If books #2 and #3 had been rolled into one, and CURSE THE DAWN were #3 in the Cassandra Palmer series, the whole thing would be perfect...I really struggled with #2 and #3, because Cassandra's silly antics weren't balanced out by real progress and plot progression. But this book, CURSE THE DAWN, solved that problem and got me back in the groove of the series.

Yes, the pace is frantic, and yes, Cassie keeps running from one disaster to the next with hardly a moment to catch her breath...but she's not spinning wheels here. The book leads up to a big showdown with Apollo...which actually happens. It won't drag through to the next book, we don't find out that before Cassie can face Apollo she needs to run a lengthy errand, fetch a magical artifact, or anything else that will take 500 pages and another installment in the series. No, her battle with Apollo is at the top of her list and Cassie can check it off before we close the book with a happy sigh and wonder what happens next.

We get lots of opportunity to compare and contrast Mircea and Pritkin in this novel, too. Mircea's high-handedness, his ability to seamlessly combine a protective instinct with opportunistic political manipulation, is front and center - but we also get flashes of deep feeling from him, a hidden well of real emotion that shines through when Cassie is in jeopardy. Pritkin is more up-front about everything, and as he does battle with other war mages and forges some alliances, too, we get a chance to hear him describe how he feels about Cassie.

Plus, we get plenty of Karen Chance's trademark humor - the big gag in this book has Cassie and Pritkin switching bodies, which leads to many, many hilarious interludes. And we really need the gags in this book, because without them it would be pretty dark. A few pretty major events take place that will change the progress of the series - and I'm looking forward to the next volume, to find out what happens.