Book Description
Immortal passions rage as evil grows in this gripping novel in Christine Feehan’s #1 New York Times bestselling Carpathian series.
Silke Vriese Reinders knows a war is coming. The demon slayer has seen it over and over again in the cards—and the battle won’t just be for the survival of her remote village, but for all mankind. Silke knows the only way to win will be with the help of the Carpathians. A fact that fills her with trepidation, as she is fated to be the lifemate to one of the ancient supernatural warriors—bound to a complete stranger and responsible for his soul.
One of the oldest, most dangerous Carpathians, Benedek Kovak is more beast than man. Locked away for centuries, the only thing that has stopped him from becoming one of the monsters he’s sworn to defeat is the thought of his lifemate. When Benedek senses the impending danger, he sets out to find her before it’s too late. But their enemy has laid a trap that pushes him closer to turning than ever before.
For so long Benedek has felt nothing. Now, some dark art is compelling him to indulge in cravings he thought long buried. He has no hope that anyone can restore what’s left of his tainted soul, but Silke is nothing like he imagined. Perhaps she’s strong enough to fight back the darkness. Perhaps together they can defeat an adversary hell bent on destroying them all....
My Review
Silke knows a war with Lilith is coming. She's been training her entire life for this battle. She also knows that she is destined to be the lifemate of a very old, very dangerous Carpathian warrior. She knows the only way to defeat her enemies is with the help of the Carpathians but she didn't know her soon to be lifemate was on the way to her village to aid them in battle.
Benedek and four other ancient warriors show up in Silke's village, not only to meet his lifemate but to help her defeat Lilith and the demons she's sending. Silke and Benedek feel an attraction right away because of the lifemate bond but they are both distrustful and Silke isn't sure she wants such a powerful, dangerous supernatural as a husband. So when Benedek makes it clear to her that she has no choice in the matter and he's has no plans on giving her up, they sit down and come to some compromises like adults would. This gives them some time to get to know each other while also bonding them together so he doesn't turn into a vampire.
In the past few books the overall arc of the stories was about the ancients from the monastery in search of their lifemates before the darkness claims them and they turn vampire. Most of the lifemates have been human females who are tarot card readers. While Silke is also a tarot card reader, she is also a demon slayer and she doesn't use her tarot cards very much in this book. When she did use them it felt like an afterthought just to throw that in there. She really doesn't gleem too much info from her tarot card reading to give to the Carpathians that she gave readings to. Her friend Tora, who is a Carpathian has been with her for years and has trained her and told her about the Carpathians since she is to be one after she mates. Tora is one of the women who guard the gate so a fearsome ancient named Justice doesn't escape. But there's a huge twist in that story at the end of this book.
There was a lot of fighting in this book, a lot of action, so much so that Silke and Benedek didn't feel like they had time to really get to know one another much.
While I liked this book it wasn't as good as some of the others and I miss the stories of some of the previous Carpathians that used to show up in books. We would get a look at some previous characters lives and we haven't had that in a while. I hope this series gets back to the Carpathian families and the Prince who made me love this series in the first place.
I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.
Disclosure: I was given an E-ARC of this book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
