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When I started this book I thought it started out ok, but then the author introduced way too much information and it was somewhat distracting. I quite agree. It was as if she had all these great ideas and couldn't narrow it down and didn't have a clear way of putting it together the story-line. I read a review that it was very distracting when you have an action scene and then several pages of background in the middle of it. There was just too many different paranormal/mythical ideas in the first book. Not sure whether to blame the author, editor or publisher on this one.
The truth comes out in bits and pieces, but Cassie is special, and as her powers change, she's forced to accept a role that may be her destiny, but it's definitely not her choice.If I allowed myself to use half points, then I'd give this one 3.5 stars. Since Cassie doesn't remotely resemble a nun, I think it's safe to predict some romantic entanglements will be coming down the road, but like with most UF series out there, we're gonna have to wait, and wait, and wait. He takes her to the vampire senate, where Cassie is wanted either dead or alive by practically every supernatural group in existence. When Cassie tries to warn her roommate Tomas of the danger, a fight with the assassins reveals that Tomas is also a vampire. Plot Summary: Cassandra Palmer is a true clairvoyant, and her visions enriched her vampire guardian for years until she escaped. I'm going to reserve making a judgement on this series until I can read book two, because there were enough spicy, tasty ingredients here to make something wonderful. Fortunately this story is not lacking in sensuality, and it actually does feature some decent sex scenes, but there's no `happily ever after' in sight, so this is definitely an urban fantasy in my book. I found it slightly maddening, and I wonder if this plot device is used in subsequent books, because one of Cassie's talents is time-travel.
She's beyond clueless, and while I can sympathize with the bombs that are dropped on her head, I still wanted to give her a get-a-grip slap by the end. It's a particular problem with intro books, where everything new must be explained to the reader, but the best writers can dole out `the rules' in a continuous trickle, instead of writing long boring passages about the inner workings of their supernatural world. After several successful years on the run, she receives a copy of her own obituary. Cassie reminded me of Keanu Reeves's character, Neo, in the first "Matrix" movie, where she's always expressing amazement or denial at each revelation. The stage is set beautifully in this intro book for a spectacular series, but I was frustrated by some clumsy sections that stole the plot's momentum. I found myself skimming several times here, and it's not a good sign.The action had several high points that had me on the edge of my seat, and at the penultimate moment of crisis, the scene would break away to someplace else for a really long time before returning to the present. I'm assuming that she comes to terms with her powers in the sequel, and stops her griping. I just didn't see it all meld within this first book like I was hoping it would.
But Good Lord. I literally couldn't even picture what she looked like that was about the amount of depth she gave her. I am a little bit new to this genre.having gotten hooked on Charlaine Harris and of course Twilight, I've been hunting around to find something equally as good. As other reviewers mentioned she gives too much unecessary detail, jumps around so much it's hard for someone to keep up and there are the storyline is bizzare. This authors writing style I foudn to be, well, just kind of gross, the words she chooses.reading this book made me feel so icky I ended up just tossing it halfway through. This book is bad. As far as the main character, it's like who cares.
But honestly, it was just not good writing. I decided to try this one on the strength of the positive reviews and the opening paragraph of the book caught me. It seems like she was trying to emulate Charlaine Harris' Sookie writing style.she has lots of paranormal characters and the heroine is a psychic/clairvoyant type who deals with the creatures of the underworld. It's yucky bad. It just doesn't mesh, it's actually kind of non-sensical. And like I said I'm new to the genre.I certainly don't consider myself a urban fantasy fanatic, and I've never been really into sci-fi, but Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series I could deal with that level of blood and violence. Should have kept my receipt on this one.
Touch the Dark was the first book I downloaded on my newly kindle-enabled iPhone as I reasoned that if it weren't all that great, at least I wouldn't have to find a place on my bookshelf for it. My only compliant with this first book was that some of the characters weren't as fleshed out as I might have liked, but that's a pretty easy compliant to make with the first book of just about any ongoing series. Imagine my surprise to find the book was actually as good as gold. Fun and exciting with a sharp able wit and a narrative voice I was instantly fond of. Basically an adventure story with quite a bit of urban fantasy world-building and some good old paranormal romance thrown into the mix, Touch the Dark is a treat to read. Best of all, the Cassandra Palmer series just gets better as it goes on so, if you like this one, you'll almost certainly love the rest of the series.
In general, the story lacked any spark that kept me interested. I couldn't get immersed in it because the descriptions were bogging it down and pushing me away. there's a lot I didn't like. The story and writing, on the other hand. I'll lead with the most annoying thing about the audiobook - the fact that the reader kept pronouncing the 'were' from 'werewolf' like 'weir', unlike the normal pronunciation of 'where'. I, for one, will not be continuing in this series. The sheer number of 'something like's, 'as if's, 'seems like's, and other similar passive phrases really distanced me from the story. But the style of writing left a lot to be desired.
It certainly is not on par with a lot of the other paranormal stories that are so popular now. The plot, while it might have had promise, was drown out by the writing. It made me cringe each time she said it.That aside, I didn't find much fault with the narrator. If the author had simply done away with those phrases (and said, for instance - this is not a line from the book, just an example - 'the air crackled with unspent magic' instead of 'the air, full of unspent magic, crackled as if it were filled with electricity', it would have read a lot better) it might have smoothed out the story and made it a lot more enjoyable.As it is, I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone. The characters were boring and I didn't empathize with - or hate - any of them. Perhaps, in the hands of someone else, the tale might have been told in an intriguing manner. There are much better series to spend your time on. I didn't even care how this book ended, and only listened to the end of it because I kept hoping it would get better.
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