Book Review: Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan

 

Book Description

Light and dark combine as the cards reveal hidden truths in this intoxicating installment in Christine Feehan's #1 New York Times bestselling Carpathian series.

 

Sandu Berdardi continues to exist only to protect his people. An ancient Carpathian, his entire long life has been dedicated to honor above all else. He knows his time has passed, especially since he has not been able to find his lifemate—the anchor to keep him sane in a world he no longer understands. But just as he truly starts to give up hope, a voice reaches out to him in the night and his world explodes into color.

 

Adalasia enters Sandu’s mind seamlessly, as if she has been a part of him forever. While she can see the shape of things to come in her deck of cards, her gift is both a blessing and a curse. The true course of Sandu’s quest remains unclear, with danger waiting at every turn. She cannot see everything the future holds, but she does know it is a journey they will take together.

 

By joining him, she will start them down a dangerous, seductive path from which there is no coming back....

My Review

Sandu was contemplating meeting the sun since he had lived such a long time, had not found his lifemate and knew his time was fast approaching when he would have to make the choice. Then he heard a voice in his head speaking telepathically to him and colors popped all around him which was quite shocking since he had lived in a gray world, colorless and emotionless for centuries. He knew what it meant, he had found his lifemate and she was speaking with him telepathically. After speaking to him for a moment she quickly cut off all communication but he was able to find her because they were now linked. 

Adalasia lost her mother a year ago in a break in. The people had been looking for something, she knew it and they hadn't found what they were looking for. Now she knew that those same people were after her, meant her harm and she was in danger. So when Sandu finds her at her tarot reading shop and confronts her, she tries to send him away to keep him safe but he's not going anywhere and he's not going to let her get hurt by anyone. 

Adalasia has a special tarot deck that has been passed down from mother to daughter for generations. Her family are gatekeepers and her deck of cards has magical properties that these other people know about and want. There are 4 gatekeepers that keep a beast locked away somehow. When Sandu and Adalasia talk and he finds out she is in danger, he knows they have to run and she knows it too so they do. It's right away that Adalasia finds out that he is more than human and because she has some idea from a legend she's heard about him and his people, she's not quite as shocked as someone else might have been. 

Not only are they on the run from the people who want her and her tarot deck but they want to find out more about Sandu's family and childhood because somehow, Sandu and Adalasia are linked in a way that they can't explain.

After talking to other Carpathians about Sandu's childhood and his family because he cannot remember anything about his family and childhood, they decide to seek out other Carpathians that might have come across his family when he as a child. In doing this we get to re-visit some of the beloved characters from other books in this series that readers have come to love over the years. 

A lot happens as they gather more and more information and the danger they find themselves in gets greater. This book kept me on the edge of my seat right up until the end. I never knew what was going to happen next and I really enjoyed the role that Adalasia's tarot cards played in this story. There's a lot more magic in this book than there has been in other books from this series and I liked the slight twist that the magic brought to the series. After reading this I know that we'll be seeing more the ancients from the monastery and I'm glad about that. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Disclocure: I was given an e-ARC of this book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own.