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One Silent Night (Dark Hunter) | 
| Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 655
Media: Paperback
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.3 x 1
ISBN: 0749908912
EAN: 9780749908911
ASIN: 0749908912
Publication Date: November 6, 2008
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A bridge between two worlds December 9, 2008
This isn't really a book, more a novella so it is a quick read. It's one of those books in a series you need to suffer I guess, a bridge between two separate arcs to move the story on. In that sense there are some important revelations and character development that was sorely needed. We finally see the tragic dynamic between Nick and Acheron changing although in what way I won't reveal. We are introduced to Jaden also.
Sadly Strykers story comes at the expense of all this plot development with probably only around 60% of the book devoted to him. So it's swings and roundabouts really, this book is poor in terms of its stipulated focus and good in the development of the series as a whole.
The more accessible size and humour also make this offering more palatable than Acheron.
 Not impressed, sorry November 27, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Here's a bit of a caveat.
Acheron is not a bad book, but I still wish I hadn't read it. It just destroys too much of Ash's mystery and brings him down to our level in a way.
So I looked forward to getting back to normal, after that exercise of torture. :) (Pun intended)
Please note: The blurb of One Silent Night is COMPLETELY wrong.
If you expect a christmassy book -- don't.
Aside from the final events, it has nothing to do with Christmas.
That's just marketing, because of when the book was released, is my guess.
About the only thing right in it is that there is an angry ex. The Dark-Hunters barely get a mention, let alone join in proceedings.
Whoever let the blurb through saying "Son" instead of "Daughter" needs to be made to re-read the book. Shoddy, really shoddy, but not Sherrilyn's fault. That one is down to copy editors, editors or marketing people.
OSN is more about setting up future novels and establishing the new order of power, than it is about Stryker and Zephyra.
Sorry Sherri, but I felt seriously let down, because I know you can do much much better.
The characters lacked depth. Too much "I hate you" followed by "I'm sorry" to really have a conflict.
Stryker suddenly has a heart. I suspected he did, but he deserved so much better than this book. He deserved better than Zephyra, too. It didn't make me perceive him as the strong, unshakable heroes I'm used to from Sherri. Instead my sense of strength that I got from him in previous books, evil and malicious as it may have been, transformed into a sense of "What kind of spineless weak git is this?". We keep being reminded what he's capable of -- but it felt more like "Remember, he's really evil".
I didn't like Zephyra. Or rather, I built up no empathy for her. I can't even recall what she looked like, and I put the book down an hour ago. Her power is too convenient and often feels like a cop out.
There is way too much setup of pantheons and their interactions to get a decent sense of the people whose story this is supposed to be. And they deserved better than being thrown into this hodgepodge of storylines.
There's too much Ash, Savitar, Nick, Jared, Artemis and whatnot involved, along with a whole slew of new and old gods.
Too many events smack of deus ex machina. (WAY too many.)
Too much tell instead of show.
Too much explanation where I could have done without, not enough where I needed to know.
And throughout -- there is a lack of the tension that made the previous books keepers.
The previous books (apart from Acheron, where this trend started) were about people, not about the world around them. This time it's more about the world and the powers in them and who does what -- with a bit of gratuitous sex thrown in -- than about the people.
All in all, I'll only recommend it to keep on track with the series, but other than that... I kept getting bored.
I was more interested in reading about Davyn than Stryker, more intrigued by Medea than Zephyra -- and that's bad, when it's not their story.
I know I'm a harsh, brutal, critic, but I also know Sherri can do better than this.
I'll still get the next one, in the hope we return to previous keeper books, but chances are slowly running out. Stop worldbuilding and start writing about people again.
 Short but oh so sweet November 23, 2008
For the first time in the Dark-Hunter series a true villain takes centre stage; Stryker, the son of Apollo, adopted son of Apollymi and a nasty individual who has tried unsuccessfully to kill Acheron in several previous books. From the very start of "One Silent Night" Stryker is yet again up to his old tricks, unleashing the ultimate warrior War from his captivity deep in Tartarus and ordering him to destroy not only Acheron, but also Nick Gautier; the man responsible for the death of his sister.
