Dark Descendant. From the acclaimed author of the Morgan Kingsley,. Want to Read. Shelving menu. Shelve Dark Descendant. MacEachren PhD. As a living descendant of Artemis the Huntress, private investigator Nikki Glass knows how to track someone down.
But when an Oracle shows up, warning the Descendants about wild dog attacks in Washington, D. Stream and download audiobooks to your computer, tablet and iOS and Android devices. Deadly Descendant. Nikki Glass, Book 2. By: Jenna Black. Dec 04, Ian rated it really liked it Shelves: a-audiobook , t-gods-goddesses-angels-demons , g-urban-fantasy. After an accident which at the very least should have left her hospitalised, Nikki Glass discovers that she is both immortal and descended from Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt.
Unfortunately for her, she isn't the only one who has found out and two opposing groups of demigods want her in their camp —— and threatening her family is fair game if that's the only way they can control her. Initially this book was a bit of a surprise. I didn't read the synopsis and after a few pages I'd decided it wa After an accident which at the very least should have left her hospitalised, Nikki Glass discovers that she is both immortal and descended from Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt.
I didn't read the synopsis and after a few pages I'd decided it was another fairly typical werewolf story. It's actually pretty good. Good enough that I'll be ordering the next in the series. If there is a downside, there is a strong undercurrent of violence in this book and violence for me is a trigger. Something I'm hyper-sensitive to. Even worse, that violence tends to be violence against a woman and it's quite in your face.
Honestly, it's a negative for me in an otherwise entertaining book. View 1 comment. One of the boys in my class asked what I was reading. I explained I'd just finished a book so then I was asked to describe it. Difficult as the pupil is seven so it went something like: There's a lady who is a detective, like a police man, she ends up discovering that her family are descended from Gods - like her great great great grandfather was a god.
And there are bad people being mean to her new friends. Plus she has a sister who's in trouble. Was it good miss? Well, I couldn't put it down! B One of the boys in my class asked what I was reading.
But probably not really. So there you are. May 13, Toria rated it liked it. Nikki is a descendant of Artemis and cannot in fact die. When she finds this out she gets ne "friends" who is also descendants of goods. From Eros, Loki and Kali. But the olympians is set on destoring them, but they haven't quite realised who they are dealing with and Nikki won't go down with out a fight. A quite the fun and entertaining first book in the series and I might continue on with the series.
Didn't fall in love with the story or characters just yet but I enjoyed the concept. Greek mythology always fascinated me when I was a kid. Despite the fact that popular fiction will overdue any given trend, I have been interested in the recent flood of books that I've seen that feature Greek gods. Unfortunately the Greek myth that is supposed to be the backbone of this particular story isn't featured the way the back-of-the-book description shown above would have you belie Greek mythology always fascinated me when I was a kid.
Unfortunately the Greek myth that is supposed to be the backbone of this particular story isn't featured the way the back-of-the-book description shown above would have you believe.
Like most paranormal fiction "Dark Descendant" is told from a first-person perspective. Nikki Glass, our heroine, is a fairly common staple character in the paranormal genre in that she is a private investigator.
The twist in this particular story is that she is a descendant of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, which is supposed to make Nikki unusually good at her job-- so were frequently told. She is unwittingly pulled into the world of the Liberi Deorum, or "children of the gods" and the ongoing conflict between two groups of descendants. Unfortunately I have more critiques of "Dark Descendant" than I do compliments.
It is, like most books of its type, very readable, but it also has the most common flaw of lacking depth. Nikki is a likable enough character who, at first glance, has some decent character development. But the problem is that we're mostly told what kind of person Nikki is rather than shown. And we're told so often that Nikki is a good investigator or that she is a "bleeding heart" that it gets to the point where I wanted to yell at the pages I know, I know, I get it already.
There are a couple of flashbacks that do a lot for establishing Nikki's character, but the overall trend was to let Nikki tell us in her first-person narrative who she was rather than let her actions do the talking for her. But the biggest disappointment for me was the total lack of content concerning the gods the Liberi were supposed to be descended from. I was especially intrigued by the idea that the book wasn't only supposed to draw on the Greek gods, but instead include gods from all pantheons.
