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Touch the Dark
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Touch the Dark (Cassandra Palmer #1)
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Zeenat
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rated it 4 stars
Aug 12, 2013 03:20PM
Oh yes, I forgot about that. Man I need this reread!
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Don't worry Zeenat, you were not the only one!! I realized while reading, there was a lot I passed over/forgot, partly since it has been so long, partly because when I last read it, I knew how things would go so I didn't think much of them...until now.
So I've read up till the end of Chapter 8 now. Here are a few more thoughts.When Cassie's in Tomas's body during the fight in the car park, I liked seeing the world through a vamp's eyes. We know that they're bigger, stronger and faster, but it's interesting to see just how they perceive us slo-mo humans!
Also, it was particularly nice to see Cassie tell LC to shut up. Just the look on his face haha!
Another thing that struck me is that Billy Joe is very knowledgeable about magic and wards and stuff like that. How did he get this knowledge? Does some of it come naturally to a ghost, or has he picked up bits and pieces through the years from being around magic users and maybe drifting through their thoughts? It surprised me a little that he seems to know more than Cassie sometimes, and she learned some tricks from mages in her childhood.
Finally, the scene in Carcassonne where Cassie speaks with the ghosts about rescuing Françoise. We've speculated a lot about the rumours about Cassie's father and how he's said to lead armies of ghosts. Once again, here's Cassie interacting with an army of ghosts AND one of them says to her "Help us and we will be your slaves". Is it possible that Cassie's father might have encountered something similar (e.g. another ancient building that had seen a lot of death) and perhaps he acquired the services of ghosts that way? Or is the whole thing about his ghost army a slander by the Silver Circle?
With Billy, I've always assumed that's just experience. I mean, what do you you do the first few decades as a ghost other explore the extent of your abilities?And about Cassie's dad, I do not think it's all slander from the Silver Circle, especially not after this reread. Pritkin is completely convinced Cassie is evil after encountering some of the things she does with ghosts and possession, and all of these things she sort of fell into. I believe Cassie's father probably did similar things, only he was aware of his powers and well practiced, so his reputation was Pritkin's reaction multiplied by 1000, with some added exaggeration as is natural for such scandals.
Karen wrote: "So, that's a long way of say, yeah, Mircea caught hell over it. "Thanks for answering our questions, Karen! So, "caught hell over it," What does that mean? Was Mircea punished the same way he punished Marco? Or is it more of a situation of "teasing" or losing "political clout"?
LOL Mircea ending up with Dante's would be punishment, but as most of the problems with Dante's deals with his human gf... maybe Cassie is the punishment? ;)
LOL I am on chapter 6 and Radella goes “Oh, no. You aren’t my Cassandra, are you?” At the time, I thought that Cassie had an evil twin. I really had no idea what I was in for...!!
I want to see what Cassie is going to do when she finds out about Dory. Mircea is keeping more secrets than Marlowe from her, and that's not good. I think Cassie can live with Mircea being a pauper, but keeping Dory from her???? Ohhhhh I think that is a MUCH bigger deal to her...
I am loving the idea of Mircea getting a dressing down from the Consul. I think that would be quite scary, even for someone as powerful as Mircea. I can't help but wonder how Mircea felt about it. I mean, did he feel that the Consul was justified in rebuking him (so did he man up and take it?) or was he silently seething that he had to take the fallout for Tony. After all, relations between the Consul and Mircea have been pretty tense of late, and this can't have helped, right?It'll be interesting to see how Mircea (and the Consul) react to Cassie's interest in rescuing Pritkin .... but I know we won't be getting any hints on that! :D
I don't think I can get my head around the words 'Mircea' and 'pauper' in the same sentence LOL! Can you imagine him not having the newest Armani suits and *gasp* maybe even having to wear jeans! Oh the humanity!
Mod
But Cassie running around with a gun made me smile and think of Shadowland :D
And yes, the norse mythology is much more fun!! (totally not biased!) *VIKING ROAR* !!!!
