Archive for vampire series
Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance
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In this, the second book in the series, Karen Chance continues the story of Cassandra “Cassie” Palmer, the reluctant clairvoyant who seems to have a penchant for getting mixed up in vampire politics. This time, she takes a couple of war mages and a few ghosts along for the ride. Does she get in over her head? Of course!
The Story
Cassie is still refusing to complete the ritual that will make her the new Pythia, the top magical power in the supernatural world. It’s been a struggle for her to hold out for so long but if you’ve read this book you know that Cassie has good reasons for delaying this transformation:
- once she becomes Pythia she’s certain her rival, Myra, will step up her attempts on her life;
- the council of mages will attempt to control her actions (she’s pretty stubborn);
- she’ll be eternally bound to Mircea, a powerful vampire.
She’s most concerned about the last issue. You see, Mircea hired someone to place a geis, or love spell, on Cassie. The spell is extremely powerful and prevents Cassie from “gettin’ busy” with anyone except Mircea. If Cassie shows any signs of being attracted to another man the spell kicks in a causes Cassie (and the object of her desire) excruciating pain.
Additionally, the spell causes Cassie and Mircea to crave one another (like, let’s take our clothes off right now) if they’re in close proximity to one another.
All of this is important because if Cassie has sex with Mircea she’ll be bound to him and the spell will make it almost impossible to be away from him for any period of time. Also, in order to complete the Pythia ritual she has to, guess what – have sex with someone. Yes, Cassie is a virgin. And the spell won’t let her have sex with anyone but Mircea. Quite the dilemna, huh?
The main storyline revolves around Cassie’s attempts to locate Tony, the vampire that raised her since childhood. She wants to find Tony because she discovered that he’s responsible for ordering someone to kill her parents; she wants to exact a little revenge. Turns out Tony’s on the run from the vampire senate and has partnered with Myra, Cassie’s nemesis. Additionally, they’ve hooked up with Rasputin (yes, the real Rasputin from history), an evil and deadly vampire that’s dead set on taking over the vampire senate. So, not only does Cassie need to find Tony, but she also needs to take care of Myra.
All of this is complicated by the fact that Myra has learned how to travel back in time and alter history. Cassie’s biggest fear of all is that Myra will travel back in time and kill Cassie’s childhood protector, which means that she’ll alter the course of events and cause Cassie’s death. Or even worse, Myra could travel back in time and kill Cassie’s parents before Cassie was conceived. Bottom line: she’s got to find and stop Myra.
Pritkin, the renegade mage that was against Cassie in Karen Chance’s first book Touch the Dark, is back and he and Cassie team up to find Myra and Tony. Karen Chance throws in a little sexual tension between them which is both interesting and a little funny.
Karen Chance has once again written a great fantasy story that puts a magnifying glass on the world of vampires, mages, and fae. Although Cassie’s personality quirks are fairly consistent, the beauty of the story lies in the character development of Pritkin and his relationship with Cassie. Throughout the story Cassie develops a better appreciation for Pritkin’s knowledge of magic and magical creatures.
This book gets put in the contemporary fantasy/action-adventure category. And although it contains a good bit of vampire lore and vampire fantasy but it’s nicely balanced. I wouldn’t classify this as a vampire romance story, but the scenes between Cassie and Mircea are fairly hot.
Karen Chance does a great job in describing the world of magic, magic users, and faerie politics. The trip through the Dark Fey’s woods is as vivid as Dorothy’s trip through the Dark Forest in the Wizard of Oz. The culmination of forces that converge during the climax makes everything leading up to that point well worth the journey. This book gets a “buy” recommendation.
Note: the next book in the series is titled Embrace the Night and has a release date of April 1, 2008.
Touch the Dark by Karen Chance
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Imagine going out to lunch and then coming back, sitting at your computer, and discovering an obituary article splashed across your monitor. Imagine if it was your obituary stating that later that night you would be killed.
The Story
Cassandra “Cassie” Palmer is a clairvoyant: she can see events that will occur in the future. Unfortunately, she can’t control when these visions appear to her. On top of that, her visions have been combined with out-of-body episodes that transport her back to the 16th century.
If that wasn’t bad enough, she’s managed to piss off one of the most vengeful local vampires in Vegas. As a matter of fact he’s put a price on her head. The vampire in question, Tony, is dead set (no pun intended) on seeing her head on a platter.
So she’s not entirely surprised to see her own obituary on her monitor. Scared, but not surprised. Time to start running. Since Tony is likely to send several vampire hit men after her Cassie has a little time to spare before the sun goes down. She decides to make one stop before leaving town; she decides to warn her roommate and buddy Tomas who currently works at a local goth bar.
Almost as soon as she pulls Tomas aside in the bar’s storage room the vampire assassins launch their attack. Cassie’s clairvoyant powers are pretty strong but they provide no protection against murderous vampires. So she’s pleasantly surprised when the ward symbol tattooed on her back goes into combat mode and kills one of the 5 hit men sent by Tony. Even more surprising is Tomas’ ability to kill the remaining vampires. How could a mere mortal kill master level vampires that have superhuman strength and speed?
Therein lies one of several mysteries in the book.
Karen Chance has written a contemporary fantasy story that mixes suspense, adventure, and a little romance. The usual fantasy creatures are here of course, e.g., witches, vampires, and fae, but the story also contains some “were” characters. No, not werewolves, think “rats.” Yes, there are wererats in the book.
Although Touch the Dark contains a couple of scenes that depict the darker side of paranormal fantasy, the story has several humorous moments. In particular, Cassie’s sidekick, a wise-cracking ghost with a gambling habit, is hilarious and helps balance the storylines.
Karen Chance provides numerous surprises in this book that will keep you guessing. I recommend adding Touch the Dark to your fantasy book list. You can also read my review of the 1st book in this series Claimed By Shadow.
