Rating: 
Summary: WOW!
Review: this book was awesome - the relationships are very well developed. (just a small comment to some readers - several of Mrs. Feehan's novels can appear to be the same; and repetition of words such as 'creamy' and 'crass' becomes annoying. Also, the printer/publisher has a disgusting tendency to misspell and forget punctuation marks (most notably, periods). I usually don't notice this stuff, but in this book and especially in it's companion, Dark Guardian, it's VERY obvious.)
Despite that, the plot is thrilling and the relationships with Lucian and Francesca are very well developed. The story is overall great and only surpassed by Dark Guardian, which continues the story with Lucian.
In a nutshell, this is the story of the vampire-hunter Gabriel, who has come close to turning into a vampire and is over 2,000 years old. He finds his lifemate (wife), who is a healer and found a way to live as a human rather than a Carpathian (immortal being with powers to dissolve into mist, float, regulate body temp., heal, and generally fight vampires, who are Carpathians who have lost their souls). this is the story of how they reconcile their relationship, and adopt a young human girl (psychic) who has been abused, and how Gabriel continues the hunt for his twin, the most powerful Carpathian who has turned vampire. the ending is spectacular, and very moving.
Rating: 
Summary: Blahhhhh
Review: I just bought this book after hearing great things about Christine Feehan work, I started to read the Dark Legend but found that the plot was so dull that I couldn't read it anymore. The actual theme of the story was great I really wanted to finish it just so I could see what happened, however I just couldn't do it. Maybe one day I will be able to finish the book, but as of right now I not going to even try.
Rating: 
Summary: Another phenomenal story of the Carpathians
Review: Courtesy of Love RomancesGabriel has just arisen from a centuries long sleep, deep in the earth. His first thought is to assuage his crippling hunger. He needs blood, and he needs it desperately. However, he is hesitant to feed for fear his hunger will make him unable to stop... and push him past the point of no return, causing him to turn vampire. In this moment of desperation she comes to him, making his world explode into brilliant color and emotion, as she freely offers her life for his. Francesca Del Ponce is a remarkable healer, having dedicated her last several hundred years to helping the sick and underprivileged. She turned away from her own kind centuries ago when Gabriel, her lifemate, rejected her. Ashamed she could not capture his love, she left her home and sought a new life for herself, one where no one would know who or what she was. Francesca set a new course, aiding humans with her incredible skills, determined to live her life as a human, avoiding detection by her people, Carpathians and vampires alike. When Gabriel stumbled back into Francesca's life, all of her well-orchestrated plans were for naught. Having found his lifemate when he was so close to losing his battle with the demon within, he was not about to give her up a second time. Francesca, unaccustomed to depending on anyone or anything, struggles with her newly awakened desire, while Gabriel tries to give her the space and time she needs to accept him. While Gabriel and Francesca are learning to meld their separate lives, an ancient enemy finds them during this emotional time. For Lucian, Gabriel's twin, one of the most powerful hunters of the undead, now turned vampire himself, has awoken as well, and his conflict with Gabriel wages on. Gabriel made a promise to his twin over a thousand years ago that should Lucian turn, only Gabriel will destroy him. So the game continues, sweeping them across Paris, in a dangerous battle where there can only be one survivor. Ms. Feehan has done it again as her saga continues to unfold in this, the latest of the Dark series. Her richly detailed world comes alive again with Francesca's and Gabriel's bittersweet reunion. Their story is provocative, a kaleidoscope of emotion and a whirlwind of passion. Gabriel's love for Francesca is so strong that he tries to be noble and give her the opportunity to accept him into her life, on her own terms, even though it goes against everything he knows. His instincts are telling him to grab hold and never let go, to protect her life at the risk of his own. That is exactly what this book does to the reader... takes hold and never lets up until the end. Just as strong as Gabriel's adoration for Francesca, is the agony he feels over the vow to his brother, to destroy Lucian before it is too late. Ms. Feehan's talent for weaving a thoroughly engrossing tale shines bright once more. Every book is better than the ones before as she climbs her way to the very peak of stardom in the paranormal romance world. With the introduction of even more characters in this book, she shows the end to her world is yet very far from coming. One will laugh, cry, scream, and shout for joy throughout this entire tale. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition
Rating:
Summary: We Could Use More Man Like Gabriel
Review: I, like so many others, have read all of Feehan's books. I have enjoyed all of them. But, the last two are my favorties. Gabriel is understanding and compassionate, he doesn't seem as overbearing as the other Carpathian's. Age must make a difference. Also it was interesting that the famales could resist turning vampire. I really enjoyed the relationship that develops between Gabriel and Francesca. I would hope that Ms Feehan will write a book bring everyone together to solve the problem of girl childern dieing. It seems that all the pieces are now in place.
