A Review of Dark Peril by Christine Feehan

The Carpathian race was on the verge of extinction. Their mortal enemy, the great mage Zavier was dead, but he left a legacy behind.  The vampires had joined forces under the leadership of the Malinov brothers.  The Carpathian’s only hope of defeating them is to infiltrate their ranks and extract information.

Dominic of the Dragonseekers was an ancient warrior from one of the strongest and most respected Carpathian lineages.  No Dragonseeker had ever given up his soul and turned vampire. After walking the Earth for hundreds of years, Dominic had given up hope of ever finding his lifemate. He would end his life honorably and with that there would be hope of meeting her in the next life. But for the Carpathian people to survive the upcoming battle, Dominic knew they needed information. He would drink the tainted blood that would identify him as vampire and infiltrate their ranks.  The parasite laden blood would make it harder to resist the call of darkness, but Dominic’s will was strong.  He would take on this one last duty before walking into the sun. His lifemate, the woman of his dreams, would be waiting for him in the next life.

Like the Carpathians, the Jaguar people were on the verge of extinction.  Solange Sangria knew it was inevitable.  There was no reversing the damage done by her father, Brodrick the Terrible.  Brodrick the Terrible was the leader of the jaguar people.  His idea of reviving the race was to destroy any jaguar incapable of shifting.  As the majority of the jaguar people were no longer pure-bloods, the carnage was extensive. Women were of no consequence.  They were put on this earth to serve the Jaguar men and produce offspring. A Jaguar man could and would beat a woman to death without a second thought.

Disheartened by the cruelty, Solange dedicated her life to rescuing and helping the Jaguar women.  It was a noble cause but her true mission in life was destroying Brodrick the Terrible. Without his leadership the Jaguar men would scatter. It was a suicide mission but once she set upon the path she would not waver. Her life was one battle after another. Her only solace was spending her nights in the arms of her imaginary lover.

When imagination turned to reality, both Dominic and Solange knew they had to stay on the course already set, but by joining forces maybe, just maybe they would survive the upcoming battles. If not, they would enjoy what little time fate had allotted them and hope that the next would be better.

I have been reading Christine Feehan’s Carpathian series since its inception.  I was hooked after reading the first book, Dark Prince, and have waited impatiently for each installment.  While I enjoyed all of them, some are better than others.  I was looking forward to Dominic’s story but it did not live up to my expectations. The beginning of the book is incredible as is the end, but I found myself skipping pages through the middle. A dedicated reader of the Carpathian series would enjoy this book, but first time readers would be better served reading some of the older books.