Dream Hunter, Sherrilyn Kenyon

So, this one threw me off a bit.

It takes place way before any of the other books, in 1996 to be exact. But I definitely think this is the place to read it. It's written in a way that I think if you did try to read it in chronological order as the first book, you'd be really confused. I think you'd miss some of the most important tidbits.

So, as I said, it's set way back in time. We actually see Nick as a teen, but I'll come back to that.

We meet Greary and Arik in Greece. Greary's family has been searching for Atlantis for generations. Unfortunately, it's ended in death mostly. After her father dies, she takes over the search.

Arik is a dream god who finds Greary in her dreams and wants to see her in the human world. But here's the problem, all the dream gods were punished by Zeus and stripped of all their emotions. Arik wants to be with her, but doesn't understand the feelings he has. Dream gods should only have feelings in dreams, when they siphon off from the humans who dreams they've invaded. Sometimes, they get carried away and end up addicted to the emotions. Like any addict, the can destroy in an effort to feed that addiction.

Arik was turned into one of those. Think incubus. Anyway, Zeus' curse is weakening, and their getting their emotions back, but Arik doesn't know that. It's a big secret. So, he doesn't realize the feelings he has are his own. He doesn't understand what they are either. So, being the emotionless psycho that he was made, he makes a deal with Hades to be human in exchange for Greary's soul.

Dark Series in Reivew

So I tweaked it a little, but the chart shows all our combos with the books they're in. It's pretty much the same chart that's in the books.

OK, so where shall we start?

Despite the terrible covers and the mostly terrible titles, I mostly liked the Dark series. Is it a favorite? Nope. Not even a favorite romance. However, it's close. There were just a few things, small by themselves, that bring it down.

If I was comparing it to another series, it'd have to be the Troubleshooters series, mostly based on the structure - that kind of ever expanding circle of friends and family. Unfortunately, it's just not as good. Granted Troubleshooters isn't paranormal, but you'd think that'd give the Dark series more to work with. Instead it's the basics are the same every time.

This is my first complaint: at times, it was really repetitive. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't binge read, but I did. We're talking language and overall themes. "Sinful mouth" came up a lot. And just the descriptions of sex. And then there's the basic premise of male Carpathian meets human woman. Something horrible happens, then they fall in love. It's not like I don't like the formula, but it does seem to be a formula. It definitely gets better in later books, though.

Dark Destiny, Christine Feehan

Another really good one!

We have Nicolae and Destiny. What makes this one good is Destiny's story.

She was kidnapped, converted, and abused by a vampire. When she's a child she connects with Nicolae, but he can't find her to save her. So, eventually he trains her as a hunter so she can kill the vampire that took her and escape.

But still he can't find her.

This kills my theory that the reason the women before Raven (Dark Prince) were deranged when they turned was at least in part because of the vampire blood. Destiny is in physical agony due to the blood, but she's not deranged. And of course there's the psychological trauma - no conversion is going to change that.

So, there's of course a lot of trust issues. Destiny can't see the difference between vampires and Carpathians. Plus, Nicolae has always been her salvation, so she's afraid that by letting him close she'll lose him. As with many victims, there's a lot of guilt and self loathing.

Nicolae tries to heal her, but it's beyond his abilities. He calls in Gregori, who's still in the area after helping with Corinne in Dark Melody.

Destiny struggles here too. The vampire they're fighting even preys on her self loathing by telling her the Carpathians will never accept her, will insist she's killed. She already half believes that, so the vamp scores a hit with that one.

Nicolae calls in Gregori, despite Destiny's concerns, and takes her blood - the tainted blood - so that her fate is his fate - to show solidarity with her. Gregori is of course completely accepting and heals them both completely.

Meanwhile, there's a guy using hypnosis to ruin peoples lives. Not a vampire though. Destiny and Nicolae take care of him.

There was one really important scene that didn't really have much to do with the plot, but adds more understanding of the world Feehan is creating. There are two old ladies in the neighborhood Destiny has claimed as her own. They're pretty outrageous in all ways - syntax, content...fashion. They're pretty hilarious. Not to mention psyhcic. So, the vampire tries to draw Destiny and Nicolae out by attacking the neighborhood. The vamp is about to kill Destiny, when one of the old ladies puts herself in front of him with a stake. She tells him that she waited for him, asks why he never came. The vamp kinda stares at her, a look of sorrow briefly on his face, before he attacks again. The old lady kills him, with Destiny's help, and immediately falls apart. She was obviously his intended lifemate. Only he chose evil first.

This scene answers a couple questions for me and raises others. The idea of redeeming a vampire has been repeatedly shot down. The vamps choose evil, it's not an accident or something they were coerced into, it was a choice. They knew it was wrong and they did it anyway. However, I wondered about what happened when/if a vampire met his lifemate after the fact. Now we know. Now, I've thought that perhaps reincarnation might be something the Carpathians would believe in. Perhaps the vampires and lifemates return to the world to try to find each other again, to try to make better choices.

