A), Dark Curse (Carpathian Novel

I agree that I have mixed feelings regarding this book. I didn't like the couple as much as I love some of the others I've met in this series. I've been reading it for a long time, however, and I am excited to see the series finally evolving. We are finally figuring out why things are so tough on the Carpathians. The vampire bad guys from the earlier books--who never could stand against the Carpathains are finally becoming a real challenge. In fact, the Carpathains are losing at the moment. The series had started to become so repetitive--Feehan is bringing together ideas from her earlier books. I don't like, however, how quick she has Mikhail jumping to not be the prince. Come on.... I don't really believe that little twist.

Am in the middle of this exciting read & can't wait to see how my favorite Carpathian People deal with their enemy Xavier.Go Lara & Nicolas I am right there with you. I would tell everyone this is a must read series.

After last year's Dark Possession, I was leery about reading Dark Curse. Perhaps not the best of the "Dark" novels, Dark Curse is definitely one of the contenders for that distinction.

Yes, we have the Alpha male and the strong female totally at odds. He is determined to claim her, she is equally determined to flee. Her desperate attempt was heart-wrenching for the reader and eye opening for Nicolas.

Feehan artfully includes lifemates from previous novels as she relates the story of the Carpathian's fight for their survival. We learn more about the Dragonseekers (first introduced in Dark Demon) and the role they play. Although there are the requisite fights with vampires, this story masterfully deals with the deeper evil facing the Carpathians.

I cried through much of the book, and so now begins the long wait for the next installment in this series. Thank you, Christine Feehan!

Once again Christine has outdone herself ! This book is wonderful and leaves you waiting for her next book.You can feel the passion and love in her heroes .I love these books and have almost everyone in both ebook form(if the come in that format) and hardbook. Thanks to Ms Feehan for her creations.

I loved this book. It's much better than the several preceeding it. Although once again the heroine is damaged and reluctant to trust the hero. He is completely alpha and slowly realizes that females have personalities along with agendas. The ice cave scenes required great imagination on both the author's and the reader's part. I seem to be addicted to the Dark series.

I've read more than 46,000 books and counting, but, this particular story and this series will forever stay with you and you will yearn to read then again and again!!! I'm recommending this particular book and series for your reading pleasure!

One of Your Greatest Fans,

Lena deLeon
[email protected]

While many people have had some issues with this latest entry in the Dark series, I personally thought it was fantastic. We finally find out some more information on what is going on with the Carpathian reproduction issue.
Many people mentioned the characters for this book, Nicolas and Lara. These are both interesting characters. They both have issues that will have to be worked through, not only in this book, but in future entries in the series. However, they are wonderful characters, and I can't wait to see how they continue to affect the war.

I've read many reviews in the past stating that this wasn't a great series because the books are all the same. And, before Feehan started really getting into the war with the vampires, I think this was true. For those that felt they were reading the same romance with different character names, this book will be appreciated. She really took this romance in a different direction, and I was thrilled to read it.
I can't wait for the next installment!

Christine Feehan is one of the best writers. Dark Curse is another book in her Carpathian Series and it is outstanding as usual. Looking forward to her next book. Have trouble putting the books down until finished.

I liked the entire series and cant wait to read the next in line ! Each character is differant but always one that can steal your heart in the story. Always like good romance with amazing story lines and I have found it in this series!

Dark Curse is another excellent book in Feehan's Dark series. I could not put the book down till I was done. Feehan fills in many missing pieces from past books with this one. If you have not read the Dark books, this is still an excellent read and stands alone well. If you are a Dark fan, this will help tie together several books and answer some of those "What happened to _______?" questions.

Having read and, admittedly, re-read all previous books in the Dark Series I enjoyed this refreshing twist on the family saga. What to know why they race is dying out - well read this book! It kept me turning the page on a series that almost lost me.

I love Christine's books and this series, but this one completely missed the mark. It had none of the usual intensity....you knew exactly what was going to happen...and then it just ended. Right in the middle of something.... I felt like I fell off a cliff with no warning. I just couldn't believe it ended when it never really took off. Sorry Christine, I love your stuff....but this was my least favorite. I'll still read the next one though!!!

I liked this story because we learn more about the problems with the inability for the women to bear children; and of course, love takes over the "mate" thing; I'll read the next story hoping learning more about Razvan...

I really enjoyed Dark Possession but Dark Curse is even better. I could not put it down. Finally, we are getting some answers which have been years in coming. Why are there miscarriages and the lack of female children with the Carpathians people and someone is able to do something about it. Also, the Carpathians are gaining some ground over their enemies.

I am a big fan of Christine Feehan. I especially love the Dark Series. I was really looking forward to this book. I was disappointed. It doesn't flow like her other books. I was very disappointed in the ending. I think she stopped right in the middle of the story. Hopefully the next book will pick up and finish Lara's story.

I HAVE BEEN A FAN OF CHRISTINE FEEHAN FROM THE FIRST PAGE OF HER FIRST BOOK, THE DARK PRINCE. I BELIEVE I HAVE READ EVERYTHING SHE HAS WRITTEN. DARK CURSE WAS INDEED A SURPRISE. AT FIRST I WAS NOT THRILLED, BUT THEN AS I CONTINUE TO READ THE BOOK, I FOUND THAT I ENJOYED THE STORY AS I HAVE IN ALL OF HER WRITINGS. I CANT WAIT FOR HER NEXT BOOK. AND LONG WAITING FOR A DRAKE SISTERS FAMILY AFFAIR. I RECOMMEND THAT ALL PEOPLE SHOULD READ FEEHAN'S BOOKS, PREFERABLY IN ORDER.
CONGRAT'S ON ANOTHER SUCCESS.
GWEN

Te avio palafertiilam. Entolam Kuuhua, avio palafertiilam. Te avio palafertiilam. Entolam kuulua, avio palafertiilam. Ted kuuluak, kacad,kojed. Elidamet andam. Pasamet andam. Uskalfertiilamet andam. Sivamet andam. Sielamet andam. Aimamet andam. Sivamet kuuluak kaik etta a ted. Ainaak olenszal sivambin. Te avio Palafertiilam. Ainaak sivamet jutta aleny. Ainaak terad vigyazak.

(If you find the above gibberish...try reading the book...those are just samples of some of the junk you have to skim over)

I'm going to be completely honest, I was a little taken back after I finished this book. It certainly takes us on a different track than the one we have been on with the Carpathians and it has all the romance, conflict, and fights that we would expect. But it is also poignant and rough to read at certain points. In the end, we are given a happy ending but with a twist I hadn't expected. I highly recommend it but it is not the Carpathian novel that its predecessors were. I think its probably the beginning of a new arc in the story and I can't wait for more.

For those of you who are fans of Feehan's Dark Series, you are already familiar with Lara, who escaped on the back of a dragon from the evil mage's cave. Flash forward and Lara is an adult who has spent a lifetime searching for the same cave in order to give her two aunts a decent burial. Reaching the village of the Carpathians, Lara is found by Nicolas De La Cruz, her lifemate. Nicholas is so close to turning vampire that he actually begins to feed on Lara before her voice brings him into the light. Lara and Nicholas begin to work out their differences and also begin helping to solve the low birth rate of the Carpathian women. Why mixed feelings?

Positive - A truly excellent hero. Even when Nicholas is doing things the reader doesn't approve of, Feehan still manages to create sympathy and empathy for her tortured hero. By the end of the book, Nicholas is a terrific lifemate and one you won't soon forget.

The mystery surrounding the Carpathian women's low birth rate is becoming clearer and clearer and the answers are intriguing and complex.

As Lara is a Dragonseeker mage, she uses various "rhyming" spells to work her magic. Some of them in the book are very descriptive, touching and very well done.

Negatives - Lara is a heroine that is too hard to like or to figure out. She is by turns insecure, confident, weak, strong, indulgent, selfless - the reader has a hard time figuring out her true nature. I realize that Feehan was trying to show that Lara was damaged emotionally as a child and is growing as the book goes along. However, the mixtures of emotions don't seem to ring true. At one point in the book, Lara tries to commit suicide. This was such a departure from the heroine's character that I was like, WTH? This is the same woman who escaped from a mage, became an adult, practiced her magic and went all over the world trying to find one ice cave. Someone that determined decides to throw it all in? I don't think so.

Feehan once again used the new Carpathian language which she introduced in Dark Demon. Her hero uses it constantly and the reader is forced to skim it, looking for the next English word to understand what he really said. It jars the reader from the story and makes it very frustrating to get a flow going - especially when you realize that it isn't really a true foreign language, but rather an imaginary one.

Feehan spent 32 pages at the end of the book on this so-called language to give translations to various words and phrases. I felt cheated and ripped off. Those 32 pages could have been used to write more to the story. At the end, I briefly considered taking the book back to the bookstore and asking for a return on my money.

So definitely mixed feelings about this book. I would recommend it to other fans of the Dark Series, but just be aware that along with a really good story are some serious flaws.

4-4.5 stars

This was a really good story. I liked both Lara and Nicolas and their story was very enjoyable and engaging.

Lara is a Dragonseeker, an ancient race that is closely linked with the Carpathian people. Unfortunately, Lara is the granddaughter of Xavier, an evil mage that grew jealous of the Carpathian people's long lifespans and used dark magic to extend his life much longer than it should have. Xavier kept Lara, her father Razvan and 2 of her aunts captive when she was a child and it took their combined efforts to help Lara to escape. She grew up thinking that she must have imagined her childhood but is drawn back to the area to try to find the caves she was held captive in as a child.

Nicolas is one of the 5 De La Cruz brothers that own a large cattle farm in South America. Nicolas is an ancient Carpathian male; Carpathians are born vampires with abilities like shape shifting (to any form, even mist), magic spells and psychic powers. The males of the Carpathians have a darkness in them and if they don't find their lifemates, they can lose their souls and become evil. Nicolas decided to come to the Carpathian mountains to pay his respects to his people's Prince before meeting the sun (the Carpathian version of honorable suicide before the darkness overtakes them and they become evil vampires).

