A mage and a warrior must see beyond their facades and embrace the bond that links their souls in this powerful Carpathian novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan. At any other time, Julija Brennan would find solace in the quiet of the Sierra Mountains, but now the mage is in the race of her life. Having broken free from her controlling family, Julija’s attempt to warn … Julija’s attempt to warn the Carpathians of the coming threat has failed and put a target on her back—and those who are hunting her are close behind.…
After centuries locked away in a monastery in the Carpathian Mountains, Isai Florea can’t believe he’s finally found his lifemate—the missing half of his soul. The second he sees Julija, his world blazes with color. But despite their explosive connection, Julija rebels against what she sees as Isai’s intent to control her and rejects the bond that would prevent him from becoming a monster.
As their unfulfilled bond continues to call to them both, Julija and Isai aim to complete the task that brought them together. They are used to facing danger alone, but now the mage and the ancient warrior must learn how to rely on each other in order to stop a plot that threatens all Carpathians.…
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The illusion is real
After all this time the author still manages to real me in with her Dark novels. I love how the closer we get to the web that started it all the more the intensity picks up. The author continues to surprise me with her art for subtlety and her flair for detail. This couple was amazing and I love how nothing was as it seemed. I especially enjoyed the fate of the shadow cats. This book is just another reason why this author is one of my favorites. And the best part is that the author left us knowing there is more to come.
What’s better than taking a journey with broken characters as they search and find redemption? Love, danger, passion…it’s all there. Everything I expect in a Christine Feehan novel.
Ever heard the one about a mage, a Carpathian warrior, a book of evil, and the love of a lifetime? Dark Illusion is such a delicious story and I can’t wait for you to meet Isai and Julija!
Isai’s an honorable man who has spent centuries looking for his lifemate while defeating the forces of evil. He’s handsome, honest, considerate, fierce, loyal, intelligent, strong, fearless and genuine. I cannot adequately describe the many ways I loved this hero. He was unreal! His patience with Julija knew no limits, which thankfully came in handy because she tested mine.
He would divide his attention, risk his life, even his soul for her. He might think he was wholly dark, but he had honor. Integrity. He was a man who walked in light even when he didn’t see it around him. – Julija
Julija was a little hard to connect to at first, but in the end I adored her too! She came from a family of evil and yet she retained her light. While trying to save an entire race by destroying an evil book of spells, her family is hunting her down. Are they trying to kill her or do they want to recapture their pet? Her abusive ex, an extremely powerful mage, is also out there hunting for her, wanting her back in his control. However, Julija has much more power than even she expected and with the faith, love and guidance of Isai, she just might come into her own. After living a life ruled by fear and doubt, Isai has encouragd her to take charge, find her confidence, and to truly believe in herself. I’m in love with this man!!
Have I tempted you yet? If you love your paranormal romance full of action, incredible world building, impossible to resist characters, and yummy steaminess, then you definitely won’t want to miss out on this book!
First time reading Christine Feehan. I thought it was fantastic!
Carpathians are the bomb in the paranormal world. Of course they are not perfect, but they can do so much. They are in essence a sort of mix between vampires (good vampires that don’t kill humans), shifters, and they have some magical ability thrown in for good measure.
Carpathians have to find their lifemate, since as they very slowly age over the millennia, they lose the ability to see color and feel emotions and eventually they will turn into a vampire which will be be dangerous to humanity since they will feed with no thought for life and kill humans indiscriminately.
Isai Florea is one of the ancient Carpathians, he was a warrior who spent his life hunting Vampires until a time when he believed himself to be getting to dangerous. Isai went to a monastery high in the Carpathian Mountains with his brethren to live a simple life where there was no danger of turning Vampire. Isai left the monastery in search of his brother who stole an evil book of spells that was created by the worst high mage that ever existed, Xavier. The book was in the property of the Prince of the Carpathians, Mikhail.
Isai’s brother Iulian stole the book and a mage named Julija is following him in the Sierra Mountains in the Western United States. Isai isn’t sure if Julija wants the book for herself or helped him steal it. However, when he catches up with her he finds that she is both high mage and Carpathian on her mother’s side and his lifemate. From there the adventure begins.
