Re-Reading, Book Series, and Reviews to Come

There are some books and series that I go back to and re-read over and over — because I love them, because new releases in the series come out and I want to refresh my memory of the overarching storyline and world, and sometimes just because it’s been a really long time since I’ve read them. Re-reading not only pleases my mind, heart and soul by allowing me to revisit old friends, but when you’re as voracious a reader as I am, re-reading is also a money-saver too.

I’ve mentioned many times here on the blog, and on social media, that when new releases come out in a series I will most often re-read the whole series in the days before to put my mind back into the story. Some of the series I read have become so long though I have had to resort to reading only the previous 4-6 books before a new release. With the upcoming new release in Christine Feehan’s Dark series on September 1^st (Dark Song, book 34), I decided it was well past time to revisit the earliest stories in the series and so I’ve begun a series re-read. To be perfectly frank, the Dark series is one of my all-time favourite vampire series but because of the length of the series it has been more than 10 years since I sat down and began again at the beginning.

 

Since it’s been so long since I’ve read some of the books – I’m pretty sure I haven’t read any of the first 20ish books in nearly 10 years – it’s almost like reading them for the first time again. Years ago, more than ten years ago in fact, I wrote a series of reviews for (approximately) the first dozen or so books in the series, with a plan for the rest of the books which had been published at that time. Not all of those reviews even managed to make it on to the blog. So… I’m going to attempt to do it all again! 

 

The coming Feehan’s Dark Carpathians review series will start at the beginning of the series, with Dark Prince, and will move through the entire series of books. It’s going to take time – after all with the September 1, 2020 release there are 34 books to read and write about – but while every single book may not get it’s own individual post, all 34 books will be reviewed and discussed. Those early books I’ve previously reviewed will get new reviews, though I may quote old ones or simply include a link back to them. (I just re-read the Dark Prince review that made it to the blog and scanned the others too… some of them could use some major editing, while changes to the site over 10 years and dead links have made them all sort of painful to look at.) 

I invite everyone to read along with me. Start with Dark Prince and go from there. Check out the reviews when they come along – they will all be tagged with “Feehan’s Dark Carpathians” on the blog so you can search and find them easily. On social media I’ll be using the hashtag #FeehansDarkCarpathians so that posts and discussions will be searchable. 

 

And on Facebook you can join my (brand-new) reading and book discussions group: LD Ferris’s Book Club. I’m launching it to coincide with Feehan’s Dark Carpathians for anyone who wants to read-a-long and discuss the books (and reviews) as we go. After that we’ll try to have a monthly ‘book club book’ to read and discuss, as well as offering a place where anyone can post book recommendations and reviews. At least that’s the plan for now.

 

So at this point, I guess it’s time for me to focus on reading and reviewing. I have already finished reading book 1, so the review of Dark Prince and the first true post of the new Feehan’s Dark Carpathian’s review series will be coming shortly!

October Round Up: Whatcha Been Reading?

It is the end of October and between one thing or another it has been a crazy busy month for me. On top of the regular constant running for the Corner Table Kids, my younger sister got married (necessitating an extra-long weekend trip away) and my dad had a work accident and spent most of a week in the ICU. Needless to say reading hasn’t been the #1 priority this month. However, I’m really quite good at fitting in a chapter here, a few pages there, or whatever, so I figured I’d let you know at least a bit about the books I’ve read this month!

Through September I was reading the Dragon Kin series from G.A. Aiken and since I had discovered I’d nearly missed one of its new releases I figured I’d better check on release dates for my other favorite authors/series. And THAT is basically how my October reading list was compiled! So, highlights…

Dark Legacy, book 31 in the Dark series from Christine Feehan released September 5^th. I had to re-read the previous title (Dark Carousel) to basically re-grasp the thread of the storyline that this book would follow – the Carpathian stories of the Dark series are sort of, but not really stand-alone novels in my mind. I mean you can read any one of them by itself, at any time. It would be a good story, you’d very likely enjoy it, but without the rest [of the series] you may not understand everything that’s going on. With a series as long standing and as richly diverse as the Dark series is, honestly there is just so much history that’s drawn upon that not having the series backstory can make it more difficult to follow. However, I’ve found that in many ways the Dark series has some natural groupings to the books that may make understanding it a bit easier – by which I mean, for example, you wouldn’t necessarily have to read books 1-10 to understand book 15, you may just need to read book 13 & 14. (Those book numbers are just examples, not actual recommendations.)