Lara works exploring and studying ice caves and has 2 friends that work with her. When the story begins, Lara and her friends are already at the place where the ice cave from her childhood should be located. Lara is sure they're in the right place but has some trouble finding the entrance. A trap is accidentally tripped and one of Lara's teammates is injured. They head back to the Inn and their rooms, hoping to find a healer that can help and Lara runs into Nicolas (almost literally). They have the instant connection of lifemates and Lara has some idea of what is going on because of stories her aunts used to tell her. Unfortunately, Lara was not treated well during her captivity as a child and had blood forcibly taken from her. This makes things rough for Nicolas because his first instinct is to feed off his lifemate and he doesn't realize how badly it will affect her.

Nicolas makes some mistakes in how he deals with Lara at first and it seriously messes things up. However, the results of that mess up is good in the end because it makes Nicolas fully realize what Lara went through. Nicolas really just wants Lara and for her to be happy so once he was confronted with this, he adjusted his actions and restrained his needs accordingly. Lara had some issues to deal with and things are a bit hard at first but once she understands that she can trust Nicolas, it goes much smoother. While Lara and Nicolas deal with their budding relationship, they also have other things to deal with. Raven and Savannah are both pregnant (and the pregnancies are in trouble) and Lara's shattered memories may be the clue to finding out how to help not only them, but all the Carpathian women. Not to mention the need Lara still has to go back to the ice cave... Let's just say that there is plenty going on to keep things interesting and in the end, Nicolas and Lara are together and heading towards a well-deserved HEA.

This was a very enjoyable story. Lara was a good heroine...she had a couple of TSTL moment (one literally) but those few times were promoted by her abuse in her childhood and once you read what she went through, you can forgive a few freak-outs considering the circumstances at the time. Nicolas was kind of an arrogant jerk at first (like most Carpathian males) but he came around real quick. Once he got past that, he was a great hero. My one complaint is that the end felt a little unfinished (but in no way is a cliffhanger) because Lara hadn't been fully transformed to Carpathian at the end and it seemed weird to end with that not done. Outside of that, the story was very good and stayed interesting (keeping me well engaged throughout) and I really liked the characters (both primary and secondary) so I'd recommend it. :)

* note - I listened to the audio version of this story and the narrator did a pretty good job.

As a child, Lara Calladine was kept locked in an ice cave and tortured by her father Razvan and great-grandfather Xavier as they feasted on her blood. Xavier was a powerful wizard who had turned insane in his quest for immortality. He had chained Razvan to the ice wall of the cave and tortured him daily. Lara escaped from the cave of horrors and swore she would never go there again. Since Lara was part Carpathian, she had to avoid the bright sun of the day and became a well-respected explorer of ice caves in her professional life. Though she vowed never to return, she returns to the Carpathian Mountains to find the ice cave she escaped from to find her beloved aunts who helped her escape. Instead, she finds her lifemate in the form of Nicolas De La Cruz, a Carpathian warrior. He is determined she not put herself in danger but she is determined to return to the cave and free her aunts who had been cast into dragons and frozen into the ice walls of the cave by Xavier.

*Warning: This review will contain small spoilers*

I have mixed feelings about this couple, Nicolas especially. I thought that I didn’t really like him because of how he treated Lara after she told him a good couple of times that she wouldn’t be a prisoner again.

I’m happy he learned from it but the De La Cruz brothers are just so self-centered that I’m not really a fan of them, except for Riordan, he’s the only one that didn’t seem like a jerk.

The couple aside, it was really great to think about and have them save the dragons that have been with readers since Dark Descent and Dark Demon, along with learning more about Razvan.

The characters felt real to me, even though I’m still not sure how I feel about Nicolas, I still felt a connection with them, though not with their romance.

How Lara felt made the romance slow but I wouldn’t expect it any other way and this story really furthered the plot, finding out why pregnancies are so difficult and learning that the dragons are just decorations.

The meetings also made this story interesting, especially when the warriors met to discuss women fighting and the ritual to help Raven and Savannah. With everything going on in this book, I should have felt overwhelmed but this was written so well, I felt like I was really in the thick of things.

Dark Curse by Christine Feehan
5 out of 5 Stars

This is the 19th book in the Dark Series about the Carpathian race. Ms. Feehan has developed an amazing world, and if you love fantasy novels, then please read this series. Don't start with this book, since there are so many things you will feel lost about, but this is my favorite so far in the series. I can't wait to get caught up with the others. This is the story of Lara and Nicolas. We first met Lara during a flashback in the book about Natalya and Vikirnoff, and one of my favorite things about this one is that there are so many previous characters in this book. We get to see Shea and Jacques' son, and see what a warrior ceremony and a naming ceremony is like for the Carpathians. The overall story line moves quite a bit in this book, and I'm so ready for the next one to see how all of these things are worked out or at least moved a little further along in the story. We also got to see the rescue of the Dragonseekers, Tatijana and Branislava, so I can't wait to see what happens to them and how they are able to live now that they have been rescued. They have finally figured out what has been keeping the race from reproducing, now we just have to wait to see how they are going to cure that problem. This book just had so many things going on that I was never bored at all through the whole book. It was a great read, and I can't wait to start the next one.

Amanda,My Secret Book Spot

Lara's childhood was brutal until the age of 8 when three people - well, two dragons and her 'evil' father - managed to engineer her escape from their world of ice and cold. They managed to suppress most of her memories, especially any of the good ones of her father. She didn't know that in order to save her life, he opened himself completely to Xavier.

Nicolas De La Cruz has come to give a message to the Prince. However, he doesn't realize just how close he is to turning until he meets Lara....

Will Lara be able to rescue her 'aunts' Branislava and Tatijana? Is Razvan still enduring? What is the shameful secret that Nicolas is to reveal to the Prince about the De La Cruz brothers?

Nicolas De La Cruz has been a hunter for more years than he can count, he is tired of the life, of all the death and wishes to end it, so this mission to find the conspiracy that threatens their prince is perfect, he can end his life far from his brothers and not bring them shame. He has long given up his thought of finding his life mate, the woman who would fall in love with him instantly and do as he wished and who over the years he would come to love.
Lara Calladine is the worlds leading expert on ice caves and the organisms that live there.She has traveled the world searching the caves and for the secret she keeps.She is Dragonseeker, and more and as her aunts taught her she has hidden the powers she possesses.She is drawn to Nicolas as no other but if he thinks it's love at first sight? he is badly mistaken, but together they set off to solve the mystery, one that could greatly affect the Carpathian world.

This was a good story and it gives more of the background of the Carpathians history.Since I have not been able to read the series in order, it also gives me the background on characters that I have met but not had the insight into their history.Feehan is a great author and has created a wonderful story line with the Carpathian series.

This is one of the fastest books in the series. It moves quickly and has a strong storyline. I like how they bring old characters back and introduces new ones. It is full of action and sensuality. It brings in new pieces of the plot that answers questions and presents new problems. Overall a very important book in the series. As with all the books in this series it an awesome read. Don't miss it!

I truly love this book, this author and thus series. Christine Feehan has the ability to create a world that draws the reader in and holds you captivated from the very first page all the way through to the very last page. Her characters leap off the pages and seem to come alive.

This book is about Dragonseeker Lara and her life mate Nicolas. These two meet for the first time when Lara is trying to get help for her two friends who were attacked by strange viper like plants.

This story is action packed and l was not able to put the book down until I had read all the way through to the last page, and then I had to read the next book in the series.

I highly recommend this book this author and this series to everyone. I know you will love it as much as I do. Be sure to pick up a copy you will be very very glad that you did!

Since the emergence of the De La Cruz family four years ago there has been numerous of twists and turns in the series, but most importantly we have been given a true understanding of how the Carpathians function as a society. I believe that Feehan is still trying to drill the same theme constantly into the readers that Carpathians, especially Carpathian males are not human and do not see themselves as human beings and do not act nor believe in the human code of morality as humans do. As such, Feehan has done her best to really make all the heroes more darker, more dangerous, and especially more alpha male. Dark Curse if anything really showed the complexities of Carpathian society and their struggle to survive in the 21st Century. Here are my good and bad high lights of the novel:
Good
1) Out of all the previous De La Cruz novels Lara has got to be one of the strongest female characters joined with the a De La Cruz brother. Although her character is complex and she is at times is strong yet insecure, scared yet confident. Lara really held her own against Nicolas. And although she does attempt suicide, she struggles to find her place not only as a woman in this world but a woman for Nicolas.
2)By far Nicolas was the best character out of all the De La Cruz brothers. When you first read the second and third chapters your thinking here we go again.. however once Lara attempts suicide, Nicolas is slapped with the realization that if he does not change his domineering ways he could lose his lifemate and so through the book you are shown how Nicolas changes from being a caveman here me roar to a cavemen yet I'm going to really listen to what you have to say and we both will come to the conclusion what is right for us.
4)Action and Adventure great loved the fight scenes they were great and my stomach actually knotted with butterflies when they were looking for Lara's aunts. And we finally find out the reason for the miscarriages of the women.
5)Although this book does not really have a lot of love scenes the few written were very very very erotic maybe at times too erotic. The love scenes, especially the oral scene with the two characters were very sexual, graphic, aggressive but tender and smooth at same time. Let me just say I learned a few pointers reading.
6)Feehan returned with characters from the previous novels. I especially loved the skirmish between Gregori and Lucian that was priceless.
7)Raven and Savannah pregnancies are in danger what Nicolas and Lara do to aide them was real tear jerker.
the Bad:
-Too much carpathian ritual I found myself skipping through the pages to reach to the scenes
-Too much Carpathian language and I was really ticked off that most of the pages of the book is devoted to the language and rituals.
-The End of the book was very disappointing, which is why I gave a four. To rush the ending while the book was really pleasantly written was a huge disappointment.
Quite frankly the series is nearing its pinnacle point however with Feehan only publishing one novel per year i fear that I may not be able to wait for the series to end. And with the new enlightments and new characters I fear that we have a long time before this series end.

This is the 19th book in Christine Feehan's successful vampire romance-series about the 'Carpathians'. The Carpathians are a species of people who live on blood (usually without killing anyone), react badly to sunlight and have supernatural powers, like shapeshifting or speaking mind to mind. Their problem is that only few woman are left and the men get more and more aggresssive over time unless they find their lifemate. If they lose control and start killing people, they turn into ruthless and brutal vampires who are hunted down by their own people.