I don't know much about Kali or Loki and I thought it would be fun to read about characters that drew from those mythologies-- except that "Dark Descendant" didn't include any mythology featuring those gods. At all. In fact there wasn't any mythology of any kind included in the book other than the notion that Zeus had a way with lightening bolts. We're given a sketchy notion about the characters and what powers one or two of them have, but they are mostly outlines and caricatures that feel like they're there to give the main character something to do.
The summary above makes it sound as if we're going to read a book that has something of an ensemble cast, maybe something like the X-Men series, but instead of having an intriguing set of characters with varying powers, most of them are merely mentioned by name before they disappear. What could have been a unique book ends up being extremely pedestrian as Nikki ends up trying to prove herself to the good guys while trying to avoid capture by the oh-so-evil bad guys. The potentially interesting aspects of the story are virtually ignored.
The characters are the stereotypical good vs. I don't like to rip a book to shreds, so I hate to do nothing but knock "Dark Descendant. Perhaps it's a style thing.
Maybe I'm unfair in that I expect paranormal fiction to have more depth than this. But I couldn't help but feel that "Dark Descendant" was over pages of missed opportunities.
It was okay, but not something I could recommend. Review originally posted at RabidReads. Since the fourth book in this series is coming out this year and it has been three years since I read book three, I decided that i needed to revisit this series before I tackled the fourth book.
My rating system has also changed a lot since then too. Anyway, Nikki Glass is a private investigator. She was an orphan who knew her mother, but was left at a church when she was very young.
She then moves from foster home to foster home until she is adopted by the Glass family. Nikki takes a case where she is to help get a girl out of a cult. However, when she is driving up to the mansion where all the cult members live, her client steps out in front of her car and she is unable to stop on the icy driveway and kills him.
This is when things really go ary for Nikki. She learns that she is now Liberi. Liberi are mostly immortal. They are descendants of the gods. Only there are only so many of these immortals, and more descendants than immortal seeds. The only way to become an immortal is to kill one of the other immortals. Nikki is a descendant of Artemis. The Olympians see themselves as much better than humans and have a very low moral compass.
They also believe that only the Greek gods should be allowed to be Liberi. They will kill off entire families of non-Greek gods to prevent them from ever becoming Liberi. I really enjoyed this story.
I like watching Nikki learn how to maneuver through this new world of immortals. She is also very protective of her adopted sister, Steph, who plays a very big role in this story. She also has to defend herself as she convinces the others that she is not a spy. I will warn you. Immortals can take a ton of damage in this world. They can literally not die unless another descendant kills them.
They can take a lot of abuse, which is proven several times in this book. Narration I listened to this book to revisit it.
So it was no hardship to pick this up on audio. She does a great job with all the voices. Her ability to voice the sweet Steph and the hot-headed Jamal and the truly evil Alexis was just great. Apr 29, Kelly rated it really liked it. Nikki Glass is a private investigator, and her latest job has her scoping out what her client tells her is a cult compound. When the job goes horribly wrong, however, she learns two things.
And two, Nikki is herself descended more distantly from Artemis and has just accidentally stolen the immortality of one of the Liberi. Now Nikki is caught between two rival factions of Liberi, neither of which she trusts. Dark Descendant is comparable to the origin story of a superhero. Jenna Black shows us how Nikki becomes powerful and reveals the world of the Liberi to the reader as Nikki discovers it.
Infodumping is skillfully avoided; each piece of information is organically woven into the plot at the point when it becomes important. Nikki is a refreshing heroine. Unlike some PI protagonists, Nikki actually does a ton of PI work, even the unglamorous parts such as snooping for information on the Internet. When she finds herself in danger, she takes steps to learn how to protect herself. Later, she reads up on mythology and uses that information to help her apply her inherited powers to her investigative work.
