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Dark Flame (The Immortals #4)

by Alyson Noel (Goodreads Author)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 27,420 ratings · 1,406 reviews

In Alyson Noël’s most darkly seductive Immortals novel yet, Ever fights for control of her body, her soul — and the timeless true love she’s been chasing for centuries.

Ever is trying to help Haven make the transition into life as an immortal. But with Haven drunk on her new powers and acting recklessly, she poses the ultimate threat — exposing their secret world to the out...more

Hardcover, 1st Edition, 320 pages

Published June 22nd 2010 by St. Martin's Griffin

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Jan 28, 2013 S rated it 1 of 5 stars

How stupid.
Hm, okay, that isn't necessarily the best way to start a review with those two words, 'how stupid'. But in truth, that's quite EXACTLY what I feel and think when Dark Flame by Alyson Noel comes to mind.

First thing's first - I absolutely LOVED the first installment to the Immortals series, Evermore. It was, by far, one of my most adored books of all time.
That is, until Blue Moon came out.
Alyson Noel totally twisted her own story. It's like she's trying to purposefully create a poorly-w...more

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Oct 18, 2010 Alexa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, young-adult, 2010-reads, my-head-hurts, despise-love-triangles

My review can also be found on my blog Collections.

This is what I think about you, Ever Bloom:

(view spoiler)...more

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Jul 11, 2010 Alyssa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-loved, great-books, own, 2010-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 08, 2010 Michele (Reading Lark/CanadianTwiMom) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own-it, general-fantasy, demons, hardcover

Overall, this installment was just okay for me, once again. While I found it a tiny bit of an improvement from Shadowland... it still missed the mark for being a really GOOD sequel. I'll warn you that there will be a few general spoilers in my review as it's hard to discuss without them in this case.

The saving grace for this series is that Ever finally has an epiphany (with the help of Ava, Damen and Jude) in the last third of the book. From that point on... the story got a bit better for me. Ev...more Overall, this installment was just okay for me, once again. While I found it a tiny bit of an improvement from Shadowland... it still missed the mark for being a really GOOD sequel. I'll warn you that there will be a few general spoilers in my review as it's hard to discuss without them in this case.

The saving grace for this series is that Ever finally has an epiphany (with the help of Ava, Damen and Jude) in the last third of the book. From that point on... the story got a bit better for me. Ever's previously immature and impulsive decisions were beyond frustrating. I like to see a character continually grow throughout a story... but she was just stuck in this funk that never seemed to end up till now. Her finally coming to the realization of how to achieve her goals was so refreshing. Although... she still had her doubts and there were her tendancies to go back to the old/impulsive/immature Ever.

*Sigh*... throughout this installment, Ever is still trying to obtain the "antidote to the antidote" from Roman so that she can physically be with her true love Damen... I have to admit that this is feeling really old. And I'm still having a hard time taking this whole premise seriously... that Ever's goal is to consumate her relationship with Damen... this is the blatent driving force of the main plot, and it's just weak for me. When I get into a book series... I like to see progression and growth... the plot just seems stalled without any major resolutions. But stubborn me has to find out what happens now that I'm this far into it.

Something new in this book is that Ever is convinced she has a "monster" living inside her that is driving her towards Roman literally, although she fails to claim ownership of it because of her ill-fated attempts at magick and finding that antidote.

Ever further learns why Roman is the way he is, and she begins to feel some sympathy towards him close to the end of this book... so Ever does almost a complete 180 in her feelings towards Roman... leaving us thinking... "huh??" Following her change of heart, she attempts to offer Roman friendship, as well as a "deal"... hoping he responds, but fully aware that she can, again, walk away with nothing but still feel more in control of herself. (I only half believed she would be satisfied with that.)

The other facet to this story is Haven... Ever's former best-friend who is now an immortal, too... due to the decision Ever made in the last book to save Haven's life. While I tried to appreciate Haven's situation... I just couldn't. Her new "powers" are a heady novelty to her and she's not willing to hold back despite Ever's and Damen's advice... all the while being goaded on by Roman. I predict that Haven is going to be the true villian in the next book. She's vowed to make Ever's, Damen's and Jude's lives hell for what they did.

I did like Damen's and Jude's character development though. Jude learns about his past lives and his involvement with Ever in those past lives. He declares his love for her too... and that he is going to fight for her (although I have to add that that part seemed rushed or thrown in). Damen was previously just this character that seemed indifferent and along for the ride in the previous installments... but more of the "old Damen" from Evermore (the first book) was present in Dark Flame. Damen's devotion and patience with Ever is amazing! He's had many years to come into his maturity and feelings for her.