In recent volumes, the surviving Carpathians found out that an ancient mage, Xavier, is responsible for the fact that their women have almost no children anymore and that most of those are male. That's what 'Dark Curse' is about: Xavier's great-granddaughter Lara, who was abused and mistreated by him as a child before she could escape, returns to the Carpathian mountains to find out of her fellow-prisoners are still alive. There she meets her lifemate, dominant Nicolas de la Cruz. They mate, face some problems because of her nasty childhood and her resulting fear of drinking blood, then enter Xavier's lair in an ice cave to find the other prisoners and the laboratory where he experimented on diseases that lead to miscarriages. A few fights follow and Lara saves the day by saving several pregnant Carpathians...

The book has some nice scenes, but all in all I was rather disappointed:
- Nicolas is a stereotypical Carpathian with pretty much no depth or individuality.
- The plot was less than original or inventive. It's a mixture of elements we've all seen before.
- Several problems weren't resolved convincingly (it just sort of happened).
- The rather silly spells (badly rhymed, too) went on my nerves.
- I really wish Feehan would stop adding more and more phrases in her self-made Carpathian language. It really disturbs the flow for me.

I'd say this is a rather weak entry in the series and I really hope that Feehan will return to her old form soon.

A truly excellent hero. Even when Nicholas is doing things the reader doesn't approve of, Feehan still manages to create sympathy and empathy for her tortured hero. By the end of the book, Nicholas is a terrific life-mate and one you won't soon forget. Feehan once again used the new Carpathian language which she introduced in Dark Demon. Her hero uses it constantly and the reader is forced to skim it, looking for the next English word to understand what he really said. It jars the reader from the story and makes it very frustrating to get a flow going - especially when you realize that it isn't really a true foreign language, but rather an imaginary one. Nicolas De La Cruz was a very refreshing South American hero. I really really liked him, and thought, darn! Lara is one lucky lady. :) In the previous books that featured De La Cruz brothers, I thought they were obnoxious with their overly-chauvinistic attitudes (even for Carpathian males, they were way too chauvinistic - except for Riordan). Nicolas isn't really like that. He kind of starts off that way for about two minutes, but he catches on pretty quickly that his attitude just won't work with a partner in his life. He quickly evolves into a really nice, supportive (and hot!) lifemate for Lara, and you can see the evolution occurring in his mind. He's very aware of himself, his attitude, what Lara needs, and how he needs to adapt himself to meet her needs, etc... I thought that was very refreshing. I think if you're a Carpathian fan, you'll enjoy this book a lot. I felt that it was a turn in a better direction for Feehan, and I'm looking forward to the next book. This book reminded me a lot of the Christmas book, and I really like that one. I like seeing a lot of characters interacting with each other, and finding out what previous couples are up to. In this book, you find out that several couples have moved back to the mountains to be closer to their people, and I really liked that.

Okay, I'm really surprised by some of the negative reviews of this book. As I was reading it, I kept saying to myself, "Wow, this is one of the best Carpathian books in a long time!! Yeah for Feehan!" I enjoyed it immensely. It's not perfect, but it has so many great aspects to it that I really enjoyed reading it and can't wait for the next one.

First off, Nicolas De La Cruz was a very refreshing South American hero. I really really liked him, and thought, darn! Lara is one lucky lady. :) In the previous books that featured De La Cruz brothers, I thought they were obnoxious with their overly-chauvinistic attitudes (even for Carpathian males, they were way too chauvinistic - except for Riordan). Nicolas isn't really like that. He kind of starts off that way for about two minutes, but he catches on pretty quickly that his attitude just won't work with a partner in his life. He quickly evolves into a really nice, supportive (and hot!) lifemate for Lara, and you can see the evolution occuring in his mind. He's very aware of himself, his attitude, what Lara needs, and how he needs to adapt himself to meet her needs, etc... I thought that was very refreshing.

Secondly, what I really really loved about this book is that so many characters are in it. Mikhail and Raven (and her pregnancy), Gregori and Savannah (and her pregnancy), Francesca, Virkirnoff and Natalya, Lucien and Jaxon, Jacques and Shea and their baby son, Destiny and Nicolae, Skyler, Syndil, Dominic, and Dmitri are all in the book to varying degrees. And a couple of new Carpathian men and unmated women were introduced, and they are sure to show up in future books! But Mikhail and Raven, Gregori and Savannah are in it quite a lot, as their endangered pregnancies are the key crisis in this book. I don't want to give too much away, but Lara is the key to the Carpathians understanding why their women miscarry so often, as well as why their babies often perish in their first year of life. I found this plot line absolutely wonderful, and I loved how these secondary characters played such an important role in this book. I also found the very heated debate that is going on in the Carpathian world about the role of women in their society to be very intriguing, and can't wait to see how it gets resolved in future books (good luck with that one, Mikhail. :) My favorite scene in the book is between Lucien and his little brother Gregori; after reading Dark Curse, I had to immediately reread Lucien and Jaxon's book (I think I'm in love with Lucien again!!)

Lara herself starts off pretty strong, but we quickly see that she's carrying a huge amount of emotional baggage with her because of her very twisted and tortured childhood. She turns out to be a pretty "flawed" individual, but I think that adds to her charm. It doesn't take much to set her off, and Nicolas does a good job of trying to take care of her. Ironically, she turns out to be the key to the survival of the Carpathians, so that just adds a lot more interest to the plot, as well as complications to her relationship with Nicolas.

The downsides of this book are that it ended way too quickly. I turned the last page, fully expecting a new chapter, and found that there were no more chapters. It had ended on the previous page and I hadn't even realized it. I was like, huh? It should have been a longer book. Several key scenes are summarized in a couple of paragraphs, when you know it should have taken several pages to get through those scenes. As I was reading it, I felt like the editors told Feehan to cut out X number of words, and so those scenes got dropped. Either that, or she was just tired of writing. Some less important scenes went on for pages, and could have been edited down significantly, and some key scenes were simply glossed over. That was really odd and confusing. Also, there was too much "Carpathian" language in this book. It's a weird language, and doesn't add anything to the book. And definitely lose the glossary and dictionary at the end of the book; that just took away from pages that could have contained story in them. Another problem was trying to keep track of the relationships of the Dragonseeker people. Trying to keep track of who is whose brother/sister/aunt/great-aunt/mother/father made my head hurt. Even though these are flaws in the book, they're minor problems in comparison to all the many things I loved about the book.

I think if you're a Carpathian fan, you'll enjoy this book a lot. I felt that it was a turn in a better direction for Feehan, and I'm looking forward to the next book. This book reminded me a lot of the Christmas book, and I really like that one. I like seeing a lot of characters interacting with each other, and finding out what previous couples are up to. In this book, you find out that several couples have moved back to the mountains to be closer to their people, and I really liked that.

Lara Calladine had a childhood that was pretty horrific. Tortured endlessly, the only thing that kept her sane was her relationship with her aunts. These same aunts helped her escape her abusive parent at risk to their own lives. Now an adult, Lara is a leading expert on ice caves and has returned to the place where she escaped from so long ago. She knows she is near; she felt it to her bones once she stepped on the mountain.

Nicholas De La Cruz is also seeking information about his past. An older vampire, a Carpathian, Nicholas longs for the time when he was able to be with a woman and not desire her blood. On a mission to see the prince, Nicholas has this one thing left to do and then he is going to meet the sunlight at dawn. Fate has other plans, however, because Nicholas meets Lara in the moonlight and his destiny now has a new ending.

As many questions that were answered in Dark Curse, many were left unanswered. The reason for the low birth rate amongst Carpathians was explored and the cause was finally identified. Lara was more than heroine in Dark Curse - she is the reason the Carpathians have a chance at life once again. Nicholas and Lara's love story starts out in pretty much the same way a lot of Feehan's hero and heroines do. Close to turning pure vampire, Nicholas had given up and as such was a bit `unmanageable'. His desperation at being alone was more than evident and his finding a mate a stroke of luck. Lara's character was strong and passionate. She was courageous and stubborn. She was one of the best heroine's this enigmatic series has ever seen.

The annoying use of the Carpathian language aside, Dark Curse was an amazing book. Dark and compelling at times, it was exactly what I hoped it would be.

Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Lara, a slave to her evil father, she knew only paralyzing fear as a child. Human, yet mage, yet dragon seeker -- she is of the blood of three species yet belongs to none. She is now a loner, guided by the wisdom of her aunts (the only ones who showed her love as a child)--she only wishes to blend in and let no one know of her ancestry and powers.

Now grown Lara is the leading expert in the field of ice cave study around the world and the healing microorganisms that thrive in them. She's also in search of something else: the source of her nightmares--the cold dark corners of her childhood. Only one man has the will and the powers to help her: Nicolas De La Cruz, for whom centuries of hunting and killing have long since taken their toll. Dangerous and arrogant, he still longs to feel sensual love without the hunger for blood. Now, between Lara and Nicolas, a tenuous trust has emerged, and a passion neither has ever known before as a melody of dark promise begins.

Spoiler: This newest installment to Freehan's Dark Series has more of a plot then most. I found this particular book to be darker then usual and the characters considerably more deep. I didn't necessarily like it though. Her Carpathian male was your typical brooding dangerous man. Although, he is considerably more understanding then the other Carpathians she wrote of, in fact he is tremendously understanding. Lara -- his life mate was annoying at times, and I found myself dreading her constant flashbacks and wining. It left me feeling sorry for poor Nicolas who certainly has his hands full attending to Lara's low self esteem and suicidal tendencies. I didn't feel near as much anticipation as I did for Freehan's other charters in the prior installments, instead I found myself wanting to hurrying up and get it over with.

I loved the Xavier threat storyline. And I loved the prior Dark couples and characters coming together, the council meetings, the women together helping Raven & Savannah. The narrative hung together so well this time, I could follow along and not scratching my head like "Huh" as I did in the Dark Possession. The story flowed and I followed. Lara should have been thanked much more enthusiastically by Mikhail and Raven, Gregori & Savannah, but hey that's just me. This flawed young woman, so tortured as a child, saved their women's children!

