Claimed by Shadow (Cassandra Palmer, Book 2) [Mass Market Paperback]

Karen Chance (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 3, 2007

Clairvoyant Cassie Plamer has inherited new magical powers-including the ability to travel through time. But it's a whole lot of responsibility she'd rather not have. Now she's the most popular girl in town, as an assortment of vamps, fey, and mages try to convince, force, or seduce her-and her magic-over to their side. But one particular master vampire didn't ask what Cassie wanted before putting a claim on her. He had a spell cast that binds her to him, and now she doesn't know if what she feels for him is real-or imagined...

Editorial Reviews

Review

A fair maiden tough enough to kick [vampire] butts. -- Rebecca York, USA Today bestselling author Shadow of the Moon

An engaging heroine. -- Kelley Armstrong, USA Today bestselling author of Broken

Like the previous novel, CLAIMED BY SHADOW is a non-stop thrill ride from beginning to end, a wildly entertaining romp with a strong, likeable heroine. The story is fast-paced and barely lets up from the word "go," lightened with plenty of wry humor and more than a dash of romance. In Cassie's last adventure, TOUCH THE DARK, the focus was on vampires. Here, we see more about the mages, especially Cassie's nemesis Pritkin. It's obvious that Chance has even more wonders to reveal, and I am very much looking forward to the next installment of Cassie's adventures. -- Rambles.com

Magic aplenty populates this fast moving, rather dark tale of power, corruption, double-dealings and painful attractions as Cassie comes to grips with her new role in this follow-up to TOUCH THE DARK. It is nice to see a strong, capable heroine taking charge with a kick butt attitude while attempting to balance right and wrong in the face of impossible odds. -- monstersandcritics.com

Ms. Chance is a master at fleshing out her secondary characters and keeping her storyline moving at a lightening fast pace. Cassie remains the funny and smart heroine we came to love in book one. She solves her own problems and trusts her intuition. This is a series well worth getting hooked on. -- FreshFiction.com

The much anticipated sequel to TOUCH THE DARK, CLAIMED BY SHADOW picks up right where Cassie left off in the first book, infused with a power she doesn't want. From tacky Vegas showgirl costumes to moveable tattoo parlors to a zombie Elvis, Karen Chance takes readers on another wild ride with never-ending action. CLAIMED BY SHADOW should not be missed. -- Romance Reviews Today

The second installment of Karen Chance's paranormal fantasy saga to feature psychic Cassandra Palmer (after 2006's Touch the Dark) explores new territory, as the 23-year-old heroine is forced to deal with the unfathomable power -- and danger -- associated with being the heir to the Pythia, the world's most influential clairvoyant. Palmer's newfound position makes her a prime target for supernatural factions (vampires, the Fey, mages, etc.) looking to monopolize -- or simply destroy -- her powers. To complicate matters, Palmer learns that someone, most likely a 500-year-old master vampire who happens to be Dracula's older brother, has put a "geis" on her, a magical bond that not only deters any potential suitors but also makes Palmer irrationally attracted to her supernatural subjugator. But when she vows to remove the geis, she finds herself an unwilling pawn in the middle of a dangerous power play...

Blending contemporary fantasy, romance, and horror into an appetizing literary amalgam, the crossover appeal of Chance's Cassie Palmer saga will undoubtedly find a more than welcoming audience with fans of authors like Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, and Charlaine Harris. Chance's left-of-center sense of humor -- in particular, bastardized Latin one-liners like "stercus accidit" -- makes this relatively lighthearted series a fast-paced and highly entertaining read.-Paul Goat Allen -- Explorations SF/F Reviews

From the Back Cover

Clairvoyant Cassie Palmer has inherited new magical powers-including the ability to travel through time. But it's a whole lot of responsibility she'd rather not have. Now she's the most popular girl in town, as an assortment of vamps, fey, and mages try to convince, force, or seduce her-and her magic-over to their side. But one particular master vampire didn't ask what Cassie wanted before putting a claim on her. He had a spell cast that binds her to him, and now she doesn't know if what she feels for him is real-or imagined...

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 374 pages
• Publisher: Roc (April 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451461525
• ISBN-13: 978-0451461520
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Karen Chance is a New York Times bestselling novelist, writer of the popular Cassandra Palmer and Dorina Basarab urban fantasy series. For more information, the latest news, free stories, contests and more, visit her website at KarenChance.com or stop by her Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/cassandrapalmerseries.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 143 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Running in place... April 9, 2007

By lwd

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

In anticipation of this novel, I re-read the first in the series, Touch The Dark. Fresh, different, original writing style, and a not so subtle hook that insured I'd buy the next book. At the end of that book, Cassie had received a new and unwanted mantle (Pythia), a sexy love interest was left at the altar (so to speak), and she was running from things that go bump in the night.

After finishing Claimed by Shadow, I was a little annoyed to find that I was pretty much in the same fix. Cassie has a new and unwanted power, the sexy love interest is still off limits, she's still running from things that go bump in the night. It may be too soon to judge, and I will read the next book in the series, but I'm sensing a pattern here.