To my disappointment though... Romy & Rayne were not in this story very much.

The ending was surprising... I didn't really see that coming the way it did. I figured Jude was going to go there to help Ever if she needed it... but I didn't anticipate how it would unfold. I did like how Dark Flame ended... at least, better than the previous books.

So... with the next installment... we start at square one with Ever trying to find another approach to getting the antidote... I just hope that some things HAPPEN and we start to see some resolution. I'd also like to see Jude become a viable side in this love triangle where he really represents a true choice to Ever.

This book was do or die for me with this series... and it just barely won me over to reading the next installment. I can't help feeling that I wish I didn't get hooked by the first book... otherwise, I wouldn't have continued the series past that... but this far into it... I need to see it finished... because as I said before... I'm stubborn that way.(less)

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Jun 20, 2012 Jackie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Im only reading this because I want to see if Ever gets any sense.

Looking back on the rest of the series. I'm sad to say this was the best one since EVERMORE (which I loved!!!) Until Noel lost all her writing skills and went on with the rest of series. Immortals has just become an obligation to me now. I'm not gonna say how Haven became a total bitch and Ever became more stupid and how Damen became more oblivious with each turning page and don't even get me started on Jude. If you read the rest...more

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Dec 14, 2010 Bianca rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, disappointing-not-what-i-expected, worst-female-lead-characters, goodreads-reading-challenge-2010

I finished this book in a few hours eager to see if Ever gets the antidote or not.. I reached the end of the book and I have to say I liked it but I'm dissapointed. 2 whole books now on how Damen and Ever can't "Touch" each other and they still don't have a cure. The book seemed to drag on forever, I just wanted her to hurry up and get the antidote already. The ending doesn't really sit with me very well, Roman dying or 'going to the Shadowland' is messed up, in my opinion. He was a cool charact...more I finished this book in a few hours eager to see if Ever gets the antidote or not.. I reached the end of the book and I have to say I liked it but I'm dissapointed. 2 whole books now on how Damen and Ever can't "Touch" each other and they still don't have a cure. The book seemed to drag on forever, I just wanted her to hurry up and get the antidote already. The ending doesn't really sit with me very well, Roman dying or 'going to the Shadowland' is messed up, in my opinion. He was a cool character and made things interesting. Damen is always the calm boring one, it was nice to have a bad guy. To me Noel's ending seems tacky and chucked together at the last minute. The whole Jude to the rescue bit really annoyed me. I don't see why Roman needed to be killed off. Especially since we were starting to get a glimpse of his past. Seeing that he wasn't always a bad guy, that certain events made him the way he is.. I was really hoping Ever would be able to help him become good, that he would trust her and see that he doesn't need to be horrible to everyone. Ever never seems to learn though, she is lucky that Damen is so understanding. She needs to learn to just be honest for once, then maybe she wouldn't make so many stupid mistakes. I didn't like how Noel makes Ever spend about half the book trying to break the bond between her and Roman only to then go and just about fix it with one ritual and that Ever's negative thoughts aren't helping. Haven throughout the book I just wanted to smack, she is the most annoying character ever. She should have died instead of Roman, she is wayy over the top and 'me me me me me'. She only ever cares about herself..

Overall it wasn't a terrible book but I hope things get better in the next book Night Star. If we have to read another entire book about Ever and Damen to being able to 'Touch" each other I think I will claw my face off... There is only so far you can drag something like this out and throughout 2 books is nearing too much.

There are bits I liked though, I liked seeing a darker side of Ever.. That was cool and the tension between her and Roman was awesome, I'm glad her and Haven are fighting. Haven is whiny.. Ever needs to ditch her. I loved learning about Roman's past it made everything so much clearer. (less)

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Jan 12, 2013 Chandra rated it 1 of 5 stars

