Review: The Darkest Lie (Lords of the Underworld #6) by Gena Showalter

 

Forced to his knees in agony whenever he speaks the truth, Gideon can recognize any lie—until he captures Scarlet, a demon-possessed immortal who claims to be his long-lost wife. He doesn't remember the beautiful female, much less wedding—or bedding—her. But he wants to…almost as much as he wants her.

But Scarlet is keeper of Nightmares, too dangerous to roam free. A future with her might mean ultimate ruin. Especially as Gideon's enemies draw closer—and the truth threatens to destroy all he's come to love….

My Review:

WARNING: This review has MAJOR spoilers for this book,
If you would rather not know, please don’t continue :)

The Darkest Lie is a book about Gideon, the Lord of the Underworld housing the demon, Lies. He cannot utter any truth, or he’ll be hit with debilitating pain that will weaken him for days. So when he speaks, he has to speak a lie. I UNDERSTAND THIS – really, I get it. There’s no need to write his spoken words, then write a translation of what he really means. Honestly, I got this! Trust me, I will remember this whenever Gideon’s name comes up. Okay?

*sighs* Of course, my pleas fell on deaf ears, and Gena Showalter litters the whole book with ‘translations’ (which I found very tiring) after every time Gideon speaks. After a few chapters, I admit, I started skimming the Gideon passages. I mean, really? Why do we even need to hear his story? Again, he’s not a  principal player, and I’m really not interested. Who’s next to get a book – the fruit stand vendor out in town? Good heavens. I can see the headline now:

The next LOTU book: The Darkest Fruit LOL ;)

But before you get upset and yell at me, “Julie how could you skim read?!” You’ll be happy to learn that EVERYTHING in the Gideon storylines was – guess what?? Yes, you guessed it, a lie! LOL All the sordid history between him and Scarlett was a fabrication Scarlett’s Aunt Mnemosyne (the goddess of Memory), implanted in Scarlett’s mind.

Not part of the lie was a whole back story between Rhea, (Scarlett’s mother), Cronus, and Mnemosyne, but I couldn’t get into it. The only thing which sparked my interest was that Mnemosyne (Rhea’s sister) becomes Cronus’ mistress because Atlas would not pay attention to her. Finally, some mention of The Darkest Prison – that side story which was mentioned ages ago and was never integrated into the story.

But let’s put the Gideon story aside (I know I did) and let’s get to what I liked about The Darkest Lie.

1) We hear from Strider, the LOTU housing the demon, Defeat – who’s captured the woman responsible for killing his fellow LOTU friend, Baden. Since Baden’s death occurred ages ago, and the girl is still as young as ever, Strider realizes she must be something other than human. He captures her and decides to take her back to their fortress in Buda to get some answers.

Bad news, though she escapes and Strider goes to The Unspoken Ones for help in recovering her. And brace yourselves for this – he trades one of the artifacts to get her! WHAT? *staggers around and faints* You’ll never believe the artifact he trades for this girl – the best one in my opinion. Can’t believe he did this, I hope he gets a beating from Maddox when the LOTU hear of this!

2) The only reason I kept reading this book was undoubtedly the Legion storyline. In the last book, The Darkest Passion, after Aeron is beheaded by Lysander, Lucifer’s deal with Legion is broken and Legion returns back to hell. Aeron is brought back by The One True Deity sans demon. So now that he’s back to being just an Immortal with no butterfly and no tattoos, Aeron feels guilt over what has happened to Legion and sets out to free her. William and Amun accompany him.

My girl Legion has been getting tortured, beaten, raped, and worse (though I can’t imagine what could be worse *sobs*) and it takes the 3 warriors quite a trek through hell to even get to where she’s being held. (You’ll never guess who went to hell first to look for her! I was stunned for a bit) Once in Lucifer’s throne room, we find out that William knows Lucifer and slept with his wife LOL. Lucifer also mentions that ‘the horsemen’ have missed William. *dizzy* Can’t wait to find out what this means!

Poor Amun, the LOTU keeper of Secrets, looks a little worse for wear as hearing all the wicked thoughts of the demons in hell have made him go a little crazy…okay not a little – a lot :(  I was on the edge of my seat for this storyline – you won’t believe what happens when they finally take on Lucifer!

