#cvgr

[overlycaffeinatedwarmage]

Ride the Storm Review

Ride the Storm is the perfect title for the 8th book of the Cassandra Palmer Series. Cassie is in the middle of several literal and figurative storms all throughout the book.  The pace of the beginning and ending of the book is rather frantic, but just like the eye of the storm, the middle is relatively calm.

Some fans have been disappointed in the lack of Pritkin in the past few books. But his absence has really caused Cassie to grow; to come into her own. To accept her power and move beyond her self-imposed limitations. And she does, big time. Karen Chance has said that Cassie is on the hero’s journey.  In the hero’s journey, the hero’s mentor usually must die for the hero to finally reach her full potential.  Well, Ms Chance likes to take her own spin on things.  Cassie’s mentor hasn’t died in the traditional sense, but he is very firmly out of commission.  Looked at this way, it’s easier to deal with Pritkin’s absence.  Remember, these books are about Cassie first and foremost.

Ride the Storm is the culmination of a lot of loose plot points and story lines that have been dangling for a while, since book one, in some cases.  At first, I thought that it tied everything up, but upon further reflection there are still some old unanswered questions and a few new ones posed. That makes my heart happy.  I am not ready to say goodbye to these characters or this universe yet.  There have been so many carefully laid pieces, hints, and such that finally see pay here.  A careful reader of the series might have caught a few of them and speculated and guessed at a few more.  No one could have figured out everything.  Karen Chance is too tricky for that.  There are no unnecessary characters or information contained in her books. Everything is significant, eventually.  Even pieces that we are convinced are plot holes, aren’t.  They are carefully laid pieces of a game, set to be played all in their due time.

The ending was very satisfying and wrapped up everything nicely.  It gave some hints for future character interactions, plot points, and areas of conflict, while still completely wrapping up the ongoing story arc.

The only real complaint I have is that I would have liked to get a better look inside Cassie’s mind during the last chapters and conclusion.  It left me with some unanswered questions as to her future. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it’s good story telling and leaves me wanting more.  I’m just impatient.

I recommend going into this book as spoiler free as possible and throwing out any expectations as to where the plot will go before you even start. About half way through, my own expectations about the book started to mess with my enjoyment of it. Once I stopped myself and threw those expectations out the window and just rode the storm along with Cassie, I was ecstatic.  There is simply no other way I can see this story working than how it was written, and how it’s been set up for 8 books. It’s masterful storytelling.  It hit all my emotions.  I laughed and cried along with the characters.  I trust Karen Chance to bring a quality story full of fun and danger, twists and turns, and most of all magic.  She delivers it all in spades.  

[pritkinspalemoons]

cassieverse reread (10/?): Louis-Cesare

She was their only daughter.

[chibioniyuri]

Embrace the Night Reread: Chapters 1-5

Guess who should be in bed and fast asleep right now and decided instead that sleep is for the weak? If you guessed me, you are 100% correct. But I’m making some great headway into EtN, so I’m making it work for me.

Chapter 1

This is tied for my favorite opening chapter. The banter alone is gold, but then we get things like sassy ghosts and Cassie holding two conversations at once, one with ghosts that Pritkin can’t follow, and it’s just comedic gold. I LOVE this, and it’s only tied by my love of the cliff scene from Hunt the Moon.

We didn’t have any in the last book, but this chapter has both a moon and a rain reference.

It’s a small thing, but I like how Cassie has this awesome power, but it comes with limits. It would be a less interesting story if Cassie was taking to everything too easily. And her limits get explained nicely here.

Chapter 2

We’re continuing comedic gold here too. Don’t get me wrong, the imagery of mages crushed by rock against Pritkin’s shields is disgusting, but then we get things like “If I tell you I’m alright, will you stop trying to help me?” and Cassie being perturbed by polite Pritkin and… yeah, one of my favorite openings.

And here’s the “you leave me behind” talk. Right, Pritkin, have you met Cassie? Like that’s ever going to happen.

Chapter 3

I’m laughing at the idea of Pritkin contacting all of these “experts” and paying them off so they’ll say the Codex doesn’t exist. But as much as he does not want the book found, I don’t think he’d go that far to keep the book out of Cassie’s hands.

This book’s Tarot reveal: The Magician Reversed. A salesman or conman who can make you believe almost anything, and he will not seem like a deceiver.

And now Cassie thinks it might refer to Pritkin, in part because she doesn’t know him as well as she’d like for as much as she depends on him. But mostly because of Rafe’s words calling his motives into question. I’d gotten used to the main antagonism being between Pritkin and Mircea and Cassie’s other bodyguards beginning to trust Pritkin. I forgot how deep the division between vamps and mages could be.

Chapter 4

I was confused with the constant references to the vamps already being at war. In more recent books, the war mostly focuses on the gods, but we haven’t really reached that point yet. But, thanks to some quick searching, I remembered that the vamps are at war with the Dark Circle right now. Gotta keep that in mind.

And here we are. The infamous marriage scene, where one is crazy out of his mind and the other is trusting because “Mircea never bit me.” Until he does. And I can’t blame him, because again, crazy out of his mind. He thinks she’s a dream, ergo the near draining her part. But at some point, you’ve gotta think he would’ve wanted more consent than this. Like, his own, if not Cassie’s.

Reading this scene again, it’s so obvious that yes, there is something going on of which Cassie is not aware regarding Mircea pushing her away. I think, even during my first readthrough, I was put off by the marriage scene. I was okay with Mircea back then, even if I was flying my Casskin flag proudly by the end of the second book/beginning of the third. But I could not wait to finish with this chapter and didn’t pay attention to the details as much as I should’ve.

Chapter 5

What a fantastic intro for Augustine. I hadn’t remembered that he was considered a new fashion designer. He just naturally fits as a veteran in my head.

More Francoise magic! I’m really curious what her role in the future will be. I’m sticking by my assertion that too much time was spent on her in the first book for her not to play a major role in the future, beyond Cassie’s friend.

Ohohoho, more background on Cassie. This time, it’s from the first time she ran away from Tony, when she was 14 and living on the streets. I’m so glad she fell into Tami’s group. Tami winds up being a fantastic and enthusiastically supportive friend for Cassie in RtW, and I love how she encourages Cassie to stop letting people walk all over her.

[emberfaye]

Claimed by Shadows Ch. 11-15

Ch. 11

Poor Marlowe “It’s always the head” he sighed as he passed out.

And in the forest is the only real instance of rape-y scenes, throughout the series I believe. I know things get hinted at sometimes, but never gets to this level. *shudder*

Mac. I will never not tear up.

This time in the cell is like the only instance Tomas is likeable. Ish.

Ch. 12

Tomas is so sappy here. Get some class, dude.

Cassie accepts her role of Pythia, but still doesn’t understand everything that entails. Now at least she’s in “cage she had control of”

I wonder where Tomas heard the line “One to live, one to serve”

Something I love about KC, and find realistic, is that instead of one pile after another, sometimes everything happens all at once and noone has the chance to process it until way later, and in stages. Pritkin yelling at her, promising the codex, becoming Pythia, Francoise, etc

Ch. 13

How Marlowe treats Cassie did not prepare me for the Dory books and his treatment there

Poor Billy. They bitch about each other, but when they are stressed, the other just completely does whatever they can.