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's been about six months since I read Shadowland, giving me just enough time to forget how much this series melts my brain and prompting me to go check Dark Flame out from the library.
As I've read this series, it's seemed as though the books have improved very slightly as the series progresses. I think Dark Flame might break this trend, though.
I still think our protagonist and narrator has become slightly less of a bi-polar sloppy mess, but that doesn't change the f...more Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's been about six months since I read Shadowland, giving me just enough time to forget how much this series melts my brain and prompting me to go check Dark Flame out from the library.
As I've read this series, it's seemed as though the books have improved very slightly as the series progresses. I think Dark Flame might break this trend, though.
I still think our protagonist and narrator has become slightly less of a bi-polar sloppy mess, but that doesn't change the fact that she seems to forget she's said things, and then repeat herself over and over and over again. Most of the book actually seems to feel a little like she's living an endless loop, a'la Groundhog Day. I didn't actually keep track of the times that she goes over to Roman's, tries to seduce him, and then gets caught by Haven (who, presumably, spends all her time hanging out in Roman's hamper, so she can consistently pop up whenever it would be the most inconvenient for our protagonist). But I'm pretty sure it happened more than three times.
Unlike all the other books in the series, the villain didn't actually have an evil plan. He just continued to spend all of his time dicking around his house. The "conflict" this time results from Ever having put a spell on herself to make herself magnetically attracted to Roman. I'd say this might work in Dark Flame's favor, as all of the other "evil plans" in this series have been astoundingly unbelievably dumb, only it doesn't, really. It just leads to redundant loops of attempted seduction, see above.
I also found Roman's actions confusing, which is a first: in previous books, I knew exactly what his motivation was. He wanted to screw with our protagonists and get into Ever's pants, but only if it wasn't too inconvenient, because he also has an antique shop to run and lots of dicking around to do. However, now that Ever's constantly throwing herself at him, he doesn't really seem all that interested in getting into her pants anymore. I would have thought he would have been happy to, if only to annoy Damen. Is he...supposed to be in the closet? Because for all he's said about sleeping around, I can't think of a lady he's actually supposed to have slept with, unless Drina counts, which I'm not sure she does because she was too busy going after Damen, which is why she would have been a safe choice for a gay dude to pretend to be smitten with. Aw, whatever, he's dead now, so I'm probably overanalyzing this.
I suppose the idea of most of the plot being about the protagonists's internal struggle might have been an okay idea, as it seems to be about the protagonist coming to terms with what a dumb-ass she is, but the repetition of her stupid, repetitive thoughts was so tiring that I couldn't bring myself to be interested.
While Buttercup the dog is mentioned, no pronouns are used to describe it, which is probably a good thing as it was only in the last book that Alyson Noel learned how to keep the dog's gender straight. I guess that's a plus.
All the same, I think this book might be slightly worse than Shadowland. I say this, because, while the sloppiness and lack of focus is about equal, Roman is in the book less, I think, and one of the few joys you get from reading this series is reading all of Roman's dialogue aloud in an amazingly fake British/Cockney accent, which, yes, I do.
Also, you know, he died. So there goes all hope of being able to read more of his delightfully stupid dialogue out loud in the future. (less)

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Sep 23, 2011 Samantha Souza rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: depressing, dark, fantasy, fiction, not-worth-reading, paranormal, repetitious, tired-of-this-series, young-adult

OH MY GAWD!!! Where do I start???
How about EVER! What in the hell is her deal. How are the mistakes that she's been making even realistic? Anyone with half of a brain would make better choices than her? She deliberately ignores Damen's advice time and time again, and he again and again shows his forgiveness. What the hell kind of relationship are they in? You would think that Damen would get tired of her screwing up his life after three freakin books. I think that Alyson needs to get her charac...more

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Aug 20, 2011 Dakota rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Let's play a little drinking game. Take a drink every time one of these events occurs.

Ever misuses magic..
Ever doesn't tell Damen she fucked up.
Ever trying to dig her way out of the pile of shit she's created, and ending up being buried in more shit.
Ever whining that her Aunt Sabine doesn't understand her.
Ever whining because the universe has been cock blocking her and Damen for 400 years, give or take.
Ever is still drawn to Jude, because all YA books need a completely unnecessary love triangle....more

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Apr 06, 2012 Merary rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-was-expecting-better, mediocre-writing, where-s-the-fucking-conflict, mean-girls, awesome-villains, immortality, insults-my-feminist-self, that-s-why-i-hate-boys, abusive-relationships, activate-insta-love, strangle-them-with-a-chain-please, it-s-all-about-sex-baby, you-are-an-idiot, psychic-powers, ya, why-are-you-a-love-interest, reincarnation

Before I start shamelessly ripping this book apart, I want to say that Dark Flame was SLIGHTLY better than Shadowland, and I really mean slightly.

Ever, once again, does stupid things. First, she accidentally bounds herself with his enemy, Roman. What it means by that is that, she can't stop thinking about fucking his brains off. And then, she made Haven an immortal. Damn you, Ever Bloom. WHY ARE YOU FREAKING STUPID?!!

Yeah, seriously?

And from beginning to end Ever keeps doing impulsive stupiditi...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Laura The Book Ninja rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ever, Ever, Ever.

How stupid are you now?

