Late Series Entry: Best Start at Book 1

No Mercy
Sherrilyn Kenyon
St. Martin's Press (2010)
Hardcover, 352 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

No Mercy is paranormal romance, and part of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series.  The main characters are shape shifters and an Amazon warrior/queen who was betrayed by her overly jealous sister thousands of years before. Now, the Amazon is a Dark Hunter, with special powers and immortality.  She's also falling for one of the shape shifters, a bear who has the ability to assume the appearance of being human.

Lately, I've been straying from my normal reading genres, which mostly include science fiction and fantasy, but also lots of historical fiction, which often has some romance included.  I also seem to have acquired an affinity for series books, jumping into the middle of a series without knowing it IS a series until later.  In the case of No Mercy, it's not yet a mid-series book, but closer to the recent end of a very long (20+ volume) series.  Coming into the series at this point puts the reader at something of a disadvantage, in that references to events that occurred earlier in the series are made in No Mercy, but having not read the earlier books, I had no idea what the characters were talking about.

Series connectivity aside, I have to say I did enjoy this book, despite the fact that paranormal romance generally isn't my thing. Sherrilyn Kenyon is a new-to-me author, whom I am glad I ventured to try. For those with at least some familiarity with the Dark Hunter series, No Mercy would stand alone well enough that it would not matter if a few books from the series were skipped. For those completely unfamiliar with the series, as I was, starting with No Mercy probably isn't the greatest idea. Knowing what came before may be helpful.

Recommended to fans of the Dark Hunter series.

A finished hardcover copy of No Mercy was provided to me free by the publisher in exchange for this review. This review appears on Dragon Views, Library Thing, Amazon.com and wherever else deemed appropriate by this reviewer.