Bitchin' Blog Posts
Dark Prince: Uncut Edition by Christine Feehan
by SB Sarah | by SB Sarah | March 17, 2011 | Thursday at 11:19 am | 63 CommentsTitle: Dark Prince: Author's Cut Special Edition
Author: Christine Feehan
Publication Info: William Morrow 2011
ISBN: 9780062009623
Genre: Paranormal
Recently, I was sent a giant hardcover book. A book I had already read. And I read it. AGAIN.
I am as amazed as you.
Such is the power of the crack, and specifically the crack that is Dark Prince. I’ve written before about the Carpathian series, which I gobbled until I began to see the “psychic chick makes dude see color commence doggy style” pattern and had to stop. Dark Prince, however, rocked my world when I read it, and when people talk about Christine Feehan as the author whose work established the paranormal vampire romance genre, I nod and agree.
The edition that arrived (THUNK) on my doorstep is bigger than the original edition. Touted as an “Author’s Cut”, it has 100 extra pages of material, and that frilly deckled pages thing, and new cover art. And it’s a hardback. So it’s huger than big - or, at least, bigger than I’m used to (snort).
Ahoy, plot summary, if you’ve never read the first of the Carpathian series: Mikhail Dubrinsky is on the verge of ending is very, very long existence when he is contacted telepathically by a human woman, Raven, who reached out to him because she could psychically sense his misery from across town. Those Carpathians, they do everything big, if you know what I mean (and I think you do). Mikhail goes to find Raven, who has journeyed to the Carpathian mountains to hide and recover from her last job assignment as a psychic who specializes in tracking serial killers. When Mikhail first encounters Raven, he sees in color for the first time in hundreds of years, a signal that she is his lifemate - and he’s completely confused and alarmed by the fact that she’s human, not Carpathian. Add to that some vampire hunters in town for some vacation hunting, and some locals spreading rumors, and there’s a lot of tension to unfold between and around Mikhail and Raven.
The first question you’d probably ask is, is it worth buying if I already own the previous version? If you’re asking the question at all, you’re probably not the type of fan who will buy it without question, for such is your devotion to all things Feehan (and if you’re that type of fan, more power to you. Go on with your bad self). I would have to say, in a nutshell, no, the extra pages didn’t add much to the book for me, though I couldn’t have told you which scenes were added. I read Dark Prince (The Original not the Uncut Version) (Bwahahahaha - are Carpathians circumcised? Not in the Uncut version!) (Actually, as hundred-plus-year-old European males, they probably aren’t.)(This is too many parentheses. Sorry) so long ago that I couldn’t have identified the extra scenes if you held a colorblind blood-sustained otherworldly creature to my head. But I can say there were details and scenes that dragged 3/4ths of the way through, to the point that I skimmed until the final chapters.
But even with the draggy part and the doggy style part, I couldn’t stop reading. This is a Book That Contains The Crack. Seriously. I couldn’t put the damn thing down. I was toting this big hardcover around the house and reading a few pages every few minutes I could. Why? I was both transfixed by the storyline, and curious about why the characters and the plot worked for me, even as they irked the shit out of me.
Case in point: The heroine, Raven, is immediately identified by Mikhail as his lifemate, and he makes a few ill-advised decisions that affect her greatly (in a mortal sense, even) without her consent. He Knows Best. The plot follows the traditional alpha-male “release everything, let go of your old life, I know best, also you’re hot, nom nom can’t control myself, whoops you’re all vampy now, too, isn’t that great?!” motif that frankly makes me irritated beyond measure. There’s no question He Has Found the Right One because he can see her jibblies in COLOR. The complete absorption and acceptance of Mikhail’s worldview, which we, the reader, are assured is the Right One by virtue of His Being The Romance Hero, is still bothersome, but at least in The Dark Prince Raven has something of a spine. She isn’t as deferential as his family and the other Carpathians (his subjects, I guess, since he is the prince and all) and she tells Mikhail off more than once, though I wish she’d have told him to stop calling her “little one.” At least it wasn’t “ma petite.”
I was most irritated when Mikhail didn’t tell Raven some of the side effects of his blood exchanges with her, leaving her for many, many hours in a state of near-catatonic misery, without any type of warning. I’d have kicked his ass all over the mountains for that, but Raven is merely relieved that he is ok when he returns to her side, and there isn’t nearly enough asskicking or groveling to satisfy my irritation with his high-handedness.
