Dark Peril (Carpathians #21) by Christine Feehan
Piatkus Books (Sept 2010) | Paperback: 400 Pages
Paranormal Romance
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Christine Feehan books. I have been a fan of her for a long time, and to put things into perspective I have read every one of her books. But of late, particularly with her Carpathian books, I feel like they have been losing their way. Then last year I read Dark Slayer and was pleasantly surprised at the improvement in writing and characterisation. Sadly, Dark Peril seems like a step backwards.
The two main characters are Dominic and Solange. Dominic is the oldest of the Dragonseeker lineage, determined to get to the bottom of the vampire plot he has ingested vampire blood in order to infiltrate their ranks as a spy. He believes it to be a suicide mission, but an honourable way to die.
Solange is one of the last surviving women of the jaguar people, she is described a tough, physically scared from her battles and a warrior in her own right. And has dedicated her life to freeing women from her evil father Broderick, who believes jaguar women are only good for breeding and abuses and terrorises them. Solange is intent on stopping her father once and for all even if it means her own death.
The premise of the book is a good one, so I was very much looking forward to this story with two very strong characters. I’ve also been enjoying that the back story around the darker vampire plot that we have seen in recent books in the series too. But it all seemed to get a bit lost in this book.
I felt like Solange lost all of her toughness and personality as soon as she entered the relationship with Dominic. She went all meek and barely spoke to him at first. I wanted sass and fire between them.
Dominic sensitively decides not to push Solange into sex too soon into their relationship given her past. But, instead we get these strange scenes where he gets her to dress up in these sexy outfits, which seems like an uncharacteristic thing for a battle-scarred woman to do. Then there are scenes when he gets her to relax in and out of a bath while he washes her hair and gently touches her and it literally goes on and on for chapters. And I didn’t find it sexy or climactic, unfortunately I just got bored.
This is really the crux of the problem of the book, it focuses far too much on the relationship between Solange and Dominic with endless chapters of nothing much really happening at all at the expense of the plot. There is very little action – only at the beginning and the end and no twists or suspense to keep the reader intrigued. In want of a better word, it was all a bit blah. Which is a shame as I know Christine Feehan can do much better.
Also, while this book is 400 pages long, 60 pages of this is appendices at the end with details of the Carpathian language and healing chants. I do appreciate that this is the 21st book in the series and that Christine Feehan has put a lot of time, research and passion which I commend her for. But this seemed very excessive for a paranormal romance and if I’m honest I looked at it in disbelief, but did not read it at all.
VERDICT:
As a fan of this series, I was really disappointed with this book. I felt like it lost its way and I would have liked to have seen a bit more story and action and yes, I know it’s a romance, but a bit less of the love story which seemed to go on just too much. Yet despite all of this, I’m already intrigued by Zacarias who was introduced in this story and know that I’ll be reading his story and really cannot wait for Dimitri and Skylar’s book, but I beg you Ms. Feehan re-read some of your earlier books and go back to your roots, remind me why I used to love this series so much.
RATING: 
CHRISTINE FEEHAN ONLINE
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BOOKS IN SERIES ORDER
- Dark Prince
- Dark Desire
- Dark Gold
- Dark Magic
- Dark Challenge
- Dark Fire
- Dark Dream
- Dark Legend
- Dark Guardian
- Dark Symphony
- Dark Descent
- Dark Melody
- Dark Destiny
- Dark Hunger
- Dark Secret
- Dark Demon
- Dark Celebration
- Dark Possession
- Dark Curse
- Dark Slayer
- Dark Peril
- Dark Predator
US COVER
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6 Comments
I've often found with books from this author that they can be a bit take it or leave it.
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Ahaha, I was waiting for this review since I saw you're going to read it. It was one of the worst books in the series. No plot, none at all. I couldn't believe it when I was reading it – they are either walking around jungles or having fun in the caves. *arrgh*
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@Jules of her later books I definitely agree with you, some of her earlier ones are better
@Kara-Karina yes it was one of the worst books in the series sadly, desperately lacking in plot
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A lot of people are saying that it's time for this series to end because they seem to always be the same.
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@meggerfly yes I think it may be time for this series to end too.
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Although to add a caveat I would like to read and find out how it all finally concludes despite everything.
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