I remember from my first read that I thought Tomas was going to be the big love interest. Then I thought it was a love triangle between Tomas, Mircea and Cassie. I was slightly amazed that Pritkin turned into such a hottie LOL!I suppose it is easy to overlook Tomas since he hasn't been in the books since Claimed by Shadow. Leodora, did you ever read his short story Day of the Dead? It's on KC's web site. I still like Tomas, even though he made some seriously dumb choices, but I think he was slowly going nuts from being bound to LC.
Also, YAY FOR VIKINGS!! :D We have some Viking festivals round these parts and it's nice to think that your ancestors probably raped and pillaged mine a thousand years ago. I think this means we're practically related LMAO! :D
Cassie will always love Mircea, no matter how impoverished! Take that, Pritkin faction!But seriously, Aileen, I think you're right, that's going to piss Cassie off like nothing else. Mircea can try to imprison her all he wants; I think she just considers that an opportunity to rise to the challenge and escape. But keeping the fact that he has a daughter from her is a different level of uncoolness. However, I would LOVE it if finding out how much Mircea is hiding leads Cassie to take a cue from Marlowe and start spying more systematically on Mircea.
Zeenat I know what you mean when you say you had no idea what you were in for. I am fondly remembering the first time I read TtD. I remember when Cassie finally got to MAGIC and I thought she was finally going to catch a breath, and then she escaped with Billy Joe's help and I couldn't believe it. I felt sympathetic tiredness just from reading about all the things she'd been doing that evening, but instead of staying there and feeling like she was safe in the hands of the handsome and powerful senators, she just headed right back out to pursue her own goals. I think that's when I decided I loved the book.
Karen, I have a question for you (it's taken me a while to think of one that won't be spoilerish!): Cassie has so much untapped potential for spying, between her abilities and Billy Joe. (Not that she gets much downtime for plotting spying campaigns.) When she was younger, at Tony's place, did she ever use ghosts to spy for her? And if so, what did she find out from her ghostly friends? Or was she too afraid of what she might find out, given what she knew about Tony's torture-cellar? When did she first get the idea of starting to use ghosts to spy for her, and does she have any moral objections to this?
Leodora wrote: "And yes, the norse mythology is much more fun!! (totally not biased!) *VIKING ROAR* !!!! "I'm working on some stuff right now that is heavy into Norse Mythology. As I said before, I like it because it's so dark and dangerous. Of course, I guess if you live in the Great White North, you'd have to be on the "dark and dangerous" side to be able to tolerate the cold. I've always wanted to visit the area as it looks beautiful - even in the heart of winter.
I think the fjords are spectacularly beautiful, though that's Norway rather than Denmark. But then Denmark has Viggo Mortensen and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ....
Personally, I'm glad Tomas is out of the picture. While I understand he was just doing what he was told to do, he did not seem to be a fit for Cassie. Cassie seems to have an independent streak in her personality that requires her the freedom to do what she wants/needs when required, while Tomas seemed to be set in stone and expected things to be his way; his attitude is not that he expects discipline in all things, but I suspect more of the period he grew up in necessitating discipline in all things in order to survive. Regardless of the reason, that sort of relationship would have been a prison to Cassie.In the same vein, while Mircea tries to tell Cassie what to do, she knows she can get around his wishes due to the fact that she's known him for most of her life and has developed a rapport with him; I get the feeling that he feels kind of like a father figure to her. I know from having two grown daughters that they can get around most of your edicts quite easily. Which brings to mind the fact that with the relationship the two had as she was growing up, and Mircea now trying to complete the coupling required for Cassie to receive her "Pythia" powers, wouldn't it seem like you were trying to boink your own daughter, or, at the very least, your niece? I could understand it coming from Mircea as in the time he was living it probably was an excepted practice, but it would have to be weird for Cassie. Just thinking of doing such a thing is kind of icky to me.
