Shadow Fallen (Dream-Hunters #6)

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Blurb:

For centuries, Ariel has fought the forces of evil. Her task was to protect the souls of innocent mortals when they die. Captured by a powerful sorceress, she is transformed into a human who has no memory of her real life or calling.

And is plunked into the middle of the Norman invasion of England.

Cursed the moment he was born with a "demonic deformity," Valteri wants nothing of this earth except to depart it and will do his duty to his king until then. When a strange noblewoman is brought before him, Valteri realizes he has met her before…in his dreams. When others come for her, bringing with them preternatural predators, he is faced with a destiny he had no idea was waiting. One he wants no part of.

The truth is that Valteri isn’t just a knight of William the Conqueror. He is the son of one of the deadliest powers in existence, and if he doesn’t restore Ariel to her place, she is not the only one who will be in peril. The world itself hangs in the balance, and he is the necessary key to hold back the powers of evil. But only if he can find a way to work with the woman who stands for everything in the universe he hates.

Themes: Paranormal, Historical

Rating: 4.75 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

Soooooo… I can honestly say I was expecting the setting on this one. I was thrilled to be able to jump back into the Dark-hunter series, after having been on a forced-sabbatical so long due to Sherrilyn’s personal battles, but I was kind of expecting this story to take place in the current timeline. That being said, once I got into the groove and understood just what I was reading I really loved this story and getting to see that pasts of so many of the characters we have come to know and love in the present of the dark-hunters series. It was interesting as hell to see how Sherrilyn wove her characters and storylines together and brought so many answers to my questions in the end. It is a little bit tricky to give details on this one without giving a lot away, but I will try my best. Ariel is a battle angel and has been captured by an evil sorceress and turned human, leaving her with no memory of who she is and in the path of a deadly foe that she should never have come into contact with. Valteri is a savage warlord who has fought for every scrap of freedom and respect he gets in life, but his loneliness from being seen as demonic spawn due to a birth defect has left him leery of others, and women in particular. When the beautiful and innocent Ariel is thrown into his life, Valteri fears a trap, but he find himself unable to resist the sweet and oddly brave woman that embraces him and offers him a chance to have happiness for the first time in his shitty life But when the truth of her past and identity is discovered and the full implications of their actions come to light, Ariel and Valteri have to find a way to come to terms with their new relationship and all the danger they now find themselves in, before their enemy kills them both and starts a war between the forces of heaven and hell that could end the world. Wow I have to say I have never met to characters that are so seemingly mismatched that turn out to be so perfect together in the end. I loved seeing Ariel find her humanity and come to terms with her present as she learned to live as a human for the first time. She obviously had to deal with some issues as she experienced true emotions for the first time and learned to do things for herself as a human for the first time in eternity. Seeing her trust in Valteri and how she showed him love and gentleness from the beginning showed that she could see the goodness in him that he himself denied. It was rough seeing her dealing with the pain she faced throughout the book, but in the end I felt she grew and changed beautifully into a character that I could recognize as one of Sherrilyn’s bad-ass heroines. Valteri was a piece of work through a lot of this story, showing only his darkness to everyone but Ariel as a way to protect himself from pain and rejection, but we get glimpses of the vulnerability and softness that he has had to hide for so long in order to survive. It’s obvious that he is looking for someone to love him and give him their love, but he doesn’t know whom to trust and only when he learn to offer his heart and faith to Ariel unconditionally does he become the strong and vibrant hero he is always meant to be. The passionate pull between these two is there from the very first time they set eyes on one another and only grow more intense as they come to know the heart of one another. Am dying to read the next in the series of course, though I have no clue where Sherrilyn might be heading in the series, but there were certainly some CRAZY revelations in this story that will make this world interesting. The Queen is back in a big way!