The Carpathian stories of the Dark series are some of my favorite to read. You have these men who are of varying degrees of ancient, and everything that implies, and women who are quite simply modern. The women have grown up in a world of relative gender equality and come to love these ancient, in some ways barbaric men. They love them completely and they’re loved completely in return. On the romance side of things every book is a joy as you get to watch these two vastly different people figure out how to relate to one another, while at the same time they’re falling head over heels in love with one another. Dark Legacy is a perfect example, as we watch one of the most ancient Carpathians (to date) fall in love with a woman who is quintessentially modern with her expectations. I really liked it.

Sherrilyn Kenyon writes a couple of my other absolute favorite series. From another long-standing series, Dragonsworn is the 28^th book in the Dark-Hunters series and came out in early August. This book is part of a story arc that began with Son of No One (Dark-Hunters, #25) so I had a bit more to re-read before diving in to it. Throughout the series there’ve been random comments about “the dragon in the attic” at Sanctuary (the New Orleans bar that is a regular feature in the stories). I’m not sure when I realized that there actually was a dragon in the attic but this arc takes that, and a whole lot more, and runs with it. Dragonsworn pulls together a few threads of storyline that have been building for quite a while and we’re finally beginning to see how they’re all entwined. At least that’s what seems like to me.

Unlike Feehan’s Dark series, in the Dark-Hunters it’s not just the written history that’s immense, and it is, but world mythology is drawn on heavily as well – which makes for unlimited possibilities when mixed in to fiction. That fact right there, that’s one of the reasons I read every single Dark-Hunter book that comes out and why I happily re-read the series over and over. Honestly, I’ve never read a Dark-Hunter (or associated series*) story that I haven’t loved. Dragonsworn is no different.

*Kenyon has a number of series that exist within or parallel to her Dark-Hunter world and the stories/series are listed separately on her website, as well as all under the Dark-Hunter banner. These include: Dark-Hunters, Dream-Hunters, Were-Hunters, Lords of Avalon, Hellchasers/Hell-Hunters, and Deadman’s Cross series.

The last (new) book I read during October is also from Sherrilyn Kenyon and is the first book in her Deadman’s Cross series. As also part of the Dark-Hunter world, Deadmen Walking has a couple previously well-known characters and introduces a whole host of new and interesting folks for us to get to know as well. The book actually released back in May (at the time I was a little busy having a baby). I actually pre-ordered and purchased it at release time. Then you know life got a little hectic and I forgot about it. I’m kicking myself for not having read it sooner but boy, oh boy, was it worth the wait! I loved it! The Deadman’s Cross may well become a favorite series of mine all on its own, regardless of its association under Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter banner.

So what did you read this October? Have you been re-reading old favorites? Discovering new loves? Did you dive in to a spooky Halloween themed booklist for the month? Really – what have you been reading?

Must Have Reads

Stick around here for a while and you’ll quickly come to realize that I’m the type of reader who falls in love with a series and/or author and will then proceed to read, or try to read, everything I can get my hands on by that author. It’s a wonderful thing when the author is well established and has a vast back list of books for me to obtain. It’s a different kind of wonderful when it’s a new, or relatively new, author.

No matter what, I end up impatiently patiently waiting for each new title to release. I stalk social media pages and websites. As release dates approach, I’ll re-read all the books in a series – just to refresh the story in my mind. I’ve even been known to join authors’ community message boards to chat with other like-minded fans.

And, depending on how impatiently I’ve been patiently waiting for the new story, I’ve been known to hole up in my house on release day to devour whole books. I’ll ignore all other responsibilities (the only exception being the care of my children as required) and immerse myself in the story.

