed to do, it introduces new Characters, that are as intriguing if not more so, then the previous characters without discarding any of the older ones we have come to love and enjoy from her previous books. Yes OSN raises alot of unanswered questions, however, it is questions that peak the readers intrest and anticipation for whats yet to come. I give this book two thumbs up, a salute to the author and five shiny gold stars!!!

The kindle version of this book is $9.99 but the paperback from the store is $6.99!! What the heck??? Don't buy via kindle unless you're ok with paying a higher price (for this supposedly cheaper format!)!

I love all of Sherrilyn Kenyons books....or I did up until OSN. First off the price does not do justice to the book. The printing is too large and the 310 pages would have been converted into much less with smaller regular print. As she stated on her web-site this is not a full novel but longer than a novella and a thank you to her fans. It would have been better to just put this book up for a free download than to have it out in print.

I have never read about a Heroine I have liked less than the one in this book. Talk about hate issues...she takes the cake! Strykes seems like a lamb compared to Zephyra. With all the new Characters being introduced without any forethought to the reader (I was confused about Jared and Jaden being one and the same at one point)and now Nick Gauthier being the BIG BAD, it`s mind bogling to say the least. I'll still buy the series but with the introduction of the Dream-Hunters it seem to me that this series has lost some of its steam. Since Kenyon also writes the Lords of Avalon series and others I sometimes get the feeling that the individual books suffer and not enough attention is bestowed upon each to make them as well written as they were. She`s still one of my favorite authors and all of her books up until this one have been keepers for me. I just hope the next DH book will be better.

As usual Sherrilyn Kenyon at best. The book was very good and I enjoyed it as much as her other books in the Dark Hunter series. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a little fang in their hero. A little of the Supernatural.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

We all knew that Stryker would be out for blood, after Nick killed his sister. Now, it’s his time of reckoning! He sneaks down into the Underworld and wakes the powerful god, War, to kill Acheron and Nick. It took the other Gods working together to contain him before and it could take a miracle to stop him now.

When War fights Nick it unbinds his powers, powers that even Ash didn’t know he possessed! Nick is the Malachai, the only thing that can actually kill War. Unfortunately, he doesn’t yet know how to use his powers.

Artemis realizes the only reason that Stryker would awaken War would be to kill Acheron. Even though, Ash wants nothing to do with Artemis, she can’t let him be killed. She sends Zephyra, Stryker’s ex-wife, who he believes is dead, to kill Stryker. Stryker is shocked when he sees the love of his life in the flesh. The woman he left in order to protect her from his father that broke both their hearts in the process. Even more shocking is when their daughter he didn’t know was ever born shows up! Stryker would do anything to be with Zephyra again if only he can convince her to forgive him. And he quickly learns that she possesses the only creature in existence that can kill the Malachai. If he can get her to have Nick killed, then nobody can stop War from killing Ash!

Enemies will have to band together in an unlikely alliance to stop what has been unleashed on the world. But can these enemies put their grievances behind them for the greater good?

This book was okay. The beginning was incredibly boring to me. It got better, but was still just okay. A lot did happen in this book though and I found it to be an important read for the continuation of the series.

And, it looks like Nick just might have to suck it up and work with Ash if he ever wants to truly discover his own capabilities. Maybe; hopefully this will be what the two need to start repairing their friendship.

There is a little romance in this book with Stryker and Zephyra, but it really takes a backseat to everything else that is going on.

I’m interested to see what will happen in the next book, although it does not look good for the human race. Ash’s Dark-Hunters will definitely have their work cut out for them!

I love all the "Dark-Hunter" series! Make sure to read these in the order they were written, so you know who all the characters are. This one features "Stryker" who in my opinion is a villain, but even villains need love! Highly recommend!