3) A sort-of funny snippet was delivered by Galen – the leader of the LOTU enemies, and who houses the demon, Hope. Scarlett, who houses the demon, Nightmares, gives Galen a dream that Gideon kills him.  Galen, who’s just recovered from Legion’s murder attempt, goes looking for Gideon in a mad stupor, and just when he’s about to get killed, Rhea intervenes. :(

4) We learn that the gods also house demons – Cronus has Greed and Rhea has Strife. Plus there’s a new weapon the LOTU get from Cronus – a butterfly necklace that hides them from any gods looking into their affairs.

5) We hear back from Sienna – who’s not doing so well with the demon housed inside her. Her thoughts are consumed with seeing Paris again and she’s tormented by also wanting to see her sister again. I hope we see more of her in the next book :)

6) Though I didn’t like the Gideon/Scarlett storyline, I did burst out laughing when Gideon discovers his demon is a female! LOL Scarlett’s, on the other hand, is a male and the two demons were lovers in hell – hence the attraction the two LOTU feel for one another.

Skim/pass over/ignore the Gideon/Scarlett storyline, and The Darkest Lie is a 5 kiss book with all the action Aeron, William, and Amun carry on in hell looking for Legion. But keeping the Gideon/Scarlett storyline, I can only give The Darkest Lie 3 kisses. I hope I get to see more of Legion, William, Ashlyn and her pregnancy, and Strider getting a beat-down for trading an artifact in the next book, The Darkest Secret.

Gideon and Scarlett, I hope get locked away somewhere where I don’t have to read about them for a LONG time LOL

 

 

"VISIT HELL? No damn way."

Amun stood in front of the large plasma screen in the entertainment room, facing William. This had been the only way to get the man's attention.

Whenever Amun had knocked on William's bedroom door, he'd been told to go away. Whenever he'd followed William into town, the warrior had ignored him as he plundered his way through the female population, one--or two--at a time. Sometimes the bastard had even done his business with
Amun standing there.

Now, William was a captive audience. Because Amun had brought in reinforcements. Anya, the goddess of Anarchy. As powerful and vindictive as she was, she could make anyone do anything she wanted at any time. Especially William.

The two were best friends and loved to torture each other. Which was why Anya had stolen some book that belonged to William. A very important book, apparently, and one the warrior needed to save himself from some curse. The two were always careful to keep those details buried behind inane
thoughts while in Amun's presence.

He could have sifted through their minds to gain the answers, of course, but hadn't. He didn't need any more secrets, thank you very much.He did know that whenever William acted like a "good boy," Anya returned a few pages to him. So when Anya challenged William to a game of "Guitar Hero," along with Gilly, a teen who now lived at the fortress,

William had accepted. The three were positioned around the TV, where Anya had stated they would remain until Amun had said his piece. Or signed, as the case was.

We need your help rescuing Legion, Amun began.

"Sorry, but I have plans elsewhere," William said darkly. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and I'll be gone for a few weeks."

"What plans?" Gilly demanded, fingering the butterfly necklace Lucien had given her earlier. A necklace exactly like the one Amun, Anya and William also wore. They had been told to wear them always, to block their actions from the prying eyes of the gods. "Why didn't you tell me you were going somewhere?"

Whoa. What was that? Pure possessiveness had layered her words.

You're mine, he suddenly heard Gilly think. We belong together, not apart.

O-kay. Amun massaged the back of his neck. He hadn't needed to know that.

Expression tight, William tossed his drumsticks in the air, caught them and twirled them. "Doesn't matter why I kept you in the dark. I'm going and that's final."

And wow. William usually joked about everything. He took nothing seriously. That he was in this temper...

I've got to stop this, William thought. This can't go on. Good. That was good.

"This trip is final, you said?" Anya arched a brow at her friend, her lips curling in challenge. She was engaged to Lucien, keeper of Death, and was one of the most beautiful females Amun had ever seen. Not surprisingly, Lucien indulged her every whim. "You didn't yet clear this trip with me, either."

"You can't go without me," Gilly said.

"I can and I will. And don't threaten me, Anya. This is one thing I will see through no matter what you do to my book."

Her expression a storm cloud of fury, Gilly tossed her bass guitar on the floor. The plastic cracked. Exactly as she imagined her heart was doing.

"You promised to protect me always. How can you protect me if you're gone?"

She had straight brown hair and big, beautiful brown eyes. She was average height, but had more curves than any seventeen-year-old girl should have. And William was clearly doing his best not to look at her. He was failing. Must...stop. Why can't I make it stop?

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