Review: The Darkest Lie

Reviewed by Jen
 

I have some mixed feelings about this book.  Our hero is Gideon and as one of the Lords of the Underworld, he holds the soul of a demon inside him. His demon is Lies, which makes him incapable of telling the truth without experiencing debilitating pain.  This. Is. Utterly. Annoying. Every single bit of his dialogue is in this absurd reverse-speak, followed by a translation so we can grasp his meaning.  It bugged me to such a degree that it almost ruined the book for me. And that would have been a shame, because outside of that, the book was really good.

Scarlet is the daughter of a goddess, and also carries a demon. Hers is Nightmares.  When the Lords found her back in The Darkest Passion, they imprisoned her while they tried to learn about her. She calls out to Gideon in a dream and he comes to the dungeon to meet her. That's when she informs him that she is his long-lost wife.  Gideon feels a connection toward her and has flashes of her in his mind, but can't remember any history together.  So the book chronicles the couple as they try to sort out their own histories and what could have made their memories so different.

Scarlet is a wounded warrior. She is strong and fearsome, but her psyche is hanging on by a thread.  The realizations that she unveils are utterly heartbreaking. I found myself crying at her memories.  And her fear of her own feelings for Gideon is so poignant.  Their love story is beautiful.

We've also got two side arcs in play. One where Strider takes an unexpected enemy captive. The other follows Aeron, William and Amun into Hell, where they try to rescue Legion from Lucifer.  It's been tough to get to know Amun, since he doesn't speak. But it was nice to get a little insight into his character as we lead up to The Darkest Secret. 

So as I come to the end of the review, I'm struggling to give it a rating. The story itself was really, really good. But the Gideon-speak was really, really bad.  Grrr. 4 stars... I guess.