Book Review: Dark Challenge by Christine Feehan (Carpathian/Dark Series)

Dark Challenge, the fifth installment of Christine Feehan's Carpathian/Dark series, was a novel with a decent storyline, less than satisfactory flow, and too many distractions. Hence, my rating of a 3.5 Pink Hearts.

Summary:

Julian Savage was a Carpathian male who was tainted by a vampire at a young age, forcing him to live a solitary life away from his kind and his twin for centuries. The time has come for him to greet the dawn and end his bleak existence, but not before he performs one last task for his Prince, to protect the singer, Desari, targeted by human "Vampire Hunters." But the instant he heard her beautiful voice, he knew he had found his true lifemate.

Desari was a singer with a mesmerizing voice and a talent unmatched by any others. An ancient Carpathian female herself, she traveled for centuries with her family unit of her brother, a couple other Carpathian males, and another Carpathian female, and for centuries she thought they were the only survivors of their kind. Meeting the solitary Carpathian, Julian Savage, she found herself helplessly drawn to him, but now, she must find a balance between being with her lifemate and staying with her family.

What I liked:

Of all the Carpathian/Dark series novels up to this particular book, this story was the only one that deeply explored the changes within a Carpathian male when they finally found their emotions again upon finding their lifemate. In the previous novels, the heroes seemed to have adjusted to their newfound emotions quite easily, which didn't make too much sense to me. However, Julian's story was full of mistakes made due to his new distractions of emotions, and they way he coped with it. I genuinely felt that this book did a great job in tapping deep into the difficulty of the transition for the hero, which made it all the more realistic and believable.

What I didn't like:

While the storyline was decent, Christine Feehan failed to make it flow properly. There were so many sex scenes in this book that made the flow awkward. It was almost as if she was using those scenes to make it so that she could reach the proper word count for her publisher or something. For example, there would be a fight between Julian and the ancient vampire, and then when the vampire retreats because dawn was coming, you would naturally want to know the results of the next battle ASAP. But then, there will be a sex scene right there. And I'd be like, "what???"

And what was worse, was that no matter what the situation was, Desari would always tempt Julian to have sex with her. I mean, it doesn't matter if they were within hearing range of her family, out in the open where it could be dangerous, or when Julian should rest and prepare for a battle. All she wanted was sex, sex and sex. It was almost as if she was a nymphomania. And she didn't even think it's wrong to distract her lifemate when it meant that she could put both of them in danger... that was rather selfish of her, I think.

Another thing about this story was that there was a little too much focus on Desari's brother, Darius. It was almost as if he was the hero of the book rather than Julian. I'm not quite sure about other readers, but when I'm reading a romance novel, I'd like to stay focused on the hero and heroine. I might fall in love with another character, but I would never want him to distract me too much from the main hero of the story.

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, Dark Challenge by Christine Feehan, had the potential to be a much better paranormal romance novel than it really was. The storyline was good, but, unfortunately, delivered rather poorly. If the number of sex scenes could have been cut in half, and not occur in the middle of a suspense buildup, it would have been a much much better book.

Read my reviews of the other novels in the Carpathian/Dark series by Christine Feehan

Book Review - Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Twilight Saga)

Book three of the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse, is a paranormal romance novel with a good and interesting plot, but very annoying characters. For that, I can only give the novel a 3.5 Pink Hearts.

Summary:

With her boyfriend being a vampire, and best friend being a werewolf, Bella was torn between love and friendship. As much as she couldn't live without Edward, she couldn't give up her personal-sun, Jacob, even though the two hate each other so much that they want to tear each other apart. As Bella try to work everything out with this complicated relationship, Jacob just had to make things more complicated by insisting her feelings towards him was much more than friendship. And to make matters worse, a group of newborn vampires were roaming Seattle, just an hour or so away from their town of Forks, and an old enemy still lurks in the shadows threatening for revenge.

SPOILER ALERT!! SPOILER ALERT!!

What I liked:

I liked how the plot played out in this story, and their enemy's tactics. It was fresh, and helped to give much more insight about many secondary characters, especially Jasper. I really liked that because for the first two books, he was more like an unnecessary character, with no in depth description or characterization. But in Eclipse, he character finally developed, making him much less of an unnecessary background.

Although I fell in love with Edward in the first book, Twilight, I believe I fell in love with him all over again in Eclipse. It was just amazing how much he loved Bella, and how much he was willing to do for her.

What I didn't like:

I was never a big fan of Bella, mainly because she was just a shallow teenager, who, for no particular reasons, fell in love with a vampire. But she did not officially begin to annoy and piss me off until Eclipse. Throughout the whole story, she was inconsiderate and indecisive. Knowing how much Edward worried about her being with unstable young werewolves, she still chose to run off (multiple times) to see Jacob. Knowing how Edward would be jealous of her being together with another person who likes her more than a friend, she still constantly talk about Jacob in front of him. And then, when she finally realize Jacob's feeling towards her, she tells him no, but still continues to see him all the time. If these actions are not inconsiderate, I don't know what what they are.

In a way, I see Bella's action towards Jacob was due to her insecurity towards Edward, and would just like to hold on to somebody. But that, in my opinion, is seriously cruel. If it was in New Moon, when Edward was still nowhere to be found, I can understand, but he came back, and Bella chose to accept him again. Then why the hell was she leading Jacob on while still clinging onto Edward? Unfortunately, Bella's behavior in Eclipse made me loose a lot of respect for her.

