A searing Lords of the Underworld tale by New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter, featuring a beastly prince and the wife he will wage war to keepHe is ice… her. According to ancient prophecy, she is the key to avenging his past, saving his realm and ruling as king. All he must do? Steal her from the man she loves—and marry her.
She is fire…
Gillian Shaw has suffered many tragedies in her too-short life, but nothing could have prepared the fragile human for her transition into immortality. To survive, she must wed a horned monster who both intrigues and frightens her…and become the warrior queen she was born to be.
Together they burn.
As a rising sense of possession and obsession overtake Puck, so does insatiable lust. The more he learns about his clever, resourceful wife, the more he craves her. And the more time Gillian spends with her protective husband, the more she aches for him. But the prophecy also predicts an unhappily-ever-after. Can Puck defeat fate itself to keep the woman who brought his deadened heart back to life? Or will they succumb to destiny, losing each other…and everything they’ve been fighting for?
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Amazing book!
The Darkest Warrior by Gena Showalter is book 14 in the Lords of the Underworld series. This is the story of Pukinn ‘Puck’ Neale Brion Connacht IV and Gillian Shaw. I have not yet read the books in this series, so for me this was a standalone book . Although this book makes me want to find every book in the series and start reading it.
Puck was a hardcore warrior out to protect his brother Sin and letting nothing come between them. Puck was also a one night only man to the women not wanting to encourage or start a marriage rumor. But the his brother betrayed him that set him off on a path to over take his brother. Then when Gillian enter into his life things started to change.
This was just a very exciting hot read! Loved it!
Let me start out by saying I like most fans of the Lord’s of the underworld have waited for gillian and william to become a couple,but when gena came out and said that William would not be gillian’s mate, but it would be puck the undefeated with the demon indifference their was a backlash of fans being pissed and felt that they had waited all this time and gena had lead them on. Well !! Thats bullshit!!! I knew that gena is one hell of a storyteller and this would rock and it did!!! I’m not going to give away too much ,but puck is one of the best Lord’s of the underworld and he is just what gillian needed!!! He’s a warrior first,he has never know softness in his life so it has made him hard ,he can’t experience emotion without terrible pain!! but those who love him have his loyalty and respect. And then theirs the prophecy that says gilly will be what saves his realm and people.Let’s face it william would have continued to treat gilly like a fragile piece of glass and why their was a time I wanted them to be together as the last couple books have gone by i started to see that their relationship was more of a deep love and friendship. Like calls to like and both William and gilly have seen horrors in their lives and have been abused and scarred.With puck gillian feels true attraction and the thought of having a sexual relationship is finally possible!! I loved this book and the characters are fabulous too!! And the whole beast twist was Sexy as f##k!!! I now want a guy with horns,they’re hot a hell and make good handles too!! Lol !!
Gena is amazing. Her books are amazing. You should be reading them, not reading my review of them. GO GET! A MUST HAVE!
There was a lot of concern over this book. We knew Gena had decided to not have Gillian end up with William and a lot of people were upset. Me? Not so much. I never really felt that that pairing would work out. While William clearly loved her, it felt more like the love of an elder sibling than a romantic one – but with William being the way he is, I don’t think he’d see that. And Gillian.. well she’s broken so she’s going to fall for the man who’s being so good to her.
When Gena introduced Puck a couple of books ago, I knew he was going to be an interesting one… and boy, I wasn’t disappointed. He doesn’t quite knock Lazarus off my No.1 spot for the guys in this series, but he came damn close.
This book is soooo good. I’m not going to post any spoilers. All I’ll say is that if you’re in the camp of Gillian/William, you need to read this book. You will understand everything. Trust Gena.
Also… I NEED more Hades. This book just makes me want him more.
Love the witty humor that Gena’s books are morphing into, fantastic read once again. Laugh, cry, all of it, but you get your HEA!
Thought provoking scenarios parallel to human situations. Generates solid discussion questions stimulating conversation.
I loved this book in the LOTU series. I read it very fast and loved the characters and flow of the story.
