Not quite as good as the first, but still essential reading!
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Having been enthralled by the book previous to this, Touch the Dark, I dove straight into this one when I finished it. And I'm very glad I did. It was definitely better to read the two books back-to-back as the plot is complicated in places. I think Claimed by Shadow will be much easier to follow when the first book is still fresh in your mind.
Anyway, onto the action. We left Cassie Palmer as heir to the role of Pythia - an immensely powerful magical being whose job it is to travel back and forth in time to solve problems and eradicate any rogues that are trying to alter history. The only problem is, Cassie doesn't want the job. If she becomes Pythia, she will have every type of magical creature after her (even more than usual) to either eradicate or use her power for their own devices. She already has an immense amount of this power due to a chance meeting with the old Pythia in the previous novel. But Cassie doesn't dare to use the power because she's not entirely sure what will happen. Cassie just wants a quiet life, but unfortunately for her, this is never going to happen.
The narrative continues with Cassie desperately trying to get out of trouble without using her power, but she is endangering other people in the process. If it wasn't for the fact she was still chasing the vampire Tony to avenge her parents, she probably would have disappeared without a trace by now. But with the mage Pritkin by her side, she is still attracting trouble from every direction. And to add even more problems to Cassie's list - it appears that the vampire Mircea has put a geis on her - which basically is a spell that makes her "belong" to him. If any other man got close to her then the spell would prevent anything from happening between them. This also has the additional effect of making the two very attracted to one another. And the geis appears to be working whenever they meet, in whatever time, which certainly complicates matters.
Cassie is less than impressed that everyone is trying to control her and her life. This is the reason she doesn't want to become Pythia, because the Fey, mages and vampires alike will all be trying to tell her what to do in that role. So she decides to fight back, and go against expectations of her and how she should behave. Oh, and try to stop her rivals killing her, of course.
I did really enjoy this book, but I don't think it was as good as the first one. Given the way the first one ended I was expecting literary fireworks with the second. It did start off really action-packed and exciting, but I think there was potential to add to this. The whole thing about Mircea and the geis was exciting... and the sizzling-hot passion between Cassie and Tomas certainly got me hot under the collar, but I almost felt this book was simply "padding" to make way for the next book. But I'll still definitely be getting the next one, I'd love to see what happens next.
Don't let this review put you off though. It's still an excellent book that had me hooked. I love the characters (particularly Cassie, a true modern-day heroine) and the supernatural elements, but I thought there would be more loose ends tied up than there were.
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Slightly Disapointed - Touch the Dark was better
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Did not live up to expectations. The ending was not good. What happened to Tomas in the end? Maybe I skipped more than I should have.
I was hoping Mircae was going to perform the ritual. After all it was Tomas who did it under not so special circumstances.
The title should read Claimed by the shadowS.
However, sadly, i think i will continue to reading further series for Mircea character.
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How long until the next one........???
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I loved 'Touch the Dark' and have been dying for the next installment to arrive. Fortunately, it didn't disappoint!
The plot traces Cassie's journey from partial Pythia to the real deal, while acquiring some new problems in the form of a malfunctioning geis and a quest for a book of Merlin's spell - and she's still looking for her vampire nemesis, Tony. The ongoing war that pitches the Vampire Senate and the Silver Circle against Rasputin and the Black Circle is rumbling on, but is not central to developments.
The plot meshes beautifully with the previous novel, with little strands being picked up and developed.
The author's style is fluent and highly engaging. The book is written in the first person from Cassie's perspective and it works really well.
It's also extremely funny in places.
The descriptions in the book are wonderful. Scenes such as Dante's casino are vividly described, but so are the action scenes - and there are some real gems like Mac's tatoo parlour.
Most of the characters from the first book return and there are a few lovely new characters.
Cassie is a great lead character, with lots of personality and her conflicted feelings about her new powers and the motivations of those around her are nicely pitched. Her relationship options get a bit complex, with her getting intimate with one character, desperate to get in the same position with another and rather alarmed to discover another one apparently rather likes her. This is all well handled and the differing responses to each make sense.
Mircea returns and is still enticing although he doesn't have a lot to do apart from respond to the geis and help Cassie out.
We also get to meet Mac, a retired war mage. He's a lovely character and rather uniquely 'good' person in the book.
But the standing ovation has to be reserved for Pritkin. He is such a fantastic character - one of those that just spring up of the page with the force of their personality. He's as aggressive as ever, but occasionally shows some other facets to his personality. Most of my favourite bits of the book had him in.
I can't wait until the next installment.
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Claimed by Shadow- review by MelEagles
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This is the second in the Cassandra Palmer series and is as good as the first (Touch the Dark). If you enjoy Laurell K Hamilton, Christine Feehan and the like, you will enjoy these. It took me a while to get into it but once I did I just had to keep reading. Cassie is a great lead character- she is resourceful, with out knowing everything- she manages her way through all the bad stuff without suddenly getting extra magic powers right at the end-a flaw in Hamiltons work- both "Merry Gently" fairy books and "Anita Blake" vampire ones.
In this second look she is still trying to get out of perminantly becoming the "Pythia", the worlds cheif clairvoyant. She has to deal with the "hands off"/love spell that Mircea put on her when she was 11 that has now blown up in both their faces- they can't keep there hands off each other- and Cassie can't get together with anyone else as the spell burns anyone she gets to close too- like Pritkin, the Mage assisin whom she has formed an uneasy truce with while she searches for Tony (bad Vamp) and Myra (Would be evil-Pythia) to stop them from killing her or Mircea. A fun time travelling vampire/witch tale. I reccomend it to you- but only after you have read Touch The Dark first!
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How long until the next one........???
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I loved 'Touch the Dark' and have been dying for the next installment to arrive. Fortunately, it didn't disappoint!
The plot traces Cassie's journey from partial Pythia to the real deal, while acquiring some new problems in the form of a malfunctioning geis and a quest for a book of Merlin's spell - and she's still looking for her vampire nemesis, Tony. The ongoing war that pitches the Vampire Senate and the Silver Circle against Rasputin and the Black Circle is rumbling on, but is not central to developments.
The plot meshes beautifully with the previous novel, with little strands being picked up and developed.
The author's style is fluent and highly engaging. The book is written in the first person from Cassie's perspective and it works really well.
It's also extremely funny in places.
The descriptions in the book are wonderful. Scenes such as Dante's casino are vividly described, but so are the action scenes - and there are some real gems like Mac's tatoo parlour.
Most of the characters from the first book return and there are a few lovely new characters.
Cassie is a great lead character, with lots of personality and her conflicted feelings about her new powers and the motivations of those around her are nicely pitched. Her relationship options get a bit complex, with her getting intimate with one character, desperate to get in the same position with another and rather alarmed to discover another one apparently rather likes her. This is all well handled and the differing responses to each make sense.
Mircea returns and is still enticing although he doesn't have a lot to do apart from respond to the geis and help Cassie out.
We also get to meet Mac, a retired war mage. He's a lovely character and rather uniquely 'good' person in the book.
But the standing ovation has to be reserved for Pritkin. He is such a fantastic character - one of those that just spring up of the page with the force of their personality. He's as aggressive as ever, but occasionally shows some other facets to his personality. Most of my favourite bits of the book had him in.
I can't wait until the next installment.
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