Dark Prince: Book Review by Dinh.
Summary:
Raven Whitney is on a needed break from her job as a telepathic hunter of serial killers. Whilst resting at an inn in the Carpathian Mountains, she hears a lonely and desperate voice that gets her attention.
The voice she hears is of Mikhail Dubrinsky, the Dark Prince of the Carpathians. The Carpathians are not a race of human but an immortal race that look like humans and have telepathic powers and the ability to change into animals as well as mist.
At the onset of their meeting, Raven and Mikhail have a chemistry that connect the two. Soon, Mikhail is in love with Raven who he believes is his his life mate.
Raven is swept into Mikhail’s bizarre world and while the two are trying to get their relationship going an evil force threatens to kill the Carpathians and anything in their way.
Review:
If you like paranormal romance then this book is for you!
The subject matter is what got me interested in this book in the first place. It’s about vampires, or the Carpathians who can become vampires.
Those that know me know that I love supernatural things like that. I love watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer the TV series, Underworld and other similar movies to reading the Twilight series. They all fascinate me.
This is the first book I have read by Christine Feehan so I didn’t know what to expect. The only facts I knew going into this book was that she’s a number 1 New York Times best selling author and that she authored numerous books in this Dark series.
On research, Feehan has authored over 50 books, including 6 series, 5 series of which have made it as a number 1 best selling list in the NY Times!
The Dark Prince is what I would classify as trashy supernatural romance, and the library would classify as paranormal romance genre.
Mixed Feelings
I have mixed feelings about this book.
Let me explain.
The Dark Prince is a cheesy and trashy sort of book. It’s trashy in the sense it’s more fluff than anything. There’s no substance to the book at all. The characters are stereotypical and don’t have any dimension to them.
Even the name of the female protagonist is a cliche.
I couldn’t connect to Raven Whitney although I like the character she is suppose to be – strong and able woman. She is a modern day woman who is a psychic and who hunts serial killers. What a great skill! In using her psychic powers however, she gets drained and needs a respite to recover fully.
Mikhail Dubrinsky is the Carpathian hero in this romance. He is pulled back from committing suicide when Raven mentally reaches out to him and gets his attention. He’s your typical hero/vampire- possessive and dominating. From the beginning, once he identify Raven as his lifemate he is just way pushy. The relationship is pretty much determined by Mikhail as Raven just caves into his demands.
The weak characters and the cliches were not all of the negatives!
Repetitive
Most of the book is dedicated to Raven and Mikhail building their connection and having sex. The romance part is just them wanting each other and then having steamy sex. It got very repetitive and boring.
“Raven’s arms slid around his neck, her legs around his hips, opening for him. Slowly he lowered her body over his, impaled her on the thick length of fire so that she surrounded him with such a moist, tight sheath he shuddered, somewhere beyond mere pleasure, a kind of erotic heaven and hell.”
This could be Fifty Shades of Grey with supernatural story line. There were so many of the same scenes like the above quote that it got mind bending boring.
And what’s a story without a good plot?
Weak Plot
Somewhere in between these sort of sex scenes we have a malevolent force hunting the Carpathian to destroy them. That’s somewhat of a plot.
I was more interested in finding out more about the Carpathians and how they were different to vampires and the meaty parts of their history but there wasn’t much explanation. What was explained gave me just enough information to keep me interested and to finish the book.
Well, what did I like?
On a good note, I actually enjoyed reading this book because it was so trashy. I can see how Feehan has made a whole series of these books. It feeds into the masses because of the romance (I mean to say the steamy sex scenes) and the paranormal themes!
I did like that I learned a bit about the Carpathians. It’s another angle on what are vampires. The Carpathians in this book are in essence good but when they don’t find their lifemate, they lose the ability to see in color and all their abilty to feel.
The only feeling they get is when they make a kill; this done by draining all the blood from their victim and that changes the Carpathian into a vampire. The Carpathians are a dying breed and a female Carpathian has not been born over 500 years. The choice is be a vampire or walk into the sun and die. This is an interesting view of the Carpathian and vampires and one I would have loved to find out more about it.
My final thoughts:
Some times we all need a not so good book to read to appreciate one that is good. So while I don’t think this is a particularly good book, the soft porn just didn’t do it for me, I did enjoy reading it some what.
It did keep me entertained and I did finish the book without falling asleep! I will be picking up the second book of Feehan’s Dark series- Dark Desire just because it left me curious about the Carpathians.
You can get The Dark Prince book here or listen to it here.
Fall into your next good book here!
Have you read any of Christine Feehan’s paranormal romance novels (Dark series)? Did you find them enjoyable?
I love supernatural books! All in all, they usually are pretty shallow, but I’ve always had a hunger for particularly vampire books. I’ve been a longtime fan of Anne Rice, and I’m always looking for more to read. This review definitely made me curious to check it out, and at least I’ll know heading in not to expect anything to substantial. I have noticed that a majority of vampire books usually have some kind or romantic undertones, so when I look at these books, I’m more interested in different interpretations of vampirism, so I’m curious about the Carpathians history now. That alone I think will be enough for me to pick up this book. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
I too am fascinated by the paranormal and books that have science fiction and fantasy elements. From your review, I would say that it belongs in the same category as Twilight – another trashy supernatural romance. But many people seem to like these sort of books. They are entertaining and provide an escape from reality.
