Dark Prince [Dark Carpathians #1] - Christine Feehan - 4 Stars

Dark Prince
[Dark Carpathians #1]
Christine Feehan

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Prince of the Night.

He came to her in the night, a predator -- strength and power chiseled his features. The seduction was deep and elemental; he affected her soul. His need. His darkness. His terrible haunting loneliness. Her senses aroused, she craved the dangerous force of his body. Burned for him. And he had only touched her with his mind.

Lady of the Light

She came to him at dawn, his bleakest hour. As the beast raged inside him, threatening to consume him, he vented his centuries-old despair in an anguished cry that filled the waning night. And she answered, a ray of light, piercing his darkness. A beautiful angel. Her compassion, courage, and innocence awakened in him an exquisite longing and tenderness. He knew he must possess her, for only she could tame his savage side and lift the dark shadow from his soul. Apart they were desolate, bereft. Intertwined physically and spiritually, they could heal one another and experience an eternity of nights filled with love. 

Dark Prince is the first Carpathian novel and also Christine Feehan's first published work. It is also my first time reading anything by the woman, but I will stand by my initial thoughts that it would definitely not be the last. Dark Prince is a world wrapped in mystery, shrouded in delicate tellings of a secret world of Carpathians, not vampires, but much more sentient beings, with a lot more morals. Christine Feehan has created a world so enchanting and magical that it was heartbreaking to turn that last page.

Mikhail Dubrinsky is a dark mystery, draped in a brooding package of handsomeness, possessiveness and all together exquisite darkness. A man who has lived in centuries, through decades and through millennia of changes. He has amazing abilities because of his Carpathian gene; such qualities that make him that little bit more dangerous. He has spent these years alone, save for his carpathian family, who are loyal and very honest creatures. He is living on the edge of his life, as the Carpathian Prince, his dark and lonely existence is starting to get to him, so much so that he is willing to commit the deadliest of moments for any carpathian and vampire alike; Step into the sunlight. All this changes when he meets Raven Whitney.

Raven Whitney is a little firecracker of a heroine. At first she seems small and delicate, going through her life with a great burden. She is a psychic and has just finished working on some cases back in the US with the police, hunting down murderous villains. This grates her not only physically but mentally and she has come to the Carpathian Mountans for recuperation and some alone time -- little did she know just what and who she was getting involved with.

From the moment the two of them meet there is a bright spark, a chemistry that would set a laboratory ablaze. Mikhail and Raven are destined for one another, what the carpathian call 'life-mates' without a life-mate a carpathian man, or woman, would spent the rest of her days in a bleak darkness, missing their other half. It drives many to suicide, walking into the sun, to not have their mate. Mikhail is possessive and dangerously addicted to Raven, he has found his life mate and doesn't want anything to get in the way, even if it is her mortality...

Flowery words dressed in a way that makes this book read like black magic, this book is addictive as it is long. But not long enough sometimes. Christine Feehan has introduced her characters, the carpathians and their world, their existence to us in this book, she has done a great job, but the reason I only rate this four stars is because I felt like I wanted to know more. The only other reason was the chapters, they drone on quite a large amount and the paragraphs just stopped mid way, without even a cut scene. If Dark Prince was a movie, we would not be following very much because there would be no scene breaks. Sometimes it was hard to figure out whether a scene had changed or if it was the same one.

That is my only bug-bear with it came to Dark Prince; the plot was interesting and truly engrossing, the world was a magical trip into the beautiful scenery of Romania. The characters were gorgeous and entertaining, each to their own. I believe that this is definitely one of the founding Paranormal Romances; the love scenes were tasteful, not tacky. The prose was beautiful, if not a little too floral in places. Dark Prince is the first of a series I would love to finish, to find more out about each character, because as I said, they each have their own personality and charisma that made me fall in love with them as well.

C. x