I was surprised by how emotionally raw Dark Descendant is. Unusually for an urban fantasy, there is no romance for Nikki — at least not yet. Dark Descendant is a really quick read; the pace is rapid and the book is not very long. Jenna Black introduces us to an interesting world and a terrific character who is strong without being over the top. The Descendant series promises to be a good one.
I originally wrote this review for FantasyLiterature. Aug 26, Mariya rated it really liked it Shelves: urban-fantasy , all-nighter , favorites , books-i-own , kick-ass-heroine , action-packed , epicness-happening , tortured-herione , cover-lover.
An adult Urban Fantasy novel about Greek Gods? I have been waiting forever to pick up a book like this. And trust me when your read the first chapter of this book you will be hooked in a way you never thought possible. I cannot express how much I love Greek Mythology, so the concept of there being immortals called Liberi that are the children of a Greek god was so fascinating and also this story is so very action packed at different times too. I mean every chapter you're at the edge of your seat wondering what's going to happen next?
And we also develop strong feelings for characters we love and hate. Nikki, our protagonist was quite an interesting character, but I took an instant liking to her immediately. She is your typical kick-ass urban fantasy gal. Even though I loved this book, there was one thing that bothered me. I just wanted to shout out at some characters in the book, "haven't heard of until proven guilty, have you? He laughed and held up his hands in surrender. It was only a figure of speech.
I love to read urban fantasy books only if they have romance, but this book rocked my world so much that I didn't mind that there was no romance and I think it would be awkward if there was a love story with Nikki. I loved watching the threats, the "I'm a bad-ass" talk and the ass kicking. This was quite a crazy world, but also a fun one too. I admit that this book is a bit darker than what I am used too, but I loved it all the same.
I am completely new to author Jenna Black, and I like what I see. This is a definite read for urban fantasy readers. View all 15 comments. I've had this book from the library for awhile, but resisted reading it.
Then I picked this book up around 4 hours ago and now I am done. I could not put this book down. Maybe, because I am obsessed with mythology. Or, because Nikki is seriously badass. Whatever it was, I was absolutely enthralled, couldn't put the book down. Not even for sleep. It's 20 minutes to 4 and instead of sleeping I am on goodreads raving, that's how much I enjoyed the book. Nikki is a private detective, who ignores her gut and ends up in a world she could never imagine. She's a descendant of the goddess Artermis, which is very rare and everyone wants a piece of her and her abilities.
This book has really great characters. Villains you love to hate and good guys that you are not too sure about. I have to say that I really liked Anderson and his Jekyll and Hyde personality, just as much as I hated Alexis and his boss. This is my first Jenna Black book, but it is clear to me that she is great with characters. I understood Jamal even as I disliked him. Anderson made me extremely nervous even as I trusted him. Jenna Black brought to the table something that I have been missing in all the novels I've read lately, well rounded characters.
Added to the well rounded characters is the world. I loved it. The idea that gods and descendants of gods are out there. Fighting a secret war and trying to protect their immortality all while humans are clueless.
These kind of books make me go, "imagine?! I hope that Nikki finds herself some romance. As badass and fierce as she is, she's just a normal girl who has insecurities and wants companionship and family.
I liked that about her. Jan 10, Snarktastic Sonja rated it really liked it Shelves: urban-fantasy. I picked this one up while in the reading doldrums and read through it in a couple days - it is short. I haven't finished the 4th one - I think I burned myself out. The world is interesting and new - descendants of gods - no vampires and werewolves. I love the relationship between Nikki and her sister. There are burgeoning romantic entanglements - but they don't take over the story. Nikki is a pr I picked this one up while in the reading doldrums and read through it in a couple days - it is short.
Nikki is a private eye and the story revolves around her finding people - rather than who will end up in the bed of whom. She is thoughtful and does not seem to do things recklessly. It is a fast paced story with solid characters and relationships. Solid 4 stars. Ok, so not a bad start to a series. Had some issues, but overall not bad. Review coming soon. Dec 23, Jessica rated it did not like it. Unfortunately, the writing is terrible and the concept never really gets developed. If I found out I were a descendant of Artemis, and people were trying to kill me, the first thing I'd do is go somewhere safe which the heroine does.