New releases of JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I’m there. The newest title in the Dark (Carpathian) series from Christine Feehan, I’m all in. A new League series book or Dark Hunter story by Sherrilyn Kenyon and I’m absorbed. Nora Roberts, Johana Lindsey, Stephanie Laurens, Janet Chapman, G.A. Aiken, Catherine Gayle… honestly the list of my ‘absolutely must buy, must read ASAP’ authors is long. If nothing else it keeps me constantly looking forward to a new book coming out within any given period. 😊

So what are your must read’s? Your must buy’s? What author do you automatically “1-click”? Which series are you completely hooked on?

Feehan's Dark Carpathians - Part 6

DARK CHALLENGE

Christine Feehan

Book 5: Dark Series

ISBN-10: 0-8439-6196-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-8439-6196-6

Julian Savage has always been a loner.  He has always pushed the bounds of acceptable behavior, for humans and Carpathian’s alike.  He has always looked up to the most powerful of their people – Mikhail, Gregori, Gabriel, Lucien, and several other Ancients from his youth.  It was this envy, this hero worship of males with great power that cost him a good part of his life, his youth, his every dream and hope for a future.  Blood-bonded to a vampire, in his youth he is forced to do many horrible things – including setting traps that nearly kill his twin brother (Aidan – Dark Gold).  Knowing that he could be used to spy on the Prince or the other Hunters, Julian withdraws from Carpathian society.  Over the centuries he has occasional, random meeting with others of his kind, but for the most part he spends the endless years wandering the Earth hunting the undead, studying, and doing other various tasks (i.e. guarding Savannah during her years doing magic shows – Dark Magic).  When Gregori asks him to warn a woman who is on the “societies” hit list, Julian accepts the task with the knowledge that after he has given the warning, he will seek the dawn.

And then he enters a crowded bar and hears music of pure golden and silver notes and his entire world is changed.  In those first hours (and the previous days) he assumes Desari is human, despite her magical voice, the band’s (the Dark Troubadors) pet leopards and her strangely alert bodyguard.  To save her, he gives her his blood before even sharing his name, and acting on instinct alone ties her to him with the ritual binding words. 

But Desari, and all the other members of the Dark Troubadors, are in fact Carpathians.  They had escaped Europe during the Turk wars after all of their parents were killed; six children ranging in age from 6 months (Desari) to 6 years (Darius), and they made it to Africa before they settled down and struggled to survive.  For hundreds of years Darius has led them, guided them, and protected them, but in all the years that they have travelled and entertained people, they have never encountered any other Carpathians.  Due to their youth when they escaped Europe and their lack of contact with their own people, the Troubadors know close to nothing of traditional Carpathian life – the hierarchy, common mental pathways, lifemates and why males become vampires.  They have always existed as though they were the only ones of their kind that survived.   It causes some friction between Desari and Julian (neither knowing what the other expects initially) and between Julian and the men of the Troubadors.  It’s actually an intriguing perspective because we’ve never had a female lead with family protectors, and so we’ve never had the chance to see the ‘in-law’ dynamics of Carpathian courtship.  A lot of the time it’s actually quite amusing.

One thing that has stood out in this book, each time that I’ve read it, is the description Julian gives Desari of the life of an (unmated) Carpathian male.

“You are the only reason I am still living… I was empty without you.  And that kind of emptiness eats away at you, consumes you until your soul is dark and ugly and all that matters is sating your hunger.  But nothing fills the void.  Nothing.  Year after year you endure the emptiness until life itself is a curse hardly to be borne.  And all the while the darkness, the beast in you whispers, an insidious whisper, promising power from the kill, promises that wear away your belief in God, in all the things that are right and ture and good.  The monster inside you, so black and hungry for life, grows and grows until it has consumed everything you ever were.  That is the curse borne by Carpathian males…”

I think this passage is an amazing insight into Feehan’s unmated male Carpathians, into what makes them who they are, what they are and why some of them choose to give up their souls and become vampire.  In all the previous books, in all the books, we get varied and good explanations of what lifemates are and what they are to each other.  It’s refreshing to get a different view of it all.  And Julian’s words?  Well, they drive the point home and they make you feel them.  (Don’t they?)

Dark Challenge is just one more example of Christine Feehan’s brilliance, of her way with words and her genius of the paranormal.  Stay tuned for the next review in this series when we talk more about the Dark Troubadors.