Puck is undefeated in war but a betrayal left him hosting the demon of Indifference. He is ice with no feeling until he meets the human woman Gillian. Gillian has been through so much trauma and her immortality comes with a cost. She has a crush on William but he sees her as a friend and someone to be protected from evil. Puck and Gillian end up bonded to save her life and get Puck’s crown back. A wild tale of love, lust, redemption and magic.
An interesting take on immortal combatants
Couldn’t finish it — it sounded too much like JD Ward’s series.
Well, this was a refreshing story, didn’t expected it to go the way it did, but for a reader that is not always looking forward to the usual ending, I might be biased. I liked the worldbuilding the author creates, both characters were definitely well developed. I understand the readers that were looking forward to another ending for this character, it’s a hard one and after so many books and years I get them. However based on this book only I think the book was well written, at good pacing, with good world-building and the storyline was interesting enough to keep me reading. Gillian is definitely a character I was intrigued by from the beginning and knowing this story only was an interesting move for the author.
Another great book by Gena Showalter in the series of the Fallen angels. Love her alpha supernatural males and their mates. Her stories are edible! one is never enough!!
4.5 stars
Well, a few books ago in this series and you never could have convinced me that Gilly and William wouldn’t end up together. And even more, that they should be together. When Puck came into the picture in The Darkest Promise and we started seeing bits and pieces of where his storyline was leading, I wasn’t all that happy about the turn of events. Now, after having read this book, I am 100% for team Gillian and Puck.
The first third of this book is a lot of set up. It’s needed. It’s well written and enjoyable enough. But once the groundwork that is vital is taken care of, this story really takes off. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy the interactions between Gillian and Puck. She doesn’t back down, and he doesn’t want her to. Seeing them together really had me realizing how wrong I was about a Gillian/William pairing. Gilly would have never become Gillian in William’s eyes, no matter what she did or how much she grew emotionally. And Gillian would never be able to be the image William has put on a pedestal when she was just a teenager.
Alrighty, here’s the tricky part. I already feel like some of what I said is bordering on being a spoiler, and I detest spoilers. So I’m going to say as much as I can without making things confusing or giving too much away. William did not make me happy in this story. We all know he is an egotistical jerk a lot of the times, but we also know there is a soft heart in there when it comes to those he considers friends and family. William gets caught up in his own head way too much in this story.
Puck is beyond amazing with Gillian. At least once you get over his initial motivations and start to see the real Puck behind his demon. He’s patient and gentle, but not in a way that makes her feel broken or fragile. He knows when to push and when to pull back and is so attuned to the nuances in Gillian’s reactions that he often realizes what she needs (or doesn’t need) before she knows how to articulate the feelings. It’s really so swoony and lovely and I was rooting for these two to really open their eyes to what they could be for one another.
As for Gillian, talk about character growth. I loved seeing her come into her own. With the help of some new friends, Gillian really found her confidence and her place in the world. It was truly a beautiful thing to witness and I’m looking forward to the reactions of any of her friends she hasn’t yet crossed paths with while on this journey. I hope to see more of Gillian and Puck in future books, although with their unique situation that may be less than I would like.
There are so many things that happened off the page in this story. I’m sure we’ll be reading about what happened with the characters that we lost track of along the way and I’m looking forward to all of their stories. But most of all, I’m still hoping for William to finally meet his real match and find his HEA…without getting killed by them!
Gilllain and Puck. They finally have their story!!! Gena Showalter is one of my top fav authors! I couldn’t put this book down!
I’ll admit I was hesitant to read this because of the bond William and Gillian shared but this was well worth it and perfect seeing Gillian able to grow into herself and find the strength on her own to become a strong fearless woman.
“The Darkest Warrior” is the 14:th instalment in the paranormal “Lords of the Underworld”-series and is a epic,gut-wrenching,action-filled and sexy adventure that takes the whole plot to another level.From the start to finish i couldn`t take my eyes away from the pages.It was like watching a movie in the cinema,every scene was so cinematic and real that my mind got stuck in this world even after i finished the book.Gena Showalter`s powerful stroke and imagination of this world really impressed me.