For a while I even wondered if maybe there weren't always lifemates for vampires. I mean, so, look. Most of the characters we've seen have been very close to turning. I've been wondering if the vamps are a Darwin thing. The Carpathians have a lot of power and only those with a strong will to use it responsibly can reproduce. If you don't have the will to resist evil, then you're not strong enough for the species. It seems, especially with this scene, everyone has a lifemate, it's just a matter of finding him/her. And can you hold out till you do? And do you get only one shot at your lifemate? If your lifemate is human, which most seem to be for the moment, then he/she may die before you find her. Does the human's soul get reincarnated as long as the Carpathian holds out, giving him/her more than one chance at finding their lifemate? Fate seems to put them together, but this scene with the old lady shows that they don't always find each other in time.

Maybe we'll find out more in other books...

Anyway, it's not an overly complicated, but I really did enjoy this. We learn a bit more about how the race works and Destiny is a really good character.

I do think I know what's next though. Nicholae has a brother, Vikirnoff. A vampire is looking for a woman who can touch objects and see their history. Now, that sounds a lot like Sara, from Dark Dream, but the way Vikirnoff reacts, I don't think it's supposed to be her. So, that's my prediction...

Dark Destiny, Christine Feehan

Dark Descent, Christine Feehan

So, this is Dark 11, the other story in the Dark Nights book, along with Dark Dream (#7).

This was probably one of my least favorite. While I really liked the story, it just felt really incomplete. Like there should have been 5 more chapters or something. The only thing I can think is that Feehan is going to come back to these characters in another way that gives more closure to this story.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a cliffhanger, it just feels like there should be...more.

In this story, we meet Joie, a body guard. She's mentioned in Dark Symphony as a way to protect the Scarletti family during the day hours when Byron was asleep. But we never meet her, and really know nothing about her.

She's shot and astral-projects while being worked on in the hospital. During her little jaunt, she finds Traian in a cave in the Carpathian Mountains. They talk before she's pulled back to her body. Once she's recovered she takes a vacation with her siblings, Jubal and Gabrielle, to the mountains looking for the cave. And Traian.

They find him alright - pinned to a wall by some vampires. Joie manages to put one down for a while, enough time to get Traian free. Then the 4 of them are on the run, trying to find a way out. Traian is too weak to fight, so they can only escape.

Dark Dream, Christine Feehan

Well, I was kinda right, we are meeting a legend, just not Gabriel and Lucian.

OK, some housekeeping first. This is a novella. You can get it in ebook, but if you're like me, you prefer a actual book you can hold. Which leads to a slight problem. You can't just by Dark 7 by itself. There are a couple of ways you can buy it, but my suggestion is as part of Dark Nights. It has 7 and 11, so you get 2 for 1!

I really like this one, possibly because it's short and therefore, flys by. Not that I was a rush for it to finish, but it didn't have the back and forth the others in the series have had.

So, we discover that back in the day, Mikhal's (from Dark Prince) father sent several ancient hunters out into the world to help protect it from the vampires. At the time, they didn't know some humans could be lifemates, so he was basically sentencing them to death. Provided they killed themselves before turning vamp.

Falcon is one of those hunters.

When he was sent out into the world, he was compelled to write a journal, dedicated the lifemate the thought he'd never meet. He decides its time he ends his life, but wants to see his home, the Carpathian Mountains, one last time.

Sara, a woman with the ability to see the history of objects, finds Falcon's journal when she's 15 at an archaeological dig her parents are involved with. Unfortunately, she also comes across a vampire at the dig. The vamp kills her family and 15 years later she's still running from him. She finds herself in Romania, near the Carpathian Mountains, fighting to establish a home for children with special gifts, like her.

After seeing Falcon feeding - almost turning, if we're honest - she thinks he's a vamp, but she doesn't get a good look at his face. Of course, he sees her for what she is, his lifemate and takes off after her.

Only, she knows him. She has the journal, remember? And she dreams about him. She even had a bust of him made!

Which is why it moves fast, she doesn't fight it much. She thinks he's a vamp briefly, but she understands fairly quickly the differences.

My favorite thing about this one, besides the fact that Sara recognizes her feelings for him and embraces them instead of fighting tooth and nail, but Falcon calls in help when needed. Before he can convert Sara, Falcon has to go to ground for the day. She drives up to where Mikhal lives with the plan of meeting him that night. Only, she seems a vampire's puppet with all her kids. She takes off after them and ends up in a major wreck. So, Falcon calls on other Carpathians for help - Jacques and Shea respond.

I love the character interaction! That's been one of the things missing for me so far: once they find their lifemates, they kinda just...go. I like that we're getting some more interplay. It's not that we haven't had any just not as much as I would have liked.

Definitely a good little read.

Dark Dream, Christine Feehan