Originally Published: 07-27-2018
Book Summary
Dark Blood is the 26th book in the Dark Series by Christine Feehan.
This also happens to be the 3rd book in the small trilogy within this book series.
The trilogy books are Dark Lycan, Dark Wolf, and Dark Blood!!
This story is Zev’s and Bronnie’s story.
And this story picks up right after Dark Wolf with several characters being welcomed into the Carpathian community in a ceremony after being healed from being severely wounded.
Zev is among those that were wounded. He was at the councils meeting and saved the life of one of the Lycan council members. In order to save him, Skyler and Tatijana healed him while Branislava (Bronnie) tied her spirit to his so he wouldn’t die.
They had first met in Dark Lycan and danced. He was enamored with her then, so now as he’s coming back to the land of the living, and she’s there, he fights his way back.
He’s also now a complete “Guardian of All”. And he swears allegiance to the prince with Dimitri and Fen now as his brothers.
You also find that Gary Jansen is finally healed from his wounds and is full Carpathian male. He was injured badly in a battle at the beginning of Dark Lycan.
So a whole lot happens in this book, adding a whole new dimension to the background story of the series.
Instead of just having one horrible mage villain, there are now three! There were triplets that wanted to rule the world and they have strange names: Xavier we know. He was defeated by Razvan in book 20.
Now we find out about his brothers, Xaviero and Xayvion. Each of them chose a group and set about to systematically annihilate a species.
Xavier went after the Carpathians. Xaviero after the Lycans. And Xayvion eliminated the Jaguars. Three High Mage brothers bent on destroying all those that might oppose them.
We also find out that Zev is actually the last in the Dark Blood lineage, an ancient Carpathian lineage that was thought to have died out.
Now that he’s become a mixed blood, he finds out that he’s also Dark Blood, making him a powerful warrior to not only fight the Sanga rau, but to finally eliminate them.
They find out that Xaviero has been working for centuries to eliminate the Lycans by creating the Sanga rau and causing dissension from within. Ideas and plans that took decades, even centuries to make happen.
So this then enables Christine Feehan to continue this series for any number more of books. And you find as you continue to read this series, there doesn’t seem to be any stopping of more books being written.
Back in Dark Lycan, when Bransilava met Zev, she knew that he was her lifemate. And when he was mortally wounded, she willingly wove her spirit to his to keep him alive.
Now as they start getting to each other, they find that they are both very strong, powerful characters that are better together than apart.
If you remember Bransilava, or Bronnie, or Branka (as Zev calls her), she was with her sister Tatijiana locked in the ice caves, used as fodder for Xavier’s depravities.
But they were also his students, unbeknownst to Xavier. So they learned every spell, every trick that Xavier came up with.
But they were also witness to what the three brothers were up to. And they both had thought that Xavier had killed both brothers. But in the end they had devised a plan that enables both brothers to go and focus on the different races.
Note that there is so much information within the pages of this book. There’s so much that happens. I can’t do this book justice by trying to give you a summary of this story. So please make a point, if you like this series, to read this particular book.
At the end of this story, there’s a horrific, tremendous battle between the Lycans, the Carpathians, and the two High Mages (Xaviero and Xayvion). There are many lives lost and many things that come to light.
In the end, Xaviero’s plans are completely derailed by Bransilava, Tatijiana, Skyler and Ivory. And Zev viciously destroys him and casts him into the portal to hell that they were trying to open.
Oh, and Xavier didn’t get thru the portal!! But Xayvion slithered away making it that there’s still a villain for the following books.
This book was an intense read. The type of read that you have to pay attention to or you miss what’s happened. It’s definitely worth reading!
Check out book 27, Dark Crime, next when you meet some new characters added to the Carpathians.
