Review: Dark Peril

Dark Peril
Christine Feehan
Paranormal Romance
Carpathians/Book 21
Berkley/September 2010

*Possible Spoilers for previous books*

From the inside cover ~

Dominic, of the Dragonseeker lineage—one of the most powerful of the Carpathian lines—is desperate to go to the very heart of the enemy camp and learn their plans. There’s only one way to do so: ingest the parasitic blood of a vampire. He knows that it is a mission from which there is no return. With little time before the blood takes effect, he’ll get the information he needs, relay it to the leader of the Carpathians, and go out fighting. There is no more honorable way to end his life.

Solange Sangria is one of the last of the jaguar people, a royal pureblood, a dying species that cannot recover from bad decisions made over hundreds of years. She has long been alone, fighting to save the remaining shapeshifters from the hands of Brodrick the Terrible: her own father, who slaughtered her family and everyone she loved. Wounded and weary, she plans one last battle, hoping to stop the man who has made an alliance with the vampires, accepting that she will not come out alive.

They are two warriors who have lived their lives alone. Now, at the end of their time, they find each other—an obstacle neither can hope to ignore.

Another entry into the Carpanthian saga. This time the pairing of Dominic and Solange may have come as a surprise to some since there had been speculation that Solange would be paired with Zacarias De La Cruz. It did make sense since they are both in South America and Solange has ties to the De La Cruz family through her cousins. But, Dominic is on a mission that brings him to Zacarias' territory and to Solange.

Solange Sagria has been a warrior for most of her life. She's a shapeshifter who is of the royal jaguar line, the last of the line. Her father is a crazy bastard who has joined with the humans and the vampires in attempts to keep the female jaguars from leave and mating with human men. They leave because they are horribly mistreated and viewed as nothing more than objects to reproduce the race. Solange fights to free the women who have been imprisoned by her father and his men. She is fearless, brave and smart. I liked her a lot, until she meets Dominic face-to-face, then she becomes this insecure, timid creature that I didn't recognize.

Dominic Dragonseeker is a very ancient Carpathian. He has given up finding his life mate and instead has undertaken a mission that he is certain will end in his death. And he's okay with that until he literally meets the woman of his dreams. He has been dreaming about Solange for some time now. When he finds out she's real he is in shock. She is his life mate but his life is about to be over. He's screwed. Dominic tries to make the best of a very bad situation and tells Solange about his mission and that it wouldn't be right to bond with her. Plus, no sex since he can't chance passing the parasites on to her. Damn - he really screwed up!

Solange and Dominic together are not my favorite couple of the series. They did way too much thinking of how wonderful, beautiful, honorable etc the other is. Lots of narration in this one. Maybe the series has always been like that and I've just forgotten. I was seriously getting tired of all the descriptions of the landscape, the animals, the people, the colors. . . it seems to go on forever. The chemistry between Solange and Dominic didn't do much for me either. Dominic is a typical Feehan hero with his attitude of "I know what's best for you". Then he would tell her how she was smart, brave etc and could make her own decisions, as long as they agree that he knows what's best for her. HA! And Solange with her warrior woman/mousy girl twist drove me nuts! I get that she's seriously uncomfortable around men because of her past but she knew Dominic wouldn't hurt her, she's familiar with Carpathian men because she's been around the De La Cruz brothers. Her change in attitude was hard to buy into. Thinking back to the heroines that I've liked in this series - they're the ones that stood up to their life mates. I can handle the extreme alphas as long as the female isn't a pushover.

The plot and overall story arc did move along at a decent pace when the h/h weren't thinking about how wonderful their life mate was. *rolls eyes* I did like the finding out more about the jaguar culture, the vampires that are working together to defeat the Carpathians and the fight scenes. There is an interesting twist at the end that I didn't see coming. That could make future stories very interesting, depending on the direction Feehan takes it. And Zacarias does get some page time - he's my favorite and the one I'm holding out for. The next book is called Dark Predator, set for release sometime next year. I hope it's Zacarias' book. If it is then I might be finished with this series after his book, maybe.

So the verdict - Dark Peril, not a favorite, could have been shorter with less narration and a heroine who stays true to her character.

Rating: C+