Acheron ★★★★★

Acheron (Dark-Hunter, #15) - Sherrilyn Kenyon ★★★★★ 728 pgs

This is the story of Acheron's past and present. Eleven thousand years ago, Acheron is taken from his goddess mother and placed into the womb of a human. He is cursed from birth. The fates have insured that his real family will try and kill him, while a relative has cursed him to be alone and to live a life of pain. Not knowing that he's a god, Acheron lives a terrible life. He's beaten and abused in every way imaginable. Then, even when he gains his powers, he's still subjected to the whim of others. When an artifact from his early days is discovered, he must work hard to find it and keep it hidden. If it got out, Ash's enemies would learn how to destroy him, both mentally and physically.

This is the book that every Dark-Hunter fan waits for. Acheron is a recurring character throughout the series. You slowly learn more and more about him, but this is the book that finally lets you see into his past. Its harsh and gut-wrenching and should make most readers cry. Kenyon has this uncanny ability to mix humor with the most painful scenes in her books. I had a hard time reading about Zarek, but this one made me cry multiple times. I always wondered how she managed to convey abuse and pain so well. At the beginning of this book, the author admits that she was abused as a child. It put everything into perspective. I'm glad she's found an outlet and that she's sharing the pain with others. This book makes me want to be kinder to others. I can't even begin to imagine the trauma that people go through.

As for Ash's present, I liked the girl that Kenyon picked. I think this part of the story was like all of her others. It was Ash's past that really stood out. I could read 1000 more pages on his life and still be content. I can also exactly where others would nit-pick this book, but I'm giving it 5 stars because I felt like I was with the characters and not reading about them, because I cried multiple times, and because I took something away from the story.