YET STILL I could not put the book down. The despair, the hero struggling literally with overwhelming emotions. Even with the perfectly perfect perfection of Raven and her inner strength that contrasts with her vulnerable mortal body, I had to keep reading. Despite being overdrawn on the Bank of Vampire Romance and unable to generate any interest (heh) in the genre as a whole for awhile now, I was fascinated by the world in the book, the autocratic ruling style of Mikhail and the holy moly homoerotic behavior between himself and his family and the other Carpathians, and the manner in which they behaved toward one another and toward mortal and Carpathian women. I also love how Feehan plays with male power dynamic: despite Mikhail being The Prince And All, there are other male characters who have power and authority he does not, yet it doesn’t diminish Mikhail in the present story - though it leaves plenty of room for sequels, of which there are many, as well you know.
The opening scene remains one of my favorites, and I have re-read it every now and again even before I received this new copy.
(Holy hell, did that Amazon widget bork the server. I’m sorry!) Mikhail is crushed by misery, is contacted telepathically by Raven and only then does he realize that, after feeling no emotion for hundreds of years, experiencing them again is so overwhelming, it’s nearly impossible to control himself.
The idea of the chosen female, the predetermined fated One True Mate causing some sort of physical change is a very common motif in vampire and paranormal romance. The female causes sight to return, colorblindness to vanish, hearts to beat, wants (and other spiffy parts) to rise, control to be regained - any number of things. She tames him, restores him to life, and in exchange must be absorbed entirely into his keeping - good thing he’s immortal and wealthy, I guess.
Dark Prince was the first of these types of books that I read, and I am still somewhat baffled as to why I find it so fascinating, even in a larger edition, in a hardcover, for the third or fourth time. I can only surmise that a book like this, something that was so new, so powerful and so different, even after it’s been imitated countless times, doesn’t diminish with time. The powerful innovation of the forerunner of a genre doesn’t lose it’s effect. At least, it doesn’t on me.
Dark Prince: Uncut Author’s Edition is available from Amazon in print and Kindle editions, from BN.com in print and for the nook, at Book Depository and at Powells.
Filed: General Bitching, Reviews, Grade C, Authors, D-G
Tagged: series, romance, paranormal, christine feehan, carpathians
jordan k. rose said on 03.17.11 at 12:34 PM • [link]
Thanks for sharing. This is one of my favorite books, too. And I actually think it’s because Mikhail is such an overbearing Alpha. In reality, I don’t know a single woman who’d be able to tolerate the “alphaness” enough to enjoy the rest of him. I love the relationship between him and the other men, too. It’s funny, the opening scene is ultimately my favorite as well and I’ve reread it many times. Jordan
Melissa said on 03.17.11 at 02:34 PM • [link]
Dark Magic was my first paranormal romance ever so the Carpathians hold a special place for me. I still follow the series, she changed her tone over the last few and had some stronger females. I think the world she created is one of the most interesting and detailed in the paranormal genre. I also think a lot of paranormal authors “borrowed” ideas from her series.
I bought the new Dark Prince on Kindle even though I already own the original because I had to see the new scenes. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet but the first scene is also my favorite when Mikhail is totally lost in his dispair and Raven calls out to him.
Barbara W. said on 03.17.11 at 02:37 PM • [link]
Crap, now I have a serious urge to go re-read it again. My copy is about to fall apart already, and no, I’m not buying a hardcover version if there’s nothing new and gloriously swoon-worthy in it. I’m glad Sarah read it and saved me the $$. :)
I wrote a review of Gregori’s book when it first came out and had someone write a tirade to me about how I was glorifying the rape and subjugation of women by enjoying these books. I got more hate mail from that one review than I’ve gotten from all of my other reviews combined.
malea said on 03.17.11 at 02:39 PM • [link]
I completely agree! The first half-dozen or so books in the Carpathian series ARE crack! I read Dark Magic a few years ago & immediately went out and bought all of them. Read within a 2-week period, the repetitious transformations are less annoying. ;)
Carin said on 03.17.11 at 03:17 PM • [link]
Count me in as addicted. I can’t remember if I read Feehan or Kenyon first - it was about the same time - but they were my intro to vampires and I loved them! I’m a kind of burnt out on vampires now, but still this review makes me want to re-read.
