Dark Prince

I rated this 4★ mainly because it was great to get the back story (to me, since I've read other Carpathian books prior to this one) of Mikhail and Raven. I do enjoy reading about Christine Feehan's Carpathians, but have to space them out since the bulk of the story in each book is always the same (Carpathian male on the verve of losing "the battle" finds his lifemate...).

This book has been floating on my TBR for probably a decade, so I finally took the plunge.

It was ... eh.

I think maybe it's partially changing sensibilities, given that this book was written in the 90s, but yeesh, it was insanely melodramatic. Just completely and utterly overwrought in every possible way. And the FMC is unbelievably TSTL, which, combined with the OTT drama, just ends up being painful. Every single choice she makes is the stupidest thing I can even imagine. And the MMC is just ludicrously controlling. Is there really a woman out there who wouldn't punch this guy in the junk and then RUN the other direction? I have a hard time believing it.

I like the mythos of the Carpathians, but if they are all like this, I can't imagine reading this long-ass series. I got through most of this book due to laughter at the ridiculousness, which won't carry me very far into the whole series. Has anyone on my friends list read onward? Is it all like this?

I was really expecting something more. Instead, it was mostly boring and, above all, annoying.

Mikhail’s macho style was driving me mad. But that wasn't the worst thing; Raven's irrational actions were much worse. One minute she accepts that she belongs to him after only one day of acquaintance, then she cries and wails like some naïve damsel, then behaves even more like a child and hides in the shower, but when she sees him, everything is fine, and they have sex. And so on… As if she has some switch that constantly transfers her from one emotion to the other without a break. She is undoubtedly naïve, a bit stupid, and at the same time completely stubborn.

I feel like Mikhail doesn't respect her at all; he treats her like a pretty, beloved daughter (despite sex, of course). He nearly forces her to marry him, but he says nothing about himself. Instead, he pets her, finding her independence so cute and funny, and adores her innocence all the time. And Raven decides that she should stay with Mikhail because he deserves someone to love him. Well, what a great reason, isn't it? I couldn't find any real feelings between Mikhail and Raven. Despite the author's efforts, the first sex scene seems dispassionate to me. In my opinion, they are completely strangers to each other at that moment, although Mikhail is already talking about love. And later sex is no better.

What's more, I felt that I didn't have enough information about anything: about the Carpathians and how they differ from the vampires, about their connection with women, about them dying out, about their abilities, about their enemies, and so on. I was relentlessly waiting for some explanations but in vain.

On top of that, the plot is dragging on. It is neither about the relationship (I wouldn't call it love, more like some kind of obsession) between Raven and Mikhail, nor about the murder of Mikhail’s sister and dealing with the killers. Well, to some point, it is definitely about Raven and Mikhail having sex, but even that is boring because it always looks the same (him wanting her, her looking at him and wanting him too, him feeling his beast and wanting her blood, her giving him whatever he wants). And every, I mean EVERY, conversation between Raven and Mikhail ends up in sex. It's like: I love you. Sex. I changed my mind, I hate you. Sex. Or maybe not. Sex. I'm leaving. Sex. Like, definitely! Sex. Oh, you killed all those people! Sex. And so on…

Did I mention that the dialogues are clichéd and dull as well? And there are so many meaningless scenes that are completely redundant. I have lost interest a few times, but unfortunately, the book wasn't bad enough for me to completely stop reading, so I keep on struggling with it till its eye-rolling end.

After so many enthusiastic reviews, I expected to really like this book, or at least to be able to read it without constantly looking for an excuse to do something else. The worst thing is probably that I actually like Grigori and Jacques and would like to know their stories if that didn't mean I have to read the other books in this series.

* And I just wonder, do all the Carpathians speak English in their everyday life, or does Raven know Romanian so well? And why do all Romanians from the village have such non-Romanian surnames? And Dubrinsky, really?

Waste of time!