Jacob, was another annoying character. As much as Bella did somewhat lead him on by keep going back to him, she did, after all, repeatedly said that she didn't see him that way, that she only loves Edward, and yet, he kept pressing her. I'm sorry, persistence is good only to a certain point, after that, it becomes annoyance. And that was exactly what Jacob was. And, granted, I never liked Jacob's character in New Moon, I just hated him even more in Eclipse. By 3/4 of the story, he annoyed me so much that every time he appears, I would either want to strangle him, or pray that he would die soon or something.

Conclusion:

With all that said, Eclipse was still a decent read if you have been following the series. However, for me, the only thing that held the book together was a decent plot, and a very yummy Edward. If those two elements were not present or if I'm rating this book solely on Bella and Jacob's character... argh, I don't even want to think about it. But then again, Stephenie Meyer did do a good job wrapping up some of the lines in this book, and will leave you wondering what would happen next.

All reviews for the Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Book Review - Dark Prince by Christine Feehan (Carpathian/Dark Series)

Dark Prince is the first installment of the popular Carpathians/Dark series, where Christine Feehan brings us to the sensual, dangerous, paranormal and mysterious world of the Capathians, a species so powerful, yet so lonely it will break your heart. However, despite all the raving reviews out there, I'm only giving this paranormal romance novel a 3.5 Pink Hearts.

Raven Whitney was a powerfully gifted psychic who works for the government to track down the most psychotic murderers in America. She journeyed to the beautiful Carpathian Mountains in Europe to rest her exhausted mind when she heard a cry full of anguish, despair and loneliness that she could not possibly ignore. Being a psychic who could read minds, Raven was no stranger to loneliness, she reached out to Mikhail.

Mikhail Dubrinsky was the prince, and one of the most ancient, of the mysterious and powerful Carpathians, who were often mistaken as vampires by the humans, as they survived on blood, had a much longer lifespan and could burn to death if they were out in the sun for too long. And now, they were on the brink of extinction, because, of some unknown reasons, for centuries, no female Carpathians were born, and many of the young Carpathian children couldn't live past infancy. To make matters worse, many of the Carpathian males were turning into vampires - ruthless killers that preyed on both human and Carpathians alike - because they couldn't find their lifemates, and were ripped of emotions and the ability of seeing colors because of it. Many of the ancients were forced to hunt their once-friends, while on the brink of turning themselves.

When Mikhail met Raven, he was about to end his life so that he wouldn't be consumed by loneliness and turn into a vampire. Her compassion and courage was like a ray of light in his bleak life, and at once he knew he found his lifemate. But his time was limited, for he must claim her at once to prevent himself from turning.

Dark Prince by Christine Feehan is a book that you're bound to fall in love with the hero, Mikhail, if you're into alpha males. Although he suffered much throughout his very long life and was desperate to claim Raven as his mate, he poured his heart out for her, and he took time to make her fall in love with him. Although, as a Carpathian male, he was extremely protective of his lifemate, he compromised much with Raven's modern "independent women" thinking, and tolerated many of her dangerous acts, while he was worried sick about her. Now, where do you get this kind of man in real life??

Christine Feehan also created such a believable world of the Carpathians that will make you rage when the stupid, psychotic and sadistic humans tried to hunt them, and make you root for the Carpathians when they fight. Obviously, it will also make you wish you could meet one of them and become their lifemate. :P

However, Dark Prince also had flaws that also made me want to either put the book down or pull my hair out. First of all, the edition I bought (I'm not sure if it's the same for other editions) needed some reformatting. It was printed in a way that the font were small, and lines were cramped together. It was difficult for the eyes, and didn't leave a good impression.

The book was also repetitive in a sense that the same adjectives where used over and over again. It almost seemed like Christine Feehan had ran out of words to describe Raven's hair or something. And that Mikhail is so unimaginative, that he could only use "little one" as an endearment, and nothing else... it would seem like he couldn't even alternate between that and her name. -_-

And then the thing that bugged me the most when reading this novel was the author's concept of a "strong, independent women." She tried to portray Raven as courageous and intelligent, but in fact, the outcome was that she was a plain retard - ok, I will give her courageous, but retardedly courageous that is. One of Raven's favorite lines in the novel was "I have a brain," but her actions had clearly stated that she didn't have one. She consistently whine about how over-protective and dominating Mikhail was, but never for one second did she understand the difference in strength and power between a human and a Carpathian. She kept complaining that Mikhail would not let her do anything he considered dangerous, and yet 2 seconds after she threw herself into a dangerous situation (which she was warned not to get herself into), she would be lying on the ground, half-dead, and helpless. Now how is that strong and intelligent? In my books, she's probably just 2mm away from TSTL (too stupid to live), and that's only because I've seen much worse in Japanese mangas (comics, if you like). But then, since her character was quite caring, she couldn't be exactly classified as a retarded bitch (thank gods).

So, in conclusion, I don't really recommend Dark Prince. If you're willing to overlook the heroine being retarded, then it's a book you might want to pick up when you have nothing else to read, and are waiting for your favorite authors' books to come out in a couple of months or so, which is exactly what I'm doing now. I am continuing with the series, just because of how yummy the male Carpathians are, but Christine Feehan have yet to change my opinion of her female characters.

I mean, really, it's not shameful to admit to your weakeness...

All reviews of the Carpathians/Dark series by Christine Feehan