While I don’t gobble them up as quickly as before, this is a series I have continued reading, and I agree with Melissa, I think her characters are improving, especially with regard to the stronger females.
Chelsea said on 03.17.11 at 03:22 PM • [link]
I too regard the first few of the Carpathian saga as The Crack. Granted when I started reading them I was fourteen or so and chalk full of angst and hormones. Then and now I fully realize that these books are kind of cringe worthy on so many levels (those poor women, my GOD, get some control over your vampiness and stop “accidentily” turning them. oh, and many scenes are pretty rapey too) and yet, I could not stop reading. Like chocolate, I just want to carry them with me everywhere I go and gobble them up…until I get a stomach ache and want nothing more to do with them.
And as for the last few? Ugh. Obviously people are still buying them, and yes I’m just as guilty for wasting my time with borrowed copies. But really, this series needs to end at some point.
Blue said on 03.17.11 at 03:23 PM • [link]
Haven’t read this series yet, is there lots of steamy scenes or just meh…?
SB Sarah said on 03.17.11 at 03:36 PM • [link]
@blue: Steamy. Way steamy. Seriously. Like whoa.
LG said on 03.17.11 at 03:38 PM • [link]
I could never get into any of Feehan’s books. I’ve tried two, I think (before my blogging days, but I’m pretty sure I read Dark Magic and Dark Desire). I remember not liking Feehan’s writing style (something about repetitive descriptions, maybe “eyes of molten mercury”?) and really, really not liking her heroes or the relationships they had with the heroines. I wanted to understand why these books are so popular with people, but after two books I just gave up.
Chelsea said on 03.17.11 at 03:39 PM • [link]
@Blue, they aren’t erotica by any definition but there is plenty of steam. Some have more sex then others, but when the sex does show up its EPIC. Now, after reading a few of these books you’ll notice a lot of repition, even in the sex, and it does get dull. Also as I mentioned they sometimes do the “forcefull seduction, it’s not rape if you end up liking it” thing, and whether that works for you or not is a matter of taste.
Melissa said on 03.17.11 at 04:41 PM • [link]
Oh yes she uses lots of Feehanisms like “molten lava” “velvet over steel” “no H without h” “clenching wombs” but the solution to that problem is to play the Feehanisms drinking game where you take a drink every time you see them. Then you have lots of fun reading her books. Warning: you will be drunk by 100 pages or less for most of her books since they are teeming with Feehanisms.
Seriously, I enjoy her Dark series despite seeing the flowery writing. Burning Wild was also a good shapeshifter romance if you don’t mind uber alpha heroes.
sweetsiouxsie said on 03.17.11 at 05:10 PM • [link]
I see these books on the shelves every time I go to the bookstore. I think I will have to read this one. Feehan. HMMMM! Irish heritage there? It is St. Patrick’s Day today. If you celebrate it, enjoy this special day! I’m making colcannon for dinner.
Kerry Allen said on 03.17.11 at 05:19 PM • [link]
@LG I could only stomach one, myself. Don’t remember the title, but it begins with the heroine leaving her little brother in the care of a hobo (but they know him, so it’s okay!) while she goes out to dinner. After the criminal child endangerment, I kept reading only because I hoped her unbelievable stupidity would get her killed and she’d be replaced by less of a fuckwit.
Alas, no.
NatashaB said on 03.17.11 at 05:45 PM • [link]
@ Kerry Allen That was the book I stopped buying this series at, it was Dark Gold btw.
The h was really beyond too stupid to live, it still makes me angry when I think of it. I live in Northern Ireland and in those “dial-up” days I bought several books in the series and got them posted here from the States at a massive cost. I remember thinking while reading it that C Feehan really knows how to use cut and paste.
I have never bought another book by her.
SB Sarah said on 03.17.11 at 05:52 PM • [link]
I read that as ‘Burning Wind’ and nearly fell off my chair laughing. If there’s a romance about burning wind, I am SO ON IT.