At any rate, I'm team Pritkin, so I'm waiting for the axe to fall on Mircea to pave the way for Pritkin and Cassie.
Yes, i am also Team Pritkin. I think Mircea is just in it for power.
Lannister wrote: "I think the fjords are spectacularly beautiful, though that's Norway rather than Denmark. But then Denmark has Viggo Mortensen and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ...."In Norse mythology, the mythology encompasses the entire Scandinavian area; the Danish islands and the peninsula of Jutland and the Scandinavian peninsula, Sweden and the Baltic Sea coast, Norway, and Denmark. It's interesting that many of the "Gods" that were embedded into the mythology were actually true rulers of countries that surrounded the Scandinavian area in various periods in time, with the names of said rulers either bastardized, or in many cases, based on the language of the country that the ruler at the time and spelled "phonically." These included countries located a far away as the middle east.
Of course, you were probably indicating that Leodora is from Denmark, but what the heck! ;-)
But enough of this nonsense - back to the TtD discussion!
Yup, Team Pritkin for me too.There's a scene in Touch the Dark that I haven't quite got to in my reread yet, but it's where Cassie finds out that Tomas has been quietly feeding from her for months. It's possibly just the way I interpreted the scene (and hell, maybe my impressions will be different when I get to it this time round) but Mircea really dropped Tomas in it, and he sounded almost gleeful when he told Cassie about the feeding, cos he must have known she'd be furious with Tomas. That was decidedly Not Nice. No wonder Tomas rebelled. He was sick of being everyone's whipping boy.
On 'Uncle' Mircea, I've said before that I'm not even convinced that Mircea had originally intended to get together with Cassie, and that the geis was the deciding factor in them having a relationship, rather than their own personal feelings (though Mircea doesn't strike me as the type to turn down an attractive lady!) But I reckon we can cut him a little bit of slack for being a dirty old man because it wasn't entirely his own decision, but I don't know if anyone else sees it this way.
Well, as far a Tomas feeding on Cassie, that's some low life stuff. He could have been topping off the tank at the bar instead of sneaking pints off of his "charge." Then again, weren't there some comments on how good Cassie's blood was? Maybe Tomas wanted some "gourmet" food instead of the leftovers from the "smorgasbord!" But you are correct that, while I would like to say with Mircea using "sneaky vampires wiles" but in truth just using "sneaky guy wiles," he knew Cassie would be übber-issed about it.On Mircea, I think he had plans on controlling Cassie since he first had an inkling of an idea that she could be the next Pythia. He did mark her when he was out there that time he spent a year at Tony's. As far as the geas, I think that it did not have a factor at the time of the first book, (view spoiler). And unless I'm mistaken, the geas was so no one aside from Mircea or his appointed stand-in would be able to tap that thing. So I think Mircea, being Mircea, had all intentions of 1) Knocking off a slice for nefarious purposes, and 2) Using that as a way to control the Pythia for the Senates benefit.
I will give you this - I think (view spoiler).
d c wrote: "Well, as far a Tomas feeding on Cassie, that's some low life stuff. He could have been topping off the tank at the bar instead of sneaking pints off of his "charge." Then again, weren't there some ..."Agreed!!!
On Tomas, his justification was that he needed a 'sense' of where Cassie was and he could get that from her blood. But, yeah, he probably did like the taste of it. I hadn't thought about Tomas having sampled Cassie's blood before.About the geis, all that timeline stuff comes into play (view spoiler)
Karen, would you like to comment on the theory I've just outlined? I'm quite prepared to be completely wrong! :)
I do agree that Mircea wanted control of Cassie and it was rather fun to see things backfire so magnificently LOL! (BTW, am I right in saying, Duane, that you didn't read the Tempt the Stars teasers?) Don't want to spoil anything for anyone. If anyone wants to make a point that refers to the teasers, can you please use the spoiler tag and mention that it's a TtS teaser. Ta muchly!
