Friday, November 12, 2010

Review: Claimed by Shadow

Claimed by Shadow (Cassandra Palmer, Book 2)Book Description:

A recent legacy made Cassandra Palmer heir to the title of Pythia, the world's chief clairvoyant. It's a position that usually comes with years of training, but Cassie's circumstances are a little...unusual.  Now she's stuck with a whopping amount of power that every vamp, fey, and mage in town wants to either monopolize or eradicate-and that she herself doesn't dare use.



What's more, she's just discovered that a certain arrogant master vampire has a geis on her-a  magical claim that warns off any would-be suitors, and might also explain the rather ... intense attraction between them. But Cassie's had it with being jerked around, and anyone who tries it from now on is going to find out that she makes a very bad enemy...


Review:

Claimed by Shadow begins shortly after Touch the Dark ends.  Only a few pages go by before there’s a crazy war-mage barreling toward her.  We meet some new characters, including the Graeae, an ancient trio who bring giggles as well as some “oh my goodness, I can’t believe they just did that!” moments.  Mac, a former war-mage,  is also a great new character we meet in Claimed by Shadow.   Several other secondary characters from the first book make appearances as well.

Now that Cassie is Pythia, she is taken back in time several times to the late 1880s to protect the timeline because Myra is back, making trouble for Cassie.   As far as villains go, she’s pretty devious, but more than that, she’s just REALLY obnoxious.   Cassie  finds out  Mircea placed a geis on her when she was a child to protect her from Tony.   It does protect her as she grows up, but it also has a surprising effect once she becomes Pythia and meets Mircea in the past. 

We don’t see Mircea very much in this book as Cassie tries to avoid him so he doesn’t gain control of her in her new role through the geis.   We see more of Pritkin in this book than in the last and he develops from hating Cassie, mistrusting her every move to helping her when she goes to Faerie to track Myra and Tony.  

Cassie develops a bit in this book amid all the crises she faces, becoming a woman determined to not hide from her new responsibilities as Pythia.  She may not be the smartest, fastest, most intimidating heroine ever created, but she has heart, tenaciousness and spunk.   It seems at times the book is not going places, but there is development in the story as well as in several characters and it lays the foundation for the next one.  Make sure you have the next book in the series handy.

Sensuality: several lusty thoughts, some kissing, one sex scene,  and a scene in Faerie that’s disturbing.

Rating: 3.5 stars

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