Chelsea said on 03.17.11 at 05:53 PM • [link]
My turning point, where I finally through my hands in the air and said screw this, was the one where the hero intentionally gets the heroine pregnant so she’‘ll be forced to stay with him. I think her name was Francesca and his was Gabriel? I don’t know, I just remember him announcing “You’re with child.” And bare in mind this is a centuries old heroine, and it never occured to her that this was a possibility? Also that pregnancy is apparently difficult and trying for their species, making the move extra douchey on his part.
Jinx said on 03.17.11 at 06:23 PM • [link]
I stopped reading after a while too. I started with Dark Fire, I believe it was. I stopped reading because I vaugly remember a part in one where the sex wasn’t exactly consentual.
If I remember right, the woman was a Carpathian and in hiding for some reason. Along comes the “hero” who finds out she’s his lifemate, forces him on her and she’s pretty much ok with it after. I remember being very disgusted. If I’m wrong, however, please forgive me.
Lynne Connolly said on 03.17.11 at 06:35 PM • [link]
The point at which I remember thinking about stopping was when “going up in flames” came up with such predictability that I couldn’t take it any more. But that was Dark Melody, so I lasted 8 books or so.
Loved Dark Fire and Dark Guardian, where the males were the biggest and baddest and most controlling. There, I said it.
I totally got the crack that was Dark Fire. I recognised her limited writing style, the one great idea (Feehan virtually invented the Lifemate trope) that she riffed on and riffed on, and loved it. Comfort reads.
Recently I went back and read one of the latest ones (TGTBTU has the review), Dark Curse. Could not get into it and I so wanted to love it, like I remember loving the early ones.
Donna said on 03.17.11 at 06:59 PM • [link]
While I likes me some controlling Alpha male vampire crack, I never could get into these. Made it through one & thought, well thank God I never have to do THAT again. Her Sea Haven books, though? Totally addictive, & I’m so happy she decided to do the second series with Ilya’s brothers.
Silver James said on 03.17.11 at 07:15 PM • [link]
I found DARK GUARDIAN which is like…book 5(?) on a sale table in a drug store. I bought it. Read it. Discovered the crack and went back to snatch Feehan’s back list. I read through…12? 13? of them. And quit when the sex scenes appeared to be cut and pasted, not only from previous books but from previous chapters. I moved on to her Seven Sisters series (which I enjoyed) and her Ghost Walker series, which I enjoyed for awhile.
I’m such a bad series reader. The only one I still devour religiously is JD Robb’s Eve Dallas/In Death.
Ha! larger36 Yes, Carpathian men are 36 times larger. ;)
oneflewtoofar said on 03.17.11 at 07:24 PM • [link]
For the record; everytime i see ‘uncut’ in the title of a post I think they published a circumcised hero and a non-circumcised hero version of the novel you’re reviewing and I get really confused at the publisher’s specificity. Then I read the next line and the whole, book as extended dvd director’s cut thing becomes aparent. Am I the only perv that goes there first off? I am aren’t I? oh well that’s my brain for you. I’ll go read the review now. lol
mary frances
becca said on 03.17.11 at 07:24 PM • [link]
I think I read the first 3 or 4 of these - then they started being so much alike that it was boring.
India Drummond said on 03.17.11 at 08:01 PM • [link]
Sometimes on DVDs, you’re given the opportunity to ‘watch the movie with an extra 20 minutes of deleted scenes’. I found out the hard way that those scenes were usually deleted for a reason, and that reason usually was that they added nothing to the plot.
Virginia Llorca said on 03.17.11 at 08:02 PM • [link]
I think, from cursory googling, the first editon came out in 1999. Hasten, as you all do, to correct me if I am wrong. I kinda think it is a little unfair to judge this attractive but so very troubled guy, (and I have not read it so I don’t know the story’s time frame) on today’s standards of whether it is politically correct to want the female to be “yours.” He pretty much has what I want to call a different agenda. And are all Carpathians considered ‘nonhuman’? I have a table with Carpathian Elm Burl Inlay, very old, probably immortal, but have never gotten any kind of vibe from it, except for maybe ‘Dust me. Oil me.”
Virginia Llorca said on 03.17.11 at 08:03 PM • [link]
And, I am not going to look for it at the library. I am buying it for the cover. I don’t really care what is inside.