“Vermillion Pantaloons” that image of Marlowe’s pants cracks me up. 

More hints at Pritkin’s incubus side. Casanova “can’t harm him physically” and “I may serve two masters but I try to do it well”

Poor Billy, having to die all over again

And finally Cassie and Pritkin clear up misunderstanding #572. Only 4503 left to go!

And Pritkin deciding to give her chance, finally.

Ch. 14

I would pay money to hear Pritkin’s “whooping”, aka the last bit of his boyhood he has left now

I love how many figures from history Karen Chance pulls into her stories, and in numerous ways

I actually really like that KC doesn’t focus on Dracula too much--she focuses on his impact on other characters, but she doesn’t bother building him up the way she does her other villians, her other characters, and so on. 

I have such a beautiful mental image of Billy-As-Cassie throwing the tattoo wards of Mac’s into the air to save everyone. I can see it in my head and it’s moving

I love how in just a sentence KC again reestablishes her character’s motiviations: 

Everyone froze for half a second. Then the Senators melted away, flowing out of the theatre as quickly as they'd come into it, Mircea grabbed Billy and jumped straight up to the rafters, and Dracula ran towards us after snatching up Stoker. Pritkin threw an arm around my waist and took a flying leap off the stage. We landed in the orchestra pit, and because he'd rolled us at the last minute, he took the brunt of the impact.

Ch. 15

Cassie tearing up and admitting victory came at such a price because the tattoo wards were gone is just another way of showing her compassion and empathy. =( 

For reference: Small green lizard remains for now

I wanna know more about the Agnes and Billy roommate situation

Pritkin just obeys Agnes without question. I really wanna know how close they were.

“Watching the fight grimly” Pritkin knew Agness would die tonight again.

This whole exchange makes me cry, no lie. Pritkin, as much as he barely knows cassie, would spare her this ugliness if he could, but at the same time he knows he can’t. He doesn’t talk down to her the entire scene. Agnes is both somewhat scornful but also very compassionate. And then Cassie, horrified and terrified and guilty. It’s so harsh because it’s so real.

Seriously though, how close is Pritkin to Agnes?

I whirled on Pritkin, who was still on his knees, watching the blood spill across the boards in a widening stain. For a second, he looked lost, like a bewildered child. Then the expression was gone so quickly I wasn't sure it had been there at all.

Anyways. This book wasn’t as bad as I remembered with the whole love spell thing. I loved Cassie getting to know more of the characters, but I definitely think this is one of the darkest books, because of Faerie and Myra and Agnes. There’s a ton of foreshadowing, and it sets up the Dory books. 

[freespeechfandom-blog]

Cassie, geis, incubi, and magic

@gimicky-supreme wrote: since book one she knew she couldn’t trust Mircea, his meddling and the Geis and the lust just get to her. I hope she remembers this soon. I Think if it weren’t for the geis she would not have gone this far with him.

I agree that the story wouldn't have progressed this way, but I think that would have been due to a lack time, not a lack of interest (on Cassie's part at least, as we can’t see into Mircea’s thoughts). The 'plot’ apparently needed the geis as a catalyst to drive Cassie and Mircea to a level of intimacy they wouldn't have realistically achieved in such a limited time frame. This is the same as the incubus emergency feedings, which acted as the catalyst to drive Cassie and Pritkin to a level of intimacy they wouldn't have realistically achieved on their own. In both cases, there is a plot device to compel characters to overcome distance, boundaries and walls that otherwise would have taken a long time to break down, time that the books' pacing does not have. And to be fair, It's KC's choice to write the books in such a way that makes this 'necessary for the plot', I'm just personally not too fond of this recurring theme.

While Cassie initially thinks that the geis is an emotional manipulation spell that makes her lust after Mircea, that turns out to be wrong by the time of EtN. Casanova explains that what she feels is real, only magnified, so the geis is only reacting to Cassie's already existing feelings of love/lust for Mircea. Plus, Mircea admits in TtD that he never really looked at Cassie with arousal until she expressed her desire for him. Pritkin too confirms that the geis doubled because it is controlled by the more powerful party, and with the Pythian power, it reacted to Cassie's unconscious need for intimacy with Mircea.

I'd like to add to this by also bringing up the Pythian power itself, which during TtD and CbS was firing up lust to complete itself through sex too. So this long list of emergency sex, haywire spell, self-completing power, and later emergency incubus feedings just illustrate that this trend probably deserves its own post. But while the sex in the books may be driven by the need of the plot early on that overshadows Cassie's existing volition, this becomes much clearer later in the books after the immediate compelling devices are removed from the equation.

Even before the geis flared up, Cassie admits she's had a huge crush on Mircea, she finds him hot and obviously desires him. That would have been there without the geis and the Pythian rites too. When the geis is removed, she has a mark, and they have had sex, but there's no regret on her part. When Mircea crazed out his mind stopped to ask her if she was really sure, she already reaffirmed her choice on the sex, and when she's explicitly asked if she'd rather she wasn't marked, or if she wants to 'break up' she says no to both, and wants to date instead. Their conflicts about the mark weren't about their intimacy, the sex, or the mark's existence, but about what it meant, as Mircea was trying to play the 'marriage' interpretation to Cassie and the 'servant' interpretation to the Senate. Cassie also reaffirms several times internally that she loves Mircea, she indulges in her desire for him, and she has sex with him, including playfulness and her taking initiative (see RtW for instance).

The similar plot device set-up applies to incubus-induced lust too. Cassie first gets the hots for Rosier and Pritkin while the Pythian power is already leaking into her and is trying to complete itself via sex (Tomas joins this category too). Then there's the emergency incubus feeding, which involves powers literally bred to be arousing. There's more of that, always under the threat of death, with very little acknowledgment of any love or lust that existed before it, or persists outside of it (this too is worthy of giant posts, about denial and such). But even if they were under some magical plot device, the attraction could have been there without it too. We will see how/if/when that love/lust will be addressed outside of compelling circumstances and outside magical influences, exactly how the sincerity of Cassie's volition became clear after, not while under the effect of the geis.

Also, @bestbooklover made the great point a while ago that Cassie's first sexual experience was in a man's body! Which was also due to her increasing Pythian power driving the plot... so wth is up with this trend?! KC keeps saying that the reason for everything is the plot, and that there was a need for the triangle, so the two main guys had to get sexually and emotionally tangled up with Cassie for the story... I don’t know what we will see in the next five (?) books that will make this purpose clear, but the weird plot-magic-driven sex seems really ubiquitous in the Cassie Palmer series.

