Title: Dark Prince
Author: Christine Feehan
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing/Love Spell
Released: July 1999
Series: Dark Series, Book #1
Source: My personal copy
From Christine Feehan's website:
A telepathic hunter of serial killers, Raven Whitney helps catch some of the most depraved criminals. But her work keeps her from getting close to others, and has drained her body and spirit. In need of rest and rejuvenation, she embarks on a vacation far from home.
Mikhail Dubrinksy is the Prince of the Carpathians, the powerful leader of a wise and secret ancient race that thrives in the night. Engulfed by despair, fearful of never finding the mate who can save him from the encroaching darkness, his soul cries out in loneliness. Until the day a beautiful voice full of light and love responds, softly soothing his pain and yearning.
From the moment they meet, Raven and Mikhail are helpless to resist the desire that sparks between them. But just as fate unexpectedly brings these life mates together, malevolent forces threaten to destroy them and their fragile love. Yet even if they survive, how can these two lovers – Carpathian and human – build a future together? And how can Mikhail bring Raven into his dark world without extinguishing her beautiful goodness and light?
Background:
First I'll give those of you who are not familiar with this series some background to the Carpathian people. Carpathians are a race of beings as old as time itself, their homeland is the area of the Carpathian mountains. They have an endless lifespan, but don't get me wrong they can be killed, it just takes an awful lot to do it. They do not take nourishment from food, rather they live on blood. THEY ARE NOT VAMPIRES, though male Carpathians can 'turn', basically they kill while feeding and become soulless, evil shadows of the proud warriors they once were. Carpathians also have immense power, control the elements, compulsion, memory wiping, shape-shifting the list goes on.
Their race is dying out, each Carpathian has a lifemate who completes the other half of their soul. Without a lifemate, male Carpathians are far more likely to turn the older they get. Lifemates are rare and especially in the last 1000 years or so the number of lifemates being found has dropped dramatically, and only a handful of infants make it past their first year, all of them male. Not good.
Review:
Ok background over, hopefully that was helpful. I absolutely love this series and who better to start it off with than the leader of the Carpathian people aka. Mikhail Dubrinsky. Mikhail is 1000 years old (give or take a couple of decades) he has gorgeous long black hair and his body is in fine form for someone his age. But the pressures of being leader of a dying race are starting to overcome him and he doubts his his people will survive much longer. He has given up all hope of finding the other half of his soul when he stumbles across Raven (or rather she stumbles across him). Raven is an American human, who also happens to be telepathic. She's staying in the Carpathian region after using her power to hunt down some of the more depraved serial killers in America. One night Raven feels Mikhail's despair (even though he is miles away) and reaches out with her telepathy to comfort him. Her life will never be the same as Mikhail discovers she is his lifemate and intends to make her fall in love with him. He basically follows her trying to keep her safe, which, because of who Raven is, is not the simplest of tasks and she is not the kind of woman who lets someone walk all over her, even if he is a handsome Prince.
This is a very good start to the series and you learn all you need to about the Carpathian lifestyle within the first few chapters so it's easy to follow. We also get introduced to some interesting characters including Mikhails fearsome bodyguard and best friend Gregori Daratrazanoff, he basically is so powerful that other Carpathians avoid him and Vampires do not want him hunting them, it's not a fight they will win. Anyway back to Mikhail, he's quite dominating at first, wanting to control Raven's actions and change her nature in a misguided attempt to keep her safe. Raven is not someone who does something just because Mikhail tells her to though and she ends up in trouble a few times, attacks from both vampire and humans alike does not a calm Mikhail make. Despite these troubles love blossoms between these two and there are several beautiful scenes between them (though some become quite erm... descriptive shall we say).
Overall a pretty good book, one I re-read often because it's a story of the kind of love every girl dreams of, and in the end, Mikhail is the perfect match for Raven. If you love paranormal romance, this is one to look out for.
My rating: 4/5
From Christine Feehan's website:
A telepathic hunter of serial killers, Raven Whitney helps catch some of the most depraved criminals. But her work keeps her from getting close to others, and has drained her body and spirit. In need of rest and rejuvenation, she embarks on a vacation far from home.
Mikhail Dubrinksy is the Prince of the Carpathians, the powerful leader of a wise and secret ancient race that thrives in the night. Engulfed by despair, fearful of never finding the mate who can save him from the encroaching darkness, his soul cries out in loneliness. Until the day a beautiful voice full of light and love responds, softly soothing his pain and yearning.
From the moment they meet, Raven and Mikhail are helpless to resist the desire that sparks between them. But just as fate unexpectedly brings these life mates together, malevolent forces threaten to destroy them and their fragile love. Yet even if they survive, how can these two lovers – Carpathian and human – build a future together? And how can Mikhail bring Raven into his dark world without extinguishing her beautiful goodness and light?
Background:
First I'll give those of you who are not familiar with this series some background to the Carpathian people. Carpathians are a race of beings as old as time itself, their homeland is the area of the Carpathian mountains. They have an endless lifespan, but don't get me wrong they can be killed, it just takes an awful lot to do it. They do not take nourishment from food, rather they live on blood. THEY ARE NOT VAMPIRES, though male Carpathians can 'turn', basically they kill while feeding and become soulless, evil shadows of the proud warriors they once were. Carpathians also have immense power, control the elements, compulsion, memory wiping, shape-shifting the list goes on.
Their race is dying out, each Carpathian has a lifemate who completes the other half of their soul. Without a lifemate, male Carpathians are far more likely to turn the older they get. Lifemates are rare and especially in the last 1000 years or so the number of lifemates being found has dropped dramatically, and only a handful of infants make it past their first year, all of them male. Not good.
Review:
Ok background over, hopefully that was helpful. I absolutely love this series and who better to start it off with than the leader of the Carpathian people aka. Mikhail Dubrinsky. Mikhail is 1000 years old (give or take a couple of decades) he has gorgeous long black hair and his body is in fine form for someone his age. But the pressures of being leader of a dying race are starting to overcome him and he doubts his his people will survive much longer. He has given up all hope of finding the other half of his soul when he stumbles across Raven (or rather she stumbles across him). Raven is an American human, who also happens to be telepathic. She's staying in the Carpathian region after using her power to hunt down some of the more depraved serial killers in America. One night Raven feels Mikhail's despair (even though he is miles away) and reaches out with her telepathy to comfort him. Her life will never be the same as Mikhail discovers she is his lifemate and intends to make her fall in love with him. He basically follows her trying to keep her safe, which, because of who Raven is, is not the simplest of tasks and she is not the kind of woman who lets someone walk all over her, even if he is a handsome Prince.
This is a very good start to the series and you learn all you need to about the Carpathian lifestyle within the first few chapters so it's easy to follow. We also get introduced to some interesting characters including Mikhails fearsome bodyguard and best friend Gregori Daratrazanoff, he basically is so powerful that other Carpathians avoid him and Vampires do not want him hunting them, it's not a fight they will win. Anyway back to Mikhail, he's quite dominating at first, wanting to control Raven's actions and change her nature in a misguided attempt to keep her safe. Raven is not someone who does something just because Mikhail tells her to though and she ends up in trouble a few times, attacks from both vampire and humans alike does not a calm Mikhail make. Despite these troubles love blossoms between these two and there are several beautiful scenes between them (though some become quite erm... descriptive shall we say).
Overall a pretty good book, one I re-read often because it's a story of the kind of love every girl dreams of, and in the end, Mikhail is the perfect match for Raven. If you love paranormal romance, this is one to look out for.
My rating: 4/5
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