Swallowing Darkness (edit title)

• Rated 3 stars

“I can't say this was my favourite of the Merry Gentry series, but I think that Hamilton did a good job of wrapping up this story arc to bring the series to a close. When you create a series that states a specific goal for the main character, you sort of have to eventually get to that goal one way or the other.

The story in this book was a bit more depressing than in past books, because in past books there was always give and take and the books ended with the *possibility* of either a really good or a really bad ending to come in future books. Because this was the climax of the "will Meredith get the crown" question - I won't spoil by saying if she does - that suspense ends with this book.

But I liked the development of the Meredith character in this book. She has been very ambivalent about using her power against those who will - and have - tried repeatedly and ruthlessly to kill her up to now. In past books it has usually been others, mainly her guards/lovers, who have saved her while she stood behind them because she didn't want to be ruthless herself unless there was no option.

That seemed reasonable at the beginning of the series because she is part human and was raised in the human world. But as the series progressed and Meredith CHOSE to participate in Faerie court life, and compete for the crown I found it increasingly hard to accept that she wouldn't have become at least SOMEWHAT more aggressive and willing to play by the "kill-or-be-killed" rules of the world she was living in. That changed in this book and it made more sense to me for this character.

There is also more violence and less sex in this book, which also makes sense given that Merry is now pregnant [that's not a spoiler unless you haven't read the previous book in the series] and the battle for the crown is coming to a pretty intense culmination.

I think unless Hamilton wanted to stretch this series out into a very long commitment to future books exploring the intricacies of Faerie Court politics, the way she wrapped up this storyline makes sense.

I am looking forward to seeing what Hamilton does with the Meredith story in the next book, which is billed as a continuation of Merry's story but in a completely different direction than this plot has gone in so far. Hopefully, Hamilton has something in mind that will be as engaging as this story has been.”

• Rated 4 stars

“The end caught me off guard (no pun intended). I think Merry is going to eventually be on the throne regardless, and I am so glad that Frost is back in the picture, even with his Richard-like mood swings. I felt the book was a little rushed though. The whole story took place over the course of one day. I felt like it should've been at least a couple. Doyle seems to be getting a little more moody as well... I do love Darkness, though.”

• Rated 3 stars

“Much better than the previous three or four books. Something actually happened besides everyone lounging around talking about how serious their situation was in between threesomes. I don't like that Hamilton chose to resolve so many issues in the last quarter of this book; it kind of makes all the books I read in between pointless, since very little plot-related progress was made in them. But at least there is some action, actual action, and we find out who killed Essus. So I finished the book pretty happy, on the whole. ”

• Rated 2 stars

“At least this is the end of this series, I was getting tired of it.”

• Rated 5 stars

“MMMMM Doyle”

• Rated 5 stars

“Once again another Merry Gentry book that I love! This one had me flying throught the pages to see what was going to happen next. The ending totally left me begging for more and I cant wait for Divine misdemeanors to come out to see what happens with all the characters.”

• Rated 5 stars

“This is a good story in the series and moves the reader on . Lots of fighting and strange happenings but well worth the read,”

• Rated 5 stars

“when i think i can't like LKH any more, she comes out with another book! the Merry Gentry series is amazing! i now cannot wait for the next book to see what Merry will do! read it!”

• Rated 3 stars

“What I liked about this book is that there was action a whole lot of the way. A good deal of predictions came true, but not all of them. You get answers in this book,.

I did not get to see more of Doyle's past, which was a bummer. Because all of the plot progression was crammed into one book and recap was crammed into chapter one. Honestly. You could not read chapter one if you wanted to. I would turn to fanfics except LKH has forbidden that avenue of entertainment due to weird fanfic world politics.

I need to read the entire series again, especially since I believe the entire Doyle-Merry thing was too rushed. Hey, I love the guy, just not the way it was executed. He was Merry's first guard, then in book two he didn't trust her, in book three he showed her grudging respect and wham bam in book five and six, they were in love and in seven they were cuddling. Honestly, it was strange to read the darkness in book 7 cuddling. Utterly strange but lovely because I liked him a lot anwyway.

I would have loved to see how this would have proceeded up to the point of birthing the twins but it's pouintless now. Unless we watch a series of murders and the guards scuttling around investigating, much like most paranormal series now, which I think was never the point of Meredith Gentry, even though she was a PI. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“Not my kind of book but enjoyed it some. It was well written. Story takes you into the mid evil times. Just OK.”