[redorblue]

A few reasons why Dory is an unorthodox heroine, too

Nothing re-read related, just a thought I had when I was supposed to be asleep last night. I think we’ve established, and KC says so too, that Cassie is a pretty unorthodox heroine in that she doesn’t start her journey as a professional badass with combat skills and perfect knowledge about her world and this calm, heroic attitude that doesn’t do screaming and crying and getting upset about broken nails because what a mundane thing to do. She sort of gets there and certainly grows with the obstacles she faces, but she’s still not the typical amazon you usually see when female protagonists fight their own battles. Dory on the other hand fits that trope a lot better, but if you leave aside the battle skills, she’s pretty unusual, too.

Normally when there’s a story about a fight between good and evil, with the whole world (in our case, worlds) at stake, the protagonists have something that sets them apart from everyone else, something that makes them the only people capable of turning things around and let the good side win against all odds after all. This key figure-trope, whether the character in question is female or male, represents itself either as the Chosen One by default, with something like a prophecy, a family relation or a superpower distinguishing them from everyone else; or they get into that key position by stumbling into it more or less unintentionally and then get elevated by the people around them. Cassie kinda fits both descriptions a bit: she has the family relation, therefore becomes eligible for the superpower, and things just happen after that (until she starts owning it, of course). And while Dory, through Mircea, has the family connection, too, it doesn’t really get her anywhere, besides not being murdered at a young age. It certainly doesn’t positively set her apart from everyone else and make her eligible for the position of the heroine.

From a purely human perspective, she obviously has some physical advantages like heightened senses and strength, but those only go so far as to level the playing field. They’re certainly nothing special in the supernatural world and don’t get her anywhere all by themselves, they just make sure that she has a fighting chance against other super-natural creatures. Plus she also doesn’t really have any resources from social connections to draw from since she mostly rejects her family and is rejected by everyone else herself. Everything she has, every capability, she’s worked for and earned with years of practice, which in turn makes it attainable for everyone (theoretically, if one has similar physical advantages). There’s no immanent reason for her to be the one who saves the day built into the story. From a narrative perspective, someone like Claire would be a much more obvious choice, with her marrying into the Fae court and being able to transform into a dragon and all that. That makes Dory an unusual hero/heroine just like Cassie, only in different ways.

This is getting longer than I expected, but I wanna elaborate a bit on the hero thing, so be warned that this could get a bit off topic. I’m a university student, and I’m an assistant to a professor who’s working on a project about heroes and the discourses that make them heroes. Of course that’s all very academic and in my opinion (don’t tell him that) only partially applicable to real life (I’m including fiction into that, by the way). But because of my work I’ve picked up a few theoretical aspects of what makes a hero which I think would be nice to test here, so I’m gonna use what is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience and use what I learned there outside university. But as I’m not in university, I’ll take the liberty to stop gendering the word hero and simply use heroine for both genders, because why not.

So theory says that a heroine’s function is to connect the sacred and the mundane sphere. That sounds pretty abstract, but makes sense when you think about the ancient Greeks. Most heroic figures in Greek mythology are demigods, which makes them the connection between the sacred (the gods) and the mundane (humankind) in corporeal form. So according to theory, in order to be a heroine you need to incorporate both mundane and sacred aspects, not necessarily in your genes but in your skill set, your value system, your charisma, somewhere. And then you need to do something with what you’ve got in order for the sacred inside you to show, which in turn kicks off the discourse that makes sure you’re elevated to a superhuman position, and remembered after you died. This means that the heroine doesn’t need innate heroic features of some sort - she can also develop them on her journey - but she needs them to be noticed by someone and recognized as something special, which makes her more than human and therefore partly sacred. She can then serve as a role model for other people, but for her to be a heroine, she can’t have something that everybody else can achieve, too, with the right motivation and some time, because if her heroic quality was accessible to everyone, it would no longer be part of the sacred sphere. It would be mundane, and kinda boring, and in time this quality and with it the heroine would be forgotten.

See what I’m getting at? If you take this (very simplified and probably partly inaccurate) analysis as a foundation, Cassie is a much more typical heroine than Dory. Cassie has a skill that sets her apart from the vast majority of people in her world, and she’s the only one in her time who can wield her superpower to the extent she can. Yes, there’s the acolytes, but you’re not remembered for being the second best (and therefore not a heroine, because being remembered and recognized as such is a vital part of heroism), and yes, she had to work for it, but she had to hone her skills, not attain them in the first place. Other people who don’t have this sort of skill or parentage don’t even get the chance to try if they’re good at it. Which, coincidentally, are both of divine origin, which would make a researcher on heroism sob with joy because it fits the theory so well. Cassie is both literally and figuratively a link between the sacred and the mundane, and therefore in that respect a classic heroine.

You’ll notice that I’m not basing this on fighting skills but solely on extraordinary powers because they’re basically accessible to everybody. Pritkin for example can’t be considered a hero because he’s good at various combat techniques, but rather because of his extraordinary talent for magic, and maybe also because he tried on numerous occasions to sacrifice himself for Cassie, and one time succeeded, which is important. I’m saying maybe because an act of martyrdom as a qualification for heroism is controversial among researchers. Some say it requires extraordinary strength to do it and therefore partly sacralizes the heroine, while others contend that everybody can die, and depending on your mindset and circumstances it might not even be a hard decision to make, which makes it purely mundane and the martyr therefore not a heroine. My personal, unqualified opinion is that while it certainly requires admirable strength, especially in times of war dying for another person or being prepared to do so is not uncommon enough to qualify as heroic in the sense of sacred, so I’ll exclude acts of martyrdom as a qualification for being a typical heroine.

What’s left for Dory, then? She had her moment of attempted martyrdom, but it happens quite a lot in these books - we’d have to count in Cassie, Pritkin, Mircea, Marco, Rafe, Agnes and several guards, both vampires and mages, just to name a few, and one basic rule about heroism is that not everyone can be a heroine. Heroines must be rare for them to be extraordinary and part of the sacred world. Don’t get me wrong, I love Dory, but according to this theory she’s not a heroine because the only thing special about her are her combat skills, and those are not special enough to be considered heroic/of sacred origin. On top of this, she doesn’t even have the narrative pointing a sign at her that reads heroine, as I discussed way, way above. We’ll see how things evolve in the next Dory book when/if she learns how to integrate her two personas and use Dorina’s (much more extraordinary and therefore heroic) mental powers. But until then, if you look at our lead ladies from this perspective, Dory is at least as unorthodox a heroine as Cassie.

