Dark Hunger by Christine Feehan

Riordan is a male Carpathian who has been imprisoned by Scientists who have poisoned his blood, making him unable to contact or call out to his family. Now, weak and chained to a wall, he hates himself for falling victim to those who would kill his family and his people.

Meanwhile, Juliette is outside with her sister, Jasmine. They plan a raid on the facility to free the women and children that the scientists have captured. While Juliette distracts the guard, Jasmine knocks him out with an injection, and as Jasmine drags him off into the jungle, Juliette enters the lab to free the women and children- and the animals. But as she telepathically tells the animals to get out, she catches sight of another cell, locked and with a warning sign on the outside. Of course, she must see what is inside.

Riordan pretends to have passed out as Juliette enters his cell. Thinking her one of his captors, he plans to drink her blood and use it to escape, but as soon as she gets close, he opens his eyes in shock. After many years, he can see in color, and feel emotions. He is shocked, but that doesn't stop him from biting Juliette, claiming her as his. He uses the power of her blood to destroy the lab completely. She begs him to stop, because her sister is still inside the lab. But he tells her the lab is deserted except for them.

And then they are soaring high in the air. She wonders who, and more importantly, what, he is. Only to find him still weak. Not trusting him, or any man, she plans to run, but her own bodily weakness prevents her. And she seems to be able to understand the thoughts in his head, as if they were her own. But how? He answers both questions by telling her that they are lifemates, destined to be together, and that he drained her a little too deeply. She is upset when she finds out that he drinks blood, but he tells her he doesn't have to kill when he feeds.

But their little conversation is interrupted by the attack of a vampire, and they must flee him. Riordan leaves her alone to make a false trail for the vampire to follow, then tells her what he is, a Carpathian. A race which resembles both humans and vampires, drinks blood to survive, and are the progenitors of vampires. Vampires are what Carpathians become if they live too long without their lifemate. Their vision goes to black, white and shades of gray, and their lighter emotions disappear over time.

If they succumb to despair or give in to hatred and bloodlust, and kill someone who they feed off of, they will become a vampire and be forever after twisted and hateful, unable to love. living only for drinking blood and killing. Now that Juliette and Riordan have found each other, he will never have to fear becoming a vampire.

But Juliette is also not human. She is a were-jaguar, and the male jaguars have betrayed their females, imprisoning them and forcing them to bear children over and over again. Juliette and her sisters have sworn to free the women and children, even if it means going against the males of their species. Because of the inbreeding, some jaguar females cannot shift, while others can only shift infrequently. Juliette and her sister Solange hve sworn not to take a mate. But she is falling for Riordan, as he has obviously fallen for her.

But can Riordan keep Juliette safe while taking on the vampires gunning for him, and then help her keep her people safe and alive from the threat of their own men? Or will something have to give? And if so what? If Juliette takes Riordan as her mate, will her sister be able to forgive Juliette for what she will see as a betrayal of their vows to remain unmated to a man? And can there be any kind of final happiness for two people so completely different from one another?

I'd read this book some years ago in the print version, but as a manga, this book isn't so bad. I do confess that the depiction of Riordan didn't exactly thrill me. The art style had him looking much too Bishonen for me. I had imagined him more rugged, wild and hairy-chested. This version of him looked like some J-Pop superstar right down to the Almond-shaped eyes. It wasn't exactly a bad depiction, but compared to the image in my head, it was nothing close, and I found that distracting me from the story.

Aside from that, the art is nice, with clean, elegant lines for both man and animals, and even in the midst of complex fights, it is easy to tell what is going on and what is happening. Even so, the story didn't feel as deep as a manga as it did as a book, and the story feels unfinished- at the end, Riordan and Juliette have found love and bonded, but her people are by no means safe, and Riordan knows that a vampire has corrupted the Jaguar males, but the story basically ends with Riordan agreeing to protect Juliette, her sisters Jasmine and Solange and their people, but due to the ongoing situation with the rest of the jaguar males, the story feels like it should go on- that it won't really be ended until the rest of Juliette's people are safe. And that's mainly because this wasn't a full-sized book, but a short story in a multi-story compilation, the original name of the book the story was in was "Hot-Blooded".

In the end, I'd have to say that aside from the shallowness and unfinished feeling of the story, this is quite a successful adaptation of the story. The art may not have meshed with what I felt the character of Riordan looked like, but it's not bad, and it was just my impression, so I can't really even say it was a detraction. Recommended.