It just makes me sad that you'd allow yourself to fail when you get close.

And oh god, ANOTHER love triangle?

Shoot me.

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Jan 16, 2012 Justine rated it 1 of 5 stars

To be honest, though I loved the first novel in Noel's series, Evermore, Dark Flame was a disappointment.

To begin with, I started this series with full excitement; the first novel was fantastic, maybe also the second book as well, but from then on the series went into a downwards spiral.

Dark Flame, to start, really had no plot advancements at all. From the beginning to end of the novel, the story seems to have no major changes in really anything. You might as well skip this book and won't even...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Michelle. Tsunami. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: gotta-love-those-guys

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 21, 2011 Eileen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, read-2010, fantasy-mythology, read-2011

Unfortunately "Dark Flame" didn't live up to my expectations, it's simply an extension of 'Shadowland', more of the same. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate this sequel, but I can't say I love it either.
I kept on reading, because I was anxious to know how Ever was going to get the antidote for Damen. Damen takes her on original dates, I love Versailles and I actually liked the ending. It makes me wonder what they are going to do now?!

In this installment Ever experiences the results of a bounding...more Unfortunately "Dark Flame" didn't live up to my expectations, it's simply an extension of 'Shadowland', more of the same. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate this sequel, but I can't say I love it either.
I kept on reading, because I was anxious to know how Ever was going to get the antidote for Damen. Damen takes her on original dates, I love Versailles and I actually liked the ending. It makes me wonder what they are going to do now?!

In this installment Ever experiences the results of a bounding spell that went wrong. Roman invades her thoughts, dreams and she's totally obsessed with him. In the beginning she doesn't tell Damen what is going on, because she's ashamed that she failed him again and later because of the magick she's not able to talk to him anymore. Only in Summerland the magick can't reach her and she can be her old self, but Damen doesn't want to run off to Summerland, he wants answers.

Haven is a liability, she sees immortality as a game and thinks that Ever and Damen are keeping secrets from her. For the first time in her life she feels beautiful, strong and that she is a somebody. She considers Roman her boyfriend and accuses Ever of wanting to steal him away from her. The friends start to have fights and throughout the story sadly alienate from each other.

My favorite parts of the book have to do with Jude who is the hero of this story:
Ever has to find out if Jude is a bad or good guy, so she stabs him with a knife which is a confirmation for him that there is something strange going on with Ever.
After one of her disturbing encounters with Roman, Ever escapes to Summerland where she meets Jude at a weak moment at a crucial place and she spills all her secrets. Jude takes her to the psychic, Ava, who -in his opinion- is the only one who can really help Ever.
When Jude finds Ever and Roman together, he misinterprets the situation and then there's a fight, the breaking of glass and the definitive ending of a probable solution.

I've had it with Ever!! Maybe her intentions are good, but over and over again she makes immature and impulsive decisions and doesn't listen and/or learn. I do understand that she has to make her own journey and making mistakes is a part of that, but things are obviously getting out of hand. She keeps on trusting and hurting the wrong people and although Damen tells her all the time that he loves her unconditionally and that he wants to help her, she doesn't open up to him. Why is she so stupid??? Damen being older and wiser should know better, he knows her flaws, but he doesn't take any action, lets her mess up big time and in the end he simply forgives her. Where did the wise Damen, we met in the other books, go? I so don't get it! He has made her into an immortal so in a way he's responsible for her and should guide her.
They are both equally to blame for this chaos and I don't feel sorry for them at all.

Is Ever ever going to learn???? I want to see where this series will go and if Alyson Noel will surprise us all by letting the underdog win?! Now that would be an exciting thing to read!(less)

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Jul 16, 2010 Laura rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-mt-bookpile

The fact that I got a hardbound copy of the fourth book in this series from a pile at the publisher's booth should say something - something like, this series isn't selling the way we want. Or that we need to push the books more.

I know that the first book seemed to be heading in a direction that might have promise, except that it also seemed to have a few too many things going on. Well, that's changed. The Immortals reads like the kids from Gossip Girl met Charmed and hung on for dear life. Ever...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Diane ϟ [ Lestrange ] rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-reads, young-adult, reviews, disturbing, i-have

Words can't express how much I kinda not like this forth installment of The Immorals. Seriously. I mean It wasn't too bad, just not good.
I think its what the author what us to fill after reading this.
Yah she got that.

I absolutely LOVED the first installment to the Immortals series, Evermore. I give it 5 stars and the second (Blue Moon) I give it 4 stars and third (Shadowland) I give it 3 stars, ok so what am i suppose to give this? 2 stars? haha seriously, this series is getting worst.

