The Dark Ones by Rachel Van Dyken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
To touch a Dark One is death.
To talk to an immortal is suicide.
Yet, I’ve been marked by both.
A Vampire.
And the King of the immortals.
My life is no longer my own.
And now I know the truth, my life was never mine to begin with.It was theirs.
It’s always been theirs.The Dark Ones
A supernatural world where humans are kept in the dark!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🖤💙❤️💜
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍
Character development: 🙂🥰☺️😎
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration type: Dual Narration
The heroine: Genesis – she is a human in a supernatural world. Humans are taught from the start to believe that they are ugly, and they are nothing to the supernaturals. They stay apart except for every now and then a number is called, and that human has to go in front of the immortals and be judged. If they are not immediately killed because they do something the immortal beings don’t like, then they are supposed to work for them the rest of their life. The humans are supposed to train the next generation on the ways of humans, the internet and other things.
The Hero: Ethan – he is a very old vampire, one of the elders. He once had a mate who died and does not want another. He joins together with the elder of the sirens, Alex and the werewolves elder, Mason against the Dark One, Cassius. The Dark Ones are half angel and half human and more powerful than any of the other immortals. Cassius is considered king of the immortals.
The Story: when Genesis’ number is called. She is terrified that she will be immediately killed. Though she has studied her entire life about all the types of immortals, what they need the humans for and knows what she is supposed to do in service to them, she is basically shaking in her boots. She is summoned by Cassius who thinks Genesis is part of a prophesy, so he starts to mark her as his. That is when Ethan, Alex and Mason come in and get an audience with the human. Ethan knows he needs to rescue Genesis from Cassius, so he demands that he get her. Cassius owes Ethan a favor, so has no choice but to give her to Ethan.
Ethan gets Genesis home and meets again with Alex and Mason. They know they have to cover the mark Cassius made with one of their own or Cassius will hunt her and be able to track her. When they try, they are unable to mark her. Ethan, who hadn’t wanted a mate, has to try to mark her and he does so he is now mate to Genesis. Meanwhile Genesis is reeling from the fact that everything she knew about immortals and what humans were to them was a huge lie.
This was quite a new take on a supernatural story. I liked the fact that there are different types of immortals and different characters in this book that were funny and interesting. I also liked the two main characters quite a bit and the whole plot about Cassius wanting Genesis. The next few books are about the other immortal characters in this one, so I enjoyed getting to know them in this one.
There was some of the book that seemed to be disjointed or not fully fleshed out and some parts were a bit confusing, but overall, I liked the story. I did, however, fall asleep a few times while listening to this one and had to keep backing up the audiobook. I don’t know if that says I was just very tired or if it says something about this story. I generally don’t fall asleep while listening to audiobooks even if I am laying down.
This audiobook was told in dual points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Chris Chambers and Hollie Jackson. I have listened to a lot of books narrated by Hollie Jackson and I like her, though she sounds a bit old for this heroine. Chris Chambers also does a good job and I like his voice.
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