Search - Dark Prince (Carpathians (Dark), Bk 1)

Dark Prince
I had a hard time getting through this one and I found myself continually wondering why such the big hooplah over this series. Perhaps it's because this is Feehan's first book, but I swear if I had to read once more about Mikhail's coffee-colored hair, or Raven's blue-violet eyes, I was going to gag. The love scenes were too long and drawn out—how many times did I have to read the same thing over and over?

The writing also got to me. Usually when authors write in the third person but want you to be able to get inside a character's head, they break from one character's point-of-view to another's via logical divisions, whether that be chapters or simply sections within the chapter itself. However, after only a few pages into this book, I found the author jumping from Mikhail's point-of-view to Raven's from one paragraph to the next. This was very disconcerting, and I found myself having to reread many paragraphs a few times just to figure out who was saying or thinking what.

I've heard that this wasn't the best book in the series and that it gets much better going forward so I'm willing to give this series the benefit of the doubt and continue with it nonetheless.

Dark Descent
short story previously available in The Only One anthology.
Hmmmm... I liked this a little better than Dark Prince. Could be that Feehan has grown into her writing a bit and is no longer all over the place as much. Or possibly I just got used to it. Unfortunately, the love scenes are still entirely too flowery for me: "her velvet sheath enclosed his strong manhood..." And after a paragraph or two of that, my eyes are crossing or I'm nodding off (if reading in bed). No, it didn't come off as erotic to me, too flowery perhaps, I don't know.

The premise of the story was very simliar to Dark Prince though: good-guy Carpathian male meets human lifemate female, all the while battling off rogue undead vampires in between bouts of "white-hot lightning" sex. I hope Feehan can mix it up a bit in some of the other books in this series or I don't think I'll continue reading them.

This book had 50 pages of story and 250+ pages of sex. It's unfortunate that I won't be continuing this series. This author had an interesting story to tell, but after skimming pages and pages of sex to find the story again, I decided it wasn't worth the headache. This author has to be the worst author I have ever read.

Plot Summary: 1st of Feehan's Dark Series, this book introduces the Carpathians (read: generally "good vampires"). A Carpathian male (they have a serious woman shortage) seeks his soul mate, and upon finding her, wishes to bond her to him completely. The romance was in the foreground, in the background they were being hunted by vampire hunters.
Main Characters: Mikhail and Raven. Mikhail is alpha male, a bit archaic, but tolerable for the most part. Raven was tstl (too stupid to live). Some reviewers already noted that she continuously put herself and others at risk. Yup. She also took an absurdly long time figuring out that Mikhail wasn't human. (She hadn't figured it out even after he drank her blood, attributing that to "cultural differences").

Best about this book: the intensity between the hero and heroine was very romantic. They were completely engrossed in each other.
Worst about this book: Again, as others pointed out, some phrases were over-used to the point of bringing me pain: Mikhail's coffee colored hair, Raven's slenderness. She was described as slender so many times I wanted to buy the author a thesaurus (how about slim? Delicate, perhaps?!@!)
Absolute WORST about this book: the emphasis on women as breeders. When a woman is treasured by the man she loves its romantic. But when women are treasured as walking wombs its just species survival. It was a foregone conclusion that Raven would agree to "breed" and another character already determined that should she conceive a girl, that child would be his mate! Ick.
Summary: I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read the Dark Series (which I hear improves over time) for the background. But, I for one, am hoping for more intelligent, less breeding obsessed heroes and heroines in her next books.

Love the darkness, yet love and compassion in this book. The shape shifting is great!

I finally finished this book!!!! I think she could of wrapped it up in a 100 pages less, BUT, this was the first book and people I trust have urged me to continue as they say they get better and better, so I will try book 2, if I can find it!!! I won't save this one nor will I ever read it again!!!

Fantastic book and beginning of a great series. The author pulls you in with her vivid descriptions - not too wordy so you get bored, and not so lackluster that you can't see it in your mind. It's easy to get to know the characters and really feel something for them.
The action scenes are as well written as the sex scenes, the trials and tribulations of the main characters easily believable.
Brings a slightly new take on the Vampire genre. Very different from Anne Rice or Laurell K. Hamilton, but nonetheless interesting and absorbing.