Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Dark-Hunter" series of books has been extremely successful and has now stretched to this, the twelfth installment. However, for me this wasn't a very satisfying story taken on its own and is probably one for longtime fans of the series rather than new readers.

"The Dark-Hunter" series brings together various ancient gods (Greek gods and, in this story, the gods of ancient Sumer, too) who fight among themselves. There are also various demons and other creatures that cause mayhem; the Dark Hunters' role is to protect humanity.

This story focuses far more on the supernatural element. We meet Sin, one of the ancient Sumerian gods, who has been carrying out a one-man mission to prevent global annihilation for thousands of years. He holds a huge grudge against the goddess Artemis who stripped him of his powers. When Artemis sends her daughter, Katra, to kill Sin, she discovers the work that he is doing to save humanity and joins him in it. Of course, Sin isn't aware of who she is initially, and even when he finds out she's the daughter of Artemis, there are more secrets that she holds from him, things that he might not be able to handle.

There are a lot of secrets in this story. The secret of Kat's existence, unknown to her father, Acheron, is one. There are many other things revealed as the book progresses, but the most notable thing about this book is the enormous cast of characters and different gods, demons, races. For someone who hasn't read all the other stories, there is far too much going on in this story, and the backstory is lamentably thin. As the story continues, there are more and more supernatural beings added to the mix with their apparently limitless powers, and it becomes extremely difficult to follow the underlying story, that of Kat and Sin. Our hero and heroine are slightly disappointing in that their characters don't really develop beyond an attraction to each other, and I didn't feel particularly sympathetic to them.

Of course, when the big secret is unveiled, the one that could separate them forever... it's rather a damp squib. Their mission to save the world is important, but they seem to get sidetracked periodically - including by the bedroom - and the momentum of the plot is rather jerky. Fight scenes are over quickly, people are able to flash from place to place instantly, and the gods' powers seem to always encompass just what they need to get out of a particular situation. Overall this is a disappointing book, and the cast list is far too wide for someone who hasn't kept up with the series to understand what's going on.