Lord of Eternal Night (Darkmourn Universe Book 1)

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For years the town of Darkmourn has been sending "Claims" to Castle Dread to satiate the hunger of the Eternal Prince who resides within. For years, the witched of Darkmourn have been waiting for the the 100th anniversary of the curse that was brought upon the beast, as it cursed them as well, weakening their magic. But this year, Jak, a witch with powers envied by all in the coven, is to be the Claim. He has one purpose and one purpose alone, to end the life of the monster living in Castle Dread and break the curse, something he has been training his entire life to accomplish. But as Jak grows closer to his goal and learns more about his target, he can't help but feel drawn to the man behind the monster. motivation or depth for characters is all but nonexistent. why do the witches want to kill marius? because they’re evil. why do jak and marius fall in love? because they do. Then it moves on with the scene. Easier than what? Easier because of what? I'm assuming training, but it sounds like this was meant to lead into something more like the author wanted to talk about Jak struggling with this at one point but now he's skilled enough to do it in his sleep. Or perhaps this is meant to say that Jak visualizing then executing is his personal style to cast the spell, like that's special to him. But that's never mentioned, it is completely left to interpretation.

Ahora, la Bestia es un vampiro pero que es capaz de aguantar su sed de sangre por todo un año y solo pierde el control el día de la luna de sangre, eso fue realmente interesante. De resto, es lo mismo que esperamos de La Bestia en cualquier retelling. The major problem for me was that I didn't believe the romance. I didn't think the characters spent enough time together developing their relationship so when they said they loved each other, I didn't understand why. The point of a romance novel is to see two people falling in love. That's what makes the moment they admit they love each other so cathartic. There was not enough build-up in this story to make that meaningful and because the stakes of the relationship are so high, this caused the entire premise to fall apart for me. Years ago Marius was cursed by a witch. Now he is confined to his castle and grounds. Unable to leave and subjected to a thirst for blood that overpowers him and turns him beastly during the yearly blood moon. TLDR: This book should have been left in the oven a little longer. It is in severe need of a diligent editor; there are several grammatical and spelling mistakes on top of things just needing to be revised for a better reading flow. This book feels like the first draft and was deemed ready when it is most certainly nowhere near it. The characters and story beats need to be fleshed out way more and while I managed to make it through the book with an idea of who the characters were, it is only because of my own ability to make assumptions and use these basic cutouts as launchpads. In writing, there's a difference between subtext and laziness, and I hesitate to call this book a profound use of subtext. The ending feels about as satisfying as it was probably going to get, given the level of writing displayed throughout the rest of the book. Jak’s whole existence has been to become a weapon against a creature so vile, so powerful, that nothing else matters except destroying him and the curse following his existence. However, little does Jak know, things don’t go according to plan….. whatsoever.

Customer reviews

El gancho perfecto para leer esta novela fue la portada, porque me encantan ilustradas. Pero, lamento decir que para mí fue lo único bueno y destacable. Katharine seems like she's supposed to be important but really doesn't do much even when she's being used as a plot device by the antagonist. I don't even think the antagonist (Jak's mother) gets a name. She was written as though a giant reveal would happen and some wild shit concerning her would flip the tables, but nope, she just flops over and dies. For some reason, Jak just won't kill the coven, even though at the end it's implied that Jak and Marius go on a total murder spree at the end of the book. We don't really get to know Victorya or the other Claims, even though they're presented as though they're a big part of the environment. I didn't really enjoy this. It's definitely not fully a bad book, that's why it's getting two stars, but it definitely had some issues. Why did the curse let Jak have powers? I needed so much more info on the curse, the covern and Marius’s abilities and limitations, the shadow hounds? Why does Katherine visit? Her mother before her? It just says it's done. Is she rolling massive barrels of wine to the castle? Why does Marius push Jak at the angry, armed covern who hate him then be surprised with what happens next? Why did Jaks mother just tap Marius on the shoulder without any protection? Did she not say throughout the book how dangerous and deadly he is? Did they think they would win with ordinary weapons when their own, who has fantastic abilities, couldn't even do it? The aim is to start discussions, build friendships and create a safe space to speak out about bullying, while gaining some new perspectives – which we all know is the best thing about being a bookworm! ...more

