I really enjoy this series (and her new one) I just found this book a bit confusing with all the time travel and the extra people in each time that kept missing each other. It all came together in the end and made sense but it was sure confusing to me through the majority of the book. Good Pritikin bad Pritikin. ( )

Cassie Palmer, now Pythia – cheif clairvoyant, has come into her full power. Having not been trained as a candidate for Pythia when she was growing up, she’s struggling to understand here powers and work out how to use them. Working things out will have to wait however, as she needs to get hold of the Merlini Codex. The geis between her and Lord Mircea, a master vampire and member of the vampire senate, is getting stronger, and Mircea’s life is at risk. Only in the Codex can she find the counter spell to the geis and free them both, with the help of the war mage Pritkin. With a group of runaway magical children who are dropped on to her plate, and the continual attempts on her life by the Silver Circle, things are complicated. But then she starts to mistrust Pritkin, and when a blast from his past shows up, the truth about him is revealed, and things start to get a lot worse.

I don’t know how Karen Chance manages to do it, but this book is amazing! You may remember that I wasn’t all that keen on the first book because of the way the world building was dealt with. There is no problem now! This book was just awesome! It’s unbelievable how fast paced it is, and how everything links together even though there are so many things going on at once. I love it! Along with Cassie, you’re not sure who to trust and who to mistrust, who wants to help and who is out for themselves. You’re kept guessing the whole time!

You may also remember that I didn’t like Pritkin in the first book. I absolutely bloody love him now! He has to be my favourite character; he’s always angry and untrusting, but he’s just so cool with his spells and weapons, and how you can rely on him to get you out of a scrap. If he’s not my favourite, then possibly Billy Joe, Cassie’s ghost sidekick, or Casanova, the vampire incubus, or incubus vampire (I always get that confused) who run’s night club Dante’s.

Cassie is amazing though. She goes through a rollercoaster of emotions through this novel as the story progresses as she gets more information, meets another obstacle, or other complications arise. She keeps at it though, she picks herself up and tries again and again, and her strength is admirable. Even when things seem impossible, and she’s at her wits end, the girl doesn’t stop.

I can’t really go into too much more detail without spoiling the book. It has Chance’s usual fast pace, array of strong, but humorous character, and a plot that’ll keep you turning the pages into well into the night! If vampires, weres, fey, witches, mages, clairvoyants and demons are your thing, this is a series you definitely need to grab! ( )

Cassie is still trying to remove the spell that binds her to the vampire, Mircea. Unfortunately, the only counter spell seems to be in the mysterious Codex that is lost. Cassie uses her power for time travel and learns more than she ever wanted to know.

These book are full of action and magic. The world building is complex but consistent. The characters are very believeable. The sex scenes are intense but not skanky. Read in series. ( )

This book strained my patience to the very limits, but my perseverance did pay off. ETN had a lot of back and forth just as book 2 did, which drove me to distraction, but unlike that one the ending has some satisfying resolutions and made me eager for the story to continue. The book does have issues, and it doesn’t hold up to the quality of book 1, but it was far better than book 2.

The story starts out as anticipated - Cassie needs to find a way to break the geis Mircea laid on her. Her will to resist is fading, and Mircea is going insane. I have to admit, the author’s resolution to the dilemma was smart if extremely simple, and had been hinted at several times to astute readers. Some readers may find it disappointing; I was just glad it was over. The downside is that readers have to wait to the very last chapter for that resolution. Cassie needs Merlin’s Codex which should have a counter spell in it. But the Codex has been unwriting itself through the years, and so the complete text can only be found in the past. No problem for a time traveling clairvoyant. Wrong. Everyone either wants the book for themselves because it is so powerful, or they don’t want anyone to have it because it is so powerful. Which side of this debate Pritkin falls on is critical to the story. Until that last chapter, Cassie jumps back and forth through time, with small battles sprinkled in here and there, to find it. The action is fast paced and mostly useless, as she skips around like a little girl at a party. The main intent of all these trips is for Cassie to learn just who her allies are (especially Pritkin), but this could have been done in a less muddled and exhausting way. At times I become so frustrated I literally growled at the book! Hopefully, the author will realize that the constant time shifting is distracting and annoying to a reader.

The awesome, and truly clever, revelations about Pritkin made the entire book worth reading. His character was beginning to get beyond aggravating as the author constantly had Cassie (and readers) guessing if he was on her side or not, just as in book 2. Yet, his involvement in the geis is much deeper than suspected, and he becomes a catalyst for the introduction of another powerful, and potentially plot inducing, character – Lord Rosier. Cassie also discovers some twists to her new power (even managing to duplicate Agnes’ time freezing trick, by accident of course), and sees how much responsibility it is to be Pythia.

The ending saved this book from being mediocre. My fears that the geis would consume many books to come were laid to rest but the actions surrounding the geis provided lots of cool plotlines and enough resolution to make some progress. Readers learn who the golden god who calls Cassie “Herophile” is and the origin of the Pythia’s powers; we learn more about Pritkin’s past, the motivations of the Silver Circle; and, just what Mircea and Cassie truly feel. Cassie finally accepts the responsibility as Pythia, and makes alliances to protect herself and the timeline. Now that these things are tied up, the plot should be able to focus on the coming “war.” Though book 2 was a disappointment, this makes up for it. I will read book 4, Curse the Dawn. I have even ordered “Midnight’s Daughter” to see how she handles a story with a different protagonist. ( )

In order to end the geis binding her to Mircea, Cassandra Palmer must find the Codex Merlini. (As in, Merlin. I do love a touch of the King Arthur legends.) EMBRACE THE NIGHT opens with a terrific action scene and rarely stops. Cassie attracts trouble, much to the consternation of many of her companions, but to the great enjoyment of her readers. How can she help it, when everyone and their dog wants the Codex?

In this book, Cassandra matures. I've always been fonder of Cassie than most urban fantasy heroines - her reasons for not wanting power are reasonable and she understands that she can't survive alone and sometimes has to trust others. As she learns to be more confident in her abilities I like her even more.

To continue the character love, I also enjoy the various love interests. Karen Chance gives Mircea, the main love interest, incredible sex appeal. His scenes with Cassie will be earmarked in many a copy of EMBRACE THE NIGHT, I suspect. Yet she still manages to create viable reasons to keep him and Cassie apart. However, secondary love interest Pritkin is less reasonable (more homicidal) and just as lovable . . . er, sexy. (Okay, so I have a soft spot for a certain sort of gleefully armed men. Please don't quote me on the "gleefully armed." Crushes on imaginary characters defy my wit.) Pritkin and Cassie's scenes are no less hot than those with Mircea. (Tomas is mentioned, but not seen in the book.)

I don't want to make it seem like the book is all sex - in three novels, Chance includes a grand total of two sex scenes. She does include a great deal of sexual tension and darn-close-to-sex though. Who doesn't love them some well-done sexual tension? LKH used to be able to do it, in the early Anita Blake books. Chance writes one intricate plot which the relationships serve to deepen, not to overpower.

I found EMBRACE THE NIGHT easier to follow than TOUCH THE DARK or CLAIMED BY SHADOW. Cassie, for those who haven't read the first two novels, can travel through time. This necessarily complicates the story. Both TTD and CBS required a second reading before I fully understood just what happened in certain scenes, but I felt I had a much better grasp of the story in EMBRACE THE NIGHT. Chance isn't the best writer in the urban fantasy genre, but her books are fun and sexy. I need to be seeing her on more shelves. ( )