Review – Darkest Before Dawn by Maya Banks

Reviewer: MinnChica:

***This review has spoilers, and is a little harsh. You’ve been warned***

Let me start by saying I have a love/hate relationship with this series. The first few books were sooo good, then the paranormal element was added in for two books and I got annoyed with the series. Then PJ and Cole’s book came around, and I fell back in hard-core love with the series. But, after this book, I might have to break up with the KGI’s forever.

I have so many issues with this book, I don’t even know where to start, so I think I’m just going to list them. Because as much as I hate to say it, even Banks’ writing couldn’t save this mess.

1. Honor is the most badass heroine to ever start a KGI book, until she received a personality transplant halfway though and turned into a doormat. Seriously though… Honor was a total badass. She survived a terrorist attack on her relief group, got herself out of a crumbling building and kept herself hidden in a foreign country for a week. She kicked ass and took names and I loved her. But at about the halfway mark, Honor suddenly turned into this total wet rag. She got a personality transplant and went from badass to sniveling heroine who needed someone else to save her, to tell her what to do. It was annoying and frustrating and made me hate her a little more as each page goes on.

2. Hancock took Alphahole to a whole new dimension and just became a bigger douche as the story went on. His whole “the needs of many outweigh the life of one woman” bull shit pissed me off the first time he said it. Then after about the 80th time, I wanted to toss my phone against the wall. He was a dick, there is no sugar coating that. Even after he admitted to Honor that he was going to turn her over to the enemy and allow her to be raped and tortured, he still somehow thought it was all good, because he was going to save so many other lives. *gag*

3. When Honor tells Hancock she doesn’t want to die a virgin and that she understands why he needs to turn her over, and that she’d like him to make love to her so that she has one decent sexual experience, I was pissed. Pissed doesn’t even begin to explain how I felt. What the actual fuck?

4. On top of all that, the end of the book doesn’t even have Hancock groveling or begging for Honor to take him back after all the fucked up shit they went through (despite the fact that he changed his mind and never intended to turn her over. Whoops, his bad). Instead, she somehow was able to sustain a pregnancy through torture, malnutrition and dehydration, and went to go get her man for the sake of their family. Seriously… at this point I was pulling out my fucking hair.

There was absolutely nothing about Hancock or Honor that made me enjoy this book. There were a few scenes with the Kelly family that saved this from being a total wash. But man…. this book had an incredible premise and great start. But it just went downhill and downhill FAST!

I give Darkest Before Dawn an F

3 thoughts on “Review – Darkest Before Dawn by Maya Banks”

  1. Wow, this sounds even worse than the last Maya Bank’s book I read, Safe At Last, which was a hate for me. I used to love Banks’ writing, I don’t know what happened to her.

  2. I am reading this book right now and it has gotten soooo bad that I had to see how other readers felt about this book. Of all the books I have ever read this is the absolute WORST. I can not believe how a book could take such a wrong turn and be so unbelievably unrealistic! I’m mad that I have wasted 8 hours of my life.

  3. F rating!!!!!! I totally agree with the other reviews. Hancock held onto his convictions to turn her over way to a horrible fate for far too long, knowing her horrible end. As the book went on, it became too late to recover from that. I stopped reading the book. There was no way I could change my mind about him after this part. He said over and over that he didn’t want to hurt her, and wanted to make sure she had pain medication due to her injuries. Yet, he still was going to sacrifice her to her horrible fate? I didn’t care much for her either for so readily forgiving him knowing he was betraying her and her upcoming gruesome death. It would have made a better read if someone else from the team was the hero and rescued her from Hancock.

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