Review: Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance

Claimed by Shadow (Cassie Palmer #2)

By Karen Chance

Urban Fantasy

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Cassie Palmer just can't get a break. A week after the events in Touch the Dark and Cassie is on the run from both the vampire Senate and the mages Silver Circle, both either wanting to use her or kill her. But that isn't when where her problems end they just keep on piling up; Myra the crazy sybil and Pythia-wannabe is still trying to kill Cassie and has found a new way to do it, removing Mircea's protection by killing him; she can't trust her unlikely ally the tenacious and slightly crazy war mage Pritkin and then there is the geis, the part protection spell and part love/devotion/loyalty spell that seems to have seriously backfired.

Now that I have gotten used to this world and everything in it I have found that I enjoyed this book more then the first one. Like the first one Cassie bounces from life threatening situation to near death experience making this once again a fast paced and exciting read; you are never likely to get bored reading these books as so much is happening! In this book we enter Faery, travel to the 1880's three times, wreck a brothel and a casino, bust out of jail and fly away in a tatto parlour, just to mention a few of the interesting things that happen in this book!

I love reading from Cassie's POV, I know first person isn't most peoples favourite POV but I find I like seeing the action and discovering new things from Cassie's eyes. Once again she was a great character tough and practical but not that over-the-top-i-have-a-hidden-penis kind that some UF heroines can sometimes get, she also is compassionate and vulnrable in a world where she is almost always the weakest person in the room.

Then there is Pritkin and Mircea, I know she is going to pair up with one of these characters, but I can't decide which one I prefer, I think I sway slightly to the mysterious war mage Pritkin, but then Mircea shows his gorgeous face and all bets are off. I guess I will have to read on!

Here are a few words of wisdom about the laments of being a ghost from my favourite spook Billy Joe:

There was once a ghost named Billy
Who got in a jam rather silly,
He found a beautiful lass,
And quick made a pass,
Forgetting he only had mist for a willy.