But the second thing I'd do is, oh, try to find out whatever I could about Artemis. Of course, Nikki doesn't need to, because that would be a useful step in the real world, where gods and goddesses aren't limited to one or two characteristics. People aren't, either. Artemis was a goddess of the hunt, so Nikki is great at finding people and a sharpshooter.
But Artemis was also a virgin goddess. This gets touched upon, but only in the sense that it makes Nikki a Rare And Precious Snowflake, not in the sense of finding out who her mortal ancestor was, why Artemis decided to have a child, etc.
Artemis was also the goddess of wild animals, but that doesn't figure into it at all, either in the sense of Nikki having an affinity for animals or them particularly liking her. Disease, childbirth, the moon and Artemis' other aspects never get touched upon. Of course, Nikki is such a shallow, bland character that there's not really room in her personality for any exploration of what it would mean to be descended from a goddess, or what sort of responsibilities besides surviving that might entail, etc.
Jenna Black fills the book with on-the-nose, sometimes cringe-worthy dialogue, and violates the cardinal rule of storytelling show, don't tell at every turn. How about letting us figure out that Alexis -- or maybe it was Konstantin; their personalities were so identical that I have a hard time telling them apart -- is evil by, oh, his actions? His facial expressions and reactions to what Nikki is saying? His attitudes toward other people? That's too much work, apparently, because she'd rather just tell us straight out that he's evil, and have him start right in on the evildoing forthwith.
The only remotely interesting character is the head of the group of descendants that Nikki joins, who convincingly spins out the "evil or not" question until near the end. What a waste. Nikki Glass is a private investigator. Orphaned and raised in the Foster care system, Nikki was adopted by the Glass family. After running into members of a strange "cult", Nikki discovers that her birthright is something she never suspected.
Nikki is a decendant of the Greek Goddess, Artemis. Because Artemis was the virgin goddess, descendants of Artemis are extremely rare. The "cult" that Nikki was investigating, turns out to be a band of Liberi, descendants of other deities, each with their o Nikki Glass is a private investigator. The "cult" that Nikki was investigating, turns out to be a band of Liberi, descendants of other deities, each with their own unique powers.
Things do not go smoothly at first because there are two warring factions of Liberi and while both sides want the rare Artemis descendant to join them, both sides are also extremely paranoid and distrustful. Their initial suspicious aggression causes Nikki to run from both factions. As a goddess-touched heroine, Nikki is surprisingly mundane. She has no super strength or any kick-ass fighting skills. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt so Nikki is good at "finding" things which was probably what led her to become a PI in the first place.
She also becomes a great shot - like Artemis with her bow and arrow. But other than that, there is nothing spectacular about her. She is described as pretty but basically unnoticeable compared to her bombshell sister, Steph. I think I like the fact that Nikki is a "subtle" kind of superhero. Some authors feel the need to make their heroines overly amazing like Cat from Night Huntress who gains even more ridiculous powers with every book.
Nikki was kind of refreshing. While I really enjoyed the premise of this book, I could've read about more pages. The book wasn't short, but I did feel like I only got the smallest taste of where this storyline can go and I'm dying to read more about Nikki and the other Liberi. If I were to review this book again in about a month, I might give it 4 stars, but the ending of the book really got me amped up to read more about the Liberi.
I'm glad that I had to read this book for a monthly challenge because otherwise I'm not sure how long it would've sat on my TBR shelf. There were also some scenes in the book that really had me tense. I'm excited for the next book and wish 4. View all 18 comments. Jun 15, Bunnycore rated it liked it Shelves: fantasy , , urban-fantasy , massmarket-paperback , 3-bunnies.
Where to begin, I was talking to a friend of mine at work about this book. I am hard pressed because there is the good, the bad, and the ugly. Start with.. The gods had children and they give them the seed of life. Their children are immortal. However, if their children have children they are not.