Lannister wrote: "On Tomas, his justification was that he needed a 'sense' of where Cassie was and he could get that from her blood. But, yeah, he probably did like the taste of it. I hadn't thought about Tomas havi..."Ahh, yeah. Good ploy on his part. If I was single I might be able to work that into a pick-up line! ;-) But you are correct in saying that was his premise for draining her on a regular basis. But then, me being basically a guy (is that even possible?), I think that living with a hot babe would make me take a walk on the wild side, too.
On your ideas about the geas and the 100+ years scenario, that's another whole issue, and, to me, the trouble with time travel and paradox theory. If the theory holds true, then the geas was hosed from the time he had it placed on Cassie, as the malfunction would have already occurred in the future. The whole geas got hosed, as you stated, at the point that Cassie made a trip back in time with Pritkin, met Mircea and touched him, in essence transferring a "copy" of the geas back to him and causing a distortion in the geas' programming; I believe that is what triggered the "geas in a geas" scenario and drastically hosed it for him.
But since time travel creates a "loop" that is constantly replayed over and over like a bad recording (at least this is my belief on the time travel paradox - the first item sets up the loop, and the result(s) play out, eventually negating the previous item(s). As the recording plays again, the subsequent loop causes the whole thing to go away, only to come back on the next loop, starting the whole ball rolling again). Thusly, the whole geas idea was bad from the get go (and a bad idea all around). But, then again, looking at it from this angle, the geas was never there to begin with as they did manage to remove it before Mircea was destroyed by it, thusly negating the placing of it err it was done.
And you are correct in that I don't read teasers for any books. I find it hard enough to wait for the real thing without getting a "taste" to fuel my addiction! But spoil away - I'll just skip over them. :-)
Well, I finally did start reading. I'm only on page 16, but I do think it's very odd that Cassie completely missed what Tomas was. Is it possible for a vampire to cloak their power so completely they appear human? Could that be one of his master powers? (Is Tomas a master? I forget)
Mod
Haha I would be proud to have you in my family :D Your name is even Lannister (well you know!)and as you said, my lovely little ittybitty country has a Lannister - JAMIE!!! :D (Note: I've just read about Jofreys wedding and I can't not get my hands down due to pure excitment!! Serves you right you little twat!)
LOL yeah the fjords are in Norway, Denmark is really flat, but still beautiful :) So you're welcome anytime Duane! :D (Or I'll post winter pics when the snow hits) And daaaanng you know your stuff!
And no wonder Cassie tastes good, considering her heritage :p But Tomas is still an ass.
Wow Lannister nice work on clearing up the whole Geis timeline - cheers! :D
And thank you Karen, have a lively day aswell :D
On the geis malfunction, Cassie does explain this in the book. It was because Mircea was now suffering under two copies of geis, in effect, that no one could remove it. He, as the spell's originator, should have been able to remove it, but because it had duplicated itself, it didn't respond to the built-in get-out clauses. It did also say in the text that it was an unpredictable spell at the best of times, which is why it had fallen out of popularity, so I don't think it necessarily means a time travel paradox (though I try not to think too hard about those in fear of my head exploding).But another thing in defence of poor unwanted Tomas, he argued his feeding on Cassie was necessary for his job (and you can believe or disbelieve as you like!) However, if we're bashing Tomas, surely we have to also bash Mircea for putting that energy drain thingie on her - the one that Billy Joe accidentally broke and got a mega energy rush. What possible justification can Mircea have that, beyond keeping Cassie enslaved to Tony? Compared to Tomas's occasional feeds (and I'm not sure Cassie was his main source of food) Mircea's 'energy dam' probably sucked out far more of her energy than Tomas's ever did. I'm sure it said somewhere the first level masters don't even need to feed all that often, so it wasn't him leaving her tired and listless.
I'll defend Tomas's reputation and never miss an opportunity to blacken Mircea's!! :D
Karen wrote: "Spot on, Lannister! Yes, the frisson was the geis. You know, I wish I had the email I sent this one reader, oh, years ago now. It went on for pages (you know me!) about this very thing. Mainly beca..."Thank you for answering on this!
