#BookReview – “Dark Blood” by Christine Feehan

Blurb

At long last you are truly back with us…

Zev Hunter was an elite warrior, a dark-blood dealer of death to rogue Lycans who preyed on mankind. He was a loner, never given to personal attachments, and damned fierce at his job. But Zev begins to question his past and his purpose when he awakens in the darkness of the sacred cave of warriors—and is soothed back to consciousness by the sensuously familiar voice of one woman, the woman who has haunted his fantasies for centuries. She was Branislava, member of the Dragonseeker clan…

Mother Earth called the ancients to witness your rebirth…

For this half-mage, half-Carpathian temptress, the ritual of awakening Zev to the council of warriors was the only way to save him. Locked away for his own protection, the time has now come for his rebirth, for his blood to stir with that of the ancient warriors before him. He has been assured by Branislava that their fates are entwined, that their spirits are woven together for eternity and that his new purpose in life is beyond imagining.

Now, with a blood-sworn vow of honor, mercy and endurance, and under the influence of a siren as bewitching as Branislava, Zev begins to wonder what his purpose is, what it means for the future of the Carpathians and what it is about his rebirth that he has to fear…

Review 

In the twenty-third book of the Dark/Carpathian series, Branislava Dragonseeker has tied her soul to an injured Lycan warrior on the verge of death. The connection between her and Zev is earth shattering, and she can’t live without him. He’s her lifemate, but she doesn’t understand how that could be since he’s Lycan and she’s Carpathian.

As an elite Lycan pack alpha, Zev Hunter has guarded and advised the Lycan council for centuries, and now he’s acting as their liaison with the Carpathians. He and his pack often kill rogue werewolves and sometimes the rare Sanga rau (mixed-blooded werewolves and vampires). Lycans believe all mixed bloods should be exterminated, but Zev is siding with the Carpathians over the Guardians (mixed-blooded Lycans and Carpathians). After he’s terribly injured protecting a Lycan council member, he’s fed Carpathian blood and put to ground to heal. When he rises, he’s more than just Lycan—he’s Carpathian. Unbeknownst to him and everyone else, he’s also the last of a long dead bloodline.

A new lineage is introduced in this book, and apparently, the Dark Blood line is much stronger and more revered than the Dragonseekers, the Dubrinskys, and the Daratranzanoffs. Also, the Dark Bloods can walk in sunlight and the women were allowed to fight with their men, which doesn’t align with the established history and genetic make-up of the species.

I liked Branislava and Zev. She was trapped with her sister Tatijana in the ice caves for countless centuries, but she learned all sorts of dark magic from her evil father, Xavier, and from his vicious brothers. Zev was rougher and more controlling than Fen and Dimitri (the heroes from the previous two books), but he still respected Branislava as a woman and a warrior, even though his possessive inner wolf demanded he keep her out of danger.

Zev was often compared to Gregori, but I didn’t see many similarities. Sure, Zev is demanding and bossy, but he’s not a male chauvinist like Gregori. Now, don’t get me wrong. I like Gregori a lot—he’s a kickass secondary character—but in his own book, Dark Magic, he was way too controlling of his lifemate Savannah. Luckily, Gregori has calmed down over the years and now treats all women with more respect.

This book is the last of a trilogy within the overall series. Multiple sex scenes, drawn out fight scenes, repeated information, and detailed chants and rituals affected the pacing. After reading so many books in this series, those types of scenes just blur together in my mind since they’re all very similar.

On a side note, I don’t understand why Natalya wasn’t there. She’s a powerful Dragonseeker and should’ve been fighting alongside her kin to save their people.

Anyway, Mikhail, Gregori, Fen and Tatijana, Dimitri and Skyler, and Razvan and Ivory returned and added a lot of humor, emotion, and depth to the story. The best thing about this series is the cast of secondary characters. I’ve read several reviews for this story and even though some of those readers weren’t happy with Ms. Feehan’s choice of villains, I actually liked that Xavier was a triplet and his two evil brothers masterminded the plot to pit the Carpathian and Lycan races against one another.

Overall, I liked the H/h and their friends and family, but the slow pacing kept drawing me out of the book.

3 Stars