#10 Christine Feehan: The Dark Prince (1999) 1/5
I am not an absolute fan of vampire fiction, but I do like Ann Rice. And until now have not really seen her equal. The book of Christine Feehan caught my eye in the shop because of the blurb, basically saying that she is as good as Ann Rice. Erm... No!
"The Dark Prince" is the first book in the series about Carpathians. Carpathians are a race with many supernatural abilities: immortality, telepathy, ability to heal while sleeping deep within the soil, and yes, they drink blood. However, they do not usually kill, although the desire is strong. Every man needs his lifemate, a woman, who "provides light to his darkness" and keeps him from going insane and becoming an actual vampire. And at the moment, there are so few Carpathian women, that the race is dying out. On the first pages of the book, the prince of the Carpathians, Mikhail is almost ready to commit suicide, when he hears thoughts of a human woman, and realises, she is his lifemate.
So far, so good, right? A nice set-up. Quite beautifully written. But... And there are so many buts!
Carpathians are supposed to be very patriarchal, well known to the villagers, and they live in the depths of Romania. Why none of them has a Romanian name? A couple has Russian names, then there is Jacques (French?) and finally Byron (erm...). The Carpathian language itself sounded to me suspiciously like Estonian. But these are admittedly minor problems.
The biggest problem is sex. Yes, you've heard me right. This is not a big book. And I think, the couple has managed to do it about 7 times in the first 5 chapters. And that is all they do. There is very little storyline, very little character development, very little anything. With such frequency, no wonder that the description of the scenes becomes extremely repetitive.
I have seen novels, specifically marked as erotica, with more plot and character development.
So, next time I get the urge to read about vampires, I will just reread the Chronicles.
"The Dark Prince" is the first book in the series about Carpathians. Carpathians are a race with many supernatural abilities: immortality, telepathy, ability to heal while sleeping deep within the soil, and yes, they drink blood. However, they do not usually kill, although the desire is strong. Every man needs his lifemate, a woman, who "provides light to his darkness" and keeps him from going insane and becoming an actual vampire. And at the moment, there are so few Carpathian women, that the race is dying out. On the first pages of the book, the prince of the Carpathians, Mikhail is almost ready to commit suicide, when he hears thoughts of a human woman, and realises, she is his lifemate.
So far, so good, right? A nice set-up. Quite beautifully written. But... And there are so many buts!
Carpathians are supposed to be very patriarchal, well known to the villagers, and they live in the depths of Romania. Why none of them has a Romanian name? A couple has Russian names, then there is Jacques (French?) and finally Byron (erm...). The Carpathian language itself sounded to me suspiciously like Estonian. But these are admittedly minor problems.
The biggest problem is sex. Yes, you've heard me right. This is not a big book. And I think, the couple has managed to do it about 7 times in the first 5 chapters. And that is all they do. There is very little storyline, very little character development, very little anything. With such frequency, no wonder that the description of the scenes becomes extremely repetitive.
I have seen novels, specifically marked as erotica, with more plot and character development.
So, next time I get the urge to read about vampires, I will just reread the Chronicles.