I was almost going to give up the series which I've read since "Dark Prince" debuted, after Dark Possession which I found soooo surreal and confusing - then Dark Curse grabbed me and pulled me in again!

Thanks to a couple of the reviews about how Nicolas was always talking in the Carpathian language etc I was putting off reading this book. I absolutely DESPISE 'glossaries' aarrgggghhh!!! And this book had 32 massive pages of it?? Arrgghh again!! I like to be able to read my books without interruptions, without anything interfering with the flow. Hence I was very hesitant. BUT Thank God I decided to read it. The occassions that Nicolas does speak in Carpathian aren't really THAT many..he DOESN'T continually talk in it. And on the occassions he does, you immediately have it translated, usually in the very next sentence..so there is no turning to the back of the book. Also most of the Healing Chants are also in english. MESSAGE TO AUTHORS: DO NOT give us readers massive glossaries. It interferes with the reading. Thankfully, you didn't need to check out words in this book.

Now for the actual story line. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!! Well worth waiting for. You still have your wonderful, erotic love scenes (though thankfully not on EVERY page). Lots of action, magic etc. The ice caves where incredible but what was done to Lara there....and her 'aunts' and Razvan (her father) was abominable. Many secrets are revealed but others are not..as yet. Lara is an immense help in this area.

As for Lara's suiciding..it was needed in the plot of the book. It was a way for Nicolas to go with her into the 'shadow world' (to bring her back) and experience the cruelty done to her. He was then able to understand her a lot better, and to change for her.

Anyway, you don't really need more than that. I will repeat though: DON'T WORRY TOO MUCH about the 32 page 'glossary'. Some is good to read prior to reading the story (eg the way some of the healings go). The Carpathian language you can read if you want but the majority of it in the story (which isn't that much really) is immediately followed by the english translation.

I was actually getting bored with Ms Kenyon's previous books...you know...it was getting 'same old..same old'..but with this book...I'm excited once again for her next books. Just quit with the bleedin' glossaries PLEASE!!

I would've given this a five star but those 32 wasted pages was the only downer for me!!

DARK CURSE: A CARPATHIAN NOVEL
CHRISTINE FEEHAN
Paranormal Romance

Rating: 5 Enchantments

Let's meet Nicolas De La Cruz a man yet not a man. He is a Carpathian. An ancient Vampire Hunter who is on a quest to see the prince. A mission that he is sure will be his last for he will seek the dawn at its end. But instead on a moonlit night he meets his destiny and his worlds is turned upside down.

Now for our heroine Lara Calladine as a child she went through unimaginable tortures of mind and body. Coping only with the love of her two special aunts who helped her escape her hell on earth with the last of their strength. She is now a young woman, who is going back to the place she escaped, to rescue them if she can. She is met with resistance from a man that takes her breath away and fills her heart with desire and fear.

This is a magical tale of love and redemption of two lost souls finding each other. A story of the quest of Lara Calladine to find her beloved Aunts the last of the Dragonseekers or so she believes. And of a Vampire hunter named Nicolas that will give up his last breath to save her, his lifemate, the other half of his soul. But first they must find out the truth about her past so they can save the future of the Carpathian People.

I loved this story it answered so many question I had about the Carpathian People. I actually cried for Razvan when the truth came out. The characters of Lara and Nicolas were so compelling and pulled you into their love story and you do not want to leave. I loved the gentleness of Nicolas when he realized he would have to be without Lara as a full Life mate to save the Carpathian children. I loved the courage of Lara to come to the aid of the woman she did not know to help them defeat an ancient enemy set to destroy their race. I cannot wait for the next book and I would recommend this series to any and all Lovers of the Paranormal. Ms Feehan Has created another great story that will be enjoyed for generations to come.

To find out more about other books by Christine Feehan go to [...]

Melanie
Enchanting Reviews
September 2008

Spoilers ahead.

Feehan must be writing for intellectually and emotionally stunted dunce caps.

In the beginning we get a horribly graphic opening in which a little girl, Lara, is tortured and fed upon by a vampire, while being held captive in an ice cave. As she struggles to maintain her sanity, her two aunts help her escape. Oh yeah, and her aunts are form locked into the bodies of dragons. This would have been an absolutely fascinating addition to the story if Feehan had given it anything more than a mention in passing.

Suddenly we're years later, and somehow Lara meets her life mate. Spoiler, he's a vampire, and their first meeting has him basically grab her, sink his fangs into her, and start feeding. And somehow, despite her extremely traumatized past where she was tortured horrendously and fed upon, her reaction isn't blind panic, fear or rage.. it's annoyance; a reaction I would have attributed to a man planting a kiss on her cheek without warning.

Skip even farther ahead, she faints at one point and he drags her off to a cave. When she, understandably, flips out at being in a strange cave, her "life mate" seals her in, dismisses her desperation to get out, and essentially chains her to the bed as a prisoner for her "protection" while he dies for the day.

We cut ahead to his awakening the next night and find that in her hysteria at being a prisoner, and a personal resolution to never be held captive ever again, she has used her own teeth to rip open her wrists like a wolf chewing off its legs in a trap. She preferred to commit suicide and die rather than let anyone keep her a prisoner ever again; a reaction far more understandable considering what she suffered through as a little girl.

Her so called life mate is suddenly all remorseful and apologetic, desperately saving her rapidly fading life with his own miraculously healing blood. TA-DA! It's a miracle! He apologises and suddenly it's all better! Totally and instantly forgiven to the point where a considerable portion of the story is how they have sex after she recovers from her suicide attempt.

I have only been so completely disgusted by a main character ONCE in my life, and that was in the cursed Twilight Series.

So let's sum this up:
1) Lena was tortured and fed upon during her early life; emotionally, mentally and physically scarring her to the point where reliving the mere memories of it practically kills her.
2) The one man who is supposed to love and cherish her treats her like an object and imprisons her. This act drives her to attempt suicide in a fit of hysteria.
3) A weak ass apology and a pinkie promise never to do it again and suddenly she trusts him without any further reservation. No shattered trust that he has to rebuild. No residual fear that he would put her in that position again. He pays NO penalties for his behavior other than a brief fight to keep her from dying, and even THAT is glossed over.

And this long rant of mine is only the biggest rage point I have with this book. Peppered all throughout this book are little hints and messages and suggestions that once a woman finds herself a man, she can spend the rest of her days either going Horny Rabbits, or being cosseted and protected. It's outright stated at one point that without the man in her life, she wouldn't be strong enough to stand on her own two feet to deal with a difficult problem.

I will admit that the problem is a horrific one, and it forces her to relive, over and over again, her torment as a child. I will admit that such a situation would make the strongest woman need the support of a loved one. This isn't the problem. The problem lies in the fact that the way it is written plainly states that the men think women are weak and unable to stand on their own, and the women largely agree with that opinion. There is very little in the story about the women demanding to be treated fairly and as equals. There is very little female strength and independence in the story at all. It appalls me farther than a woman wrote this.

Is this what her readership enjoys reading? I sincerely hope not. Hello, 1950's? Yes, it seems that you left your oppressive gender roles in our century. Please come pick them up and take them back to your time!

The reviews are all over the place on this book. Here are my 2cents.
#1: To the publisher, the cover art is weird.

Good: I Liked the book & Nicholas/Lara's characters (Nicholas is my favorite De La Cruz now, the others were just so macho they made me sick. He was very macho not wussy, but I think Lara doing what she did (if you read it you woul dnow, so read it) made him a better man (she took some control back in an extreme way, justifiably, soem of the others should have found ways to do the same). I liked all the twist/turns the book had to make the series fresh, it really keept my attention-series get stale with same characteristics for every character. I liked the other characters being in the book just enough, but not too much. I have a better respect for the women after this book, they had valid arguments and kept level heads and still loved their men as they are, wish the men could do the same.

Not bad-uncessary: All the explanations of the Carpathian Language make the most current books bloated. The male echo inflated posturing between the men. I wish Mrs Daratrazanoff was there to spank her boys.

Inconsistencies: If the women are strong let them be strong consistantly MaryAnn!!!(not manly just strong female) The whole lifemate thing. Each man wants to protect his own but will sacrifice anothers in a heartbeat, and they always claim its for the greater good of the species, but thats so much bull its just selfish. They want every lifemate but their own to be barefoot, pregnant and quiet.

I liked the book I really did..it refreshed the series for me, I hope it continues in this vain, instead of reverting back to the same ole stale characteristics on men with different names. That would end the series for me, becuase it would not grow. I am very happy with my purchase.

The main story and the action in each book really is great, but I could do without what I consider, the excessive amount of porn that does not really add anything to the stories. ......”and they made passionate love”.....that is all I need, I can fill in the blanks from there. But that is just me.
I will continue to read the rest of the series,I just flip past A LOT of pages.

Dark Curse is a fine story which the propels the continuity of the Carpathian mythology. Finally, the reason for the miscarriages and infant mortality is revealed.

The heroine, Lara was quite the enigma at first and she confounded me as well as the hero, Nicolas. She is a strong character and became crucial to the salvation of the Carpathian race and the redemption of the arrogant Nicholas. I was surprised, though, at those critizing Lara's suicide attempt, which is pivotal to the story and a turning point for the relationship. Lara was firm in her resolution that she would never be dominated, controlled, or abused again. Nicholas was forced to follow her to bring her soul back, re-live the nightmare of Lara's childhood, as well as discover the sacrifice her father, Razvan, endured to protect Lara and the Carpathian people.

The sacredness and beauty of the Warrior's and Healing caverns were enchanting and provided great moments of clarity into key Carpathian characters. Gregori, the staunch protector of old world Carpathan values. Mikhail, the consumate moderator who allows everyone to speak their mind. It was wonderful to see that Destiny and Jaxon seem to have confidently integrated into Carpathian society. It was nice to get a glimpse of Dimitri, still solditary but holding on while he waits for Skyler to come of age.

The perilous journey of Lara, Nicholas, Natalya, and Vikirnoff into the ice caves to find the aunts kept me on edge. Natalya seemed to have matured, now that she has th love and sense of belonging, as she always longed for. Finding the two Dragonseeker women was a special bonus.

The naming ceremony for the Jacques and Shea's son was a beautiful and touching Carpathian tradition and I look forward to Shea and Francesca finding a way to eradicate the mutated microbes in order for Lara to be converted. Lara and Nicholas deserve their happy life.