LG said on 03.17.11 at 08:10 PM • [link]
Thinking about it, I originally tried Feehan’s Carpathian books because 1) I like vampires and 2) I like books that have the soulmate trope. Maybe by the time I tried these I was over my uber-Alpha phase, though, so they didn’t do it for me. Glad to know I’m not the only one for whom these books never attained crack status.
orangehands said on 03.17.11 at 09:14 PM • [link]
These were the first old skool-like books I read that weren’t old skool; rapey aphole hero, TSTL heroine, lots of fucked up-ness in 300 pages…I read a few (which frankly means I’ve read them all because damn, the repetition) and boy, some of them were disturbing. (Yeah, not so much a fan of the old skool style.) They may have been the first paranormal series I read though. Also the first romances I read that had pages after pages of one sex scene. And then they’d fight, make-up, and do it again for another twenty pages.
Nah, the true crack vampire drug is JR Ward. Because I seriously do not understand why I still read those, yet I do. (Don’t buy them, but read them.) I’m looking forward to Blay and Qhuinn (too bad they aren’t the actual pairing of the next book.)
oneflewtoofar: LMAO!
Donna said on 03.17.11 at 09:21 PM • [link]
@oneflewtoofar - No, you definitely are not.
As far as the whole author’s/director’s cut thing goes? I’ve yet to see/read one that was an improvement over the original.
There’s a reason why you pay an editor (although it’s not to correct spelling or tense). Don’t second guess; do what you’re told. Those big red Xes are for your readers’ benefit.
And
Bwahaahaahaaaaaa!
Amy said on 03.17.11 at 09:35 PM • [link]
LOL, yah,1999 is such a long time ago. I assume the author went through dozens of quills before sending it off to it’s first run on cast metal press.
More seriously, lots of us women folk seem to be wired for liking Alpha males, at least in our fantasy lives. It’s really okay. There’s just no need to rationalize as “it’s just the time period” thing. :)
I’m also somewhat of the school that there really are timeless rights and wrongs. Society influences, certainly, and individuals must adapt within social rules/norms of their times but I’m pretty sure rape has never morally correct in real life or universally attractive as an entertainment genre, even at the height of old sckool.
Amy said on 03.17.11 at 09:43 PM • [link]
Amen!! Also, will someone please tell George Lucas that he made better films when he couldn’t fulfill every storyline whim he ever had? (Budgets, technology restraints) Someone should have taken away his producer/director license about a decade ago.
Donna said on 03.17.11 at 10:11 PM • [link]
Or more to the point - his preadolescent son’s whims.
jayhjay said on 03.17.11 at 10:15 PM • [link]
I agree, I read “uncut” and totally think non-circumsized!
Blue said on 03.17.11 at 10:40 PM • [link]
Ok, I’m in! Ready to give it a try, what’s the name of the first and second books in this series, anybody know? Thanks Everybody!
Moviemavengal said on 03.17.11 at 11:08 PM • [link]
Sarah, you had me laughing till I was crying. This is why your reviews are “THE CRACK” to me!
I devoured Dark Prince and it was also the first of the vampire lover books for me (beyond Anne Rice, anyway). But the series got so repetitive, I also dropped it.
I guess I have to hand it to Feehan for really getting me going into the romance genre, though, as it sent me looking for similar books.
Michael said on 03.17.11 at 11:34 PM • [link]
I never made it past the first one. I was sooooo hoping it would be good cause I love me a series, and this one is gigantic. But, blah, I couldn’t hang. I think I was irritated with the whole we-walk-like-vampires-talk-like-vampires-look-like-vampires-brood-and-stare-like-vampires-but-we-don’t-call-ourselves-vampires-we-are-CARPATHIANS-dammit and vampires are the evil blood sucking monsters that are made and not born like we are. Also I understand that if you have been around a few million you’ve probably saved up some big bucks, but aren’t there any vampires, immortals, that are bad with money and mooch off the others?
HelenMac said on 03.18.11 at 12:50 AM • [link]
Oh, the Dark books! Despite hating not starting a series from the beginning (properly, damnit!), I read Dark Symphony when I was studying for my MA. The crack was good enough that I sought out the kinda-sorta-but-not-really-prequel (The Scarletti Curse), and then the first book in the actual series, Dark Prince…which I TOTALLY AND UTTERLY ADORED. I read it whilst training it from York to Inverkeithing, and on the last leg of my journey, was crying so hard that the train guard stopped to ask me if I was alright! Read the next two, but I’ve kind of stalled at reading Dark Magic - I own it, and made it a chapter or two in, but I found Gregori’s claiming of Savannah whilst in the disguise of her only childhood friend, a wolf cub, really kind of skeevy. I will finish reading it, and the rest of the series one day!