[pritkinsprettydick]

Death's Mistress ch 1-2

- Hugo Vleck is a nasty creep and definitely deserved getting loved to pieces by dory - why is it that the vamps working for mircea insist on being shitty to dory? Are they stupid? If they hurt her, mircea will fuck them up. If dory hasn't torn them apart first. Idiots. - "I'm tired, I'm hungry and I have a head in a bag. Do not fuck with me." Probs the most iconic line in the series - marlowe hate-crushing on dory is 😍 - watching him try to puzzle out what dory's secret is (how she's able to escape after killing a master) is pretty great. Not being in on a secret is absolute torture for him. - mircea: "radu mentioned that the two of you had grown...close." Mircea: *aggressively avoids thinking about his daughter and a member of his vamp family doing the do* - okay but I am wondering now how radu brought this up to mircea. Did he straight up tell him he walked in on LC teasing a naked and tied up dory? Probably not, right? He'd want to protect LC I assume. In any case, I'm sure the conversation was hysterical and I wish I could read it. - I know LC had good reason to bail on dory but it's still sad to see her feeling all rejected. Especially considering she's not exactly one to get emotional about a love interest. ESPECIALLY a vampire. - ah, Claire is back and she's a motherfuckin dragon. Other than that, chapter two doesn't do much. You find out dory has pretty officially adopted stinky as her own, and that she's got a house full of trolls, but other than that...we're basically just going to spend the next chapter or so catching up with Claire.

[halfincubus]

ok so now we’ve all read the line “John?” “It’s a good, honest English name,” he snapped, angry for no reason I could see.

I remember the second time I ever re-read this, thinking to myself ‘Oh Pritkin honey, you really didn't try too hard when you were coming up with a new first name did you? Lol.’ And this time around I just got this like, mental image coupled with a drabble bunny that wouldn’t go away. Like he comes up with this fancy ass last name and then he just tacks on... ‘John’. It always made me a bit suspicious. So here’s some kind of approximation of how I thought it went....

"New recruit, eh? What's your name, son?" enquired the Sergeant. "Pritkin," he replied confidently, proudly. He'd spent quite a few days trying to come up with something unique, mulling over what sounded genuine and catchy, and was rather pleased with the outcome. "Is that a first name or a last name?" "Uh, last name." He'd never had a family name before. Somehow he didn't think 'of the incubi' was a suitable title to go around announcing on Earth. "And what's your first name?" His brain stuttered, puffed-up hubris promptly deflated in a rising tide of panic. He was belatedly remembering he was supposed to come up with TWO names. Bugger the different customs of this century! "Uh," was the only thing that came out as every single name in the English language flew out of his brain in that one moment. Why was he only able to think of GIRL'S names? Fuck, not Emily, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Catherine... shut up, shut UP- "John," he blurted. Bloody hell, the most common pissing name in the entire sodding language. The Sergeant shook his hand gruffly. "John Pritkin, welcome to the Circle." "Thank you, sir." He tried for professional soldier, but it came out sounding something more like relief.

[talkativelock]

Thoughts on Touch the Dark: The Great Chanceverse Reread Pt. 1

(click italics for links to what I’m talking about)

For those followers of mine that don’t care, sorry. I’ll put most of this under a cut. For those that wanna know what I’m talking about, Karen Chance has a very entertaining set of books that are some of my favorites to read ever and a group of us are reading/rereading the books over the course of the next few months. I highly reccomend them and if you choose to join our reread/read for the first time, even late, let me know so I can... I don’t know, screech in your metaphorical ear with delight?

I just finished Touch the Dark. I know I’m a day early as far as the schedule is concerned but Jawn let someone borrow her copy and they haven’t given it back so I had to finish so she could reread it and catch up with the schedule.

This is only my like... 5th time reading this series (though only my 3rd time reading Touch the Dark) so my thoughts are rife with spoilers, so much so that I don’t know that I can separate my thoughts on this book from my knowledge of the series as a whole, so if you care about that kind of stuff maybe come back to this when your done with the series.

Actual thoughts are under the cut. There are a lot of them.

I forgot how much I love TtD, which is hilarious because whenever I reread the series I usually start in the second or third book because that’s when things start getting really good. Now I’m remembering that the first time I read these books I didn’t think of the first book as that slow. Maybe I’m just a sucker for world-building and since that is what this book is made of I was bound to love it. Regardless of the fact that my opinion of Louis-Cesar and Tomas never really changed from general apathy for the former and low simmering hatred for the later I still took a devilish delight in rereading some of the beautiful descriptions and entertainingly worded exposition that this book contains.

I mean, there’s a paragraph in the beginning of Chapter 4 where Cassie gets a decent look at the desert outside of MAGIC and she describes it in a way that makes the writer in me want to weep with how beautiful a mental image it supplies.

“... The colors outside the window were a different palette than you could see anywhere in Georgia: the dappled greens and grays of the deep South had been replaced by midnight blue skies and indigo clouds. A black, star-studded canopy stretched overhead, but the line of deep violet along the horizon showed that the desert was beginning to remember the day.”

Like, I get an almost visceral image from that. Also that last line makes my soul happy.

This book, and all of her books really, is rife with imagery like that. Karen Chance loves to take a step back from the goings on to make sure that the scene is perfectly painted, both with imagery and with context. It means that the first few books have to do a lot of heavy lifting but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Moving on from beautiful descriptors and to what I think Karen Chance does best; a nearly bottomless list of complex and highly entertaining side characters. For the purposes of this review a side character is anyone who isn’t Cassie.

Unfortunately, the some of the best and brightest of our supporting cast aren’t even in this book (Casanova, Fred, Marco, Jonas even though the most recent book made me very disappointed in him, Sal god rest her beautiful soul, motherfucking Augustine, just to name a few) and those gems that are in TtD are not doing their best (Francois doesn’t even say two words on camera and Pritkin has yet to remove that stick from his ass) yet this books still holds some shining stars.

First; Rafe my sweet summer child. Precious soft artist who really isn’t fit for the cutthroat life of a vampire, your lack of ability to poker-face and scheme is a joy in a book filled with ulterior motives. With Pritkin, Cassie’s usual source of honest support, not yet an ally Rafe’s large presence in this first book is a goddamn lifeline. One of the things I really appreciate about the Cassie books is that no matter what is happening in its politics there is always at least one true non-ghost ally of Cassie’s that stops her from feeling alone and doomed. In this it’s the benevolence of Mercia and Rafe’s utter inability to keep secrets from showing off his face that keep it from feeling like Cassie is completely overwhelmed by the goals of others.

Second; Billy you ridiculous problem. Much like Cassie, I love Billy despite how annoying he can be at times over the series. In this book in particular, where Billy is most prominent, I oscillate between wanting to smack Billy for his short-sighted-ness and cheering for Billy and his resourcefulness. The part he plays in her discovering that she can leave her body, stopping her from being mid-fuck with Mercia when Rafe comes calling, escaping MAGIC to chase after Jimmy, and doing general recon are all executed with his personality well in place and I love that. Too often characters like Billy become a utility, not a character at all. I hope that Billy always remains Cassie’s first and last friend as we move forward through the series, though I worry that he is going to fade away as he was barely in the most recent book.

Third; The Consul, also known as freaking Cleopatra. She is so awesome. Less for being helpful and lovely and more for being so interesting. She manages to be full of personality in subtle ways, something that is expanded upon over the course of the rest of the books which I love. She isn’t a faceless leadership like the Circles generally are. She is the Consul and she is fierce.