The book seems to me to be as much Fantasy as it is Paranormal. I have read Vampire books and Shifter books and they both have aspects of adventure in them. Meaning they have storylines that take the main characters on a quest-like journey to find someone or something. But even when they add different Supernatural beings with other powers they pretty much stick to the paranormal genre. This felt more like a fantasy quest, probably because there was so much magic and shifting into different beings, in addition to drinking blood.
There were some huge magical battles between Julija and her family who had treated her horrendously in her life. There were some great scenes with these unnatural shadow creatures and there were other crazy out of this world creatures and characters that were involved. The world Christine Feehan built was so unbelievably detailed and awesome, I could picture it completely in my mind.
The characters were the same. Every character was well rounded and explained fully, especially how they treated the main characters. Christine has a great way of doing that, not only in the characters own memories, but once their lifemate joins with them, they can read each other’s memory. The lifemate can see how others act or treated them. With dual POV, that shows the characters from a completely separate viewpoint.
The romance between Julija and Isai is sizzling hot from the very start. Though there is tension, so it is not smooth sailing for them. I liked that, because even if they have that instant lifemate attraction and lust, that doesn’t always mean they want that or know each other right away.
I have read long running series before like The Breeds and Black Dagger Brotherhood and I know how they work, so I realize that there are probably some things that I missed as far as storylines that have been ongoing throughout the series, since this was my first book. However, it truly didn’t bother me at all. This can be read as a stand-alone without any problem. Though now I definitely want to read more.
This one surprised me a bit. I like surprises. Life mates are drawn towards each other, as noted in the synopsis, if this is a first read for you. I like that they are evolving, even if these warriors are the oldest ones! Feeling that perhaps his life mate was untrustworthy, or devoid of integrity this warrior was willing to fight the bond, that through me for a loop. Made me love him all the more, and hurt for him. Julija, Mage and Carpathian, past contributes to the misunderstanding. What I absolutely loved was the shadow cats and how past stories played a part in the shadow cats. As Julija and Isai fight the evil that chases them on their appointed endeavor they learn to trust each other, and themselves. ** Possible Triggers:some of Julija past is a tad difficult to read, but its told as a past occurrence, same with animal abuse.** Thank you for the arc, Berkley and Christine Feehan. All thoughts and opinions are my own and given freely.
This is a fantastic series, must read everything Christine writes is gold.
How can you not love a strong female character? Julija is awesome. Part mage, part Carpathian. And she has powers she has no idea she has. But with the help of her lifemate she is going to gain confidence, control and power. Isia is an ancient Carpathian from the monastery. Never really thinking he would find the one. And now that he has they have to work together to defeat the dark mage and destroy Xavier‘s book. This book is amazing, the characters are so well developed, and Julija brings a bit of female feistiness to the book, which is great when you are the mate of an ancient warrior, who has to learn to adapt to this century. Through all this all they want to do is to be together, but that cannot happen until the book is destroyed, hopefully along with her evil mage father and brothers. They are not even the ones she is most afraid of. Barnabas was the definition of pure evil, and he wanted Julija. The fight is coming and they are going to need help. But it will take Julija to have faith in her self to destroy the book and perhaps defeat Barnabas with the help of her lifemate . They have to survive this battle to be together.
As you may or may not know, this is an ongoing series (book 33) I’ve written reviews for all the previous books.
The Carpathians now know they are being hunted into extinction, they know who their main adversary is, but another threat is coming towards them, will they overcome this one? Or will it see the end of the Carpathian race?
Isai is centuries old, he has lived in the monastery for many, many years. After fighting the vampire and serving his prince and people, he’s a danger to the humans and Carpathian’s, so he retreats to the Monastery, living there till the end of his days.
Julija put her own life at risk. She knew if she said she would be caught, but she couldn’t leave that woman on her own, couldn’t leave her to suffer …..
After escaping the evil hands of a master vampire, (with the help of a band of Carpathian warriors) Julija has a promise to keep, she is needed elsewhere (and the fact she’s scared of the warriors doesn’t help) but she promises Elisabetha (the Carpathian female captured by the vampire) that she will be back, she will help her friend to find her way in this new world…..