Mayweed said on 03.18.11 at 12:55 AM • [link]
Now I will never be able to look at my copy of “The Stand, Complete and Uncut” the same way again. I have not read any of these, but am so over the vamp thing that if they decided not to publish another vampire book for 50 years I would not complain. As always the bitchery makes my day.
Tina said on 03.18.11 at 12:58 AM • [link]
Lordy. I read far too many of these to admit, but I’ll you, if my version of “Dark Prince” had a guy on the cover that looked like THAT, I think I could have tolerated a bit more of the alpha-asshattery.
And is it just me, or does anyone else hear Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in their head every time someone says “Gregori…the DARK ONE” in hushed, awed tones? Seriously - I skipped the book about him because I was pretty sure all the mental images of dramatic closeups would trigger a migraine. Still, kind of awesome crack.
capcha - “filled56” - I will draw the curtain of charity over the expected joke…:)
Kris said on 03.18.11 at 04:02 AM • [link]
I am also one who tried to like these books, but just didn’t have the juice to care. I put the second one down about a third of the way through, and after a week I had no desire to find out what happened next. I do think that in a purely adolescent way that I dislike them because I had been TOLD by SUPERFANS of Feehan that I MUST LOVE this series, and that always puts my back up. (Note, I have still not seen Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, or Forrest Gump for that same reason.) I feel the same way about JR Ward and the MarySue Brotherhood. Don’t like being told what to like! (Except in your case, Sweet Sarah, because you make me laugh until I wet with some of your demands…)
dreadpiraterachel said on 03.18.11 at 04:20 AM • [link]
So strange. I cannot access SBTB from Google Chrome, which is my default browser, but I can through Firefox. I’m not having problems with any other websites; just this one. Grr.
Lizzy said on 03.18.11 at 04:51 AM • [link]
I also cannot access the page with Chrome. I switched to IE, bleh.
Nichole said on 03.18.11 at 04:55 AM • [link]
I really didn’t care for this book. I remember being so excited to read it because my aunt, a fellow romance reader, kept talking about how awesome the series was. Then I started reading it and was like “seriously?” I didn’t get it. The writing was ok, but what pissed me off the most was the unbalanced relationship between the hero and heroine. He had so much power over her and basically claimed her from the get-go. And she was totally ok with it. I mean she protested a little, but not nearly enough. I couldn’t even get through the first book, it didn’t work for me.
I like books like Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series where the men are alpha, but not overbearing and the women are strong in their own unique ways.
Nadia said on 03.18.11 at 05:09 AM • [link]
Totally teh crack. I got to this series late, and caught up to real time just two books ago. I’ve got Dark Peril checked out from the library and it’s at the top of the TBR pile. I don’t know how I made it this far, because there have been plenty of squicky moments. Gregori and the imprinting on the daughter so she could save him when she grew up - just ew. But it’s a compulsion - cannot let a series go unfinished.
eggs said on 03.18.11 at 08:36 AM • [link]
Damn it all to hell. Why did you have to publish this review?!? I got rid of this paperback years ago. And then I slunk off and bought an ereader edition. And then I lost it when the harddrive died. And I told myself I was glad ... and now I’m slinking off to the kitchen to buy the kindle edition on my iphone while I pretend to cook dinner. Giving up the smokes was easier than giving up Dark Prince ... thanks a lot!
Kaetrin said on 03.18.11 at 11:23 AM • [link]
I have very fond memories of Dark Prince. It was my first evah vampire romance.
Nifty said on 03.18.11 at 12:57 PM • [link]
Six or seven years ago I glommed several of the Dark books back to back. Either this was a mistake and fast-feeding myself Carpathians killed my appetite for them entirely…or the books weren’t all that good to begin with. I quit the series and haven’t looked back. (I DID try a couple other Feehan books, but maybe it was too soon and I was still too annoyed by the Dark books to be receptive to her other titles. Whatever the case, she’s not an author for me.)