There is a loophole in this tho. If the descendant's of the Immortals kill an immortal they die and they take over.
So it is very Highlanderish. With th Where to begin, I was talking to a friend of mine at work about this book. With the exception that is the only way, an immortal can die. They can only be killed by a descendant. Interesting concept right? I thought it was.
You have Nikkie the descendant of Artemis which is rare because good old Arty is supposed to be a virgin. Guess she forgot She accidentally kills Emmit and becomes a Librea and now has the who house suspiciously that she is one of the enemy Olympians.
I love this part of the story. I really do. I couldn't relate to the characters, I couldn't feel empathy or sympathy for any of them. They are all somewhat backstabbish. They were ready to turn on Nikki at the drop of a dime. That didn't make me feel anything for Nikki. She didn't trust anyone either and she felt bad for the one person that had tried to kill her time and time again.
So nope no sympathy. Now I have read some dark romance in my life, I have enjoyed it. I have no problem with rape in some stories I can read it. It is not a trigger for me because I have never experienced it. I do however feel for those who have. This story references it, makes threats with it, I mean you even have Blake who I hated said this. Unless you'd like me to take you into the men's room and fuck you til you scream for Mercy, you'd better go tell Konstantin this one is ours understand?
When Nikki was horrified and wanted to run he said to her. You'd follow me anywhere, begging me to fuck you. I wouldn't do it, but I'd magnanimously offer to let you suck my cock during the ride to the house. You'd have a grand ol' time. He is supposed to be one of the 'good guys' So why three stars. Well because I liked the story, I could have done without the rape references and a few other things. But the story was interesting. That is all. Cool plot, cool synopsis, sool idea, and of course, cool heroine!
Nikki has been a PI for quite some time, but her friend comes to her one day and screw everything up for her, and now she's hated by whole hordes of powerful people both pyhsically and politacally , and by both the good and bad people, which practically leaves her on no-man's land.
She's also an outcast at the only safe sanctuary she was offered. All throughout the book, she has to prove her worth and loyalty to Anderson and co. Anderson, the only one who could butt heads with the main protagonist Konstantin, asks her to find someone for him, and it somehow became a test to prove her loyalty, and someone was bent on thinking her the betrayer. So when Nikki's sister, Steph, was threatened and Nikki had to rush to save her, that annoying someone held her back, thinking to ambush her and give her a good beating HE thought was his right to mete out and HE thought she deserved.
So yeah The ending was kinda a happy one, and it hinted at a little romance for Nikki and also a hell of a conflict brewing up ok maybe not hinting for the conflict, but downright shouting it at us. Nikki was the usual heroine-nice, intelligent, carried the rare and sought-after genes, but strangely, her looks were only average. Y'know, usually the main girl's all pretty and kind and gay and stuff? She sucked up all the misfortunes that befell her like a man and she's really independent.
I was disappointed about her powers tho. You would expect the rare Descendent of the cool Goddess to be all "oooh here is my magic bow and self-refilling spiritual arrows" and no one ever being able to sneak up on her because of her uncanny tracking powers But nooo, everyone, including and especially that irritating someone, Jamaal, kept getting past her rather laxed guard and ambushing her.
And throughout the whole book, she only managed to track 1 person if i remember correctly. Steph, Nikki's sister, is too pretty and too kind to be true. And seriously, after getting brutalized and almost raped, i would expect more of a reaction from her; what with her pampered, sheltered life and all.
This type of people is kinda too impossible so And i seriously don't think she's the girl for Blake. Haha it was kinda cool. I thought we could've read more about Logan tho He seemed to have much potential to be an enteraining lead hero.
Also incorporated with those awesome greek myths, that is the total cherry on top of the freaking cake. After readong the synopsis about how the protagonist is Artemis' Descendent, i started looking frantically for the ebook But it was kinda weird, but also kinda cute that Nikki apologizes after the first few times she shoots at someone who's with the good guys not purposely, but rather in self-defence. It was like 'BANG!
