Dark Prince- Christine Feehan

Rating:

This review may contain spoilers. I LOVED Dark Prince when I was around 14-15 years old, and since I'm trying to read as many books as I did when I was younger, I decided to re-read it now, at 27 years old.

The story tells us the story of Raven, a young American woman who has mind-reading skills, which, despite having helped her to prosecute criminals and murderers, isolated her from the rest of society, who see her as a freak and a potential danger; even her own family excluded her. She has been on her own since she was a child.

Raven travels to Romania after helping the police find a sick criminal, looking for some rest. Here, she met Mihail, a Carpathian man (a supernatural race that has incredible powers, similar to a vampire, but in this "universe," vampires are a result of a Carpathian who lost hope and gave in to evil).

He is tired of waiting for his other half, the woman that complements him in body and soul, and when he is about to commit suicide by exposing himself to the sun, Raven hears his thoughts, and in that moment, Mihail obsesses with Raven, knowing inside of him that she is the woman he has been waiting for years and years.

What I liked about this book

As a long-time vampire enjoyer, the Carpathian race seems interesting to me, a powerful kind that can transform into animals and communicate with them, manipulate the elements, have super strength, and drink blood to survive. Having a fate tied to your soulmate and failing to find them, ending in hatred and violence towards humanity and Carpathians, perversion and crime, is tragic and poetic, but in the rare case of finding the right one, life changes for both, reaching true connection, and no words can describe this type of love.

The side characters are really interesting, especially Gregori, who is wise, powerful, dangerous and enigmatic, and although he seems to be cold and distant, he is always there to help and heal his brothers and Raven.

Narration on environments was very good; fight scenes were entertaining as well.

The elephant(s) in the room

Differences between Raven and Mihail: Ignoring the fact that our male protagonist is hundreds of years old, Raven’s character is described as a “strong, independent, modern American woman," then she proceeds to act the opposite.

You never see real cultural or ideological differences in their relationship, nor resistance from Raven to Mihail’s sexist behaviors. Mihail commands Raven to do anything; she will be like, "But you cannot force me to follow your orders; I am an independent woman," and then she DOES IT! No discussions, no arguments, no coercion, nothing.

The only real difference narrated in the book is that Raven prefers wearing jeans and Mihail wants her to wear dresses. Maybe she likes to go outside without asking anyone for permission (ok?), but that’s it. This leads me to the second point:

Mihail’s position: The author makes it clear that Mihail is the leader of the Carpathian, hence the prince title, but WHY? In my opinion, his character never displays the reason why he must receive respect, obedience, or trust.

Yes, he is loyal, powerful, and all of that, but during the book, Gregori seems to be more powerful than him, with clear examples of his talents and experience. On the other hand, we are told to believe Mihail is the leader just because.

Sex scenes: For me, sex scenes were too repetitive; I didn’t feel excitement or any emotion while reading them. It was almost the same stage every time, honestly. I skipped a couple of sex scenes because the main history was more interesting.

Antagonist development: I’d like to learn more about the motivation behind the vampire/Carpathian hunters and about Andre the vampire; for me, they lacked depth. I wanted more craziness, fanaticism, and religious trauma.

My opinion about the book

I finished this book just to remember my younger self reading it, but honestly, now I see it with different eyes.

It had potential; I can tell that Christine Feehan knows how to write good characters. Gregori and Father Hummer are proof of it, but the whole fantasy of alpha male and tiny and delicate female was kind of boring. The author could have gone over the top with it but decided to give Raven this personality of false female empowerment, which felt silly and not real. I was wishing that both main characters could have had real disagreements and met in the middle after communicating.

Mihail, in reality, doesn't prove his power, nor does he justify his position in Carpathian society. Sex scenes are boring and feel very “heteronormative” in the sense that Raven reaches orgasm for penetration, basically.

However, I won’t ignore the fact that this book was written in the 90s, and what today feels contradictory or outdated was revolutionary back then. I really liked the Carpathian lore; probably I will give it an opportunity in Gregori’s book and hopefully discover that the story has become more cohesive.