Forth; Jack. There isn’t much to say except that Jack is the best of the creepy and I appreciate Karen Chance for bringing every kind of interesting to her stories. I also love that, generally speaking, vampires in this series aren’t good people that I would want to invite over for tea but the kind of people that I want in the story because they move it forward and make it interesting. Also, they are entertaining in a demented sort of way. Jack is one such person.

As far as the side characters that I don’t love... 

Well I just generally find Louis-Cesar boring. His well-meaning honor code is interesting for a vampire in a way but I don’t generally care about his backstory. Luckily, his backstory isn’t even really about him in this book so it doesn’t bore me too much. I know that he is well loved, especially by people who are huge fans of the Dory side of things, but he really isn’t for me?

Tomas though... oh boy do I hate Tomas. He is a presumptuous dick. I don’t know if there are any Tomas lovers out there, but if so, my apologies. I find him appallingly whiny. Constantly going on about how Louis-Cesar is a child compared to him and how Cassie will be his arm-candy when he rules South America... give me a break seriously. Tomas might be the only character in the Cassie side of things that I actually dislike enough to want him off screen as much as possible. I think I heard somewhere that originally Pritkin was supposed to be a one-off and Tomas was supposed to be what Pritkin essentially became but somewhere between book one and two Karen Chance realized what a gem Pritkin is. I probably never would have gotten through book two if Tomas was her main partner in crime.

Before I talk about Mercia, Cassie, and Pritkin though I wanna touch on a couple plot points that are very important to me.

The scene that we keep coming back to over the course of the series. I sometimes think of it as the singularity. I remember the first time that I read it in this book and I was so confused. Every time after though, I have been so amused by the shit the pixie says. She is so angry. I love her. More on her in later books.

I feel like that moment is bizarrely important in the grand scheme of things. There is a lot that goes on every time she comes back just adding to the complexity. I always wonder if we will go back to that moment again. I guess only time with tell...

The moment where Agnes starts the official Pythification process at the end is the other scene that I have some pretty strong feelings about, though I have noticed that there are fewer scenes that I get emotional over in this book. I just love Agnes and I love how in denial Cassie is about the job she has no choice over doing. There is a huge theme running throughout the books about Cassie’s agency. The entire thing is practically a war on her agency and what I love most is that the farther we go in the books the more Cassie realizes that, as pythia, she can forcibly take back her agency and she doesn’t have to apologize for it. There are a lot of factors that go into the war on Cassie’s agency and I have a terrifying desire to do a long post just on that when I’m done rereading.

Speaking on the war on Cassie’s agency; Mercia. I know that there are some people who really love Mercia and I just want you to know that I don’t begrudge you for that. However, since the first time I read TtD Mercia has rubbed me the wrong way and somewhere between the fourth and fifth book I realized why; he is a general in the war on Cassie’s agency.

In this book, we see what I think is the moment they unknowingly trigger the doubled geas that causes so much frustration for the next few books and is one of my main issues with the Cassie/Mercia romance. It happens in Chapter 9 when Mercia feeds from Cassie in order to show an uninformed Pritkin that vampiric feeding is not a terrible and barbaric thing.

“Mercia started when our energies mingled, then went very still. I barely noticed.”

“Mercia was wearing an odd expression, almost confused, as if he’d never seen me before. He searched my face for a moment, then took my hand and bowed over it.”

Those two excerpts are on either side of an orgasmic description of the feeding. Rereading it with all my knowledge of how things go I feel like that is the moment where the problematic geas triggers and begins to grow. Maybe they said that in the second book, if so I don’t remember it.

The geas is a huge part of my problem with Mercia. I won’t go into it in too much detail since it isn’t even book subject matter until Claimed by Shadow, but the act of putting it on her alone is a huge violation of her agency and Mercia continues to show over the course of the series that her feelings, wants, and goals don’t matter and that she shouldn’t have any choice except to do what he says. Even Cassie knows in this book that he doesn’t actually have her best interests at heart in the end and that he is a manipulative bastard who wont rest until he has what he wants, which is generally whatever the Consul tells him he wants. She conveniently forgets once the doubled geas starts to kick in however.

I hate that. 

My problem with Mercia is different than my problem with Tomas, however, in that I feel like Mercia is an interesting character and a great three dimensional problem to deal with. It isn’t just that he is an agency robbing asshole, it’s that he is an agency robbing theoretically well-meaning suave jerk who claims to have feelings for her even though he views her as an object and not a person. That makes him interesting and difficult for Cassie to deal with in every way. He brings something to the story even if at the end of the day it ends up not being in Cassie’s favor. So I, particularly, am not a fan of Mercia as a person but am in favor of him in the story as a character.

To contrast is our normal Pritkin, one who barely makes an appearance at the very end of this book when he holds off a dozen dark mages by himself. I must admit I squeed really loudly and woke the cat when he, for the first time ever, called her “Miss Palmer”. However, that is where our grumpy but supportive mage ends and an asshole who skydives to conclusions begins. 

Hilariously enough, I actually liked Pritkin in this book the first time I read it? He entertained the hell out of me. He may be the clueless one who is mostly there to trigger exposition for us but the pissed off way he does it throughout the book has always made me laugh. I laughed a little less this time, though, but that was mostly because I have become really attached to the Pritkin we see in books 2 on. This Pritkin feels flat compared to later Pritkins. And it isn’t even because he’s a hostile asshole, because one memorable naked chase through London and another hilarious fight in a bar tell me that hostile Pritkin from the past is no less awesome than grumpy current Pritkin. It’s because, I think, he just wasn’t as well developed and characterized in this book.

The fights were the moments where I saw what Pritkin becomes, but to be fair the fights have always been Pritkin’s forte. Both the one outside of Dante’s and the one at the end reminded me of the Pritkin I had anxiety over throughout Reap the Wind. 

Basically, I missed Cassie’s Pritkin. I will write more on him when he becomes relevant in later books.

As for Cassie... well I love that she isn’t perfect. She falls for Mercia even though she knows he’s a bad boy (lol omg), she can’t fight worth a damn, and she can barely escape danger when she’s at her best. I love how practical she is about the kinds of supernatural things she sees every day. As she says “I was alive, they were not, go me.”

The other thing I love is the things Cassie puts importance on. Trust, loyalty, and an eye for an eye. Maybe that’s because I also put a lot of importance on those things. Most of this book she stays pretty pissed at Tomas because he violated her trust and betrayed her. Her fury with Tony seems to stem more from the fact that he lied to her than that he profited from the tragedies he Saw since she talks like she saw him commit lots of murder without having too much of a problem with it before she found out he lied to her and killed her parents. I’m sure that his profiteering doesn’t help matters and just gives her one more reason to hate him but her real beef is the lying and the betrayal of the family she wishes she had. She loves Rafe but her knowledge that he can’t be truly loyal to her damages her ability to trust him. Even though she knows that Mercia will never consider her wants and desires important she likes him and mostly trusts him because as far as she can tell he’s never lied to her, though she does feel uneasy about it because his primary loyalty is to the Consul not to her. 

