SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion

Hello!

Group member hIpnoticraQs and I have challenged each other to a Read-A-Thon for Christine Feehan's PRN series Dark Saga , also known as the Carpathians. It looks to me that there are 26 published full works in this series. I'm a newbie to the series, and have heard a lot of good things about it.

We're looking to start in the immediate future, and to read about 1 - 2 books per month.

So, if you're interested in joining me and hIpnoticraQs in reading Dark Prince and Dark Desire this month, this is the thread to post your comments about the books!

I am on book 23 and have read many of them twice. Christine Feehan has a very distinct style to her books and you either love it or hate it. I love them and hope you do as well.

This sounds awesome I have only read up to book four and have been wanting to reread those four again to continue on with the series

Great! Glad you can join us - this is going to be fun! I'm really looking forward to a good, epic series in PNR. I'm a big fan of the Immortals After Dark and the Dresden Files, for the way the authors create a detailed universe with lots of different plotlines and characters.

Does anyone know if Feehan does the same thing here?

Started last night. So far I'm liking it. Dark Prince Mikhail is a way over-the-top in his expectations for immediate obedience, but perhaps after hundreds of years of getting such results, he's a tad bit spoiled. I like that I'm only partially in to the reading, and he's already trying to adjust his ego to suit Raven's needs.

Also dig the idea of the older Carpathians only seeing in shades of grays and blacks until they meet their lifemate. Then they can see in color. Reminds me of the blooding of the vampires in Cole's IAD series. But wouldn't colorblindness be a weakness in a predator species? I like the trait as it speaks to the bleakness of the warrior without his lifemate, but I would think it an odd trait to evolve in a warrior species.

I like the tortured hero aspect to Mikhail. I need to remember this book was written over 15 years ago, so this is pretty early in PNR. But I can't seem to figure out why Mikhail and Crew wouldn't have some Renfields protecting the mansion from aggressive humans during the daylight hours. After centuries of survival, I would think they would have figured it out by now.

Ahhhh! Love this books, Dark Desire is still my all time favorite!...
...minor spoiler here... Jacques is crazy and I love it!

Finishing up the book tonight - Raven's a little like Clinton - she likes to waffle back and forth. She loves him, she loves him not, she's human, she's not. She's staying, she's leaving him when he comes home injured. Arghh! woman! Get it together!

...

Well, the mansion just burned down and everyone's gone down to the dirt to recover.

I'm off to a late start

Wow, I forgot how ridiculously annoying and demanding Mikhail is.

Ok finished....again. there was a good amount of action, enough to convince me to continue reading the series.

I did really enjoy the first book - it had a campy, 80's sort of feel to it that I liked.

Looking to start Book 2 in the next few days, as soon as I finish my current two books.

I started "Dark Desire" tonight, with Jacques and Shea. Only 50 pages in, and soooooo much better than Book 1!

It has an overpowering feel to it, sort of reminds me of the Darkyn series.

I am almost done with book 1 man I think I remember why I stopped reading these books.

I can't remember if book 2 was better than book 1 but I do hope the series gets a lot better

So far book 2 is better for me. I started skimming at the end of book 1, particularly the fight scenes, since I knew how they were going to turn out. Sort of like going for a bathroom break before the movie cuts to commercial...didn't hold my interest enough to read/digest every single word.

As much as I love a sexy vampire, a good toothbrush is a necessity, After being buried alive for almost a decade and living off of bugs and small animals, Jacques apparently lays a soul-searing kiss on Shea.

Ugh...reality check, please. This is beyond morning breath.

ewwww I remember him being in the ground but thats all I remember from that book really

Finished the book last night. I loved the character of Jacques - so crazy, yet so sweet at the same time, in all of the right places. The ending scene in the cavern hot springs was spot on. I enjoyed the humorous banter between Shea and Jacques - much more enjoyable than the characters of Raven and Mikhail.

I'm also starting to like the more 'traditional' aspects of the vampirism - shapeshifting into wolf, bird, or mist, sleeping during the day, being covered in native soil as a healing element. Most vampire romances of late don't include these kind of old school vampire traits.

I'm at 14%. So far I'm thinking Shea's an absolute idiot for helping him out of the coffin. He's choking her, feeding off of her and knocked her out. Good lord, finish him off.

Now she's sleeping next to him ?

The "little" nicknames are getting annoying. We should play a "little" game during book three. Just like the walking dead game but when someone says a "little" nickname, it's time to take a shot.

then we would never finish the book if we kept taking shots

:)

I find the books usually get better with a glass of red wine. Drinking shots usually makes my eyes blurry...

I agree completely.

The second was quite a bit better than the first.

I agree. I've got the 3rd book lined up for an April read. Let me know when you're ready to go!

I'm really ready to read Gregori's story, but it looks like Aidan is next. He's the golden American wolf we met at the end of Book 2. Interesting, but not as interesting as Gregori's story, I bet.

I'm looking forward to both in April.

I must join you ladies. I've listened to the first but never got back to them. My library has most on audio

Awesome! Welcome, Belinda! The more, the merrier, I believe.

I've never really 'done' an audio-book - it seems to have a Stephen Hawking-sterile feel to it. I'm not sure how I would feel with a narrator reading to me an erotic love scene.

Hi all,

I saw this topic come up on my list and couldn't resist the chance to try a new author. Just finished the first book of the series. I finished it in a couple days - couldn't put it down.

Mikhail and Raven are two very special characters. I think the series premise is very good. Hopefully, there will be more of both of them in the next book. Glad I started at the beginning of the series as I have had the second book for quite some time.

A little behind everyone else so not reading the full posts due to possible spoilers but glad a saw this. Could have used a bit less carpathian love scenes but a nice lead into further stories and hope for the race.

