Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #718 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
Recently named the world's chief clairvoyant, Cassandra Palmer still has a thorn in her side. As long as Cassie and a certain master vampire - the sizzling-hot Mircea - are magically bound to each other, her life will never be her own. The spell that binds them can only be broken with an incantation found in the Codex Merlini, an ancient grimoire. The Codex's location has been lost in the present day, so Cassie will have to seek it out in the only place it can still be found - the past. But Cassie soon realizes the Codex has been lost for a reason. The book is rumored to contain dangerous spells, and retrieving it may help Cassie to deal with Mircea, but it could also endanger the world.

Customer Reviews

Embrace the night - book three in the Cassandra Palmer series
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 and about a week and a half after the last book. You can therefore expect like the others to be taken straight into the action and to have the pace mantained thoughout the book. The opening chapters are very good; thrilling and 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 finally have control over her life she must be rid of it and 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 allies in this book, one of its roles seems to be setting up the sides for the impending interspecies war and through it we learn that she has even more enemies...gods, demons, mages, the fey, Rasputin and her old master Tony, throw in an uneasy alliance with the vampires, fun, fun, fun. Chance really isn't picky about the paranormal and mythical creatures she writes about, these books have pretty much everything magical, mythical and paranormal in, but I in no way see this as a bad thing, it puts me in mind of the convoluted, combustible Roman and Greek myths she draws heavily from; with the love triangles, betrayals and 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 and her touch of using Merlin's original name, nice.


There are some good suprises and 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 all over the place through time, making all 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 and 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, particually 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 and reactions are incredibly complex and nothing is really concluded, this gives it a sense of realism, but at the same time there are some really touching and tense scenes between Cassie and 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 and funniest. Especially in her scenes with Mirea I find her reactions are rather repetitive and 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 and the ending really 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 and everyone but is really interesting in her actions.

Embrace the night is thrilling with a few good quirks and often rather funny. I recommend all three books, and 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 and Cassie as the accepted and 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
I loved this book and 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 and Mircea but I really missed thomas and Louis Cesar not being in this book. The book is brilliant and 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 and Francoise which I hope will link back to Louis Cesar in the next installment! It is fantastic but leaves you wanting more and I'm not sure I can wait a year for the next installment! I finally understand how Harry Potter fans feel every year!

Keep 'em coming!
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 really hit her stride by the second one, and 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 all, her characters are so convincing that by the third book you've really 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 really enjoy a book, only to encounter cheesiness and lack of tension when it comes to the love scenes. Not so here - there seems to be a joyfulness and 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 really love, and 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, and I can't recommend it highly enough. But read the others first! :)