Regarding the Dark books, my problem with them is that they’re exactly what I want to read…but then they piss me off. I like the snynopses—the books sound great!—and I don’t have too much of a problem with the mythology. I generally like the female characters quite a bit, and I generally like the first half of the book quite a bit. But the moment the hero/heroine have sex for the first time and he turns into Neanderthal Carpathian, I am DONE. Bossy, uber-controlling, jerk…grrr.
As a side note, I loathe—LOATHE—the whole “fated-to-be-mated” plot device. What’s the point of an HEA if you don’t have free will? It’s not like you have any choice in the matter…you were fated to be mated. And if you take one look at your destined mate and decide he or she isn’t the one for you, then great…you’ve just pissed away your one chance a love, both for yourself and for the other person. Might as well go climb in a hole and die.
(I’ve read reader comments on blogs/boards that assert that the lifemate device is great because it guarantees fidelity. Okay. How is that any different than a labotomy and handcuffs? Personally, I’d rather have a guy who wanted to be with me because he wanted to be with me, and not because some metaphysical mojo was enforcing or enabling fidelity.)
SB Sarah said on 03.18.11 at 02:11 PM • [link]
@nadia: “Gregori and the imprinting on the daughter so she could save him when she grew up”
I didn’t like it in Twilight either, you know? Pair-bonding on the underage and unsuspecting is a big skeeve for me.
And WTF with Chrome?! I’m sorry - a redesign is in the works and that’ll definitely fix it, but I will try to figure out why Chrome doesn’t like me. I’m sorry about that!
Kerry Allen said on 03.18.11 at 04:20 PM • [link]
@ Nifty “Personally, I’d rather have a guy who wanted to be with me because he wanted to be with me, and not because some metaphysical mojo was enforcing or enabling fidelity.”
This. Yes. Please. A CHOICE to be together is preferable to a shotgun wedding any day. Isn’t the usual mate schtick he can’t get it up for another woman ever again? Keep your convenient supernatural neutering. Give me a guy susceptible to temptation who chooses to resist because he values what he has too much to do anything that will screw it up.
Asia M said on 03.18.11 at 06:35 PM • [link]
Sounds like something I should at least try… Never read anything by that author.
@orangehands: I’m with you about JR Ward. And I’d definitely enjoy more gay sex in romance! :D
Wahoo Suze said on 03.18.11 at 09:04 PM • [link]
The only author’s cut book that I’ve (knowingly) read both versions of was Elizabeth Lowell’s Desert Rain (which had been previously published as the much shorter Silhouette Desire Summer Thunder).
Lowell’s preface to Desert Rain contained a bit of a rant about how her previous publisher had forced her to take out so much and essentially ruined her book.
Desert Rain was a lot longer. That’s all I remember. I think the Desire was a better read.
Donna said on 03.18.11 at 09:26 PM • [link]
My point exactly. And there’s no one to whom an editor’s red pen is a bigger friend than Elizabeth -I GET IT ALREADY!- Lowell. I swear I counted how many times she use a phrase, the exact same phrase, in a book & lost count around 15.
Khenta said on 03.18.11 at 09:44 PM • [link]
@ Nifty:
Yep… I have the same reaction to those books.
And aside from the jerkhole male characters, what pissed me off even more was the nonexistent research* the author did for Dark Prince (and the f’ed-up timeline for the later books).
*: A book that’s set in Ceaucescu-era Romania? Not bloody likely. And the male MC has a russian name. And every minor character has a non-romanian name. Bleh.
Now I’m sorry for all the hours I spent reading them.
orangehands said on 03.18.11 at 10:47 PM • [link]
LMAO. You know, in 1999 we had to read our romances walking five miles in the snow…uphill…both ways.
Nifty: Yeah, I’ve read a few books that had the mated-to-be-fated that I liked (its hard getting my shifter fix without it), but I much prefer someone was with someone because they, you know, wanted to be.
SB Sarah & nadia: Oh hell yeah. That’s not romantic, it’s child grooming.
