• Tag Archives Cassandra Palmer
  • Tempt the Stars, Omens, & Parasite

    The sixth book in Karen Chance‘s Cassandra Palmer series is a lot like the previous entries, so you should basically know what to expect. Its three notable features are exploring the hell dimensions a bit, introducing the Covens and touching on the Pythia’s court, and giving practically no page-time to Mircea (focusing instead on Pritkin and retrieving him from his father).

    Kelley Armstrong‘s new series (Cainsville) begins with a fairly infuriating opening segment showcasing the horrors of unwarranted tabloid-fueled reputation assassination. Once it gets past that setup and arrives in the town of Cainsville things begin to get quite good indeed. The supernatural aspects start off mostly subdued and only gradually begin to make their presence known, which works fantastically. And the variety of supernaturals being dealt with here? It’s not explicitly stated, but seems to be a combination of inherent psychic abilities with some Fae thrown in for good measure.

    Parasite is the first novel in Mira Grant’s (Seanan McGuire‘s) new Parasitology series. It’s something of a combination between the renegade scientist parts of her Newsflesh trilogy and Stephenie Meyer’s The Host. It’s a little shaky due to both the characters’ tendency to monologue exposition at you and the awkwardness inherent in the protagonist not being legally in control of her life. I’m also not sure if the reveal just before the “to be continued” is supposed to be a surprise or not; it’s telegraphed so heavily that it ends up rather anticlimactic.


  • Karen Chance Novellas

    There are several free novellas that take place in the Cassandra Palmer universe available on Karen Chance’s homepage:

    The Gauntlet – Set long before the series proper starts this focuses on a young Kit Marlowe and some witches who don’t show up in the series until the sixth book (or if they do show up earlier I don’t recall them). It’s pretty good.

    The Queen’s Witch – The sequel to the above; is also pretty good if you don’t mind the spontaneous attraction between the main characters.

    The House at Cobb End – Focusing on Pritkin and also taking place before the parent series this is a very interesting short story about the origins of his house. A house that I cannot for the life of me recall appearing in the main books.

    The Day of the Dead – This focuses on a character I do not remember ever seeing before (Thomas), though I do remember the main antagonist (Alejandro) getting mentioned in passing a few times. The story is okay… if a bit random and not particularly engaging.

    In Vino Veritas – Part of the Dorina Basarab spin-off, this feels more like a low quality fanfiction than an author addition. That it was originally published in an anthology explains this to an extent; anthology entries have the disturbing tendency to be vastly inferior to their parent series.

    A Family Affair – Set between books four and five of the Cassandra Palmer series and featuring Pritkin, Rosier, Casanova, and Cassie this deals with a trip through one of the hell dimensions. It’s a solid story that ends up referenced a bit in the sixth book.

    Shadowland – A sequel to A Family Affair, this features most of the same characters. It’s more or less on par with the prequel, with the exception that the opening scene told from Pritkin’s point of view feels completely out of character.