Two Stars

I was a little wary going into this book. I took a break from the Dark series for a while when things got weird with mages. The spells and magic and million rules really bog a story down for me. But I’ve loved the last few books in the series so I decided to have faith. Unfortunately, I just didn’t click with this book.

Isai is an ancient Carpathian who has been living with his brethren in a monastery until recently. He finds Julija, a mage looking to warn the king of the Carpathians about a plot to kill him, and realizes she is his lifemate. They team up to destroy a dark mage book.

First of all, this book is dark. And ok, yes, this is the Dark series, and CF has never shied away from going there with the violence, but some of the things that have happened to Julija were very hard to read. It made the way Isai acted at the beginning of the book even worse for me.

Now listen, I have read almost every single book Ms. Feehan has ever written, so I am no stranger to her uber-alpha heroes but Isai was mean at the beginning of the story and I was not here for it. Our first real introduction to him, he berates the heroine without any knowledge of her or her background. It completely turned me off from his character and I never really got to a good place after that.

I mentioned the spells earlier but I think it bears repeating. There are WAY too many spells. I skipped over almost every single one when I realized they were weird and childish nursery rhymes and missed absolutely nothing. The whole Dragonseeker aspect of this series has never interested me and, although I tried to really invest in this story, that same fact held true in this book. Most of the story I felt like I was slogging through way too many repetitive and convoluted details. I almost DNF’d this book around 72% in but I kept reading for the series arc.

Overall, as a huge Feehan fan it pains me to write this review, but I am sure the next book will be stellar! Her recent releases, for the most part, have been excellent. I am dying for Elizabeta’s book. I really hope she’s next!

**I received an ARC of this book in order to provide an honest review**

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