But there...more

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Jul 16, 2011 Kayleigh {K-Books} rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 23, 2010 Deanna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2010

Having a hard time getting through this one...it seems to drag a bit and I really enjoyed the first three of the series. This one just seems a little slow and repetitive.

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May 01, 2013 Levian rated it 2 of 5 stars

Ever performed a binding spell to bind Roman to her, where if the spell was successful, he would hand over the antidote obediently. she needed the antidote to remove the curse Roman placed on Damen. but the spell went wrong when she accidentally summoned the dark powers of Hecate, as the result she was bound to Roman instead. she became addicted to Roman, needing him in ways she never imagined possible. it ruined her relationship with her best friend Haven, whom she turned Immortal the moment Ro...more Ever performed a binding spell to bind Roman to her, where if the spell was successful, he would hand over the antidote obediently. she needed the antidote to remove the curse Roman placed on Damen. but the spell went wrong when she accidentally summoned the dark powers of Hecate, as the result she was bound to Roman instead. she became addicted to Roman, needing him in ways she never imagined possible. it ruined her relationship with her best friend Haven, whom she turned Immortal the moment Roman taunted to kill her. a decision she immediately regretted when Haven became so powerful in a short amount of time, her abilities stronger the Ever's. again and again she asked Roman for the antidote, through ways even she felt ashamed of. when she finally understood what hold her bound to Roman, she was able to break free from the spell and confronted Roman in a proper way. but just minutes before Roman handed over the antidote, Jude appeared, destroying Roman together with all hopes Ever had of obtaining the antidote.

despite how well written was Evermore (2009) and Blue Moon (2009), the Immortals (2009-2011) series seemed to went further and further downhill from there. ever since Shadowland (2009) required me to drag myself through it, skipping lines just so i can proceed, Dark Flame (2010) to my dismay, was no difference. Ever made more and more obviously wrong choices, Damen retreated and gave Ever the chance to love Jude, and Jude whom Ever entrusted her secrets with more than Damen! after watching Ever rolled herself over and over in the mud just to figure out how to unbind herself from Roman for more than half of the book, she surprisingly did it with some simple repetitive meditation stuff that she already knew all along, the solution didn't quite make sense nor gave me any satisfaction. Ever seemed to never grow throughout the story, stuck in her selfish little world of never taking any advice and being so predictably impulsive. there were completely no progress for her relationship with Damen, it dragged on and on since the third book and it was getting harder and harder to see them going beyond that line.

my review: here (less)

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Apr 02, 2013 Mizuki Genshou added it

Shelves: disappointment, no-hell-no, young-adult-books, supernatural-stuff

Zero Star or 0.5 star. There's no way I'm willing to give it more.

First thing, I admit I never like Haven, but in book 4 her character turned even worse and she became impossible to sympathize with. Not only she became super-arrogant, plus her new found immortality did nothing to increase her IQ and common sense. *sighs* For example, when Ever told Haven that Roman had poisoned her on purpose (in order to force Ever to choose between leaving Haven for death in exchange of the antidote or saving...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Daniella Trujillo rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is for people that like suspense, mystery and romance all wrapped into one. I would give it four stars, mostly because it's very slow and it has a lot of parts that don't seem very important to me. It seems to be spread out really thin. I like how the author put lots of details in it and it helps to imagine it in my head. Although if she would have just mentioned all the small things in less time then i think the book would have been better. It also would have been easier to read, i wo...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

I rate this book a 4, because it was really interesting. It leaves you on the edge of your seat, and always leaves you guessing what comes next. I really liked how many times the author focused on Ever’s problems and struggles but at the same time she also focused on the secondary characters struggles as well. Another thing that I really liked about the series is that in every book there is a huge surprise that happens in the book, and you don’t even expect it. There really wasn’t a lot of disli...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Leselurch rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

