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A review by katiev
Dark Magic by Christine Feehan
4.0
Okay, I'm addicted to this world despite all the repetition in the writing and overuse of phrases. I think part of it is the actually interesting world-building that's going on. A lot of paranormal romance doesn't bother much with that. It's ALL about the romance/sex and the surrounding myths and supporting rules of the world are skimmed over. This is heavily skewed toward the romance, but there is also world building as well.
Obviously I'm a fan of romance, but I'm also a big horror novel fan and know Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural canon to a frankly disturbing extent. So, this appeals to me on several levels.
This one was, so far, the darkest of the novels when it comes to the H/h's relationship. While all Carpathian males are controlling and overbearing, Gregori takes the prize.
As I've mentioned in previous reviews, you have to be able to go in with the mindset that this is a different species with a different set of rules when it comes to relationships. These guys really do need their "life mate" to save them.
Once a male Carpathian turns 200 he loses the ability to feel emotion and even to see color if he hasn't already found his life mate. There are much fewer females than males in this race, so a lot of the men get stuck with no life mate or have to wait centuries for one.
Their law forbids them to kill a human in the process of feeding. They don't take enough blood to kill and they also mesmerize their "dinner" so that he/she has no memory of the event and is not afraid while being bitten.
However, if the Carpathian allows himself to feed off a human who hasn't been mesmerized to feel no fear and then kills that human, they get a high off the adrenaline filled blood and the power of killing. This is a big lure for those older Carpathians without a life mate, because it provides a temporary fix of feeling (kinda like what I've read about serial killers). Once they start down that path they lose their soul and become a true vampire and are under the sentence of death by Carpathian law.
Gregori is ~ 1000 years old and has no life mate. It's been a long time since he's felt anything.
The daughter of the Capathian prince happens to be his life mate (they only have one) but he is not allowed to "marry" her until she's 18. However, she refuses him and asks for time. She wants to go out on her own and have a life and Gregori scares her, even though she feels the pull of their life mate chemistry.
Trigger warning for rape
He gives her 5 years on her own, but by the time he comes to claim her he is very close to turning vampire. Their first sexual encounter starts as a seduction, but ends up as a rape. The beast inside him takes over and he nearly kills her. She talks him down and they complete the ritual to bind them as life mates.
This was a rough scene, but he feels tremendous guilt about it. He even asks her to kill him. He's never violent with her again, but throughout the book he still has to struggle with his overwhelming need to protect her, which to his old-fashioned mind means locking her up or using mental compulsion if she refuses to go along with his orders. This infuriates her, of course.
So, there's a lot of push/pull between the two for a great deal of the book and Gregori has a lot of guilt he is still dealing with. After centuries without emotion, he doesn't quite know how to deal with it once he has them again.
Obviously I'm a fan of romance, but I'm also a big horror novel fan and know Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural canon to a frankly disturbing extent. So, this appeals to me on several levels.
This one was, so far, the darkest of the novels when it comes to the H/h's relationship. While all Carpathian males are controlling and overbearing, Gregori takes the prize.
As I've mentioned in previous reviews, you have to be able to go in with the mindset that this is a different species with a different set of rules when it comes to relationships. These guys really do need their "life mate" to save them.
Once a male Carpathian turns 200 he loses the ability to feel emotion and even to see color if he hasn't already found his life mate. There are much fewer females than males in this race, so a lot of the men get stuck with no life mate or have to wait centuries for one.
Their law forbids them to kill a human in the process of feeding. They don't take enough blood to kill and they also mesmerize their "dinner" so that he/she has no memory of the event and is not afraid while being bitten.
However, if the Carpathian allows himself to feed off a human who hasn't been mesmerized to feel no fear and then kills that human, they get a high off the adrenaline filled blood and the power of killing. This is a big lure for those older Carpathians without a life mate, because it provides a temporary fix of feeling (kinda like what I've read about serial killers). Once they start down that path they lose their soul and become a true vampire and are under the sentence of death by Carpathian law.
Gregori is ~ 1000 years old and has no life mate. It's been a long time since he's felt anything.
The daughter of the Capathian prince happens to be his life mate (they only have one) but he is not allowed to "marry" her until she's 18. However, she refuses him and asks for time. She wants to go out on her own and have a life and Gregori scares her, even though she feels the pull of their life mate chemistry.
Trigger warning for rape
He gives her 5 years on her own, but by the time he comes to claim her he is very close to turning vampire. Their first sexual encounter starts as a seduction, but ends up as a rape. The beast inside him takes over and he nearly kills her. She talks him down and they complete the ritual to bind them as life mates.
This was a rough scene, but he feels tremendous guilt about it. He even asks her to kill him. He's never violent with her again, but throughout the book he still has to struggle with his overwhelming need to protect her, which to his old-fashioned mind means locking her up or using mental compulsion if she refuses to go along with his orders. This infuriates her, of course.
So, there's a lot of push/pull between the two for a great deal of the book and Gregori has a lot of guilt he is still dealing with. After centuries without emotion, he doesn't quite know how to deal with it once he has them again.