BookThing!

12/21/12. 11.11am.  The exact time when an ancient Calendar must be reset or all hells break loose… literally.  Kateri Avani, the last Keeper of a long line must embrace the heritage she barely knows, and be at the right place, the right time to complete the task.  If only it were that easy; dark forces she barely understands have hunted down her family, trying to wipe them out so the reset can’t happen.  Ren Waya, a Dark-Hunter with a brutal and violent history has to confront his brother, the man who betrayed and killed him if he is to have any chance of helping Kateri and atone for a mistake in his past.  Time Untime is upon them, can they open their battered hearts, trust again and ultimately risk losing each other to save the world?

Tracey’s Review

Finally the latest Dark Hunter instalment has arrived! I was a bit confused after reading Retribution but not any more. All of a sudden everything mentioned there seems to have fallen into place.  The story builds slowly but erupts into action about two thirds through. While you don’t have to have read Retribution to understand what is going on here, it would enhance the story.

We get to see some old favourites including Nick and Ash – I love those two. It was nice to see Ash kick some butt and Nick not being quite as nasty as he has been in the last few books. I am getting excited for his story and can we have more Ash please…

As always I loved the two protagonists. We had been introduced to Ren in Retribution but really didn’t get an idea of how tortured he is until now, but Kateri was a completely new character. As with all Kenyon females, she is feisty and ready to protect her man any way she can. When she finally comes into her powers it is like a lightbulb moment – quite literally!

I do love peeking into the future and this time the epilogue was beautiful and had me in tears.

There were some loose ends that weren’t tied up, for example earlier in the story we were given the impression that new Guardians would be chosen, but this never happened, or if it did we were never told about it! I also feel that the ending was a bit rushed as if there was so much legend and history to get in that she ran out of pages.

While the Mayan/American Indian storyline has been interesting it has not grabbed me in the same way previous Dark Hunter books have but there are still the elements that I love about Kenyon – hot sexy tortured hero, feisty heroine and of course a happy ending – I don’t think I am giving away too much by saying that!

Grete’s Review

My feelings on this book are very mixed.  I found Retribution, the previous book to this a bit of a surprising offshoot to the main Dark-Hunter series.  It felt like a very personal story to Sherrilyn Kenyon and wasn’t sure how this book would follow on, but it was obvious there was more to come.  Having finished Time Untime, I’m not convinced it was a success.  That’s really hard for me to say as a huge Kenyon fan.

I found it hard to connect with the characters, I think the sheer amount of history and names made it hard for them to stand out and sneak into my heart.  It wasn’t until the last third of the book, I started to really care what happened to them.  The visions, the back and forth through time scenes didn’t help either and I was often left confused who we were witnessing in terms of modern time.

It was good to see members of the ‘usual’ cast; I loved the scenes where Ash appears, he is always a brilliant addition and even got to let loose a little!  I was excited to see Nick and gain more insight into why he is behaving as he is, the short glimpse of the ‘old squire Nick’ was a treat and I so hope we get his book soon.  The only downside for me was the reason he turned up in the first place.  He didn’t get what he wanted but didn’t seem too bothered about it and it was never mentioned again.  Almost felt a lazy ‘how to get him into the story’ but I still felt something was gained.

I agree with Tracey in that it felt the ending was a little rushed and the matter of choosing new guardians was forgotten (and it was a big point in Retribution).  It’s possible it’s something coming in the next book, but in all honesty, I’m hoping this is the last book in this storyline.

The last third of Time Untime I loved, it felt like Sherrilyn was back on form and held all the things I love about her writing that engage me and keep me reading.  It was exciting, tense and gripping and I loved it.  The epilogue as well, a glimpse into the future, made me cry and I thought it was really well done.

So considering it took until the last third of the book to fully engage me into the story, I’m a little disappointed but when it was good, it was very, very good.  This is not a book up to Sherrilyn’s usual standard but it is still a cut above the average.  She sets the bar very high for herself and I know she can deliver an amazing read all the way through, so there are no doubts that I will be buying the next book.  I’m just hoping she returns to the main Dark-Hunter story.

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