I received a preview to review, and it was about 100 pages or so into the book. I am a bit torn, since I don’t know how this ends. Something that I have found frustrating with Kenyon’s characters of late is their convoluted relations. I am all for backstory and character development, but things are out of hand. There is too much with the fetus switching, parental lies, and random relations. Not to mention time traveling and reincarnations. It’s not that I want everything simple, but too often things seem to be overly complicated. Like with the Chronicles of Nick, which I stopped reading because he was a character that had been too well established for his teen stories to make sense, and according to the reviews my concern was right because a lot of readers were pissed at the ending. Also I enjoy reading things from the villains perspective, however what I don’t like is Kenyon’s need to make the bad guy likable so their evil deeds either are explained away, or completely reframed negating the plight of their victims. Like what was done with Styxx. He was one or Ash’s main torturers, but then he gets his own book and it made Ash a liar and their sister a bitch. I wish she would just leave the bad guys as bad, explain why they are they way they are, and then over the course of the story have then find redemption or not. I’m just over everybody being a victim.

What I did enjoy about what I was able to read was the banter between family members. Urian’s personality. And most of all finally a character who was not severely abused as a child by family members and/or guardians. While Urian’s life wasn’t easy it was nice for a change to be free of the torture porn. I will buy the book, because I do want to see where things go.

***I've read the full version in an ARC I received from work***

Let me start this by saying that I do talk about some specific plot points in this review. I do not spoil anything but if you want to walk into this story completely blind than this review is not for you. I tried to keep it as simple as possible while reviewing but as you all know, with the stories being so intricate its hard not to spoil anything so I had to be a wee bit vague. I tried!!!

Also, Kenyon’s books need to be read in order!!! If you haven’t read the first 28 books you cannot just pick this one up and start the series. It just won’t work. They like to say you can read these books out of order but you really can’t.

Stygian is a lot like Acheron and Styxx. Kenyon gives us the back story to who Urian is- how he came to be the man we’ve all found a soft spot for. I loved the first 80% of this book (I know the percentages because I read it on my kindle). It was so interesting seeing Urian and his brothers and sister grow up- the dynamic, the drama, the fights. Diamons have always been the bad guys, the ones that go bump in the night, but as Kenyon does so masterfully, she turns everything we thought we knew on its head. It truly is amazing the way Kenyon can make you sympathize with the bad guys so easily (remember reading Styxx’s book?). Being able to see another side of Urian was the best part of this book. I was especially fond of watching Phoebe and Urian grow as a couple. Which was something we didn’t get to see much of in the other books. Urian has been a favorite character of mine for a long time now and this book just made me love him more.

This book does revisit some of the major things that have happened in past books, especially Phoebe’s death and Styxx and Bethany coming back into Urian’s life. These repeats I was fine with. It refreshed my memory and it was actually nice to get Urian’s perspective. However, after getting past that and the first 80% we head into Dragon territory and we know how that goes. The past 4 books (Son of No One, Dragonbane, Dragonmark, and Dragonsworn) have been a little rough- they were confusing and repeated plot lines. I was excited about Stygian because I thought we were finally moving away from that, however, we get a little bit of the dragon confusion at the end of this book. It was hard to get through and kind of brought the book down from being a five star read for me. I think that entire section could have been skipped or at least shortened because the end (after the dragons) felt rushed and was over way before I thought it should have been. I would have preferred to see the ending (which I will not spoil so this will be a little confusing) more detailed and have more interaction between Urian and some of the lead characters.

If the book had less of the dragons and had been a little more flushed out at the end, it definitely would have been a five star read! Although, the epilogue has me so excited for the next book in the series!!!! Like super excited!!! Bring on more Dark-Hunters!!! Even though the last few books have been a little, shall we say off, Stygian gives me hope that the rough patch is over and a new and brighter horizon is in sight!

Kenyon will always be an automatic buy for me. Even with the rough patch. She is just such a master story teller. She weaves such intricate tales that bring you to your knees. It’s hard not to get caught up in the mythology and love. This book wasn’t perfect but it was still pretty amazing! I got to see the writing I fell in love with once again with this book. I love this series and I hope it never ends! Ever!!!