Claimed by Shadow does introduce more fascinating aspects of the world she has created, but her new powers are still unexplained, and likely to remain so for some time. Whipping through history is interesting, but can she do anything else with the title of Pythia? Charging into situations she doesn't understand, with "allies" that have shown themselves to be less than trustworthy in the first book is also interesting, but seriously makes me question her basic common sense. Worse, I no longer know who the good guys and the bad guys are. Except for Tony, everyone seems to have reversed roles. As for the Geis... big sigh, annoying and becoming redundant quickly.

Either I'm losing it (always a very strong possibility), or the author is losing me, I'm not sure which. I'll hang in there for another installment, but if this doesn't start going somewhere soon, I might just as well get on my treadmill for entertainment rather than brave the elements.

47 of 54 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars If you love paranormal romance, you'll probably like this book April 18, 2007

By R. Kyle TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

At least, that seems to be the consensus among the people I know who really enjoy the paranormals. I'm surprised Roc billed it as a fantasy. To me, "Claimed by Shadow" does not stand up to Chance's first novel.

Success is hard to follow. The singer Joni Mitchell once said, "No one ever told Van Gogh to paint Starry Night again," but that's not necessarily true. When an audience comes to expect a certain style from an artist, they're disappointed when the creator doesn't deliver.

In that vein of thought, a second novel should be very much like the first. Wooddavis' review stating that the novels are running in place is spot on thematically. Both novels have the same plotline with some variation.

The problem is, in my opinion, the second novel was not quite up to the standard of the first. Most writing instructors and editors will advise newbie writers not to use flash-forwards and flash-backs at the beginnings of their careers. While these devices are very useful and evocative, they can often lose the reader. While Cassie's time-shift capability was an interesting new development, Chance did not handle these episodes with the same finesse that author C. E. Murphy uses in her Walker Papers series when Joanne goes vision-questing.

The time-shifting skill is definitely an interesting talent in conjunction with clairovoyance. Aside from the paradoxes Cassie can create, she can also effect her own predictions--nulling and creating new ones as need arises. I'm not sure Chance has sufficiently prepared her girl with the strength and decisiveness to be that dangerous an opponent.

Cassie also seems more indecisive in this story.... She's definitely entitled to these emotions, but that indecisiveness doesn't make her as likable as the stronger butt kicking heroines we're used to in fantasy. Also, the episodes of 'what do I do' tend to derail the forward motion of the plot and stall the reader out. These are spots where I as a reader get frustrated and tend to want to just skip. While I read the entirely of "Chained" I'm pretty certain I will skip the third book. Read more ›

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Really wanted to rate this 5 stars but... April 4, 2007

By Betsy Taylor

Format:Mass Market Paperback

It was with much yell out loud, hand-shaking anticipation that I picked up Claimed By Shadow the moment it landed in the stores.

The story picks up almost immediately after the end of book 1. Cassie is on a mission to locate the whereabouts of her ex-master - the vampire Tony - as well as her rival to the title of Pythia - Myra - who continues to possess the power to time travel and could prevent Cassie from ever being born.

Along the way, we are introduced to several new characters - among which include several incubus, 3 little old ladies who are more than what they appear to be, several species of the fae and even a zombie or two!

Cassie is still stubbornly refusing to complete the ritual that will grant her the title of Pythia, and the Powers That Be are NOT HAPPY at this situation. Towards the end of the book, the question of whether or not Cassie becomes Pythia is answered, and new alliances are formed that will be as surprising as it is unexpected.

Perhaps I had set my expectations way too high (what can I say, the first book - Touch the Dark - was just THAT GOOD), but the sequel didn't capture me the way I was expecting. Don't get me wrong. The writing is still fabulous, and the pace is still fast, exciting and action-packed. MOST of the returning characters, and some of the new ones, are as fascinating as ever. So what happened?

Basically, my gripe is with the main character - Cassie. In book one, we have this excellent female lead who experiences great character development as the story unravels. As she learns about her growing powers, it is like watching a caterpillar slowly emerge into a beautiful butterfly.... The book ends with her becoming this empowered individual who wouldn't take crap from anyone, no matter how powerful or seductive they were.

But in book 2, it seemed to me like the butterfly was morphing back into a caterpillar. I started feeling somewhat annoyed at how indecisive the heroine had become. She questioned every little thing, and put off making any major decisions until she had no other choice. Every decision she DID end up making seemed to place her group in greater peril.

And some of her actions did not make sense at all. One case in point - who in the world would leave powerful, known to be magical items in the hands of an unknown servant who ultimately works for her most hated vampire enemy? I can cite several other such examples, but I would be giving too much of the story away. And when all her decisions end up proving somewhat disastrous, what does our stalwart heroine do? Shrug her shoulders and push the problem to the back of her mind (until it inevitably comes back to bite her in the butt).

However, the development of other characters do make up for the disappointment caused by Cassie. We get to understand more of the motivations behind Pritkin the fanatical war mage and he fleshed out into a well developed character who straddles the thin line between friend and foe. One new character - Mac - does not get much screen time, but whatever he does get manages to intrigue and engage the reader. And of course, the actions of the rascally ghost Billy and Pritkin's golem provide several of the comical moments in the book.

If not for the seeming regression of the main lead (which to me counts as a major crime and thus warrants deducting 1 star), this book would otherwise rate as a 5. Read more ›