*Worum geht's?*
Durch eine Falle ihres Erzfeindes Roman war Ever dazu gezwungen, ihre beste Freundin Haven unsterblich zu machen. Als Ever Haven über ihre Lage aufklärt, reagiert diese anders als erwartet: Sie ist überglücklich! Endlich ist sie etwas Besonderes. Trotzdem ist Ever besorgt, denn Haven ist ausgerechnet in Roman verliebt, den Grund allen Übels. Er ist Schuld am Fluch zwischen Ever und ihrem geliebten Damen und der Einzige, der das Gegengift kennt. Ever versucht Haven vor ihm zu warne...more *Worum geht's?*
Durch eine Falle ihres Erzfeindes Roman war Ever dazu gezwungen, ihre beste Freundin Haven unsterblich zu machen. Als Ever Haven über ihre Lage aufklärt, reagiert diese anders als erwartet: Sie ist überglücklich! Endlich ist sie etwas Besonderes. Trotzdem ist Ever besorgt, denn Haven ist ausgerechnet in Roman verliebt, den Grund allen Übels. Er ist Schuld am Fluch zwischen Ever und ihrem geliebten Damen und der Einzige, der das Gegengift kennt. Ever versucht Haven vor ihm zu warnen, aber sie schaltet auf Stur. Schließlich sieht Ever nur einen Ausweg, um an das Gegenmittel zu gelangenen. Mithilfe von schwarzer Magie will sie Roman an sich binden, sodass er alles tut, was sie will. Durch einen Fehler kommt es genau andersherum. Ever kann nur noch an ihren Feind denken, fühlt sich von ihm angezogen. Damit gefährdet sie nicht nur ihre Freundschaft zu Haven, sondern auch ihre Beziehung zu Damen...

*Kaufgrund:*
Ich habe bereits die anderen Bücher der "Evermore"-Reihe gelesen. Ich gebe leider zu, dass mich keines davon sonderlich begeistert hat. Meiner Meinung nach hat nur der erste Band Potenzial gezeigt. Nichtsdestotrotz: Was ich anfange, lese ich auch immer zu Ende! Wohl oder übel...

Meine Meinung:
Sprachlich und stilistisch hat sich im Vergleich zu den bisher erschienen Bänden nichts verändert. Noëls Schreibstil ist nicht außergewöhnlich anspruchsvoll, dafür aber sehr bildhaft. Es fällt einem beim Lesen sehr leicht, sich eine Szene vor Augen zu führen. Außerdem schreibt sie sehr flüssig. Die Seiten schmökern sich dadurch sehr schnell und man kann nicht behaupten, dass man an irgendeiner Stelle ins Stocken gerät.

Beim Inhalt hingegen kann ich leider nicht viel Gutes sagen. Das liegt größtenteils nichtmal daran, dass der Geschichtsverlauf absoluter Mist ist. Das Problem ist, dass einfach nichts Relevantes passiert. Noël hat aus der Dreiecksgeschichte kurzerhand eine "Vierecksgeschichte" gemacht, die mir leider überhaupt nicht gefallen hat. Allein die Idee, Ever in ein Gefühlschaos mit drei völlig unterschiedlichen Jungs zu schicken, fand ich schon fast gruselig. Bis kurz vor dem Ende habe ich den Roman als "Lückenfüller" empfunden. In den letzten Seiten kommt es dann doch noch zu einem ereignisreichen Showdown, der die Neugierde auf Band 5 weckt.

Ein weiteres Minus sind die Charaktere. Von Band zu Band werden sie blasser, unnatürlicher; Ever wirkt auf mich sogar dümmer und einfältiger. Im kompletten Roman hält sie sich für schlau, handelt, begeht einen Fehler und schämt sich dann zu sehr, um es Damen beichten. Als sie sich dann doch dazu durchringt, es ihm zu sagen, reagiert er verständnisvoll und bittet sie nur um Ehrlichkeit. Sie ist so gerührt, dass sie sogleich die nächste kluge Idee hat, um sich tiefer ins Chaos zu stürzen. Immer und immer wieder. Sie scheint nicht aus ihren Fehlern lernen zu können. Ähnlich sieht es mit dem eindeutig zu perfekten Damen aus, der total aufgesetzt wirkt; trotz all ihrer Fehltritte verzeiht er Ever jeden Fehler und bleibt stets ruhig und gelassen. Bloß Haven finde ich gut dargestellt. Durch ihre neue Situation völlig überfordert, lässt sie sich von der Machtgier verführe und zeigt somit den einzigen menschlichen, wenn auch negativen, Charakterzug, den ich in der Geschichte finden konnte.

*Cover:*
Eins muss ich der "Evermore"-Reihe wirklich lassen. Ich finde die Cover sooo schön! Da gibt es auch nichts dran zu meckern; alles ist stimmig: Farben, Vögel und die wunderhübschen Blumen.