On the flip side of it, she doesn’t really hold a grudge against Pritkin for wanting to kill her because as far as she’s concerned he doesn’t owe her any kindness or loyalty. He doesn’t claim to be her friend so she doesn’t care that he hates her except that she doesn’t particularly want to die.

I love practical protagonists who aren’t doing something ‘because it’s the right thing to do’. Protagonists that don’t get their morals from an abstract feeling in their heart but from the loyalties and trust of others are extremely fallible and therefore way more interesting than your always right moral high road characters. And I love that, in this world of cutthroat politics and magic, we have the kind of protagonist that is stumbling through it all just trying to protect herself and her friends and get the revenge she is owed for personal past wrongs. That’s the kind of personal storytelling I can get attached to.

[overlycaffeinatedwarmage]

Ride the Storm Analysis Ch 1-4

Warning here be spoilers! Do not continue reading unless you’ve read the entire book or you don’t mind being spoiled for it.  I’m holding nothing back. I will hide them though because I’m not a total dick.

This book’s theme was definitely storms.  Most of it contained literal or figurative storms of some sort.  We had actual storms, we had battles like hurricanes, we had personal and emotional storms. They were everywhere.  I’ll point out what kind of storm Cassie, and possibly others, are dealing with in each chapter.  There are a few which aren’t stormy, but they are few and far between.

Chapter One, interpersonal storm

We start off with the Cassie and Rosier show!  My favorite!  I love seeing these two squabble and fight.  When they decide to work together it can go really well or really wrong.  It goes really wrong this time, big surprise.  They get into a “play” fight that neither were actually playing around with.  Both were saying things they’d been holding back for a while.  While the tactic didn’t work as planned, I’m sure it was pretty cathartic.

I like how Cassie is really noticing the differences between Rosier and Pritkin.  She once thought of them as twins and now she can’t help but point out all of their differences.  Nothing hugely special about that, just an interesting note in my long running ways Cassie has changed her attitude toward Pritkin from her first meeting him. There’s an even better one coming in a dozen or so chapters.  But I digress.

Chapter Two, battle, a figurative storm

Cassie is finally using her knife bracelet again!  I’d been wondering about it for a couple books.  Rosier, I love you, you trash man.  My opinion has really morphed since he first came on scene in EtN.  He went from sexy, dangerous, scary threat, to a man handcuffed to a bed on a merry chase through hell, screaming his fool head off.  I mean he’s still a shit father, mostly, but he’s done a lot of growing in these past two weeks.  I also love how grossed out Cassie is by the idea of a power exchange with Rosier, no matter how much he looks like Pritkin.

Rosier with his sword reminds me of Casanova with his hell juice in TtS.  Actually these two have a lot in common.  They should hang out more, they might get along (and it would be hilarious).  Then we get a rare Rosier grin, Cassie says it looks so much like baby!Pritkin’s.  Apparently he just needed a plan.  And for some reason Cassie agreeing to it makes him feel better.  Funny that.  I think he likes her a lot more than he lets on.

Chapter Three, Eye of the Storm, aftermath

Cassie and Rosier share one of their quiet moments together.  They have several this book.  I really appreciate that these two are able to work together and not be antagonistic.  It bodes well for their future relationship. Here we get a history lesson on Rosier and a leadership lesson for Cassie. Cassie was tossed into the deep end as Pythia, no training for anything.  According to Rosier it wouldn’t have helped much anyway. Everyone’s just faking it anyway. This is lesson Cassie wouldn’t have been ready for before now.  Only now, after she’s been doing the job can she start to see the wisdom in his words (yes I just called Rosier wise). Rosier needs to listen to his own advice too.  He doesn’t need a son to help him hold the kingdom, he’s been doing it all along.  He’s just been too stubborn to see that.

“Come on.  Let’s go fake it some more,” Rosier to Cassie.  

Chapter Four, Eye, build up

Oh Francoise and the Graeaw how I’ve missed all of you! Cassie looks with envy at the reporter’s shirt, “Once upon a time, I was sweet and innocent, then shit happened.” That could be your life story Cassie.  Hmm, the Graeae are pretty much chaos made flesh.  Cassie is the child of chaos.  It’s no wonder they have a soft spot for her!

Cassie’s lack of self awareness always astounds me but shouldn’t at this point.  She treats nearly everyone with respect and kindness.  She helps everyone when possible, to her own detriment often and does her damnedest to protect everyone she she meets, let alone cares about.  She’s just about the most loyal friend a person could have.  She simply never realizes how many friends she has in this world.  How many people would do anything for her.  Of course the Dark Fey would talk about an uncomfortable topic for you Cassie.  You risked all for them, you would again with little thought to yourself.  She’s already done so much in unifying the groups just by treating them with basic respect. She’s about to gain more in a bit, just by being Cassie.

Two last things, I was that magic makeup hat and go Cassie for yelling and the parent (reporter).  Cassie’s right about the kid even if you shouldn’t tell others how to parent, there are days I really want to do the same.

That’s it for now!  More tomorrow!

[kyliafanfiction-archive]

Touch The Dark 1 - thoughts as I read

I didn’t really expect a Noir-ish style opening or writing/narration. But an obituary is always a nice, high stakes way to start things.

Interesting developments. The narration style does a lot of the heavy lifting to make the info dump work. Makes me think of The Dresden Files, though probably because both are working from the same tradition.

Some interesting mythos for the ghosts. Not really new or unique so far, but interesting. Ghosts and vampires and psychics, OH MY! 

A good, intriguing first chapter. The setting and premise is a little cliche so far, but A) Cliches are cliches for a reason (i.e. they work) and B) I don’t mind if something is cliche if it is well written and not directly derivative, so it doesn’t matter.

[chibioniyuri]

Claimed by Shadow Reread: Chapters 1-5

Guys, I've just got to say that the audio books are magical. Not only am I taking advantage of an hour-long one-way commute to continue the book without attempting to read and drive at the same time (do not recommend), but Cynthia Holloway brings so much life to the story. Oh my god, the accents. But oh boy are they cutting into my budget. Ok, with that out of the way, on to the first part.

Chapter 1

In which Cassie tries to get information from a renowned ladies’ man while babysitting some demigoddess grandmas.

First off, the Graeae? I love them. I miss them. They are such comedic gold and I love their wacky hijinks.

Second, look! Cassie is getting some information straight up! No one is hiding information from her because it makes it easier to manipulate her, or to keep her safe, or because she’ll make decisions they don't like if she's fully informed, which goes back to manipulating. Good old Casanova, telling her all about the geis. I mean, it's not the info she wants, and it's yet another problem, on top of killing Tony, preventing Myra from killing her, rescuing her dad, and avoiding the job of Pythia, but you can't solve a problem you don't know about.

You can tell Ms Chance hadn't fully developed Casanova’s character at this point when you compare his actions to more recent stories. Or maybe Cassie is just an unreliable narrator. His speech makes it sound like Rian is in full control at all times here, with frequent directions to take care of “this body.”

