Dark Curse (The Carpathians (Dark) Series, Book 16) (Hardcover)

by Christine Feehan (Author)
Key Phrases: blurring speed, ice floor, Dark Curse, Christine Feehan, Christine Fechan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A new Carpathian novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling “queen of paranormal romance.”(USA Today)

Born into a world of ice, slave to her evil father, Lara Calladine knew only paralyzing fear as a child. Only by escaping with her mysterious gifts unbroken would she survive to claim her great Carpathian heritage as a Dragonseeker…

Now, Lara is in search of the source of her nightmares—the cold, dark corners of her childhood just on the edges of her memory. Only one man has the power and the will to help her: dangerous, arrogant Nicolas De La Cruz.

Together, Lara and Nicolas search the treacherous Carpathian landscape for the truth about their pasts—and discover a passion that neither has ever known before.

About the Author
Christine Feehan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many paranormal romances and novellas.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; First Edition first Printing edition (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425223434
• ISBN-13: 978-0425223437
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,938 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 16 in The Dark Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings On This Offering From Feehan, September 4, 2008

By	30 Book A Month Reader (Ohio) - See all my reviews

For those of you who are fans of Feehan's Dark Series, you are already familiar with Lara, who escaped on the back of a dragon from the evil mage's cave. Flash forward and Lara is an adult who has spent a lifetime searching for the same cave in order to give her two aunts a decent burial. Reaching the village of the Carpathians, Lara is found by Nicolas De La Cruz, her lifemate. Nicholas is so close to turning vampire that he actually begins to feed on Lara before her voice brings him into the light. Lara and Nicholas begin to work out their differences and also begin helping to solve the low birth rate of the Carpathian women. Why mixed feelings?

Positive - A truly excellent hero. Even when Nicholas is doing things the reader doesn't approve of, Feehan still manages to create sympathy and empathy for her tortured hero. By the end of the book, Nicholas is a terrific lifemate and one you won't soon forget.

The mystery surrounding the Carpathian women's low birth rate is becoming clearer and clearer and the answers are intriguing and complex.

As Lara is a Dragonseeker mage, she uses various "rhyming" spells to work her magic. Some of them in the book are very descriptive, touching and very well done.

Negatives - Lara is a heroine that is too hard to like or to figure out. She is by turns insecure, confident, weak, strong, indulgent, selfless - the reader has a hard time figuring out her true nature. I realize that Feehan was trying to show that Lara was damaged emotionally as a child and is growing as the book goes along. However, the mixtures of emotions don't seem to ring true. At one point in the book, Lara tries to commit suicide. This was such a departure from the heroine's character that I was like, WTH? This is the same woman who escaped from a mage, became an adult, practiced her magic and went all over the world trying to find one ice cave. Someone that determined decides to throw it all in? I don't think so.

Feehan once again used the new Carpathian language which she introduced in Dark Demon. Her hero uses it constantly and the reader is forced to skim it, looking for the next English word to understand what he really said. It jars the reader from the story and makes it very frustrating to get a flow going - especially when you realize that it isn't really a true foreign language, but rather an imaginary one.

Feehan spent 32 pages at the end of the book on this so-called language to give translations to various words and phrases. I felt cheated and ripped off. Those 32 pages could have been used to write more to the story. At the end, I briefly considered taking the book back to the bookstore and asking for a return on my money.

So definitely mixed feelings about this book. I would recommend it to other fans of the Dark Series, but just be aware that along with a really good story are some serious flaws.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Tons of Gibberish, September 6, 2008

By	Still a Fan (Maryland) - See all my reviews

Te avio palafertiilam. Entolam Kuuhua, avio palafertiilam. Te avio palafertiilam. Entolam kuulua, avio palafertiilam. Ted kuuluak, kacad,kojed. Elidamet andam. Pasamet andam. Uskalfertiilamet andam. Sivamet andam. Sielamet andam. Aimamet andam. Sivamet kuuluak kaik etta a ted. Ainaak olenszal sivambin. Te avio Palafertiilam. Ainaak sivamet jutta aleny. Ainaak terad vigyazak.

(If you find the above gibberish...try reading the book...those are just samples of some of the junk you have to skim over)

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars disapointed....., September 4, 2008

By	Dark Dreamer "Dark Dreamer" (New England) - See all my reviews

I've been an avid fan of the Dark series since I read the first one (Dark Prince). That being said I was disapointed in Dark Curse and I reccomend waiting for paperback! For the cost of a hardcover book I expect a whole book, and Dark Curse left too many issues up in the air to even list, I feel as though I didn't read the ending. This story certainly needed another 100 pages or more to tie things up. I did enjoy what we did get in the story, which is good since I did not like Dark Possession at all. I do look forward to the next in the Dark series, but I do not think I'm going to buy them when they come out, I will borrow, then buy the paperback to complete my collection.