*Fazit:*
Bis auf die letzten Seiten hätte man sich diesen Band der Serie sparen können. Die Geschichte kommt nicht weiter und ruft einen künstlichen, aufgebauschten Eindruck hervor. Für den locker-flockigen Schreibstil und Haven, die mir trotz negativer Art positiv aufgefallen ist, gibt es insgesamt noch 2 Sterne. Trotzdem muss ich betonen, dass dieses Buch definitv keine Bereicherung für die "Evermore-Reihe" ist, sondern eher wie ein Lückerfüller wirkt, der den Fans das Geld aus der Tasche ziehen soll. (less)

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Nov 28, 2012 Shuling rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: slow-painful-death-much-needed

I gave up after trying my best. I really tried. But NO! I can't continue like this. I've got better things in my life. So I am going to stop right here. Officially. Only if I've got nothing better to do anymore in my life will I ever get my hands on this series. And when that time came, prepare yourself for some major big crisis, like waking up finding yourself turning into a frog kinda crisis (that's scarier than end of the world).

Okay. So here's basically how I felt after the first few pages...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Mackenzie S rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-books, i-reccomend

Dark Flame is the forth book, and the book I recently finished. Technically the cover has more than one meaning. Anyway!!! Ever is holding a purple candle and is looking behind at her friend Haven. The candle represents the monster consuming her. Ever since Ever turned Haven into an Immortal, things have been a bit "touchy" between them. Haven refuses to believe Roman is evil and continues to "date" him. Soon Ever becomes so consumed in getting the antidote to the antidote from Roman she casts...more

Dark Flame is the forth book, and the book I recently finished. Technically the cover has more than one meaning. Anyway!!! Ever is holding a purple candle and is looking behind at her friend Haven. The candle represents the monster consuming her. Ever since Ever turned Haven into an Immortal, things have been a bit "touchy" between them. Haven refuses to believe Roman is evil and continues to "date" him. Soon Ever becomes so consumed in getting the antidote to the antidote from Roman she casts a binding spell. Instead of binding Roman to her, she accidentally binds herself to him. When Ever tries to reverse it she fails miserably. She ends up awakening a monster deep within her. All of the sudden when she hears or senses Roman the monster take over and She can't get him out of her head. Another issue in romance lane with Damen and Ever. As Ever was reincarnated so was someone from her past. Jude. They were lovers even before Damen, but Jude always ended up dying before things could get a move on. What a cruel fate. The rest of the book is for you to find out! I hope you enjoy it!

On the cover of each book there's an object that means something but you don't know until you read the book. The first book is red tulips which stand for Damen's undying love for Ever that has lasted centuries. The second book, Blue Moon, shows Summerland in an orb. It represents her choice between her family and Damen. Book number three, Shadowland, has a random grouping of crystals. They are the one thing that's keeping Damen safe and unharmed. The curse keeps them from touching or else Damen dies. Talk about a mountain. I love this series so much!!

This book is insanely amazing. It teaches you so much about yourself and others. It teaches you how to love someone unconditionally no matter how bad they make you feel. The whole series teaches you acceptance. No matter how much you screw up there will always be someone there who loves you and forgives you. Even if it's someone you didn't really like. If you treat them with love and compassion there sure to come 'round. Like Roman. He and Ever REALLY didn't like each other but it in the end they let go of all that hate and exchanged it for love. It wasn't love like Damen and Ever's, but love none the less. The love was of forgiveness and understanding. When death came Ever felt at great loss because she had lost so many things that she had loved. I'm not going to tell you because I don't know how to cover up spoilers!! Ever is eternally greatfull for her realization that negative energy hurts and positive helps. By releasing the negative energy she contained her monster, or her dark side. It didn't dissapear but it accepted the light and willingly surrendered. I seriously think you should read this book. It has so much deep meaning!! I recommend this book to anyone who absolutely loves the Immortal series or Alison Noel. If you love relationship drama and dramatic catches you should really read this book!!!!

(less)

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Jun 17, 2012 Chelsea rated it 3 of 5 stars

This less of a review and more of my personal gripes about this book.
About halfway through this book I was so irked by Ever I wanted to scream. One minute she's all humbled by the depth of Damon's love, knowing that he would never turn his back on her, then the next minute she's all "I can't tell Damon because he'll be so disappointed in me." Yet she's so unforgiving of Ava. Give me a break. And while I understand that the 'monster' presented her from telling Damon what was going on, when she wa...more

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May 27, 2012 John Egbert rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: youre-doin-it-wrong, why-did-i-read-this, recommended-to-me, no-just-no, never-will-finish, maybe-if-i-was-on-lsd, lol-no, i-wish-i-hadn-t-read-this, didnt-finish, cover-fail, beating-the-drama-llama

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. So. Two annoying, arrogant horny teenagers are the guardians of an elixir that allows you to possess immortality and various psychic powers.

description

After attempting Dark Flame, I feel more worn out than anything. I made it about a third of the way through before giving up.