In “The Darkest Torment” Gillian was dying because of the sickness Morte ad vitam and the only cure was to bond with someone so she could become immortal.The ice-cold warrior Puck the Undefeated takes his place beside her and bonds with her-ensuring they are married for eternity.In this book Gillian strives to to live the life she has always dreamed of while Puck fights to get revenge on his brother and regain his Kingdom-but all the while Gillian`s beauty of sweetness and strength melts his ice-cold heart.
Gillian Shaw had always been the unsure tortured teenager in the former books who had found warm friendship with William and the Lords and their women.But after Puck takes her to his realm Amaranthia after their bonding she lives there for over 500 years (its like couple of weeks in the mortal world) and turns into a brave,fierce and loyal leader to the people and becomes a warrior known as Dune Raider and wins many battles over the decades.She becomes a woman who lives by her own rules.Her way of loving Puck was sweet,intense and shattering.Gillian was woman strong enough to feel when he could not. A woman unwilling to let him shut down his own emotions, who knew the rarity of joy and who would settle for nothing less.
Puck the Undefeated and keeper of the demon of Indifference is also a satyr and a Connacht prince yearning for vengeance against the brother who betrayed him.But on first sight he gets enslaved by Gillian-the one woman destined to help him save his realm by a prophecy.Already from the first time he appeared in the series he intrigued me and getting to know him in this book was awesome.He was such a dark,intimidating,rugged,passionate alpha-male and a hero who comes to live and breath his love for Gillian.He craved and longed for her attention,touch,passion,devotion and love.And oh what a possessive,obsessed,crazy and jealous husband he was when it came to his wife Gillian-despite the demon inside him punishing him for his emotions.
I loved reading the snippets of Keeley and Torin,they are so cute and fun as a couple!Hades is fun and vicious as always,but i love the way he protects his son William,letting nothing hinder him.Rathbone is another badboy Underworld King and shifter that intrigues me.Galen will get his story next with Legion which i have longed for since forever-i am loving the Anti-hero Galen more and more despite his past evilness!William the ever Randy learns a lesson and more in this book,and i just love him more than ever.Now its time for him to try to break the curse with his true fated soulmate…again i wonder who it will be!She is going to lead him on a merry chase for sure!
I loved Puck and Gillian with all my heart,their hate to love relationship scored with all the obstacles and adventures they endured for their happy ever after.Every scene with them are filled with feral passion and need.The sex-scenes was steamy on a whole another level,never thought eating a fruit could be so sexy!Both see each other as equal warriors,lovers and partners.What a Epic and unforgettable keeper this was…my my how amazed i am!
This was one of my favorite LotU books. While I’d always sympathized with her and all that she’d been through, I never actually *liked* her. And I never believed that William would be able to see her as anything other than a broken kitten.
I loved seeing her transformation, and seeing her find a worthy match. This was one I couldn’t put down.
It was boring, the only reason I finished reading it was because I paid for it. The heroine was better than her friend, the writer didn’t say it but it lead to believe.
I Give this Book a 5/5 Star Rating.
HEA(?): Yes!
Romance: 4.5/5
Heat: 4.5/5
Drama: 5/5
Suspense: 5/5
Dark: 2.5-3/5
I don’t want to give any spoilers about the book. 🙂
I waited till Williams book came out before I reread the entire series.
While reading the series all the way up to Gillian & Pucks, I realized I had experienced the mandela effect. I had pictured things/scenes between William & Gillian that had never actually happened. I have to say I’m glad Gillian & William we’re never meant to be in the romantic sense, and Puck to me is the perfect fit for her and he was one of the characters I was highly anticipating to see more of the moment I came across from him.
I loved how this book went from beginning to end, and this is one of my favorites of the series!
I can’t wait to read Williams now!
I highly anticipate Viola’s, Winter’s, Cameron’s & Rathbone’s Books, and above all Hades!