Ok I just have to say I dont see how this book got anything but great reviews. I just got around to reading it and I have to admit, it did start out a little slow for me, but a few chapters into it I was thoroughly loving it, and by halfway through I realized CF had outdone herself again. This was really welcome for me bc I wasnt in love with her last novel in the dark series, even though I liked it it was just lacking for me, but this novel had everything. The main characters were great together and apart, there was plenty of great interaction from many other of the carpathians and the best part was how much this book furthered her storyline. It really kept me hooked and was probably the most moving of all the Dark novels. There was real genuine conflict and sacrifice but we still were left with a good feeling at the end and there is plenty of room for future stories just based on this one installment. An absolute A+ for ms. feehan!

I didn't think it was terrible, but I didn't think it was all that great, either. Am I'm the only one who is having a horrible time keeping up with all the characters, books, situations...? Even with the family tree in the front of the book I have a hard time keeping straight who is who. I thought Nicholas was a great character/hero. I liked how Feehan had him changing and developing through the story. Like many others I did not care for her female character. I thought her abuse sounded awful, but her actions did not always match her background or her character development. It took forever....forever....forever...for her to make it to the cave. I mean, come on, the book started with her finding the cave and she does not even return to it or her friends until the very end of the book. Nor does she check on her hurt friends until the very end of the book. You know, the people she caused to get hurt in the first place that she supposedly has known for YEARS! Oh, well. Overall, it was iffy for me.

I liked the book/story until I came to the last line in the story and turned the page expecting the next chapter to start. But....... it just ended! When I turned the page, I entered CF's long Appendix's, which were interesting the first 5 times I read thru all of them. But now I wanted more of the story, or at least for the story to end at a place that felt like an ending. Absolutely no sense of completion. I realize that CF wants to do more sequels, but she's never just "ended" a story line in the middle of an action scene!
I genuinely liked the story up till that point. Lots of answers are starting to be revealed about several previous plot lines, she's introduced new characters that I know we'll see again, and I had no problem with Lara and her issues as some of the reviewers did. Nor the way Nicolas responded and reacted to her. Everything was believable for me.
I just hope that CF reads all these reviews and doesn't leave her readers/fans in such a state of "What's Happening?" again!

I discovered Feehan's series two years ago, and at the time I systematically devoured all of the books released in about two weeks time. I have to say that Dark Legend and Dark Demon are two of my favorites.

Once caught up, I began the fan's burden of waiting impatiently for new books to come out one by one as the year progressed. I tried getting into her other series as a means of distraction, but as enjoyable as some of them are, they don't really compare to the mythos she's created here in the Dark series.

Well, when Dark Possession came out, I had a really hard time. Feehan's blatant theft of White Wolf's World of Darkness games has always been a bit bothersome, especially when she pulled the mages in (mages who get corrupted into vampires by way of greed is the storyline for house Tremere in Vampire, the Masquerade), but injecting "eco-protectors" that are nature magic using Werewolves got a bit much, even for me.

On top of the plagiarism of ideas, Dark Possession was not very well written. The dialog and flow of events would get jumpy and confusing at times - like she didn't have as good of an editorial staff telling her where to go back and check flow in certain passages. Also, her heavy handedness with Solange and her obvious lifemate status with Zacarias was a bit harsh going down.

I thought maybe that I was imagining the drop in quality, so I went back and re-read the series from the beginning - nope, I wasn't imagining it. Books like Dark Desire and Dark Challenge are just much better framed, with better development, more seamless transitions and dialog, and more character development. They're also a bit longer - and the pages used for development show the benefit of the work.

So, it was with a bit of trepidation that I picked up Dark Curse. I wanted to know about the De La Cruz brothers and I had high hopes for their lifemates.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I didn't have the problems that some other reviewers had with Lara as a character - having a flawed heroine is not a problem and I agree that her fractured nature seems like a deliberate attempt to illustrate her mental scars. Unfortunately, Feehan has done the same kind of damage better in characters like Destiny, Jaxon, and Skyler.

Using language is not a bother - I've gotten used to it in my plethora of fantasy novels, and she was very good about giving us an approximate translation immediately after for those of us that didn't want to break pace to look up crap in the back of the book.

My biggest problem was the book itself. Again, jumpy imagery and flow, again, confusing switches between character focus, description, and dialog. Again, poor plot diagram and obvious places that needed better fleshing out - again, it looked like she isn't using or listening to editors of the same honesty and caliber as her previous work.

The book ends abruptly, with no resolution on Lara's status in the Carpathian society. The inclusion of extremophiles feels well researched but not well communicated and not embraced enough to connect the reader well with what Feehan is trying to convey.

I feel she needs to go back to her roots, spend time in the heads of her characters and spend the pages making us love them as opposed to trying to come up with the next weird gimmick to toss into the story line.

Most of us are here to find out what happens to our favorite characters, not to have to filter more incidental facts into an already convoluted storyline. Finish what you started with the mages, let us fall in love with your characters, stop adding more layers to a stack of problems that you haven't finished developing yet.

I'd rather read a sweet story about Skyler falling in love with Dimitri - focused on character development , a strait forward plot and no more weirdness piled on top - then another book like the last two.

Dark Curse is book sixteen in Christine Feehan's "Carpathian" series (and my first experience of it). A long series can be fun; the first "in Death" book I read was way into the series, and it hooked me enough to have me going back to the beginning. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Dark Curse.

Lara is truly the center of all things good about this novel. She's a fascinating character, with depth and unusual interests and quite a bit of inner strength. Her childhood and family background are horrifying and show real imagination and originality. Everything that I loved about Dark Curse had something to do with Lara.

Unfortunately, everything I didn't like seemed to be a part of the series as a whole. There's an ongoing obsession with whether the Carpathians--a race of supernatural vampire hunters--will "allow" their women to fight by their sides in this modern day, particularly seeing as their lifemates all seem to be strong modern women. I don't mind this kind of thing as a theme, but sometimes it seemed like it was all the characters cared about. I see enough "women can't fight" arguments in the real world, and no matter how the subject is dealt with, there's a limit to how much of it I want to see in my escapist fiction. In particular, I don't find that kind of super-protective attitude all that attractive in a man, so it took away from Nicolas's ability to attract me as a male lead in a romance novel.

More importantly, the setting seems to heap on a bizarre mix of fantastical and modern elements that, to me, just didn't blend well at all. I didn't get the feeling of coherent world-building from Dark Curse--instead it felt like the author took an arbitrary bunch of subjects she found interesting and smushed them together. Vampire-like beings that absorb needed minerals from the soil through their skin. Extremophile microorganisms being manipulated and mutated by dark magic. Wicca-like magic paired with psychic abilities and vampires. Crystals that focus thought and magic. Even dragons. I've seen authors mix modern and fantasy elements before to good effect, but this particular blend never gelled for me.

As a side note, the friends that show up with Lara at the beginning of the novel feel like a cheat. They were supposed to be her best friends, and yet they had little depth, and turned out to be little more than plot devices.

I borrowed this in audiobook from the library; good-sounding title and Phil Gigante was reading whom I like a lot. The first few minutes was ok, but when the torture-scenes started, i was seriously thinking to quit listening... which i actually did before the end. Is the writer a sadist or what??! It should be marked on the book/cassette, some warning or something.. I almost got sick in my stomach. definitely NOT the type of book to pick for entertainment or love/romance. I did not finish the listening. Too much repetition, flashbacks, horrid scenes. The made-up language was terrible. Who on earth would use a half-mile long phrase for endearment?? Regularly???!! Trying to surpass Tolkien? not working... It was my first novel from the author and, sadly, the last as well. I have to agree with the critical readers. this was just a waste of paper and ink.

I've read this series from the beginning. I understand you can't write 16 books in the same series and not be somewhat repetitive. However, talk about BORING and REPETITIVE - Dark Curse just wasn't up to the same standard as the rest of the series. I found myself skipping over paragraphs and text (which I normally don't do) to find some sort of action. Action did finally happen but unfortunately not until the very end. While reading the book, I discovered that I didn't really even like Lara, she annoyed me - I agree with a previous reviewer that her character was too conflicting (even though I understand her past - but COME ON ALREADY!) Nicholas was overbearing, arrogant, complicated, and cocky - but that's the normal plot line with the men in this series - so gotta love that!

So after saying all that I still think you should purchase the book to add to your collection and you should read it especially if you've read the series from the begininng. Just be prepared that it's not that great of a read. I did like the fact that we found out a few more clues about what is happening to the Carpathian people. The Carpathian Language at the end of the book was unnecessary; it would have been much better if the storyline continued for those last pages. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the next book in this series is better.

If you're looking for magic and adventure, move on. This book is nothing more than what Twilight would be like if Danielle Steel had written it (it is as bad as it sounds). Most of the story is about Lara talking about her feelings about Nicholas and how she can't decide whether he's good or bad and whining about it. I kept hoping for some adventure, and it was interesting at first, but it quickly fell down the drain. This was the first book I read from this author and I won't be reading any of the other books for sure. So painful I couldn't finish it.

This novel is one of my favorite Feehans. It gives a lot of movement finally on the predicament of the Carpathians fertility problems. I love the De la Cruz brothers and their extra macho attitude is exactly how South American men see their women. Which is kinda cool but for me personally I would like it for about a day or two then I would be showing my own attitude LOL, but I digress, the sub-plot is moving now we see how the Carpathians got int trouble and there are ways of fixing it. Hope is there finally and I cant wait to see how this is played out. two thumbs up from me!

These guys need to wake up & realize that if their mates are coming from the outside, *21st century* world, they will have the opinions & attitudes, and YES - the fighting abilities - reflective of that world. I found it amusing and annoying that they (the men) were willing to use technology to find & protect potential lifemates to foil their enemies, yet wouldn't face that those same women ARE from the "outside" modern world!!

It took THREE tries for me to get through it. The only book I can recall ever having that much trouble getting through is Herbert's God Emperor of Dune.

The ONLY reason I kept trying to slog through this thing was because I wanted to see what developments to the over-plot (the infertility) came up. While I am glad I did make it through this tome of junk, I am not sorry to see the characters go. Quite frankly, if I never have to read about another de la Cruz brother, I will jump for joy.