I don't know what prompted me to read this. Maybe because I found it ironic that I had only Dark Flame out of the entire Immortals series. Maybe it was just sheer stupidity. Whatever the case, I apologize to myself for wasting thirty m...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Sky Fitzgerald rated it 3 of 5 stars

As with the rest of the series, ever is a stupid character, constantly making mistakes but never learning from them. I found this SO annoying I all but tore my hair out.
There were certain parts in this book which literally made me put the book down it made me cringe so much. Like, I understand the feelings she get for roman are so intense because of the spell and I get that she can't control them and I comprehend that's part of the story but does it really have to be so... Again, cringy? And sti...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Star (The Bibliophilic Book Blog) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

Dark Flame picks up where Shadowland left off. It begins with Ever explaining to Haven that she is now an immortal, too, and trying to warn her about Roman – which didn’t go well at all. Ever used more magick and made a bigger mess of things. She keeps lying about her spells and everything else going on with her to those who love her most, even Damen. She’s tied herself to Roman and can’t get out of it and then there is the way she’s drawn to Jude. She’s torn in different directions and can’t ke...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Kayla Guyette rated it 3 of 5 stars

Note: Contains information from the first three books.
Dark Flame is the 4th installment of Alyson Noel’s series The Immortals. The series follows Ever Bloom, who recently lost her parents, sister Riley and dog Buttercup. She’s now living in Laguna Beach with her aunt Sabine, with a problem. Ever since Ever woke up from the accident she’s telepathic and can see auroras. Fellow new student, Damen, has answers for her. And that’s she Ever finds out their both immortal and Damen’s spent the last few...more Note: Contains information from the first three books.
Dark Flame is the 4th installment of Alyson Noel’s series The Immortals. The series follows Ever Bloom, who recently lost her parents, sister Riley and dog Buttercup. She’s now living in Laguna Beach with her aunt Sabine, with a problem. Ever since Ever woke up from the accident she’s telepathic and can see auroras. Fellow new student, Damen, has answers for her. And that’s she Ever finds out their both immortal and Damen’s spent the last few centuries trying to track her down and save her from her untimely demise, at every reincarnation of her.

Dark Flame opens with Ever sitting down and talking with Haven, her best friend, who she was forced to turn immortal at the end of Summerland. Haven takes the news in a surprisingly different way. But she and Ever will later on go on to have problems. The source of the problems? Roman.

Ever’s binding spell to Damen continues to get her into trouble with him. She and Damen are already dealing with their “nearly touching” issue. Now add Jude into the mix—who may or may not be a rogue immortal. Oh and finally the twins are taking up most of Damen’s time and giving him and Ever less and less time together.

One things for sure, for all of you reading Dark Flame, you’re in for a rocky road. But it also kind of feels like you’re driving down this road at 90 mph, stopping for gas, and continuing on. Parts of the book feel completely rushed, while others drag on. Some aspects in the book get only mentioned in passing and just when you think you’re going to have to deal with Sabine and Munoz (something that could be comically hilarious), things speed up. A lot happens in the about 250 pages.

I am growing fustrated with Ever’s stubbornness. While it’s all fine and dandy to go out on your own, try things out, make mistakes and screw up. You need to know when you’re in over your head and ask for help—not just relay on someone to lend a hand when they (finally) realize it. But I will say, the ending I didn’t see coming at all!

Overall Dark Flame feels like the filler book, Alyson needed to write to make way for more to happen in Night Star (due on November 16th). But another 50 pages or so really could have helped explain the reasoning behind Ever’s stubbornness or show her attempts to reconnect with Haven. I found myself looking for more from this book but also looking forward to Night Star.(less)

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About Alyson Noel

*Note to readers: I'm slowly trying to add to the long list of books I have read, books I am reading, books I want to read, and books I loved reading. I only add books I loved, hence all my ratings are 5 stars!

Alyson Noël is the #1 New York Times best selling, award-winning, author of FAKING 19, ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS, LAGUNA COVE, FLY ME TO THE MOON, KISS & BLOG, SAVING ZOË, CRUEL SUMMER,...more

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“Life is still life. It’s still tough, complicated, and more than a little messy, with lessons to be learned, mistakes to be made, triumphs and disappointments to be had, and not every day is meant to be a party.” — 182 people liked it

“That's what true love is. It cannot be broken, it cannot be chipped away, it's eternal, everlasting, and it can weather any storm.” — 143 people liked it

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Dark Flame (The Immortals #4)

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