Rating:
Summary: For A Little Fun
Review: Dark Legend was my first romance novel that I ever read and it got me completely hooked. I never liked the thought of reading romance b/c people say it's like porn for women. But I got bored with plain fiction, so I tried it out. Now I can't stop reading Christine Feehan's Dark series. She really knows how to keep my attention and I love how she mixes her stories with fantasy b/c it makes it a lot more interesting. I recommend Feehan's books to any female who is bored and wants to have a little fun with what she's reading. After all, men have their porn, why can't we have our romance.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Series continues
Review: I found Dark Legend the same as the other dark series, very hard to put down once started.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Much Glorification of the Hero
Review: I have read a few of Feehan's Dark Series books (I have 6 of them now) and I must say that I find this Dark Legend really irritating at times. The book kept saying/repeating how handsome, how great, how whatever Gabriel looks all the time that I was getting sick of it towards the middle of the book. Also goes for the heroine Fran; she's always fragile, slim, etc., etc. And the book didn't have much story other than the how these 2 react to each other. I had to skip many pages of lengthy and boring love scenes just to get to the good stuffs about helping the humans and fighting the vampires, which were not much anyway. And scenes about the vampire hunting and killing were also so pathetic. No action, no drama. I find the book spent a lot of time on lengthy boring sex scenes and not enough on how these 2 Carparthians interract with others and things around them. There was just not enough substance. I have read Dark Challenge and I find this book to be better, with the heroine having equal strength and powers with the hero, Julian. And the self-glorification and bad love-scenes were kept at minimum. At least, this Dark Challenge has more substances and more people (human & Carparthians) and places. . . .
Rating:
Summary: Same Old, Same Old from the Dark Series
Review: After reading all of the Dark series, I've come to the conclusion that Feehan either hits the target on the bullseye or misses it completely. She will write a fairly intriging if somewhat repetative story or tripe. This falls into the tripe catagory with Dark Prince and Dark Gold.
Legendary Carpathian Vampire-Hunter, Gabriel is awakened from his century old slumber, weak and disorinted. This is a bad thing because his evil twin brother, Lucien, is also up and about terrorizing Paris. As he searches the series for a human blood donor, he meets Francesca, professional do-gooder. She seems to be a human but in fact she is a female Carpathian who has expiremented with herbs to make herself human so she may eventually take her good friend, Dr. Bryce as a husband and live a mortal's lifespan. She is his lifemate so that means Gabriel is going to claim her, ruin all her plans, and basically take over every aspect of her life.
Francesca is a psuedo-fiesty heroine. She says 'no' to him, but in the end she always submits becuase her resistance is only token. There's gotta be something to create tension. The tension only lasts a little while becuase by chapter four Francesca and Gabe are mating and she's forgiven him for ruining all her plans. Oh yeah, Francesca is also mad at him for 'rejecting' her centuries ago.
Another problem is Dr. Bryce. He's given faults a plenty and the only real reason to make him such a weak petty person is that he likes the heroine. Human males so like the heroines are destined to a) be killed by vampires or b) turn into psuedo-villians. Bryce becomes a drug addict whose under a vamp's control. The book could have had so many new deminsions if Bryce had actually been a nice man whom Francesca had genuine feelings.
There are vampires o' plenty that Gabe must destory, but this legendary hunter comes off as inept to emphasize that Lucien is more powerful of the two and as always the vampires are pathetic non-threatening (to Carpathians) ugly things. This is set in Paris, France but it could be Paris, CA for lack of European atmosphere or even French names. The only saving grace in the story is Skyler, a abused teenager than Fran and Gabe take in. She has a sixth sense so she'll probably be back later as a lifemate.
Feehan seems to be getting more sensual with each book, but in Legend, this is a bad thing. The prose are so purple that I laughed several times!