More development/explanation about how Lara managed to stay sane & functional upon her escape from Xavier would have been nice. Did she get to know any kind of love by her foster parents? Was she constantly fighting panic attacks? etc.... and the few strong women in this series - I am sick of them rolling over just cuz of the "OMG - if one of us die, both of us die". I cheered when... Shea or Destiny... basically calls the men out that the women are brood mares. regardless of the males' objections, THEY ARE being treated as little more than that. Even Shea's research is poo-pooed by most of the men. And don't get them started about women fighting by their side!!!

I returned this book, the first I have done so in this series. I will get the next one from the library first. That is how much I am sick of the strong-then-weak wills these heroines have developed, and the over-abundance of the testosterone of the Carpathian men. The only one of them I can stand is Mikhail.

I'm more than a little confused here, and after reading other reviews of the book I'm glad to see that I'm not alone. It's always with borderline manic glee when I know a new book is coming out, and I know I'll be curling up with the book till it's been read cover to cover.

This one however turned me off from almost the get go. I thought "well maybe it will get better", and it really didn't. One of the things I always loved about certain characters (Jaxon, Destiny, Natalya) is that they stood up and fought along side their lifemates. This book had those character and others suddenly doing a total 180 degree turn around. And the ending!! It had to be one of the lamest semi-cliff hangers I've read.

Of all her series that I read (Dark, Drake Sisters, Ghostwalkers), this has been the first one that I will not read more than once. Seriously disappointed.

I'll start by saying I would have given this book three and a half stars had it been an option. I thought it was slightly better than three but not quite good enough for four. I have been a big fan of this series and like everyone else, anxiously await the release of her latest ones. (which only come out once a year now.) Like some of the previous reviewers, I also think Christine Feehan has too many irons in the fire!

That being said, this was an alright book. It was an enjoyable enough read, but I found myself missing the simplicity of her earlier storylines that centered around the newly mated couples and where the antagonists were master vampires or human madmen. (An aspect that she seems to have completely dropped, unfortunately.) Maybe because the storyline has become so complicated and sometimes convoluted, the relationship between the main characters seems really rushed. Almost like she wants to skip all the conflict between the heroe and heroine and start the story with them already in love. It started out intriguingly enough between Nicholas and Lara, what with him balancing on that tightrope between good and evil and all, but I think it took them, what, 24-48 hours to fall in love? And then all of the sudden this girl with absolutely no experience with men is a nympho? Please! I wasn't buying it! Inevitably, the fact that the conflict was resolved so quickly, made for very little chemistry between them! I found myself skimming through the love scenes, which she tried her best to make steamy and erotic but when there are no sparks between the main characters they only seemed to drag! Again, I longed for the love seens of old. (i.e. Darius and Tempest, Dayan and Corrine, Gregori and Savannah, Etc.)

What was ineresting were the other aspects of the book. I liked the council meeting with the warriors. I felt that the men's inability to truly accept the women fighting with them was absolutely in keeping with their characters. Sorry all you hard-core feminists out there! These are not enlightened men! She's written these men to be very old world and steeped in the traditions of old. Their instinct to protect their women and young have, supposedly, been imprinted in them from birth. Of course having their lifemates in the line of fire is going to be distracting to them! An enlightened Carpathian male is an oxymoron! And when she's tried to go that route I didn't find it believable, so I was glad to see her take that back in the right direction. I also liked the strategizing and insights on what course of action they should take against Xavier.

I also liked the secondary storyline about Raven and Savannah and their pregnancies. There were some major revelations regarding what is causing the miscarriages and the low rate of female births and, of course,with that comes new hope. Finally progress! I was Far more interested in these things than the relationship between Nicholas and Lara.

The whole ice cave scene dragged on a bit. I thought it got kind-of repetitive, what with the bloody water dripping into pools and the squirming parasites. I know it was all supposed to be very ominous but it fell flat. I didn't find Lara's whole "I have to do this myself!" thing believable. Why did she want to do it herself? If rescuing her aunts is so all-fired important wouldn't she want any advantage she could get? It seemed a little self-important to me. The culmination of the scene, however, was exciting! In the end she couldn't do it herself and Nicholas had to call in the cavalry in the form of the other warriors.

The ending was fairly good, if a little abrupt. I, like some previous reviewers, don't like all the made-up Carpathian language she threw in there. Does anyone really stop to sound it out? It's just distracting and slightly annoying. (We aren't trekkies after all!) This is just pure self-indulgence on the part of the author. I was also distracted by all the cutesie little rhyming spells.(Some of which didn't even rhyme!) I found myself rolling my eyes a lot. It was a little like reading a childrens book. I liked it when Natalya made graceful hand motions and we didn't have to hear the spells! Again, with the self-indulgence! But this is still a must read for those who have followed the series. I will continue to read this series and hope she gets back to basics with Skyler and Dimitri and Dominic. I just hope she gives us a break from ice-caves, mages, and De La Cruz brothers for awhile and brings back the Malinov brothers and the human vampire hunters they control. Now that's Irony!

On the whole I enjoyed the story. I found the excessive use of Carpathian language a little annoying but just skimmed over it. I however was kind of disappointed in the end. To me the actions of the other Carpathians seemed selfish with little concern for how Lara might feel. A big deal is made about how important the women are and how they can't afford to lose even one or their lifemate, however the ending made me feel as if that wasn't the case with Lara. They seem to have no problem endangering Lara or her lifemate by insisting that she not be converted because they don't know if she will be able to detect the organism if she is full Carpathian.

I've been an avid fan of the Dark series since I read the first one (Dark Prince). That being said I was disapointed in Dark Curse and I reccomend waiting for paperback! For the cost of a hardcover book I expect a whole book, and Dark Curse left too many issues up in the air to even list, I feel as though I didn't read the ending. This story certainly needed another 100 pages or more to tie things up. I did enjoy what we did get in the story, which is good since I did not like Dark Possession at all. I do look forward to the next in the Dark series, but I do not think I'm going to buy them when they come out, I will borrow, then buy the paperback to complete my collection.

I loved this book. This book answered some questions I had and it even surprised me. First we learn that Dragonseekers cannot turn evil as they can last the longest. Hints were given that Lara's father was not evil as we first throught but actually manipulated her mind to think he was to protect her. We learn that Lara's father did not impregnate women but his grandfather used his body resulting in some of the soulmates for our Carpathian Heroes. We learned why Carpathian children were dying and a possible cure. We learn who the dragons are that are encased in ice. We learn that one couple cannot yet be totally together because to convert to Carpathian would end a special gift that is needed to save the Carpathian race. A huge surprise: A couple is having a boy and he was saved by Lara though he is not yet born.

The story of Nicolas de la Cruz and Lara Calladine is one of love, laughter, sacrifice, and pain. It is a great story that I recommend those who love the Carpathians to read. Because of the storyline it is important for those to get the earlier books so that they can understand fully what is being uncovered in this book. I loved the dialogue between the men as they discuss the roles of women when it comes to fighting vampires. Some are so old fashion that they just don't understand why the women would want to risk their lives. However, they are learning that being a soulmate to a woman of modern times is hell if they try to use their old world views to stop the women. Comical dialogue in this part of the book.
My best part was the fact that Nicolas learned that he could not control his soulmate and he learned the hard way that being controlling as a dictator has severe consequence. It was a sad part but it was beautifully written.

On a scale of 1 to 10 it is a 10 in my book like all the other Carpathain books.

Like many reviewers I've really looked forward to this next book in the Dark series. And like many reviewers, I'm left scratching my head.

I wanted to like Lara, but couldn't get a handle on who she was. She did things in and out of character. Everything about her character was based on what happened until she was 8 years old. I understand how traumatic it was and how it would have shaped her. But what about since then?

Same with Nicolas. He seemed more shallow than Rafael, but in a clueless sort of way, instead of self-righteous.

The events in the book happened over such a short time period, that it's hard to believe they could have "fallen in love" that quickly.

It seemed to me that events that were important were glossed over (Lara saving Savannah's twins) and others just went on way too long (the ice cave rescue). I didn't understand why Lara had to "relive" her childhood everytime she looked for the extremophiles. Of course, maybe I skipped over that part in an attempt to get to something interesting.

In addition to the return of the distracting Carpathian language that we saw at the end of Dark Celebration, something that bothered me was the tend toward very pagan and even wiccan inspired rituals. Obviously these people are connected to the earth and have ways different from ours. But one of the things I've always appreciated about Feehan's series is how she made these people completely different from anyone else on earth, and they had their own connections to their environment and each other. Now we have spirit guides and trees of life, and I feel like it's becoming a different universe altogether.

All that said, I did enjoy that they finally know what's causing the infertility and have ideas to work on to stop it. I liked that Razvan isn't what we thought he was. The sex was pretty good, but I'm tired of pretty caves and hot tubs. I liked that Lara couldn't be converted, because it made it different and will cause for conflict in the future. However, it'll be a sideline in somebody else's story. Yes, this one ended too abruptly, and was missing the humor present in most of the other books that's so needed to help balance the, well, darkness.

Speaking of other stories, I'm hoping Dark Slayer will be about Dominic or Dimitri and Skyler. If it's about Zacharias and Solange . . . I'm not sure I can wait two years to get back to getting these problems solved. Or the overpowering chauvinism and feminism it's bound to be full of. And I want more of a break from the De La Cruz brothers. I think Riordan was the best, and he only got a novella. Maybe this should have been one, too.

There are so many storylines--with so many new characters in every book, and the fact that at the moment only comes out a year, are we looking at another 10-20 years before there's resolution? I sure hope not.

