I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it here but I hate rollercoasters. I was on the Big Dipper at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio when I was like 9. My sister made me believe it would be fun. This roller coaster at the time was the best and highest (101 feet at the highest point) of those days back when. She took my glasses so I wouldn’t lose them and I couldn’t see jack. I hated every minute of it and the only thing I’ve been on since is something like the Demon Drop and a kiddie rollercoaster with my daughter. I hate them. Why am I telling you this during a book review? Because that is exactly how it felt to read this series.
I’ve read the first four books and, other than the rollercoaster aspect, I did like them. I think Cassie needs to grab someone, tie them down and force them to tell her answers without evasion. I also think she needs to talk Mircea into buying her a private island with some major defense so she can having a freaking week to simply lie down and sleep/relax/eat/whatever. Or hell, she could simply go somewhen and somewhere there isn’t someone trying to kill her for a week or so. And relax! I would!
The stories are non-freaking-stop someone is trying to kill me, everyone is trying to kill me, that guy wants to get me in bed and is kissing me (OMG) how amazing that is even though I’m bleeding and almost died three times today… and it keeps going and going, like the pretty Pink Bunny we all know and love to hate. Literally. It’s just absolutely amazing that this girl is stil alive, because I know damn well, if she were a real live person, she’d be dead. She’d be so dead and no one would be able to stop it because there’s just no way in hell anyone is that freaking lucky. Why do so many factions want her dead? Because she has power and she’s (supposedly) uncontrollable. If they can’t have control of her to ‘keep her safe’ and have her do every little thing they tell her to do ‘because it’s for the best’ then they want her dead so her power passes on to someone they can keep under their thumb.
Don’t get me wrong now. Yes, I am complaining and I have a right to do so. The books are good. The storyline is good. The constant running from death thing gets a little bit much and you tend to be like.. “Um yeah, someone’s trying to kill you again but there’s another book so I know you live” then you skim through it just to get it over with. And there’s some really great sex scenes that never get to sex. There are like two times she has sex in the entire series so far where sex is actually completed. Everything else is a tease, but it is a good, long, juicy tease. If there is one thing she knows, Karen Chance can write a sex scene that doesn’t contain actual sex that will get you hot and bothered. After the second actual sex scene I don’t even know if she has sex! She has somewhat of a relationship, which we don’t know if it’s exclusive, that’s considered a marriage in the vampire world, that she says she was never asked about, even though she gave her permission for the claim in the first place, but didn’t understand what she was doing to begin with.
Cassandra Palmer is the one character I’d love to slap. She knows nothing, which isn’t entirely her fault since she was refused teaching as a child where she grew up. Fine and dandy. She’s an adult now and is constantly running for her life, without actually leaving the city she’s living in. Everyone who wants to kill her knows where she is and I can’t figure out why she’s not dead yet. Now that she’s all grown up and has all this power that she doesn’t entirely know how to use you’d think she’d say ‘give me some answers’ or ‘train me in magical self-defense’ but instead relies on others to keep her alive. Which is very hard for them to do since she’s always running off getting herself into trouble and, again, almost dying.
There you have it. Rollercoaster between almost getting killed and almost sex. That sums it up right there. If you’re interested in trying out the saga, you’ll want to start with Touch the Dark. I hope you enjoy it more so than I did, or that you love rollercoasters.
