Customer Reviews
Embrace the night - book three in the Cassandra Palmer series - By: Jessica, 20 Apr 2008 
This is the third book in the Cassandra Palmer series, it continues with a similar format to the pervious books; set within a few days span & about a week & a half after the last book. You can therefore expect like the others to be taken straight into the action & to have the pace mantained thoughout the book. The opening chapters are very good; thrilling & interesting.
The book begins where the last left off with Cassie searching for a counter spell to the evermore troublesome geis - the spell that Mircea placed upon Cassie when she was very young that binds her too him. To finallly have control over her life she must be rid of it & the only way to do that seems to be to find a very complecated spell, in a very dangerous spell book, writen by Merlin himself - the codex Merlini. Enlisted to help her is the unpredictable John Pritkin, mysterious as he is deadly.
Cassie has more alllies in this book, one of its roles seems to be setting up the sides for the impending interspecies war & through it we learn that she has even more enemies...gods, demons, mages, the fey, Rasputin & her old master Tony, throw in an uneasy allliance with the vampires, fun, fun, fun. Chance reallly isn't picky about the paranormal & mythical creatures she writes about, these books have pretty much everything magical, mythical & paranormal in, but I in no way see this as a bad thing, it puts me in mind of the convoluted, combustible Roman & Greek myths she draws heavily from; with the love triangles, betrayals & her huge panthenon of characters. In fact much of her research is very true to the original myths she palys with; Apollo leading the war & her touch of using Merlin's original name, nice.
There are some good suprises & developments with the characters as well as there being quite a few references to the first book, that didn't much much sense at the time as Cassie jumps alll over the place through time, making alll sorts of new problems (as is her way) but righting some others as well. Prikin's story is verrry good, the scenes which are about him or have him in become the more interesting & unexpected ones (though this I have come to expect). His scenes with Cassie are therefore a nice contrast to hers with Mircea as they have become monotonous; you always know how they're going to end. I've never been a fan of Mircea, he just seems vaguely slimey, he's got a lot going against him. But this is I think deliberate; what I love about these books is the characterisation given to the non-humans, particuallly the vampire's, its very clear that they are a different race with different motivations, it's handled very well.
This isn't a straight cut love story, the three characters emotions, motivations, desisions & reactions are incredibly complex & nothing is reallly concluded, this gives it a sense of realism, but at the same time there are some reallly touching & tense scenes between Cassie & Pritkin that are scrumptuously good. But I've got to say I do like Cassie's narrative when she's alone, this is often when she's at her most fresh & funniest. Especiallly in her scenes with Mirea I find her reactions are rather repetitive & because of this I much prefer Pritkin, theirs is the partnership i like to see.
Cassie is a more enjoyable character in this book; one of its key roles is bringing to a conclusion her journey in accepting her powers as pythia & the ending reallly has this sense of starting something new. What i've always liked about her character is how she picks her moments, she doesn't fight everything & everyone but is reallly interesting in her actions.
Embrace the night is thrilling with a few good quirks & often rather funny. I recommend alll three books, & am looking forward to the next one entitled Curse the Dawn (April 2009), which it has been mentioned by the author will form another trilogy, focusing on the war & Cassie as the accepted & reigning pythia. Also look out for Midnights Daughter, Dory's book (who is Mircea's daughter) which starts a new series set in the same world.
Great book - By: D. Kennedy, 18 Apr 2008 I loved this book & how it refers back to the past 2 books, however, I was left wanting more at the end, the 3 main characters are Cassie, Pritkin & Mircea but I reallly missed thomas & Louis Cesar not being in this book. The book is brilliant & shows how far Cassie will go to remove the geis, not just for her own personal reasons but to save Mircea. Alot happens in this book yet alot of the loose endings from the last book were left unanswered, Cassie's vampire friends seem to have been replaced by magical kids, a pixie & Francoise which I hope will link back to Louis Cesar in the next installlment! It is fantastic but leaves you wanting more & I'm not sure I can wait a year for the next installlment! I finallly understand how Harry Potter fans feel every year!
Keep 'em coming! - By: L. Goodchild, 16 Apr 2008 This author first came to my attention when I read the compilation On The Prowl. I enjoyed her story so much (even more than the Patricia Briggs for which I had purchased the book) I immediately ordered the first two of this series. And I certainly didn't waste my money!
Although I enjoyed the first book, I felt the author had reallly hit her stride by the second one, & this one was just fantastic. Karen Chance has a great turn of phrase, the action never slows enough to make you lose interest and, best of alll, her characters are so convincing that by the third book you've reallly started to care what happens to them. And as for the love interests...Mircea is definitely delicious, but you just find yourself hoping Pritkin will lose control...
So often I reallly enjoy a book, only to encounter cheesiness & lack of tension when it comes to the love scenes. Not so here - there seems to be a joyfulness & lack of endless internal guilt that hits just the right note for this genre. And there are scenes that made me laugh out loud, although it's not 'paranormal-lite' either. It just has a bit of everything, and, in my opinion, with just the right balance.
As someone who has read many books in this genre, I can't emphasise enough how rare it is for me to find one that I reallly love, & from which images keep popping into my head days after I've finished it (which is how I know I've read something special). This series is it, & I can't recommend it highly enough. But read the others first! :)
I love it (and Pritkin) - By: clairefromwales, 07 Apr 2008 Cassie's back & I've been waiting impatiently. There is just something about this series that reallly works for me. I love the characters, I enjoy the dialogue, the descriptions are great & the historical detail is interesting, but I think the main thing for me is that the books are fun in genre that can take itself far too seriously.