All I say is Dark Legend could have been much more than it was due to Feehan's clumsy handling. It needed more tension, and Feehan gave herself many oppurtunities to do just that but she chose to steer clear and stick to her tired old formula. Dark Guardian is so much better.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful but flawed
Review: I have been sampling books in this series, starting with DARK PRINCE (bk 1), and then the books about the twin vampire hunters - DARK LEGEND and DARK GUARDIAN. This paranormal romance is both addictive (a bit like chocolate!) and yet frustrating. Why? I will let know you know at the end. A brief summary for those with no experience of Christine Feehan: she writes books about a society of beings who are not quite vampires. The Carpathians, in Feehan's world, are supernatural beings who can live very long lives and have remarkable powers. They have their own laws (physical, spiritual as well as social/legal). One of these laws forces them to drink blood, although they are *not* vampires. [Vampires are long-lived Carpathians gone bad, to put it briefly. Vampires kill humans, and derive pleasure and other feelings from pain. Carpathians don't kill in that way]. Their numbers are shrinking rapidly, partly due to a massive battle in the 1400s (referred to briefly in two books), and partly due to the fact that there are virtually no female Carpathians left. Few children are born, and those who survive are fewer. No female children are being born. Adult male Carpathians need a life-mate however; mere sex with a human or a Carpathian female will not do. Those who fail to find a lifemate and have lived far too long either choose to face the dawn (the sun will kill them) or to become vampires (i.e. they go bad). Carpathians have tried in the past to convert human females without success, and they are now having greater success with full-blown psychic human females. The typical Carpathian male is not only drop-dead gorgeous but also what I would call "super-alpha". Completely unable to take a no from his partner (or would-be partner). The idea of Carpathian society is that women (being so few) and children (also so few) are to be protected. When a Carpathian male finds his lifemate, he is not willing to take no for an answer. Sounds a bit like a Stephanie Laurens hero, right? Somewhat magnified of course. I was fortunate enough to pick up three of the more interesting books in the series, with no objectionable heroines. In the first book DARK PRINCE, the head of Carpathian society is about to seek the sun when he finds his lifemate. The fact that she was a human psychic terrified of being enclosed in earth (part of the Carpathian sleep and healing rituals) and also a vegetarian made that book interesting. Unfortunately, things went downhill from the middle. This book DARK LEGEND (and its twin book DARK GUARDIAN) showcase the strenghts and weaknesses of Feehan's world. In this book, the legendary vampire hunter Gabriel has been asleep for centuries, resting after having sealed his twin Lucien who has apparently turned into a vampire. Gabriel awakens in 20th century Paris to discover that his twin has disappeared (woken before him) and that he himself is perilously close to turning (becoming a vampire). He is taken for a vagrant when he is provided food and shelter by a young woman Francesca who offers him her own blood to replenish him. Francesca is not your typical heroine in more ways than one. She is firstly remarkably gifted, in that she can heal patients from within. She is also not quite who she appears to be. Suffice to say, that Gabriel makes her his lifemate without her consent. Gabriel's relationship with Lucien and a subplot involving a talented but abused child Skylar are the two best parts of this novel. Throughout the novel, we see the tension gripping Gabriel as he tries to find his vampire twin. Can Gabriel kill Lucien when he finds him this time? But if Lucien is a vampire, why is he behaving so strangely? Why, especially, is he protecting and comforting Skylar? My problems with the novel were that two marvellous components were wasted. Firstly, Francesca's powers and her unusual self-education should have meant that she would react differently to Gabriel's claim on her. Apart from some mild irritation, she seems to placidly accept Gabriel's claim, as is his right. There is no real tension between the couple once she has made this decision (and it comes early). That spoils most of the book for me. Secondly, Francesca's friend Bryce (a medical doctor) could have been made far more nuanced, far more sympathetic. Instead, from becoming an apparently admirable character, he is made a character who is willing to sell his friend's secrets for his own advancement - and worse. It would have been so much more interesting to see him remain basically decent, or if he had to be made the pseudo-villain, to watch the change occur in him. I would have liked to see Francesca's relationship with Bryce be far more serious than it was, and to watch all three of them struggle with Gabriel's claim on her. Finally, the story takes place in 20th century Paris, but there is almost no sense of local color, local people and history playing any part. All this brings me back to the central problem with this series. The heroes are so alpha that they completely overwhelm the females. And with one or two rare exceptions (Dark Challenge, Dark Guardian, and a short story), the heroines become relatively passive, even when they are clearly not comfortable with the life and ideology of the Carpathians (as was Raven). The problem is that super-alpha heroes are all very fine, but every now and then, you want a heroine who will say "no" [and the hero will actually listen]. Dark Legend, with a Carpathian hero AND heroine, had so much promise going for it. I loved the beginning, and the three (four, counting Lucien) principal characters who were introduced early in the book. Pity about the rest of it. Rating 3.3.
Recommendation = Good read, but DARK GUARDIAN is more interesting plot-wise.
Rating:
Summary: Another wonderful Dark book!
Review: These books just keep getting better and better! I have enjoyed all of them and I get excited when a new one comes along. If you haven't read them start!
This book is the 7th full lenght novel in the series. Ther is also a novella in the book "After Twilight" that has a tie in with the series. This is Gabriel's story. He is the twin to Lucian. They are very ancient Carpathians that have lived for over 2000 years. Gabriel has been in the ground for years in Paris and whe he rises its to find that Paris has changed and that his twin, Lucian who has turned vampire has also risen. Gabriel soonn is found by Francesca who is also Carpathian and his lifemate. She has been unknown for centuries and is living as a human healer. She freely gives her help to Gabriel and he soon discovers that she is hhis true lifemate. She has made a decision to end her life so Gabriel must convince her that she must go on now that they are together. Along the way they have to fight against the vampires that are now flocking to Paris, including Lucian, who even though he has turned has kept intouch with Gabriel. They also must protect a very special girl that is wounded and needs the love and support that they can give her to heal. This book has a twist to it that is very suprising. I enjoyed it and can't wait for others. There are several secondary characters that need to have their stories written as well. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series soon.
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