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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Character Review #1: Christine Feehan's Carpathians

For my first character review (which will hopefully be an ongoing blog feature) I've decided to review a set of characters that all have very similar characteristics: Christine Feehan's Carpathian males. If you're not familiar with this ongoing series you can find out all about it here. At the moment it's a 21 book series that has a HUGE following, and rightly so. I honestly enjoyed the first dozen or so books of this series. Unfortunately I'm the type of reader that gets burnt out on a series of this size. I'm struggling to stay faithful to Anita Blake at the moment as well. So, I own about half of the Dark books, but have read more by borrowing from a friend and the library.

What do I think of the Carpathian males? Well, first and foremost, where can I get one?! These fiercely loyal men are HOT,HOT,HOT! Every one of them is a study in masculine perfection of the physical form (well, duh). They're tall and gorgeous, some dark, some light and ALL alpha male. To be completely honest, I wouldn't mind having a man who could toss a small car, with an overprotective streak ten miles long, wanting to pamper me and set me on a pedestal. My biggest beef with this series is how many of the female characters get angry at them for these inherent characteristics. I'm all for women's rights but can easily put them aside for a little pampering. I mean really, is it so hard to let the man take over where your life is being threatened? No. So, overall these men are strong, fight vampires and whatever else threatens their lifemates, friends and families, and are nigh indestructible. They can turn into mist, sleep in the healing earth of the Carpathian Mountains and prefer blood to beer. What's not to like?

The Carpathians are not exactly vampires because vampires are evil, former Carpathian males who resorted to killing their prey. Carpathians do drink blood but don't kill innocents. They exist in a muted world of black and white, with no emotions until they meet their lifemates for the first time. Once they meet their lifemates, they hate to be separated from them for any length of time, which really pisses off a lot of the women. Their female lifemates can be converted into Carpathians, however, reproduction is a problem that hadn't been solved by the time I stopped reading the series. They were working on it though. There are humans who know all about them and work with them in some way. They have enemies in both evil vampires and humans. They live all over the globe.

That is the Carpathians in a nutshell. I did enjoy most of the books, but became burnt out and found it hard to keep reading. I still have a couple on my TBR shelf. One of them, that I did in fact read, is Dark Possession (#18). It's a good story that can be read alone, though the information about will also explain a lot. The copy I'm giving away was read once and is in very good condition. Do you want it? Just post a comment below, either with your own opinion on the Carpathians or just to say hi, and you're entered to win. I'll draw a winner on Wednesday, April 6th.
Good luck!

8 comments:

  1. Big huge fan of Christine Feehan. I think i've red everything she's ever written. took me a while too lol. My favorite book of the dark series is the first one of course. I think the women aren't really whiney but want to be independent. Some of the women are kick ass fighters before they ever meet there male counter parts so letting the man dictacts a hard pill to swallow. lol I'd like that whole alpha male protector things too but to much can be well to much. Dark Possession was not one of my favorites if i remember right. Some are better than others. I still love when Gregori finds out he's going to be father to twins!

    Can't wait for the next one!

    Lisa B

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  2. You know, I've only read one of her books. Dunno why I didn't read anymore as I found it enjoyable. I'm not a huge fan of the "vampire" so maybe that's why, but I enjoyed your post on getting burned out on a series. I think it speaks to how we write also. I'm trying hard to figure out how to make my characters uniquely different in each book and it's hard not to give each some of the same qualities because in essence those are the same qualities we find attractive.

    So good to finally meet you in person!!

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  3. Great set of books and I love Christine Feehan. Her males are everything you said and I think I would enjoy it as well, having a Carpathian male. I like being independent but I also love having the strong male on my side as well. It makes you feel safe and girly, when some of us aren't that girly. :) Sometimes you can get burnt out on a series but I just take a break and come back later and it is usually fine.
    I am really enjoying your character reviews. :)

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  4. Modokker, I really liked the first Dark book too. It definitely pulled me into the series. Thanks for your comment.

    Ciara, it was great meeting you too! Vampires are so overdone I think it's hard for most writers to be a fan. CF's Carpathians are unique enough to enjoy though. I agree about trying to keep it fresh. That's always in the back of my mind too. Thanks for stopping by!

    Chris, when I take a break from a series I usually read too much in between to remember much when I get back, lol. Then I have to skim over the first few and remember why I left ;-)
    Thanks for your comment!

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  5. Hi I'm a huge fan of Christine Feehan! I was first introduced to her writing via the Drake Sisters and have only recently started digging into the Carpathians series. I have to say I'm loving this series as well!

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  6. I haven't read any books by Chirstine Feehan. this should be a great chance for me to start one :)

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  7. Miranda, I LOVE the Drake sisters! I was also really happy with the first in the offshoot Sisters of the heart series. Thanks for stopping by :-)

    Mariska, good luck! You'll love Christine Feehan. She has many series and all have HOT men in them ;-)

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  8. Thanks again everyone for checking out my first character review! And now time for the winner of Dark Possession....
    Chris J! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Email your address to missy@msmissyjane.com so I can put it in the mail :-)

    Follow my blog, or follow me on Twitter, to know when the next character review appears.

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