THE DARKEST SEDUCTION by Gene Showalter

THE Darkest Seduction is the ninth book in Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld series. Paris, whose body houses the demon of Promiscuity, has to have sex often to keep up his strength, or he grows weak and will die. His demon emits pheromones and certain scents that make everyone lust after him. The rub? He can only have sex with a person once. Until he meets Sienna, who represents everything he and the Lords despise. She was a Hunter, who has made it their mission to kill the Lords, whom they blame all of the problems of the world.

Paris meets Sienna several books ago, where she is sent in as bait to lure him with his hope of having sex. When Sienna gets close enough, she drugs Paris and he is taken prisoner by the Hunters. After he is held and tortured for a few days, the Hunters realize he is growing weak and send Sienna in to do the deed. What neither of them count on is their instant, albeit, unwanted at the time, attraction to each other. Once they’ve had sex, his strength is restored and he is able to escape, and takes Sienna with him. In a shootout with the Hunters, Sienna is killed (by the Hunters) and Paris is forced to leave her. This is where his obsession with her starts. He soon figures out that his demon, whom he calls Sex, will let him have sex with her again, which has never happened in his long life. Coupled with the fact that Crounus, Titan God, has brought her back from the dead and given her the demon of Wrath, Paris will literally move heaven and earth to find her. Another problem, she’s a ghost and Paris can’t see her. Unfortunately, for me, this obsession has changed Paris a lot. He became addict, addicted to Ambrosia, and became whiny and very violent.

Darkest Seduction starts with Paris in the heavens trying to find any bits of information he can about Sienna. We are introduced to some new characters that give Paris the information he so desperately needs. Viola, minor goddess of the Afterlife and possessor of the demon of Narcissism provides him with what he needs to do in order to be able to see Sienna. He finally finds out that Cronus has taken Sienna to a castle in the Realm of Blood and Shadows, a place that he, Cronus, believes no one else can get to. Cronus has made Sienna believe that she has no other choice than to forget about Paris and go to spy on Galen, leader of the Hunters and possessor of the demon of Hope (yep, Hope is a demon. Who knew?) in order to save her sister Skye and Paris and the Lords and their women. What Sienna doesn’t know is that Cronus has already killed Skye in one of the many plotlines that run through this book.

Zachariel, an angel warrior who works for the One True Deity, plays a big part in trying to cryptically let Sienna know that things are not as they seem. Showalter, no doubt, uses this story to set up her new spin off series for the angels called Angels of the Dark. There is a huge battle at the end where the Lords, backed up by the angel warriors face off against the Titan gods and goddesses, along with Galen and the Hunters. It has been foretold by the All Seeing Eye, who paints what she sees, past and present and future, that Galen will behead Cronus in an epic battle and kill him. When that part ensues, and Galen goes to make the killing blow, Sienna is behind Galen and actually makes the kill herself, which, drum roll please, makes Sienna the new Queen of the Titans. As a result of her being the one to end Cronus, she inherits all of his powers. And, of course, she and Paris have their happily ever after. It was a long road to get there. The other Lords were very suspicious of Sienna and her intentions towards Paris, but in the end, they somewhat accept her.

Another plotline is Kane’s, keeper of the demon of Disaster. He and William were trapped in Hell in the last book, and, although William escaped, Kane didn’t. He was found at one point in this book, but lost again. He is being held by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and we are totally left hanging as to what is going on with him.

I really liked some parts of this book. The scene where Paris & William finally make it to the castle in the Realm of Blood and Shadows is hysterical. Let’s just say, I have a whole new vision of Gargoyles, who are instantly attracted to Paris. We will no doubt see more of Viola and her narcissistic ways, because, in her words, “she is greater than great”. Also, Maddox’s wife, Ashlyn, finally gives birth to the twins, which are half demon, half human. William, of all people, has to deliver them and immediately nicknames them things like Pistol and Shank. The battle scene at the end was great, but it took soooo long to get there. And the fact that Sienna becomes “the boss of everyone” is, in my opinion, a bit of a stretch. A former human Hunter, killed, brought back as a ghost and possessed with a demon……… I guess we’ll see how she handles her new status in future books.

All in all, this was not my favorite. But, it is a necessary read in order to continue the series, but it could have been a little shorter. It sometimes took pages in order to find out the answer to a character’s question. Lots of introspection, etc. With all of that said, I am looking forward to the next book. I don’t know if we know who it’ll be, but my vote is on Kane.

Reviewed by Vickie