Dark Slayer
讀書樂編號：5058
推介人： 黃韻玲校友
Deviating a bit from the normal formula of her other 'Dark' Carpathian books, Feehan's Dark Slayer was a unique entry into the popular long running series and ends up being one of my favorites of Feehan's more recent offerings. Though fans who live for Feehan's uber alpha males may be disappointed, I really liked the hero Razvan (former long time series villain) - unlike many of the other arrogant domineering former leading men, Razvan is non-neanderthal-like, supportive and more than willing to let his vampire Slaying mate, Ivory Malinov, take the lead (maybe because he's a `turned' as opposed to a `born' Carpathian). Both of the starring pair have had enough pain and suffering in their interesting backstories, and in their experiences with family members turning to the darkside, to make them empathetic to the other's struggles and to make them both cherish the gift of a Lifemate. Other things I really liked: Lots of cameos of old starring pairs are worked in thoughout the story and there are some really cool aspects to Ivory's wolf pack and her magical connection to the wolves. I also liked that Feehan waited longer to consumate the physical part of Razvan and Ivory's pairing, allowing Razvan and Ivory to work through some issues instead of forcing it - and, after a gazillion other books in this series, I had been starting to feel I feel like I had read all of the love scenes many times before, so having less of them here than normal worked better for me and in them Feehan uses a lighter touch with Razvan which made them feel fresher too. My nits: Yet another chavinistic stubborn effort to `protect' a `helpless' woman by Gregori - though thankfully he does get past this and changes his attitude toward Ivory once he gets to know her, and there are way too many spell-poems (I mostly skipped over these and the Carpathian dialog too). It also bothered me that Ivory seems a bit diminished when she discovers her feminity - she starts out as a really strong independant character, a true survivor and she is more than competent at slaying ancient vampires and unraveling the evil mega-villain Xavier's spells - and I didn't like that she ends up doubting herself with Razvan. But even with that nit, she is still a great heroine. So is anyone besides me wondering how long is Feehan going to keep this series going? There still several stories I've been waiting for, in this book even more potential leading men hunters are introduced, and I really don't see the overall story arc building up to a big finish. But hey, apparently I'm not the only one still shelling out the big bucks and preordering the hardbacks, so who knows - maybe this series will be as immortal as Feehan's Carpathians themselves.