But when Isai and Julija meet, it’s not the best start for either of them. And it’s like that through most of the book, the distrust and miscommunication between the couple is a major stumbling block. I did wonder if this would be the first couple to actually not make it!! Isai thinks Julija can’t be trusted, she knew she was a “lifemate” to a Carpathian, and yet she still ran. Julija only wants to find the Dark Mage’s spell book, it needs destroying, she knows her duty, but Isai is making her question her beliefs, when she’s not wanting to kill or maim him!!
They begin their mated life searching for a book, it’s a powerful spell book (in fact it’s been in play since Vikirnoff and Natalya’s book “Dark Demon”
The book if opened by a vampire could mean the end of the carpathian race, and humans would be at the mercy of the vampires and their terrible thirst!!!
Julija and Isai have to work through their distrust of one another, yes they know they belong together, but boy it’s hard work!! She’s a powerful mage, he’s an ancient warrior, together they should be unstoppable (if they can work together)
I liked this one, yes it’s edgier and darker. But this series is all about the evil that lurks beneath us, it’s a dark and scary series. And it’s lost it’s way with a few of the previous books, but I feel we are back on the path, we know the enemy, the Carpathian people are pulling together, the hunters can’t hunt alone anymore, they are being targeted. Even their homes aren’t safe. I did wonder when we lost Xavier (very evil mage) if we would lose our way (and we did for a while) we could have waited for a few stories, we could have had a few of the books as short stories. But we are where we are. I love this series, and unless anything major happens that i really don’t like, I think I will be reading until the end.
A great paranormal romance story series
Julija Brennan is born of Carpathian Dragonseeker lineage and also that of a high mage and her lifemate is Isai Florea, an ancient Carpathian warrior who has left the security of a monastery to find his lifemate. They meet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where both are searching for a book of evil spells that Isai’s brother Iulian took from shadow cats who stole it from the Carpathian prince Mikhail. Julija has been raised in a cruel and harsh environment by mages who denigrate her and literally feed on her blood. She is reluctant to trust anyone, even someone who claims to be her lifemate and dedicated to her safety and happiness. Isai has come from a different time and finds it hard to trust someone who does not trust his Carpathian honor and who should be eager to be his other half and is not. Followed by Julija’s family of enemy mages, they must come to terms in order to find and destroy the book before they are overtaken by their adversaries. This entry of the Dark series continues the story line of a race trying to recover from near extinction.
Anything by this author is a must read!
Dark Illusion by Christine Feehan is the 29thd book of the Dark Carpathian series. Julija, half mage and half Carpathian, turns her back against her family and black magic. Isai claims she is his lifemate, and together they race against time to find a book before it falls into the wrong hands, battling magic and finding romance.
Overall, this is a solid entry in the Dark series. New forms of old enemies emerge, and another ancient finds his lifemate.
Read my full review: https://rebeccasreadingcorner.blog/review-christine-feehan-dark-illusion/
Another exciting, page turning Carpathian novel from the mind of Christine Feehan. As expected, sex violence and unusual for a romance no HEA, because the Carpathians have been fighting for their very existence and a new threat is revealed in this book.
Ancient, Isai Florea, left the monastery with his brethren, in a previous book, hoping to finally find his lifemate, but when he does, their meeting does not get off to a very good start. Julija Brennan is both a Mage and a Dragonseeker Carpathian, but has been abused by her family of mages and is not open to the idea of being anyone’s lifemate, not even if it would free him from the threat of becoming a monster. And Isai, not understanding why she behaves as she does, can’t believe how she can be his lifemate and is ready to let her walk away from him. But they have a mission they need to complete and must work together, making the bond between them unbreakable.
Christine Feehan never lets you down.
Really liked this one…
I love this author.
I love the whole Dark series, have them all and love them
Another fabulous Dark Capathian book to thrill fans. This is a must-read, a 5-Star fantasy.
Even though Isai and Julija had a rocky start, they turned out to be wonderful lifemates. I loved how Isai helped Julija overcome her fears and past insecurities. I can’t wait to see what happens with the new villain and how the Carps plan to bring him down. Definitely a wonderful addition to the series.