Oh oh, and i think the part where she accidentally stabs Jamaal's eye with the heel of her stilettos was just plain lame hey, it rhymes.
Haha, but cute at the same time. I don' harbor any sympathy since he was the one who cause Steph Nikki's sis to be brutalized by Alexis bad guy's right hand man by holding Nikki up. Totally uncool And secondly, most YA books, if not all, would have a little romance in it and this one only just subtly hinted at it in the end-for Nikki anyway.
And let me tell you, i am so not happy with the way things are developing. For all the things that he had done and caused,like bashing and choking Nikki and causing her siser to be ruffed up so badly and all, Nikki actually started developing, i don't know, a soft spot for Jamaal! He was my least fave character because of his unstable mental condition and hater-attitude, and she just goes traisping off with him? That's just wrong dude. And why pair someone of her calibre with someone at the bottom of the food chain?
Try it. I mean, i don't regret picking it up, but it just wasn't the best book that i've read and with PJ as a comparison, that's tough cause PJ is just plain unbeatable. For greek myths anyway. View all 6 comments. Nov 08, Shera Book Whispers rated it liked it Shelves: gods , mythology-greek , ebook-second , ebook , urban-fantasy , immortals , Genre: Urban Fantasy Jenna Black is the reining queen of gray morals.
Whether she's dealing with a possessed exorcist or a teenage girl who can bring fairy magic into the human world or technology into the fairy world. Moral grounds are never black and white in her tales, and Dark Descendant is no exception. In Black's latest world descendants of gods walk among the general populace, never really knowing they are descendants other then a few heightened abilities. The first children of the gods where given immortality, but all of there other descendants were not.
What the gods didn't anticipate was that if an immortal is killed by another mortal descendant they loose there immortality to the murderer.
The good guys are only good guys because they have a few higher moral fibers then the Olympians, who believe that they are the ultimate power as descendants of Greek Gods. They kill humans with out shame or guilt, then hunt other descendants so that they can't steal there immortality—even though the murdered descendants have no idea what they are. They kill all descendants that aren't from the Greek Gods and any young children are then brain washed so that they can be weapons against other immortals who are not part of the Olympians.
Maggie is tricked into killing a immortal who is part of the "good guys" faction. Unfortunately, the other immortals don't see it that way and believe she's working for the Olympians.
After getting gravely injured, she's then brutally battered, strangled, and hurt again and again. Only once is she actually injured by the Olympians. As many of the descendants are from savage time periods and see society today as being soft.
Getting your head chopped off, being hanged, and burned at the stake to repent wrongs to your leader is nothing to them. They can go from stabbing someone's eye out, to having a nice cop of coffee in the next scene. Like I said, Black is the queen of gray morals. This book is too fast paced for a romance and Nikki is a strong female lead who doesn't have the stupidity to look for a boyfriend while she needs to protect her loved ones.
She's strong and can cope with a crises while still holding on to her moral basis. Even though there's no romance for the main character there is a possibility of two very different guys that give me chills. Not only are they hot, they're right on that moral gray line of being bad boys to evil psychopaths. Much like Chloe Neill's Chicagoland vampires, there is a side character romance going on that just makes me go "ahhhh.
This is one that is going to grow, and I like a good romance with foundation. Jenna Black has clearly created a fantastic new world for her fans. Greek myth is something I've always loved. The best part is that this feels like a combination of Highlander meets modern day Xena.
Children of Zeus are walking around throwing bolts, picking up heavy suitcases, and our leading lady Nikki just happens to be a descendant of my favorite goddess Artemis. The good guys aren't easy to spot, the power plays are surely going to be something to keep readers guessing. Still, the plot manages to be too predictable to be called anything but average. Black has clearly created a fantastic new world for her fans to fantasize about.
Sadly this book is just an average introduction. Sexual Content: A child of Eros who uses sex a weapon, rape, and hints of sexual abuse. Dirty talk and humor. Originally posed at Book Whispers. View all 7 comments.
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