I just finished Christine Feehan’s book Dark Wolf and let me tell you, it’s a doozy. If you like fantasy, action, romance, this book is for you.
If you don’t like killing or sex scenes, you might give this book a pass.
As usual, I started part way though the series (book 25?!), so I was missing some (a lot?) of context, but at the same time, I’m not sure it was totally necessary. On a slightly context related note, and this is just a personal thing–I do wish I had a better mental picture of the characters, I kept switching Skyler (MC)’s hair between blonde and brunette… *shrug*
(By the way, I’d love it if you checked out my vlog!)
So, the story, it starts out with Skyler and two of her friends on a mission to rescue her lifemate, Dimitri who’s been captured by a pack of Lycans. Think friendly wolfs (I think? again, missing some context) like Jacob rather than scary, evil ones like Fenrir.
Honestly, the beginning of the book gave me serious New Moon vibes, except, this is a better (love) story than Twilight.
Anyway–there’s a rescue mission, there’s conspiracy, there’s paranormal soul binding rituals, there’s speces-ism/prejudice, there’s fighting, and a lot of sex in this book. Needless to say, it’s enthralling.
I thought it was super well written and engaging. The characters were developed–even though I didn’t know what the hell hair color Skyler has–and sometimes, they were even pretty funny. I really wish Josef and Paul (Skyler’s friends) were part of the book more, because even though I get that this is a book basically all about Skyler and Dimitri, and I loved it, I also kind of got tired of their relationship a little bit.
Look, you all know that I love a good love story, and maybe all of the emotional work was done in one of the other 24+ books, but in this one, their mental/emotional relationship is developed and all that’s left is their physical one. To make matters more complicated, apparently Skyler had a shit-childhood and was sold into the world of sex-trafficking, so even though she wants so badly to “pleasure Dimitri” and be a “good partner,” she has emotional baggage that kind of gets in the way.
This was a little frustrating for me for a few reasons–while I get that it’s part of character development, it was just a little annoying. I’m not saying that her trauma was annoying, but rather how worried about it she was. Again, not because I think the trauma is invalid–it’s 100% valid–but because she’s a 19 year old girl and my inner Karen made a slight appearance. I dunno, I know it’s totally normal to have sex as a 19 year old, but they are lifemates, and this isn’t like marrying young, it’s their souls being binded for life. She’s literally worried about whether or not she can have babies… at 19 years old! I mean I’ve always loved little kids, enjoyed babysitting, but having kids was not a concern for me at 19 (not that I’m that much older now, but you get my point, I hope). It just seemed a little heavy for me, I didn’t mind the sex-scenes themselves, what I minded was that she was so concerned about it.
This concern, for me, was annoying not only because I feel like she’s “too young” (even though she’s now gonna live forever) to be worrying about this sort of thing, but also because I personally felt like it cheapened her character. Skyler starts off the book as a BADASS–she literally risks her life and uses her bomb psychic magical powers to find Dimitiri when literally no one else in the Carpathian (I guess good vampires like Edward…?) could sense his presence at all. Everyone underestimates her–except Josef and Paul–and she totally exceeds expectations and outwits everyone. Snaps girl!
And then she gets soul-bound to Dimitri and starts worrying about her biological clock (even though it isn’t an issue because Carpathians can still have babies) and if she’s good enough in bed. She’s still really powerful and does some amazing magical healing and hunting, but she just became too submissive and unsure of herself for my liking.
So even though I really liked the story itself, I thought the plot was well done, I thought the descriptions were vivid, the characters well developed, Skyler as a character was a little annoying and I felt like the end of the book relied a little too heavily on the Skyler-Dimitri lifemate subplot.
Overall, I do recommend, especially if you like paranormal and romance stories, but like I said at the beginning, if Logan level fighting/gore isn’t your thing and you’re a little prudish when it comes to sex scenes, this might not be the best book for you.
That’s all I’ve got for now! Look out for my next posts on Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell.
Happy Reading!
A Little Bit of Happiness 