Something that just occurred to me. Did Mircea spend that year at Tony's court, spending all that time with Cassie, just so she would develop some affection for him that he could build the geis on? In the last book, he told her that he would have taken her to his court if he wasn't worried about drawing attention to her existence, but that's a lie as well, isn't it? Because then the geis would grow in power over both of them, and he would see that as a problem. Is any part of their relationship genuine? I forgot that the geis didn’t kick in immediately because of her age, so that last speculation is incorrect. I still wonder if any part of their relationship is genuine, though.

And this book’s card: the Lovers. Looming choices involving temptation and pain, with the final decision having huge consequences for everything that follows. Pretty ominous.

Chapter 2

In which Cassie tries to avoid a nuisance and foils an assassination attempt.

Ruh-roh, this is where the geis gets doubled, this incidental contact when she gets pulled into the past to foil Mircea’s assassination and protect her own timeline.

Pritkin is being really, really exact in his wording here. Is that something learned from his time at his father’s court, or is it something he heard about dealing with vampires and those from their courts? And all of this, holding her at shotgun point with his golem for backup, just to talk? Over the top Pritkin has made a return lol.

“Normally I wouldn't lose much sleep over Pritkin's death” lol really?

Chapter 3

In which Cassie meets some church decorations, avoids fighting some war mages, and nearly gets taken out by more knightly decor.

This is one of the chapters I go back to read when I need to laugh. From finger sandwiches, to questionable Latin phrases, to “pleasant" meetings… this just tickled all my buttons.

At the end, Cassie chooses to keep her promise to talk with Pritkin. This may not be what the Lovers card is referring to, but it will involve quite a bit of temptation, pain, and huge consequences in the future. And one thing I’ve noticed is that the card is a theme for the entire book, so it applies to more than one situation. These books have layers, y’all.

Chapter 4

In which Cassie has a food fight and goes ice skating.

Casanova freaking out over Pritkin is so funny to me now. Can't let the boss's son die when he could have prevented it, right? But Pritkin is not having it. Eff my dad and eff you too, says he.

“Maybe one day I'll meet a guy who doesn't think of me primarily as a weapon.” Oh Cassie, you already have. What he thinks of you currently isn't very flattering, but I don't think he's ever thought of you as a weapon. Hang in there, it'll get better!

Cassie winds up racking up so many favors this chapter. Miranda, for helping some gargoyles not get deported, and Chavez for handing over Dracula, however unknowingly.

Chapter 5

In which Cassie goes to a tattoo parlor and has a talk.

MAC! For a character that's only in one novel, he makes a lasting and fantastic impression. I miss this guy.

Hey, Pritkin's scar. Which novella is that from again? I wanna say A Family Affair. Hmm, need to find my timeline guide for the books and novellas again.

Reading how upset he gets over the name John reminds me of that post about him spending all that time thinking up an interesting family name, only to completely forget about the given name and scramble for anything that came to mind lol.

Being raised in a vampire's court really messed her up. I'm pretty sure Cassie's seeing shadows and motives that don't exist here. They’re against the Council, yes, but not for personal profit.

I'm finding the runes pretty suspicious all of a sudden. It's incredibly coincidental that they might potentially be traced back to Faerie a long time ago…. I'm not up on my history and don't know the timeline between Vikings and King Arthur. What if Cassie happens upon some tinker playing with bone discs one day and is like, hey, I've seen something like those before, with runes carved into them, and ta-da, a new magical weapon is born! Though wouldn't Hagalaz be so useful right now, with the ability to calm any storm?

Hehe, a Jonas mention. He's definitely not my favorite person right now, but his intros - here and in Curse the Dawn - paint quite the picture of him.

Another intro before we meet them: Nick. Not a guy I miss, frankly.

I find the image of two grown men racing for a bag incredibly amusing. It's made me laugh every time I’ve read it.

[emberfaye]

Claimed by Shadows Reread Ch 6-10

Ch. 6

Cassie’s reaction to Pritkin’s unzipped pants is honestly me af

....And the moment Casskin became a ship just happened. 

Despite strict orders to the contrary, my hands were on him, tracing the muscles in his chest. His pupils expanded to the point that his eyes turned almost black and a shocked look crossed his face, probably more so than would have been true if I'd slapped him. But he didn't pull away. There was an odd tingle in my hands where they pressed against his pecs, and his skin felt warmer than it should have even with the shop's lousy air-conditioning. Or maybe that was me. I didn't care: very little thought was happening in my mind, except how to get that damned zipper down.’ 

Before I could act on that plan, Pritkin grabbed my wrists. I'm not sure whether he meant to push me away or to pull me closer, and judging by the look on his face, I don't think he did, either. But neither of us had the chance to find out.

Just. Damn. At this moment and the following awkwardness I was intrigued. I became invested by the end of this book.

“Whatever you do no touching!!” 

Also Mac is such a mom friend.

“I’d never thought him particularly attractive before today.” Cassie. Girl. Why you always lying?

“You’re a virgin? I would never have considered that.” lmao pritkin you’re such an ass

“When there’s a mutual attraction” I’m dead. This is so cringey, so embarassing, I’m gonna ship it so hard

So much info dump this chapter.

Ch. 7

Convocation: I’m assuming this is around the time period Drac and Dory are involved in?

Not gonna lie, in this scene saving her from Dmitri and putting on the show, Mircea is quite appealing.

“The difference between a single match and a bonfire” I love how KC describes things I can’t get over her narrative

“You have less on everytime we meet. I appreciate the trend” Mircea you cheeky bastard don’t be cute.

I know she’s not a witch, but I love “little witch” as her nickname more than what he actually calls her

Ch. 8

I’m so glad Cassie has someone like Billy to offer her new persepectives

Speaking of awesome nicknames: Turtledove

I love that Mac used to be Pritkin’s partner, match made in heaven. I’m convinced Mac knew about his half incubus status.

“If you’re with me you won’t die”. Okay. So like this is the first time Cassie has really considered herself safe with Pritkin. Not “safer”, not “lesser of two evils, but for just a minute she truly believed him. This is both awesome for them, but also makes Mac’s fate much sadder. =( 

Right after being “abandoned” by the mages because of the stone, she finds about Tomas, I imagine that was a double whammy

Ch. 9

“Pritkin had apparently decided to reason with me” Even in the first book (to an extent) Pritkin has given Cassie a chance to explain her side of things, her perspective and thoughts and situation. 

By questioning her he also makes her reevaluate her beliefs and priorities, as seen in the “It’s not about owing [tomas], it’s about making a statement!”

Oh right, it’s a trap!

More geis hijinks...maybe Mircea should have just left the magic alone and put a spy in Tony’s court. -_-

“The horror of what I’ve done to him” Don’t blame yourself girl. Also, I like that KC is using the geis as a narrative on what was a trend in the twilight era of literature...that of a proud, sexy love interest who is reduced to a quivering mass of hormones around one woman. It’s taken to a huge extreme here, showing that it’s not always the best outcome for love. hope that makes sense, maybe I’ll expand later

At this point in my initial reading I felt Mircea was a viable love interest for Cassie, but while I liked them I was never super invested in them.