Its so weird to read Ben Alderson writing smut scenes in this because none of his prior series have had even the slightest touch of smut but afasfds at least it was well written smut! <3 Sometimes using incomplete sentences like this can be used to emphasize something, and obviously writing is mostly about knowing how to artistically break the rules, but nearly every. Single. Paragraph is written this way. It was so genuinely exhausting to mark up the book that I just gave up a few chapters in. You could argue that this is a style choice, and you'd be right, it is, but it just doesn't flow naturally or in a way that's interesting to read, and the entire book is more tiring because of it. This is just something you have to get used to in the book, which admittedly gets easier the further in you go, because if nothing else it wears you down so much that you just accept your fate in this prose and syntax hellscape. Holy Wow! This book was absolutely amazing! I feel so honored to have gotten my hands on an advanced copy of this book and then devoured it in ONE SITTING. I CANNOT EVEN TELL YOU HOW FREAKING OBSESSED I AM WITH THIS BOOK--IT IS EVERYTHING!!!!!!! This is the Gay, Spicy, Enemies to Lovers, Beauty and The Beast retelling the world absolutely needs. La trama es muy ágil, debido a que el libro es cortito, y las escenas de acción me parecieron super bien trabajadas. El último 25% de este libro es una bomba y quedé super satisfecho con el final cuando terminé este libro. Por lo que pude ver por un mensaje al final creo que hay posibilidad de más historias en este mundo. No se si una secuela para este pero tal vez más reinterpretaciones de cuentos clásicos? Eso estaría super bien. Wow, did this story take me on a journey and then some. It was absolutely beautiful, heartbreaking, romantic, sexy, and so full of passion.I think this book either should've been longer or just spent a little more time in the editing stage because things come up or happen in this book that feel important but just aren't. Lamiere exists for some reason; she shows up a little in the first couple of chapters and then is unimportant for the rest of the story. The wolves that almost kill Jak are made out to seem like they're going to be an issue for him later but aren't brought up again. Si me dices retelling lgbt+ spicy de la bella y la bestia ya me ganaste. Cuando me enteré de que trataba este automáticamente lo agregue a mi lista. Tenía tanta curiosidad por él que me suscribí a Kindle Unlimited para leerlo, y estoy feliz de haberlo hecho porque este fue mi gracia salvadora de un bloqueo lector. The idea is simple – to read only books that feature bullying during Anti Bullying Week. How many books you read is up to you, but in the spirit of a readathon you should push yourself to read a little more than usual. The book doesn't have to be focused on the issues of bullying, as long as bullying is featured in the book in some way - even if it's a supporting character (I learnt the hard way that balance is important, even just for a week! 😣)

Overall, this story taught me that love is powerful. It can be beautiful, it’s going to be messy, but once you have it, don’t let go of it. And that being who you are is a good thing, you just have to realize it. Don’t be afraid to embrace it. We are all just humans trying to find our way in this world, so own up to who you are and find a way to love yourself. After all, no one is a better version of you except for YOU. El romance no me pareció el centro de la trama, y las escenas hot, fueron mas románticas que eróticas. Lo que no me gusto fue la cantidad de dudas que quedaron sobre la maldición y su vida después de salir del castillo. Missing commas aside, there is no reason for these sentences to be this choppy. Almost all of them can be combined in some way or another to flow better. There's another that reads: "You are permitted to take two items during the Claiming. Items in which we have prepared." Why is this written this way? Why wouldn't you just condense this to say, "You are permitted to choose two of the items we have prepared for you," or something to that effect? The love Jak and Marius have for one another is one that I can sum up in one word: passionate. Throughout the entirety of this story, I had such yearning for them to be happy together. Knowing that it wouldn’t be easy for them, but deep down was rooting with every fiber of my being, for them to somehow, someway…. Find their happy ending. Did they, though? Read to find out. ;)Such a simple quote, but is one that definitely spoke to me on so many levels. Why? Because for years I felt that being different was a bad thing. It made me feel broken, unlovable. I wasn’t like anyone else, and while I didn’t want to be like anyone else, it was still an isolating feeling. But, overtime, I’ve come to realize that being different isn’t a bad thing, because it’s who I am. And that’s a beautiful thing. Ahora, el problema no es que me haya gustado o no, es que me dio pereza todo el rato. No pude compaginar con la narración, el estilo del autor me pareció aburrido, como hecho sin sal, sin azúcar, sin condimentos. Le faltaba chispa. Más tarde, todo se torna predecible, el final es un poco anticlimático, la acción es nula porque a lxs villanxs se les vence súper fácil y súper rápido.

I liked that it wasn't a direct retelling of a single book almost, I appreciate the nods too Dracula even if this wasn't the authors intention and noticing the parallels to Beauty & The Beast was done very nicely. It had a nice play on traditional vampire tropes without naming them directly and the constant power shift between the two main characters is refreshing and kept me intrigued. I had a good time reading Lord of Eternal Night. It started off a bit weak but got a lot better as the story progressed and focused on our couple, Jak and Marius. They had some nice angst and conflict before their feelings overpowered the enemies part of enemies to lovers (and that's saying something when they both start out planning to literally kill the other). It's set mainly in Marius's castle, and I loved the eerie gothic vibes. i had a hard time believing these characters could be so deeply in love after such little time and trust was built between them; a lot of foundational bond-building scenes are just not present where you would expect them to be.

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it’s hard to write a beauty & the beast retelling that i won’t read, but i couldn’t really get invested in this one. Los protagonistas me gustaron y tienen una química muy buena. Aunque puede parecer que todo sucede de forma rápida entre ellos, si se logra sentir esa conexión que hacen que se enamoren el uno del otro. Las escenas "spicy" de este libro son buenas, pero tampoco diría que es lo más HOT Y CANDENTE que he leído en mi vida. Siento que el autor te vende ese aspecto de más. He visto varios tiktoks/videos de él diciendo "mi libro super spicy" cuando en realidad no es así.