Hi Yvonne!
Thanks for your comments.
Dark Prince was eye-rolling cheesy and it does have vampires and romance in it which twilight has but I would not categorize them in the same way. The Twilight series was so so much better. Twilight was more teenage angst and love whereas Dark Prince had more lust and not as romantic.
These books are good for escapism and that’s why they are so popular.
Thanks for stopping by!
I am fascinated by the paranormal and have written and published a reincarnation story novel myself, titled This Time by Melissa Abbott. I wonder about these types of books because I can never finish reading one so, your review was enlightening. I’ll put the information for what a reader likes and doesn’t to good use for my own research. I’ll be back, too 🙂
Hi Melissa!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I think paranormal romance is a genre of its own. Reader of this genre know what they want. I, in particular was looking for more paranormal and not so much the romance. Dark Prince was too heavily invested in the romance- which actually translated into sex scenes. I can see the appeal of this but it’s not for everyone.
Ms.Feehan has a big following so it must be working for her, just not for me.
Good luck with you book! I hope you get positive feedback from reviews. 🙂
I have to say, that you can get a sense of what the book is about just from reading the title, and seeing the cover.
Your review just affirms the stereotypes of such books.
I can’t say I love to read these sorts of novels, everything just feels cheesy.
I think that your review is very objective, which is great. All though there are many trashy novel attributes you mentioned, you still find things to like in the story.
Hi Ido!
I agree with you that you can get a sense of the book when reading the title and cover and I have a tendency to judge a book by it’s cover.
Sometimes we miss out on great books judging the cover so I try to be as open minded as possible. Nowadays, I find that the covers are all too eye catching and the content not so good.
Thanks for your compliment. I always express my honest opinion.
Books are very personal and from looking at some star ratings on Dark Prince, it ranges from loving it to hating it. There’s not much middle ground.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Dinh, I have a weak spot for paranormal romance. But, I have to be in the mood for it or I’d just end up rolling my eyes through most of it. 😀 I haven’t tried Christine Feehan. I’ll await your verdict on the second one to see if I’d like to try it. I like the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. I would recommend it.
Hi Lonna!
I just laughed when you mentioned that you roll your eyes. I have a tendency to do that too!
I hope Dark Desire is not like the first book of the Dark series. I am looking for more. It’s hard to find a good paranormal vampire book (I really enjoyed the Twilight series) and it can get a bit frustrating waiting.
Thanks for the recommendation of the Night Huntress series. I will look into that. 🙂
Dinh, I love your candid review of this book. I would not recommend this for my students, but I forwarded to a colleague who is trying out different authors and she loves the paranormal genre books, especially anything in the romance world. Thank you. Good job.
Hi Josephine!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I am happy that you know someone who would like to read this book. It’s not for everyone. The book is for a specific type of person.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hmm, now this is a very mixed opinion. I know what you mean about those trashy kind of reads – there are plenty of them around and they are always there for us to pick up and read whenever we want to. But even though they can be cliche and incredibly stereotypical of their genre, sometimes that’s all we want and need!
Hi Olivia!
The book is stereotypical and full of cliches but somehow I enjoyed reading it. I accept it as what it is so it doesn’t bother me so much. I was very curious about the Carpathians and their history so hopefully the next book in the Dark series will give me more info.
Yes, I am going to check out the next book. We all need a bit of a trashy read sometimes. 🙂
I have never heard of either the author or the series. I don’t mind reading a trashy book once in a while but the paranormal is not my thing. I might be one of few people who has never read or watched the Twilight-series 😀
/Cat
Hi Cat!
Thanks for your comments. 🙂
Paranormal is not for everyone so I can understand you not reading the Twilight series or watched the movies. I really enjoyed the Twilight series and thought perhaps the Dark series would be in similar vein. It’s not even in the same ball park. Dark Prince was had too much sex for me. I am not a prude but it gets boring after a couple of scenes like that. There were way too many for my liking.
I have never heard of Christine Feehan but she is very well known (she’s written so many best sellers) and people like her writing. I am glad I check out Dark Prince. You don’t know what it’s like until you read it.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Dinh, I’ve never heard of this author, but always interested in recommendations for new ones’ work to sample. I must admit I prefer to get stuck into a really good book, one I can’t put down. There are times, however, when it’s good to be a bit less intense and read what we usually refer to as a “trashy novel” or “a quick read.” Not sure which category this one falls into, maybe both. Sounds like a possible read for poolside, planes or trains. Thanks for always presenting us with a variety of genres to try.
Hi Hindy!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I like to read page turners and good books but some times it’s nice to read some thing that doesn’t have any substance. I would think that this is a good book for the pool.
It is a quick read and it’s trashy. I am a mood reader so I read what my mind feels like. This time it was some thing less intense and mindless.
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for providing review of this book. I too love to watch series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. From the summary it looks to be a good read. But your review provided a better view of what to expect from this book. Thank you for helping me decide if I need to buy one. Keep up the great work.
Jed
Hi Jed!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I’m with you when it comes to vampires and supernatural things. I can’t get enough!
I would recommend this for you to read if you like that sort of thing but otherwise it was a not so good book. I liked finding out about the Carpathians; they seem so cool with all their powers and how they relate to nature.
Thanks for stopping by!