Unfortunately he fails to consider the full extent of his actions, and soon Gods from various Pantheons are uniting to re-capture War and place him in stasis whilst Artemis again meddles; calling forth demoness Zephyra to kill Stryker. Zephyra has no problem with this order; after all she's hated Stryker for over eleven thousand years since he divorced her and married someone else.
There is an absolute array of battles between various Gods, Immortals, Demons, Daimons and newly introduced super powerful beings; the Malachai and Sephirii. Amid all this action Stryker fights his own personal war, to again win the heart of the woman he still loves before she rips out his own. The reader also learns more of Stryker's history, the reasons behind his actions, his relationships with Apollo and Apollymi and his deepest regrets and griefs; namely his abandonment of Zephyra, the execution of his son Urian and his hatred of the curse placed upon his people.
I have to agree that after the lengthy "Acheron" this book is far too short and doesn't take much time to read. That said, once opening it, I was so glued to the storyline that I was unable to prise myself away. Not only was "One Silent Night" a real eye opener behind the motivations of Stryker, Nick Gaultier at last seems to be coming to grips with his existence; although he still wants to kill Acheron (join the queue), SK certainly blindsided me with her plans for him and I can't wait to read his book. On the downside, I again have to stress although this book is a modest 300 pages, the large font does not make it a lengthy read and it's over far too soon. I also had issues with Zephyra; yes she's still in love with a man she also hates, however she takes far too much bloody thirsty pleasure in torturing a character we will be hearing much more of in the future for her to be truly likeable.
Wasn't sure what to expect... November 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
After reading the synopsis of this book (some time ago), I had wondered how on earth SK was going to play this one, after all, Stryker is the villain of the piece.
In reality, the Stryker/Zephyra storyline, although quite predominant, vies equally for attention with the other storyline in this book, which serves the purpose of bridging the gap to the next arc by introducing new characters and a bit (understatement!) of a twist for an existing one (more on that in a bit). However, as I understand that the next arc is to be JADEN, I was a little surprised that he didn't pop up in this book.
What this story does do is humanise Stryker to a great extent and provide you with more understanding of his motivation. Whereas previously he was perhaps just perceived as evil plain and simple, you now appreciate that (while he's never going to be good), he does still feel love and emotions.
After Acheron, there was always going to be a lot to live up to, and I guess I was a little underwhelmed by this one, and slightly disappointed that we didn't get to see as much of Ash and Tory together as a couple as I thought we may have (I personally like to revisit couples again after their own stories).
There was a major twist with an existing character who has featured in the series from the start, which I didn't see coming and I have to admit that it seemed a bit "spur of the moment" to me as, unless I've been completely obtuse, there had been no clues to it previously!
Given this twist, I'm convinced that although this book supposedly marks the end of Acheron's arc, he still has a big role to play going forwards.
As a previous reviewer has said, the book seemed a little short (big font padding out the pages), and is likely not one you'll read again and again, but provided a pleasant interlude whilst we're awaiting the next full length novel.
Hmmm...it was okay November 10, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is more a 3.5 star review but I don't know how to get the half star!Okay, I agree with the above reviewer in saying that it is a good bridging book but...it was just far too short. Big print. Not really a book IMO more like a novella because you will be able to read it in a few hours. Although we got to see why Stryker is the man he is today, I still felt as if the story could have been fleshed out a bit more and the romance just seemed a little flat to me. Maybe because his HEA isn't that likeable, she's bitter and cruel but then again perhaps that's what he needs for a Daimon Queen? I don't know, I expected some redeeming features but couldn't find many.
On the plus side if anyone was getting a little fed up with Nick and his sulking...I think he's gradually going to come out of that. Also, as with all Sherri books, she's introduced some interesting new characters and pantheons, a healthy dose of 'warm and fuzzies' and she always keeps us guessing...
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