Will have to wait till tonight to start the next book. Forgot to bring it with me. :-(

This is cool! Welcome to our chat, Sandy. Jump in any time. We're trying to read 2 books a month in the Dark/Carpathians series. For the month of April, we've cued up Books 3 and 4.

I've been sitting on this series forever, and I'm really glad I've started with this group.

I'll be ready this time.

When do you want to start Dark Gold?

I'm currently in-between books - the smut ones, at least. I've been pecking away at A Dance with Dragons for a week now, but it will probably take me a little bit to finish that monster. Epic fantasy needs to be taken in moderation, like a good wine. Glutting yourself can lead to serious personality disorders, and I don't want to start speaking Dothraki as a hobby.

I started Dark Gold tonight - whoop whoop! Sucked me right in with its cheese-tastic elements. The dirty, lowlife vampire Paul who stalks our beautiful, virtuous, but psychically powerful heroine Alexandria, who's main drive in life is to take care of her little six-year-old brother.

I enjoyed the restaurant scene where Alex 'sees' the long, claw-like shadow of an evil being creeping up on the diners - very, very Nosferatu. I love me some good camp, and this just felt right.

I did not enjoy - especially because the author seems to do this often enough to disappoint me - the jumping-to-conclusions mentality that our Carpathian male took. Alex looks a little beat up, so she must be an evil vampiress herself. Let's attack her and drink her blood. Well, duh! She just spent the night in a water-logged cave, trying to keep herself and her brother from drowning. Of course she's a little worse for wear and has seaweed in her hair! I'm hoping as the book progresses that Aiden starts using a few critical thinking skills.

Man! How do you leave your little 6-year-old brother in the park with a homeless man while you go to a dinner interview?!?! You've got to be effin' kidding me.
"Here, Henry, here's my little brother and his Tonka truck. I'll be back in three hours after I land this job interview and a new paycheck. Because I have to upgrade my housing for the safety of my kid brother, you know."

Our heroine Alexandria is in the process of conversion into a Carpathian. Unfortunately, she also seems to be converting into something else - channeling her inner 8-year-old - holding her hand over her ears and telling Aiden to shut up, she doesn't want to listen to him. Wow. Really?

What happened to the smart, intelligent, thinking heroine, kicks ass, empathetic to the downtrodden, but also someone you can respect. I'm starting to really feel sorry for Aiden for having her as a lifemate.

I've got a tad bit of insomnia tonight - I need a Carpathian to put me under a sleep compulsion. So much better than Lunesta.

I'm reading Vampire in Atlantis now, by Alyssa Day. And there it is, right at the end of Chapter 12:

“You should sleep now,” he said again, and a red gleam flared in his pupils.
She knew she should argue with him, but she was just so sleepy, and after all, he was right, they needed to sleep, and—Oh.
Oh, no.
“You used your nightwalker hypnotic powers on me,” she said, fighting against it, but the compulsion was too strong. The last thing she saw was the smile on his beautiful face, and then the room went dark as she sank into sleep.

BIG HAPPY FACE

Boy Not much action here lately. Finished Dark Gold. Good finish! Won't spoil it for you all. Liked the link into Gregori's story. Did have a bit of confusion with Julian's story referenced in the book. Wasn't Julian the previous character in the second book? Seems they talk about him as still searching but maybe there is some type of time overlap and not a lot of communication but they do reference the humans used as tools. Thought they could have done better at wrapping the books together. They talk about the traitor - then try -not very successfully to tie this in. But it was still a good read and will go on to the next in series.

Does anyone know how to find threads on the ipad - i keep loosing this one!

Sorry, Sandy, I'm an Android user. Glad you're still with us!

Glad you liked "Dark Gold." Aiden's story, I believe, the 'golden' twin brother of Julien, whose story is told in Book 5 - Dark Magic. I think the prior chapter is the guy who was buried alive == that one I really liked.

I had a hard time with Dark Gold, right from the start. That Alexandria chick made some poor, poor choices from the get-go. I guess I never forgave her for it.

I have to say, though, that the books are picking back up for me. I just finished Darius's story a little bit ago. Now he was fun.

I took the book back to the library. That wasn't Julien that was buried alive? Yeah she was a bit annoying but I suppose that the author might have been trying to make her transition harder because of the blood that started her turning. Oh you know you are right -julien was hoping for the doctor thinking that she hadn't been claimed yet. He took off for the hills because he didn't get her.

The guy that was buried alive was Jacques. I liked him as a lead vampire a lot. The storyline there reminded me a lot of the Darkyn series, by Lynn Viehl.

Jacques threw a lot of pet names out for his girlfriend - lots of "little red hair", instead of her real name, Shea. Not nearly as bad as Mikhail in the first book. His excessive use of "little one" really started to get creepy for me.

Yeah! The author definitely has a thing for pet names. I thought she came closest to the older gallantry of times gone by with Michail. But still waiting for Gregori's story.

Yeah! The author definitely has a thing for pet names. I thought she came closest to the older gallantry of times gone by with Michail. But still waiting for Gregori's story.

Yeah! The author definitely has a thing for pet names. I thought she came closest to the older gallantry of times gone by with Michail. But still waiting for Gregori's story.

Yeah! The author definitely has a thing for pet names. I thought she came closest to the older gallantry of times gone by with Michail. But still waiting for Gregori's story.

Yeah! The author definitely has a thing for pet names. I thought she came closest to the older gallantry of times gone by with Michail. But still waiting for Gregori's story.

Yeah! The author definitely has a thing for pet names. I thought she came closest to the older gallantry of times gone by with Michail. But still waiting for Gregori's story.