I didn't hate this book, but I did find it tedious to read. Why is the foreign language necessary - to add flavor, authenticity, whatever? All it added was confusion and interfered with the flow of the story. Lara was such a whiny character who couldn't seem to find her center. Who was she really? On a whim she decides suicide is her only way out of a relationship with the most gorgeous man she ever met. How can a person who spent her childhood trapped in an awful situation, who escaped that situation, who found a career and a meaning in her life be willing to end it so readily? I don't know why she would abandon her friends so quickly when she was the cause of their illness. Didn't they ask over and over again to leave the cave? Didn't she ignore them? Didn't she abandon them at the inn? I couldn't even follow all the stuff about the microbe or who was related to whom. There was her father, great grandfather, mother (what happened to her grandfather?), great aunts. I just know her father is going to be rescued sometime in the future, since Feehan mentioned Lara's mother wasn't his lifemate. The real topper was the ending. I turned the page to find a bunch of nonsense about language and hymns when I thought I would find more story or at least an epilogue. Is Lara in danger of dying if she doesn't turn fully Carpathian or can she just exist in that state indefinitely? Will it come down to her life or the babies lives? If you think this review is confusing try reading the book.

I have been looking forward to this book for a year - so I can't believe how horrible it was. I had to force myself to keep reading it. Normally I read CF books in one day. Lara is the most annoying female character ever from Feehan. Imagine a whole book with a lead female as bad as Corrine's sister-in-law in "Dark Melody".

CF used to be my favorite author. I dealt with the one book per year thing, but I can't deal with horrible characters and books of nothing more then filler. Even the "big suprise" wasn't that big of a deal. CF was the only paranormal romance author left that I felt would stay at a level of excellence. I am so disappointed about her last several books.

I'm frankly amazed that so many people liked this book. It kind of reminds me of the continuous excellent reviews well known authors get despite poor efforts (ex: Nora Roberts). At any rate, I'd borrow this one from a friend/library/somewhere. Just don't spend hard back money on this book.

*cry* (I feel like I'm witnessing the downfall of JR Ward again...)

Way to go Christine Feehan!
I was generally worried about the Carpathian Series, it felt after a while that the books were blending in together. They all had the same plot. But not Dark Curse, Feehan really explains some things in this one. Everything is coming together. The Carpathians have hope to continue their race thanks to Lara, a dragon-seeker and life-mate to Nicolas de la cruz. My favorite Carpathian male will always be Gregori, but I did like Nicolas, very strong, domineering, and caring character. Only thing I scanned through was the sex scenes, but with all romance novels those seem to come in abundance and are repetitive.I read the first scene and that was enough for me =) Feehan knows how to bring the action and in very descriptive terms too. The book was very well written and you could tell Feehan really thought this one out. Hopefully the next one will be just as good and more questions will be answered. Dark Curse is a quick and enjoyable read. Can't wait for the next one =)

Ok, I loved Nicolas De La Cruz, but, was a bit put off by Lara Calladine. I understood her problems, but, thought she should have dealt with them better. Questions were answered - that is good, but, getting to them, well it took a little to much detail (time). That got a little old. Then there was all the language explanation at the back? Well just give it to me in the book. Overall I have to give it a four.

I've read most of the series, except for a couple I missed by accident. This is the best one yet. If you are faltering with this series I encourage you to continue and read this.
I did have a tough time swallowing the "lifemate" instant in-love thing. It seemed lazy and contrived.
I like that the author has now started to show the Carpathians as not just finding their lifemate but falling in love with them.
There is lots of drama in this book and many of the old characters.

I'm not going to re-write the description of the book here, as a lot of people seem to do. It don't think it helps anyone.
For me, FIANLLY, we start getting to the bottom of why the female Carpathians are having difficulty going full-term with their pregnancies. I was wondering when we would get around to it. The ending for the main characters was a bit different as well, but I'm sure that will wrapped up in the next book. Hopefully?
I've tried to keep up with each book in the series and yes some are better than others. Feehan is one of the best writers in this Genre and this book is 'important' in a way to read, not just because of the interaction of previous characters, but because there are answers to why things are happening and I believe the direction has changed.
It's not just male Carpathian reaching point of no return, meets mate, fights bad guys defending mate, converts mate, happily ever efter...

i have to admit i was a little wary after reading "dark possession" last year, but dark curse was everything and more! i feel as if she has given new life to the carpathian world, and after 19, 19 DARK novels people (wooh!) that is extraordinary!

**spoilers**
a few things that may annoy some people, all the scientific jargon in regards to what is happening to the carpathian women, the slight cliff hanger ending, the last one hundred pages or so are dedicated to the carpathian language..

inspite of these teensy things i cared for both lara and nicolas and i felt for them and for the carpathians as a whole (don't want to give too much away), yes this one is a tear jerker but such a great tear jerker...

i did not want the story to end and am very sad that we must wait another year for the next taste of the "dark" world

happy reading people!

Since meeting Lara in Dark Demon (albeit via a flashback) I knew that her story would be a good one. I was not disappointed and did like the fact that Lara turned out to be a strong character. However saying that her strength and fiesty nature was very much diluted in parts and I found that frustrating to say the least. I yelled Eureka when finally they found out what was killing the babies...but can it be fixed... you will have to read to find out. Not as good as Dark Fire and Dark Magic but I reckon Christine has reinvented the series in a magical way.

Im a big fan of the Carpathian series and while I enjoyed 'Dark Curse' there were a few disappointments. One being all the fuss about letting the women fight beside there life mates. I do hope Christine Feehan is not going down the road of "the women staying home while the big strong men go off to fight" I don't think i could continue reading her Dark series if that happened and having thoroughly enjoyed her Carpathians(I have all her books)would be very sad day indeed. The other was the very abrupt ending that left Nicolas & Lara's story very much up in the air with no resolving of their problems.
My last compliant is that the Carpathian Books are not released fast enough heehe. One a month would be great! but not possible i know, its just that they are so good.

I love Feehan books they are great. i liked the plot and the storyline. I like this book but i felt like she rushed this book and tried to use the Carpathian language and history to gain length. It irritate me so much that she wrote in Carpathian language and the ending was cut off abruptly and filled with I don't know what cause i didn't like reading about how they chanted. I am not trying to take a history class its fiction I want to be entertained. I hope her other books are not like this are she is about to lose a fan seriously.

Like everyone who loves Feehan I thoroughly enjoyed the early books. The characters stand out vividly in my mind and I could recognize each one of them by a brief description. In the last few books the characters all run together and Lara and Nicholas are the worst. She's a whiny cry baby and he's just bland period. And I am so sick of the whole mage line of the story. But the foreign language part is the worst. I have always loved the words the men used to bind their mate. Now the whole rhythm and beauty of their chant is broken because she is obsessed with this new language. It pulls you out of the story and adds nothing but losing your place as you skip it to find English words again.

I thought it would be so interesting to find out why they were losing children but instead it was just boring. So many parts of the book were boring. I read steadily through the first third of the book and then just started skimming and skipping pages. I never do that!

I know people complained that the early books were too much alike so she had to add some new elements but I find the early books much more interesting. When I need a Feehan and Carpathian fix I'll just stick with the first eight or ten books. I still love re-reading those books. The books after Destiny I'll never open again. Once was more than enough for such forgettable and boring reads. But Oh, Gregori, Julian, Darius, Jacques, Lucian, and Gabriel? Now those were the days.

i loved this book. i was astonished by how well it was written: even when i disaproved about how some characters were acting, it was always very realistic and i can understand them.
the hero was strong and stubborn but sensible and sensitive when he needed to be so, the heroine was emotionally broken but could still retain her strength and compassion.
the only thing i didn't like about the book was the abrupt ending. it didn't really feel like a closure. something was missing. and althouh i didn't care much for all of that 'carpathian' language, it was interesting. i still wish it was replaced by a more 'complete' ending though.
so basically the only thing i would change is remove the last pages on carpathian culture and lengthen the novel itself.

I was so disappointed in this book! I really enjoyed the earlier books, but this one was completely boring and did almost nothing to advance knowledge or solve mysteries about the Carpathians. I wish she would just finish the series instead of dragging it on like this! The characters were not believeable and I just didn't care about them at all.

Carpathian Nicolas De La Cruz has come home to report bad news to his prince. However, he also plans to commit suicide ending his centuries of loneliness.

Lara Calladine has finally escaped the ice prison of her abusive father and even eviler grandfather. A half-breed she spent her childhood tortured by the pair in odious experiments to understand the dilution of her dragonkeeper bloodline with human DNA. She knows they are coming for her although that might be the nightmares that frighten her. When she and Nicholas meet, Lara knows she has found her soulmate; so has Nicholas, but trust of another person is something she has learned first hand to never do. Still the time to confront her nightmares is now as she has a persistent champion demanding to be at her side.

The latest Dark novel is a superb entry that can stand by itself as a powerful romantic fantasy yet also augments the super saga plot. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action; both trademarks of Christine Feehan. Lara makes the tale excellent as a unique individual who has suffered torment and torture her entire life. Nicholas realizes rather quickly that he has her love, but gaining her trust seems impossible even as he risks his life to help her. Ms. Feehan provides a terrific thriller to the delight of the Carpathian crowd.

Harriet Klausner

I liked Dark Curse. I didn't love it. I found it frustrating at times, due to the inconsistencies in the Dragonseeker story. Even though I would recommend it for your personal Dark series library, I would suggest waiting for the paperback. I loved the fact that it connected the dots on the reasons for the miscarriages and continued to develop the Carpathian community. I want to follow up and comment on some of the story lines that have been brought up in earlier reviews.

1. Lara as heroine was ok. Given the trauma of her mother's death and her childhood, maybe the suicide attempt could be explained, but the Dragonseeker blood should have come into play a bit more. I also think how she acquired her mage skills and the strength of them was a bit of a mystery, since she was passed from family to family.

2. And I have to admit, I was quite put off by the diminishing of Natalya's skills. In Dark Celebration, after she was converted, Natalya's mage skills remained magnificent and undiminished, so the whole shadow warrior episode just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Then the part suggesting that Natalya had hated her brother for years was totally inconsistent with Dark Demon where Natalya still met him in her dreams. She didn't even suspect anything was wrong until she met her lifemate, so it has only been a year or two at most.

As to the two Dragonseeker aunts, their knowledge and conversion by their mother was a bit too pat. Their relationship to Lara and her father seemed to come out of nowhere, after reading Natalya's story. How her twin knew them and she didn't made no sense at all.

2. As to the whole warriors' council scene, I think it made absolute sense given the context of the Carpathian male's need to protect his female. In the end, the female lifemates did have a right to know how their presence in the battles affected the males. By not telling them and giving them a choice, the females' power and place in society was being undermined anyway. I think Mikhail's suggestion was the first step in having the women meaningful participate in the Carpathian defenses.