What is this wind? It kind of reminds me of that staff from the latest book. 

Good kitty Sheba, making the consul yelp! 

Pritkin grappling Marlowe is something I’d watch on pay per view

ch.10

Panicked dance off: Billy Joe vs Golem! (Dude I wish they would do a good adaptation tv series I would so want to see this)

“Marlowe told me gently” okay who are you and what have you done to the real marlowe?

Faerie is so creepy, I love how it’s portrayed, and how Billy is human and the golem is inhuman and it’s just so good at the tension.

[pianofriend-de]

📸... Sichel-Mond und Abendstern. Ich wünsche Euch einen schönen Abend. 🙋🏻‍♂️ #weihenzell #nature #naturephotography #abendhimmel #mond #abnehmendermond #abendfotografie #abendstern #mondsichel #erdtrabant #evening #2021 #oktober2021 #eveningcolors #lichtundschatten #lightandshadow #eveningmood #sky #moon #moonphases #moonphotography #mondphasen #mondfotografie #eveningstar #nachtfotografie #nightphotography #nightlife (hier: Weihenzell) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVGR-FFj27P/?utm_medium=tumblr

[pritkinsprettydick]

DM CH 3-4

- I'm not gonna start the Claire discourse again, but yeah. Not a fan. Haranguing dory about how she mothers stinky when she's clearly trying her best is?? Shitty?? - stinky, you're not helping by emotionally manipulating Claire so that you can be coddled, but you're a baby so you get a free pass - so most of chapter 3 is literally just Claire finding things to be critical about lmao moving on - chapter four basically just outlines the complicated political landscape of faerie (or for two of the courts, at least) and we cap it with another fey wine induced trip down someone else's memory lane. Intrigue! Mystery! Booze and floggings! Sounds like a pretty good time tbh

[overlycaffeinatedwarmage]

Ride the Storm Analysis Ch 5-8

I have a bunch of stuff I should be working on.  But insomnia has been hitting me hard this week again and as a result I’m dragging today. So instead of making crazy plans or using my razor sharp scissors to cut things, I’ll add to my RtS analysis.  Excuse any missed words or misspellings please.

I’m continuing with the storm theme.  This book is full of them!

Chapter 5, personal storm

We’re still at Augustine’s and the reporters are descending on the shop.  Reporters and the media have been a background threat for Cassie this entire series.  She finds out about the missing Pythian heir, her father, her friend Tami, and other things all from various newspapers or magazines in the Supe community.  The reporters are one of the reasons that Marco couldn’t come after Cassie directly in HtM before the diner battle, because they knew him and would follow him.  The reporters are the people who broke the news about Cassie’s mother as well, and splashed pictures of her making out, naked, with Pritkin on the front page. Despite all of this, she’s managed to avoid personally dealing with them until now.  The reporters ask her all the expected questions about her personal life and her relationship with Mircea.  They ask about the war and the Spartoi she fought.  Poor Cassie.  She went from someone who is used to hiding, to the person that everyone want to talk to and about.  She has no idea how to handle these people.  It doesn’t help that the PR person the circle had, one of the few people who probably could have helped to deal with this, was the enemy.

I must say I love the shade Francoise throws toward the reporter and her daughter.  They both really deserve it here.  Man that kid was a brat!

Unfortunately the Black Circle takes that moment to blow out the front windows of Augustine’s and make their appearance.  The battle on Dante’s main drag has begun.

Chapter 6, battle, figurative storm, for now

Rhea is being held by a member of the black circle to draw Cassie out.  Rhea is a freaking bad ass.  That girl does not lose her shit under pressure.  As soon as she actually spoke to Cassie she was Cassie’s #1 fan, president of the Cassie Palmer fan club. She takes no shit when it comes to her Lady. Cassie has needed someone like Rhea in her corner for a very long time.  While she has the vamps to protect her, they don’t answer to her ultimately (well, some of them might now) and with Pritkin lost to time Cassie lost her fiercest ally with him. To me, that makes this scene with the Black all the more tragic. 

It is nice to see Cassie play hardball with people.  Now if only she applied those techniques to Mircea and told his oily ass off, I’d be a happy girl.  Yes, I’m thankful for him in the next chapter, but still. Ugh.  But anyway we’ll get there.  Cassie is finally becoming the badass that she’s envied in other people for so long.  I wonder if she sees it in herself yet.  Probably not.  I’m like Cassie in this way.  I have trouble believing good things about myself until someone else points them out and occasionally hits me over the head with them. Hopefully someone smacks Cassie with the clue-by-four soon.

Chapter 7, big huge emotional storm & literal storm

Cassie makes a plan to “trade” acolytes, but Rhea doesn’t realize that it’s to be a trap and sacrifices herself.  Guh, what a heart wrenching, emotional scene. Looking back, I think Rhea had to be taken out of the story early so that Cassie couldn’t use her as an extra “battery” during all of her Wales trips.  Otherwise, with Tami taking care of the younger girls at the court, why wouldn’t Rhea go too?  All the other pythias brought their acolytes.  This would have overpowered Cassie and made the sexy scenes with baby!Pritkin awkward. I wouldn’t trade any of those scenes for the world.

Cassie is finally using some of her Artemis-given powers fluidly now. She opened a hell gate just like she did in RtW.  The storm in this section, aside from the emotional one, is Augustine’s shoplifting sticky potion rained down on the Black Circle mages.  Add sticky potion to giant hell hound and you have quite a howling good time?  Well, maybe not for the mages...

Chapter 8, emotional storm

The jist of the chapter is Mircea uses the Seidr spell to help Cassie heal Rhea.  They are successful and I am thankful.  Let me get a couple non Mircea things out first, then I’ll start in on the man.  Because, oh boy, do I have a lot to say there.  First I’m glad that Cassie is taking an active role in her life now.  Early series things just happened to her and she rolled with it or accepted it.  Sure she fought some, but not a ton in some cases.  Now she’s taking her power back.  She said “No Rosier you’re not taking Pritkin to a fate worse than death because he dared help me” “No demon council you’re not killing Pritkin” “Yes Jonas I will save my court” “No curse you will not kill Jules.” She is standing up for her self and taking what she wants and needs.  She told the universe here that no it will not take Rhea, and then she goddamn followed through!  She did what she had to do to save her friend.  Finally Cassie.  I love this about you.  You’ve fought for the woman you’ve become.  Be proud of her. 

Then there’s Mircea. I noticed, he never uses his little pet name on Cassie he knows the gig is up.  Something has changed between them.  She’s not so easy to manipulate anymore.  Cassie doesn’t call him on it all book so I wonder if she noticed.  Kinda think not.  Her heart and mind were on other things :)  I hate his possessiveness in this scene, “you are mine.” Puke.  If you want her to be yours, earn her.  You’ve never earned her, dude.  You claimed, but have done little respect worthy earning of your lady. You’ve done some nice things for her, but you’ve never been the person she NEEDS.  You don’t listen.  You want what you want and hang the rest.  More on him when his big scenes come up mid book.