The book (and series) started promisingly, with an attention-getting first sentence, and action from the get-go. I liked being thrust straight into the action, and having the story filled in both backwards and forwards. There were elements of the series that I did really enjoy. But pretty soon I was feeling that too much was happening, and I just didn't care enough about the characters to track the details of the dilemmas they were facing. ( )

This is book is about a women named Cassandra Palmer. She is a clairvoyant who has lived with vampires all her life until she runs away as a teenager. All she wants is a normal life and she gets one for about six months. After six months she has to go on the run again from the same vampires who she previous lived with because they want her dead. This was a good book. It had action, mystery, romance and fantasy all mixed together. Guys might not like it because it is a romance, but twilight fans might. Tom

Cassandra Palmer is clairvoyant and can talk to ghosts - qualities vampires want her for. Tony, a vampire master who cassie escaped from three years ago, has found her again, and there's no where to run, except to the Vampire senate. But they won't give their protection for nothing. Telling her the truth about her powers, the Senate need her to stop a powerful vampire who threatens not only the vampire population, but the whole paranormal community. Cassie finds betrayal and surprise around every corner, as well as several attempts on her life. Will Cassie survive to help the Senate?

All in all, I liked this book. The idea of the story is exciting, action is suspensful, and the mythology used for all the paranormal creatures is just awesome! There are several famous figures in the book; Cleopatra, Mircea - Dracula's older brother, Jack the Ripper, Rasputin, The Man in the Iron Mask, and Christopher Marlowe. The plot to get all these characters in, and have it make sense is pretty amazing. It's an awesome premise, and it turned out to be a great book.

However, I found the beginning pretty slow. So slow, I ws sure I wouldn't like it. Why is it slow? Cassie has lived in this world for around twenty years or more. She knows all about it. We, as readers, don't. But the story strts when Cassie realises she needs to run, like, now. So we get a lot of background info on Cassie, her childhood, the people she knows, the mythology of other creatures, etc, in the middle of action. A fight starts, the acton is interupted to explain certain aspects, and then maybe 2-3 pages later, the action continues. It as annoying. It would have been much better, in my opinion, if we were given the information needed in some other way, but considering the world and Cassie's age, I'm not sure how.

But don't let this put you off. Persevere! When I finished the book, I was hinking it was just amazing, and I have now ordered he next int he series as it ends on a cliff hanger, and I can't wait to find out what happens! I highly recommend. ( )

Basic Reason for Beginning: Well... It's urban fantasy, which is a genre I'm trying to read more of and it seems to be one of the better-loved ones out there. I could be wrong, of course.
Basic Reason for Finishing: I didn't. I won't be picking it up again either.
Texture: I was in the middle of class when I decided to give up on this (no, I wasn't reading during the class, but my mind has a tendency to wander all the same), so have jumbled up notes of when this was still relatively fresh. "Impatient, aggravating, rough stone? No. Rougher than rough linnen... Jute? Maybe. Harder, but that rough". So there you are. How my thoughts work on one of these stories...
Blurb: Cassandra Palmer was raised by a vampire. Now that she's got away and he's caught up with her, she'd rather not go back and get killed (or turned). But the vampire senate has chosen to protect Cassandra, a protection which comes at a price and Cassandra finds herself working alongside one of the most powerful, and a dangerously seductive, vampire.

Note: Most of my dislike for this book stems from a series of biases. I cannot comment on what I have not read. I cannot tell you if Chance's writing improves over the course of the 250-something pages I didn't read. I cannot tell you if this is a book worth reading. I can only tell you why I did not finish, so behind the link lie biases. You have been warned.

Full review here

Rereadability: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Save me! No. No, no, no, no. You may convince me to try something completely and utterly different by Chance, but I am not coming near her first person/vampire stuff ever again if I have to kill myself first.
Recommendation: If you like urban fantasy, paranormal romance and sexified vampires are your thing, chances are you might love this. I didn't. ( )

I have to say Touch the Dark by Karen Chance was a great find. It's a vampire novel, but it doesn't center around a vamp hunter or a necromancer, but a clairvoyant who grew up in the vampire world. Plus, unlike most of the vampire novels I've been reading, this one has the premise that the supernatural community is still in hiding from the humans. One very positive thing about this book was that, unlike most vampire centered novels, Chance didn't spend too much time on speculating how old the vampires were or their personalities. She really didn't have to because she used some very familiar names - Christopher Marlowe, Mircea Tepes, Raphael, Louis-Cesar, and Rasputin (who happens to be the bad guy) were just a few of the vampires making an appearance. She gives a little background on each person, but just enough to tell us that she isn't changing their mortal lives, just the fact that they are vampires. This gives us an idea to their age without spending too much time on them.

If you like the Anita Blake series by L. Hamilton, then you definitely need to check out this series. I already can't wait to get my hands on the second novel - Claimed by Shadow - and the third one doesn't come out until next April.

http://www.literaryescapism.com/2007/... ( )