3. It appears as if the Morrison Center is still going to play some sort of a role in the future, as it is identifying potential lifemates for murder. That plot line is continuing and is still being woven into the mage plot.

4. I was irritated that Nicolas had absolutely no contact with his brothers, which was totally unlike any of the other de la Cruz storylines. I felt that his character was too one-dimensional and not as developed as previously.

i love her books but here lately its all the same story i dont know why she keeps doing it. dontget me wrong its a good book but how many times do the fight a certain enemy in there life they knew in there past granted it differnt for each person but still the same story plot

Having read the first few reviews, I thought, why bother. After finally getting the book, I was pleasantly surprised. So don't believe all the reveiws

There is more story, less dark than other Carpathian novels. Thank you Christine for working outside of your normal box, it shows you wanted a little "light" in all the Dark.

Love how the book integrates so many carpathians into the plot line. Feehan continues to amaze with the growing members of this great series. Can't wait to see more of the characters within the homeland of the carpathians. Great read. I couldn't put it down.

I think Feehan has too much going on right now. This book should have been longer and is missing too much. Dominic was the only really interesting character and he disappeared. The two human males were a little too disposable. Also, I'm not sure why she fell in love with Nicholas. I don't want you to get confused - I almost enjoyed the book, but I'm not comfortable suggesting you buy it at hardcover price. Borrow, or wait until paperback. I'm also a little tired of her quickly changing Razvan character and the heroines that are so damaged.

It was interesting and refreshing. This book was different than the others before it because it provided answers to many of the issues the author has created through her series and it brought into play other levels of interaction (other than the love struggle between the main characters which is always the same in all the books).

Dark curse is not as smooth as most of the previous books in this series. I think the author was trying to hard to bring all the old characters back and fit other things into the story, which caused inconsistancies and the story to feel a bit choppy. For instance, the fact that the women had lost a couple of babies and were still trying to have them was odd... I would have thought the males would not want their women to go through that over and over regardless of what is needed. It still had most of the things that makes these stories great... but I like it better when she concentrates on the couple rather than the whole group. The ending was not expected either... I felt like the book wasn't finished.

I was very happy to see some storyline progression in this series. Christine has gotten better at limiting the repitition inharent in the early books of this series. I can't wait for the next installment.j

The dark series if my most favorite reads of all I have the entire series and can't part with them even though I have read them over and over. Always in suspense waiting for the next one to be released.

I read this all the way through the day I received it - wow, great entry in the Dark series! Nicolas has been a fave of mine since I read about him in Colby's book, so it was good to see him get his own story. Love Lara, too.

This must be the Summer for Heart-Wrenching Childhood Stories. First Acheron and now this. Fortunately, the emotionally difficult sections are shorter in Dark Curse than in Acheron, but still... it was a tough read for a little while, but it does let us see Lara's reasons for doing what she does. It also lets us see how Nicolas helps her cope and begin to move beyond it (after his being an *ss to begin with).

While I understand the dismay of another poster about the lack of a solid ending, for me the whole story opens up so many new possiblities in this series that I just can't reduce my rating over it. My only dismay is that we're getting just one book a year!

Dark Curse offers both classic Dark as well as a whole new horizon for the series. I'm excited about where CF is taking the series. Great "re-boot"!

This book surprised me, made me smile, cry, the whole gambit. I have to admit, I picked it up not expecting much since I'd been slightly disappointed by Dark Possession last summer, but this book not only was a thrill ride to read and just plain riveting, but was the best romance I've read all summer. It was like discovering the Dark series all over again. I closed the book with a smile on my face. Thanks, Christine, for your hard work and imagination.

I have to say I have not been impressed with Feehan's last few Dark entries other than Dark Celebration. I don't feel invested in the characters like I did with the first half of the series - except for Skyler and Dimitri and Dominick. The only reason I liked Dark Celebration was the revisiting of older characters I still had feelings for and the interactions between Skyler and Dimitri. As for this entry, Nicolas was fine but not to the level of Mikhail, Gregori, Darius, Lucien, etc. And Lara is certainly no Destiny (talk about someone with a horrible childhood!)

(SPOILER ALERT) The meeting of the warriors really irked me - can't let the women fight (no matter how well-trained) because we'll lose our baby making machines! They just distract us! What bull... the only ones who should have any say in it are the women and their lifemates. And I'm not liking the way the whole miscarriage thing is going - it's making strong women characters like Raven and Savannah just look whiny instead of tragic. And I actually miss the threat of the Morrison Center - for some reason that did seem kind of frightening vs this Xavier storyline which just irritates me.

At this point, I'm only waiting for Skyler and Dimitri's story and Dominick's - but I'm also getting really concerned that they aren't going to be any more substantial than what Feehan has recently been churning out. We'll just have to see.

Christine Feehan had me entrapped in this novel. I felt like I was there the whole time. I couldn't put it down. I am still creeped out over all of the things that happened to Lara. I cannot wait to find out what happens next. Thank you Christine.

Another good story in the series, I haven't read them in sequence but its easy to pick up the storyline for the other characters. I found it hard to put down and found myself wanting more at the end, it would be nice to know how Lara and Nicolas developed through there challenging life.

Christine if I could only become a lifemate to a Carpathian male. To experience that type of love would be awesome. It definitely would be a perfect world to live in. At least a girl can have an imagination.

I liked the book. There were a lot of inconsistencies but I felt it was a much better story than Manolito's. Though I didn't understand why Christine Feehan didn't even have Nicholas contact his family to inform them of his lifemate, especially to Zacharias. Oh well, she was too busy wasting time detailing the inconseqencial details of Carpathian life.

Warning, this book has graphic torture scenes. Just like Dark Demon. If you didn't like the torture scenes in Dark Demon, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! I hated the torture scenes. I could not finish the book due to them. I am surprised no one up to this point has stated plainly there are torture scenes in this book. Feehan has become so gothic. After Dark Celebration, I was very hopeful the Dark series would head to her more previous, happier stories (excluding Dark Desire in the newer edition). Unless she goes back into the happier, earlier version of her series, I can never read another of her newly released Dark books again. For example, what I mean by torture is a little girl wandering a sinister laboratory and witnessing Razvan and her own mother chained and tortured. I can't stand torture. It makes me literally nauseated. However, it seems I am in the minority. Feehan is, obviously, a very successful author. I just wanted to warn people like me what type of book this is.

I have been looking forward to Nicholas' story and getting the answers to so many of the problems facing their race. She also gave us several ideas as to what they will do in the future to ensure the survival of future lifemates. I do look forward to those. This book was better than "Dark Possession".

What I did not understand was how Natalya lost some of her mage skills, in this novel, yet was able to do so much in others even after she became Carpathian. Especially in the battle with Shadow Warriors.

I still hate the make-believe language that I have to ignore and skip to the next readable text. I wish she would quit taking up so much of the story creating a new language. I still do not have an interest in learning a language that does not exist.

Christine again manages to create a great story! You can really tell some storylines are tying in together. But she also kind of leaves an open ending. Plus you don't have to have read all the other Carpathian novels, but if you have you will enjoy this one a lot more!

Excellent book! I've read every book in the Dark Series. For anyone who is a fan of the Carpathian books, you have to read this one. Not only do you get interaction from past characters and romance, but the plot finally thickens leaving you begging for the next installment. Christine Feehan is a very creative author and I have no doubt the next book will be great.

One of her best yet. I've been reading her since Dark Magic was first posted and while "feehan" is an automatic buy with me, Dark Curse has ripped away the previous boundries she set. I love it. I will read it again and again. A must buy for anyone who loves the world lit by night.

I think the author got confused ! horrible book.this was money I threw away ! Nicolas and Lara are the worst characters to fill pages with absolutely nothing !Lara is a whinner and has enough emotional baggage for 10 people and more inconsistant memories than any reader should have to put up with . Nicolas , the big bad De La Cruz was a real dissapointment after reading his brothers stories .Maybe its time to pick a new author to read !

I, too, was very leary about reading this book after the last 2 releases. I have been a big fan of Feehan's for 6 years now. The last two Drake sisters books disappointed me so much that I stopped reading them halfway through. I wish I hadn't read this book either. Since her publisher change a couple of years ago, Feehan's books have gone downhill.

The book has no ending and has become so scientific that I wanted to take notes. I will not read another Dark Series book again, except for Skyler's book when it EVENTUALLY comes out, as we have been waiting SEVERAL years already for it. Go back to your old publisher, because they knew what they were doing. I rarely leave a bad review on the store, but I am now. Not to mention, I work at a public library, and this is one book I will NOT be suggesting to other people.

WOW WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY IN THIS BOOK IT WAS FAST PACED AND STEAMY SO MANY QUESTIONS GET ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK LIKE WHY ARE THE WOMEN MISCARRING AND WHY ARE THERE ONLY MALES BORN WHEN THE WOMEN DO CARRY FULL TERM LARA IS THE LEAD WOMAN IN THE STORY IF YOU DONT REMEMBER THE NAME ITS THE YOUNG GIRL THAT WE SAW A GLIMPSE OF IN DARK DEMON SHE WAS THE YOUNG GIRL THAT VIKIRNOFF AND NATALYA SAW ESCAPING WITH THE HELP OF TWO DRAGONS WHEN NICHOLAS SEES LARA HE DOESNT REALIZE THAT SHE IS HIS LIFEMATE UNTIL HE BITES HER AND SHE STARTS TALKING HE IMMEDITLY BINDS THEM TOGETHER NOT REALINZING THAT LARA DOESNT TRUST SO EASY AND WHEN HE GET WORRIED THAT SHE WILL ESCAPE HIM HE CHAINS THEM UP TOGETHER BUT LARA SWORE TO HERSELF THAT SHE WILL NEVER BE IN THAT SITUATION AGAIN AND THE LENGHTS THAT SHE IS WILLING TO GO IS A REAL EYE OPENER FOR NICHOLAS IF YOU ARE A CHRISTINE FEEHAN FAN AND EVEN IF YOUR NOT YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK IT WAS ABSOLUTLY AMAZING