I read this book a few years back and I didn't like it, but so many people love this author, that I decided to try again and check if I didn't change my mind. This time I truly hated it and I hardly managed to finish it. I didn't like the writing style, the hero was creepy - I'm sorry, but it's definitely not for me. ( )

In the first book of the Dark/Carpathian series, Raven Whitney is on vacation in the Carpathian Mountains to rest and heal after she helps the police in the US find a serial killer. She’s a strong psychic and can get inside the killer’s mind to hunt him down, but she’s always drained and feels dirty afterward. She abhors people touching her because she reads their mind even when she doesn’t want to.
Mikhail Dubrinsky is the leader of the Carpathian people, a non-human race who lives in darkness, drinks blood, talks to animals, shape-shifts, and feels no emotion. They only see in gray (no color-vision), have psychic abilities, and live to protect their race from threats. Each man needs to find his life mate, a woman who can soothe the monster inside him, but women of their race are rare. All the children born to those women and their life mates are males, and those children usually die in the first year. The men have two choices if they can’t find their other half: walk into the sun and die, or turn into the dreaded vampire.
Mikhail has decided to end his life, and his despair is so strong that Raven feels it. Their connection is instant. Mikhail suddenly sees everything in color and emotions swamp him. After centuries of loneliness, he doesn’t know how to deal with this, and he never imagined he could find his life mate in a psychic human. He’s controlling, domineering, and possessive, but also gentle and affectionate. Raven is more than capable of handling this bossy man, and he slowly learns how to give and take. She’s very open-minded and accepting of Mikhail’s unusual gifts, but she doesn’t know what he really is until danger comes to call.
The story is told in third person, mostly in Mikhail’s and Raven’s POV. There are lots of POV shifts into other characters, but it flowed and I wasn’t confused as to who was speaking or thinking. There are a few typos but nothing to take me out of the story. The writing style is pretty formal, especially the men’s dialogue. The life mate ritual words are very beautiful and sweet.
It’s nice to read Mikhail’s original description. He has chestnut/coffee-colored hair in this book, but has black hair in the latter books. We meet Jacques, Byron, Gregori, and Aiden—all sexy Carpathians who will later have their HEAs—and the war between the Carpathians and the vampire hunters sets the pace for future books.
This is one of my favorite books in the series. I’ve read it multiple times, but this is my first review for it. I definitely recommend it.
5 Stars ( )

Mikhail Dubrinsky is the leader of the Carpathians, an ancient ethnic group whose female population is rapidly shrinking. After helping catch a serial killer with her telepathic skills, Raven Whitney, a human, is vacationing in the Carpathian Mountains. Raven sensed Mikhail’s distress, and the two realize they share a connection. In Mikhail’s eyes, Raven represents hope for the Carpathians, as she may be the life mate he thought he’d never find.

Despite being aware of Christine Feehan's books, I wasn't impressed with the Dark Prince.. Narrative style was the first problem.I’ve had trouble understanding endless text on more than one occasion. Dark Prince is crammed full of emotional descriptions, and it repeats itself endlessly. It forced readers to sit through repetitive scenes in the emotional recount.. They used stock phrases every time. I started thinking the book would never end.

Mikhail’s treatment of Raven was another issue. The situation was infuriating. If he continued to infantilize her, I would accuse him of pedophilia. He calls her “little one,” as if she were a toddler. The sex scenes make her sound like a child, with her “soft whimpers,” “keening cries,” and “sobbing breath.” He sometimes speaks to her in a childish tone, and she fills his mind with childlike laughter.

Raven objected to Mikhail's attempt to intimidate her. Although she's called smart, she doesn't see through Mikhail's seductive talk.

There was also the whole issue of the men lacking emotions. Though it’s an interesting twist, I don’t buy it. Without feelings, how can men feel loyalty or honor? Without emotional bonds, they would all be psychopathic loners.

Although I’m aware of how popular this series is, I don’t think it’s for me. Mikhail and Raven’s twisted relationship does not appeal to me, and I don’t want to read any more about it. It’s hard to imagine how any woman would find this sexy. ( )

I was really wanting to like this more!

This story focuses on Raven (a psychic who has tracked down a few serial killers and is now vacationing in the Carpathian mountains) and Mikhail (a Carpathian (similar to a vampire but not evil) who leads his people and is trying to find the solution to his people dying out). In typical paranormal romance style, they meet and fall in love almost instantly and then crazy stuff happens to try and tear them apart.

I was okay with a lot of this book, it was cheesy but I still enjoyed it however, the writing is not the best. A sentence would be repeated in many paragraphs on the same page in slightly different ways. By the end of the novel, I was so sick of hearing about Mikhail 'wrapping Raven in love and warmth'. I swear that happened at least 25 times in this novel. The dialogue was also super awkward. It made sense for Mikhail to have an oldfashioned dialect so that was good but it did not make sense for the characters to reword sentences every single page. It almost felt like no one edited the manuscript.

By the end of the 314-page story, I expected to understand how turning into a Carpathian and a Vampire was different but I still don't understand it. Sadly, this just didn't work for me. ( )

I just wasn't impressed with this book. The dialogue was, well, it annoyed me a bit. It seemed very contrived. But I have so many friends whose taste in books I like that recommend this series to me that I stuck it out and finished the book. I'm told that this book gives a lot of history and background for the remainder of the books in the series. ( )