Asia M: *sigh* I love m/m. It’s becoming my new favorite subgenre. :D Anyway, Ward better finish Qhuinn and Blay soon because that is the only reason I’m still reading. Rhev’s book really grossed me out, and I’d like to drop the series, but I must have the conclusion to the Blay and Qhuinn story. (Blay = favorite character by Ward ever. And the only generally nice guy, which I’m hoping she doesn’t ruin, because she doesn’t have the best track record of keeping the nicer guys nice for their story. *cough Phury and John cough*)
Virginia Llorca said on 03.19.11 at 12:27 AM • [link]
I love the way you guys pick up on something and run with it forever and f-ing forever. I ALSO mentioned I had NO idea what the timeframe of the story was. Glad to provide grist for your mills, tho. . . Someone really should devote a column and two or three thousand comments on what constitutes the Alpha male. Wolf-wise, and that should be considered when we are doing all this paranormal “belief suspending” stuff, it is a genetic prerogative and the females are allowed to take it, not leave it. Myself, my choices have always been for the shallowest of reasons.
Claudia said on 03.19.11 at 04:06 AM • [link]
I had a love/hate relationship with these books, also. Yes, they have some goofy bits, but they’re romance novels—they are allowed. I read them because, “I can do no other”.
Jen B. said on 03.19.11 at 04:46 AM • [link]
Bravo! Excellent study of the mystery of why that stupid book is so darn readable. I suspect it will always remain a mystery. I will admit that I have read all of the series up to the last one that was published. The stories become so repetitive. Boring! I haven’t given up completely but I will be cautious with future purchases. I may go hunt down this new super sized version. It would be interesting to see if I still feel the same about the characters.
Pam Regis said on 03.19.11 at 05:37 PM • [link]
Using Chrome right now, and everything is fine. SBTB will be required reading in my Popular Romance Fiction course this fall.
velocireader said on 03.19.11 at 06:48 PM • [link]
Thank you for fixing whatever the issue was with Chrome. I had to “kill the page” multiple times before it died…wondering if there was some parallel to the paranormal discussion going on -“How clever of them! Vampire romance and the site freezes and requires multiple killings! How did they do that?” lol
Amy said on 03.19.11 at 07:26 PM • [link]
The time frame of the book is totally not important. IMO, the year of publishing is only real date of significance. Every generation reframes the past to make it understandable in the present. I have a hard time reading many modern day historicals because they so clearly put 21st century heroines in the middle of a historical back drop. Jane Austin wrote authentic middle-class 19th century characters because she was one. Us 21st century inhabitants can only guess at it and without a ton of research (which is probably unnecessary for a book aimed at entertaining a modern audience anyway), we usually get it wrong.
Given this was published in ‘99, “Time period” doesn’t seem like a good reason why men we wouldn’t willing invite to a dinner party, let alone into our lives seem to still populate popular literature. (Twilight, anyone?) Truthfully, I’m not sure I know of any good reasons that aren’t endless debatable or somewhat demeaning to women. I’m willing to go with “some things just are, and that’s okay” because I don’t want to do either. :)
Hey, me too!!! I tried being deep for a while but it just never turns out well. Kind of a bummer, really. In fact it turns out that it’s lucky I can make it the bathroom in the morning without killing myself on the way there, let alone through the rest of the day. It’s good to get to know you. :)
comer para perder said on 03.21.11 at 12:07 PM • [link]
While I likes me some controlling Alpha male vampire crack, I never could get into these. Made it through one & thought, well thank God I never have to do THAT again. Her Sea Haven books, though? Totally addictive, & I’m so happy she decided to do the second series with Ilya’s brothers.
Deirdre said on 03.22.11 at 08:20 AM • [link]
Although I wouldn’t characterize the series as dreadful, it’s one I just couldn’t get into. I think it had something to do with the description of the Carpatians melting into the ground…are these the books with the characters that do that? If not, I’ve been avoiding the wrong series…typical…
Lisa K said on 03.30.11 at 11:18 PM • [link]
Dark Fire was my crack! I loved Darius and I never re-read books, but I did that one… Twice!
I lost interest in the series a few books back… It’s the same formula over and over, but when you first discover it… WOW!!!
Thanks for making me want to pull out my old paperback and reread! LOL
Lisa :)
Caffey said on 03.31.11 at 05:18 AM • [link]
I so loved this book! And the second one tho, DARK DESIRE (where it starts where he’s buried), really chilled me and a favorite! Since I read just the first one, once, I probably would love to do a re-read and do it with the Uncut version. (Library probably). I haven’t read all the books and this is so making me want to read another of the Dark books! Thanks for the info!
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