Anyway on with the review, which is quite tough to write without giving important stuff away - a lot happens in this book!
'Embrace the Night' opens with Cassie in Paris with John Pritkin, the renegade war mage & on the trail of the Codex Merlini. She needs Merlin's spellbook to lift the geas which binds her (twice over) to Mircea the vampire & which is becoming more destructive. She also needs to fulfil her promise to the Fey King to recover the book.
As always this turns out to be a far from straightforward task. Cassie finds herself zipping backwards & forwards in the timeline, meeting earlier versions of Mircea & Pritkin, & causing chaos. There are some major revelations & betrayals along the way.
Cassie has definitely grown during the books. She is much more in control in this one. Deciding what needs to be done & doing it, but she's still reallly likeable. She won't leave Pritkin to die at the start of the book when they get trapped in the catacombs & rescues a group of children with mixed magical gifts.
I loved the idea of Cassie being forced to endure Pritkin as her personal trainer & him forcing her to go jogging & to learn to sword fight.
It'll be interesting to see where Cassie goes next - trusting people remains a big issue for her.
Then there's Pritkin. I love, love, love this character (and not just because he can speak Welsh!) At one point Cassie describes Pritkin as "smart & brave & sometimes strangely funny" & that's how I see him too.
He's such an intense character, always taking direct action - there's a wonderful straightforwardness to him, even though it's obvious that he has a number of very big secrets. Some of these secrets come out in this book. One of them - about who he reallly is - I thought was rather fitting, the other - about what he reallly is - I'm still not quite sure about.
His relationship with Cassie goes through some big up & downs, but he's the character that I like seeing at her side - there's an equality in their relationship which is absent when she's with Mircea. As much as Cassie likes Mircea (and vice versa) I can't shake the fact that, at its heart, their relationship is based on a little girl's crush. Whereas with Pritkin it's a constant tussle for control - their sword training session epitomised this & is one of my favourite scenes - but deep down both of them seem to care about each other - whether it's trying to cure his caffine addiction or searching desperately for a spell to break the geas.
That said I do like Mircea & wasn't too unhappy with where the book took him & Cassie. I guess I just find scruffy, intense & direct sexier than talll, dark & suave.
The tone of this book seemed slightly different to the first two. Despite alll the time shifting, there was a clear sense of progression towards the end goal - getting rid of the geas.
By the end of the book, it's clear that Cassie has accepted her powers & has a new sense of purpose. The final scene left me feeling that the first act of this story has ended, but there are going to be some much bigger fish to fry in the next installlment, which I will be waiting for very impatiently.
Love it (and Pritkin) - By: clairefromwales, 06 Apr 2008 Cassie's back & I've been waiting impatiently. There is just something about this series that reallly works for me. I love the characters, I enjoy the dialogue, the descriptions are great & the historical detail is interesting, but I think the main thing for me is that the books are fun in genre that can take itself far too seriously.
Anyway on with the review, which is quite tough to write without giving important stuff away - a lot happens in this book!
'Embrace the Night' opens with Cassie in Paris with John Pritkin, the renegade war mage & on the trail of the Codex Merlini. She needs Merlin's spellbook to lift the geas which binds her (twice over) to Mircea the vampire & which is becoming more destructive. She also needs to fulfil her promise to the Fey King to recover the book.
As always this turns out to be a far from straightforward task. Cassie finds herself zipping backwards & forwards in the timeline, meeting earlier versions of Mircea & Pritkin, & causing chaos. There are some major revelations & betrayals along the way.
Cassie has definitely grown during the books. She is much more in control in this one. Deciding what needs to be done & doing it, but she's still reallly likeable. She won't leave Pritkin to die at the start of the book when they get trapped in the catacombs & rescues a group of children with mixed magical gifts.
I loved the idea of Cassie being forced to endure Pritkin as her personal trainer & him forcing her to go jogging & to learn to sword fight.
It'll be interesting to see where Cassie goes next - trusting people remains a big issue for her.
Then there's Pritkin. I love, love, love this character (and not just because he can speak Welsh!) At one point Cassie describes Pritkin as "smart & brave & sometimes strangely funny" & that's how I see him too.
He's such an intense character, always taking direct action - there's a wonderful straightforwardness to him, even though it's obvious that he has a number of very big secrets. Some of these secrets come out in this book. One of them - about who he reallly is - I thought was rather fitting, the other - about what he reallly is - I'm still not quite sure about.
His relationship with Cassie goes through some big up & downs, but he's the character that I like seeing at her side - there's an equality in their relationship which is absent when she's with Mircea. As much as Cassie likes Mircea (and vice versa) I can't shake the fact that, at its heart, their relationship is based on a little girl's crush. Whereas with Pritkin it's a constant tussle for control - their sword training session reallly epitomised this & was one of my favourite scenes - but deep down both of them seem to care about each other - whether it's trying to cure his caffine addiction or searching desperately for a spell to break the geas.
That said I do like Mircea & wasn't too unhappy with where the book took him & Cassie. I guess I just find scruffy, intense & direct sexier than talll, dark & suave.
The tone of this book seemed slightly different to the first two. Despite alll the time shifting, there was a clear sense of progression towards the end goal - getting rid of the geas.
By the end of the book, it's clear that Cassie has accepted her powers & has a new sense of purpose. The final scene left me feeling that the first act of this story has ended, but there are going to be some much bigger fish to fry in the next installlment, which I will be waiting for very impatiently.