I should maybe just clarify my position on Mircea, in case it seems like I hate him. I love him as a character, as I think he's wonderfully complex and deep and I think the way you've developed him through Dory and Cassie's POVs is amazingly well done. However, I *love* distrusting him. I don't believe a damn word he says unless it's backed up by someone else (not Marlowe, cos those two are in cahoots!) I was swayed to his side for a few weeks after reading Fury's Kiss but thankfully my natural distrust and cynicism returned.
So it may be a little nasty to say this, but I always like it when Mircea doesn't get what he wants and his plans go awry, cos he's too damn smug sometimes! :P
I try to avoid thinking about time travel paradoxes, since time travel to the past is impossible anyway. No matter how you slice it, it's not going to make a ton of sense from a physical standpoint. So I just focus on Cassie's point of view to keep things simple.
Claire wrote: "Well, I finally did start reading. I'm only on page 16, but I do think it's very odd that Cassie completely missed what Tomas was. Is it possible for a vampire to cloak their power so completely ..."
Tomas is a first level master, but not that powerful compared to some of the others (or LC wouldn't have been able to control him).
I don't know if appearing human could be a special power. It maybe just takes a lot of practice. Dory comments that LC is the most human-like vamp she's seen. Maybe Tomas learned from him?
Somehow I doubt Tomas was willing to learn anything from LC. I still find it hard to believe Cassie didn't notice the drain on her energy when Tomas fed from her.Maybe, on an unconscious level, Cassie did know Tomas wasn't human. That's why despite being attracted to him and his obvious interest, nothing ever developed between them. She knew something wasn't right, even if she wouldn't admit it to herself.
@Karen,To my way of thinking, and this is not based on the Cassie Universe, or that of any other authors or their works, is that, like Chaos Theory, all happenings in Time have a reaction. I guess it could be equated to the old "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" thingy. Further, Time would have to run synchronously within itself in its various iterations in order for Time Travel to be possible. With this being the case, then the "looping" within any instance of Time running in parallel with itself would imply that a paradox of some sort would have to exist; you can't have two instances running at the same time with one instance being changed without affecting the other. At any rate, my line of thinking makes sense to me.
Very Simplified Example (one instance in time):
Start # Begin Event Geas on Cassie
-> geas laid on
-->Check for Zero # Is the event complete?
-> geas activated
--> Check for Zero
-> geas doubled
--> Check for Zero
-> geas removed # Event is complete
-->Set Zero = Zero
--Check for Zero # Check for End of Event
---> If Zero does not equal Zero # Nope, Not complete
---->Return
- Zero
--> goto Start # Yep, Event is complete
This is extremely simplified. In "practice" it would necessitate it being much more involved, but I'm sure you get the gist of the picture. In addition, by keeping in mind that one action can not occur without and equal and, probably opposite, reaction happening.
As an example to explain the above paragraph, when Cassie travels back in Time and touches Mircea, if no Paradox Theory existed, and thus no Paradox ensued, then that would have been that - Cassie touching Mircea. And yet, as you state above, there was a reaction to the "Cassie travel and touch" and that reaction was that the geas was doubled, thereby putting a whammy on Mircea and Cassie. That line of thinking is a paradox in itself - stating there is no paradox, and yet creating a paradox by having the geas doubled. And the fact that time was changed by the touch doubling the geas supports the Paradox Theory; time is not constant nor predictable, and what happens at one point in time will affect events at a later point in time.
By the same token, I am not saying your reasoning for what you did is not sound in practice. In order for you to build your plot and carry it out you had to choose what rules of Time to follow, and what rules to ignore. By ignoring the Paradox Theory, or at least those parts of it that interfere with your storyline, it allows you to proceed with a scenario that does work for you, allowing your plot to unfold as you need it to, thereby creating an issue(s) that needs to be successfully resolved for the outcome that meets your needs and furthers the story.
Wow, I love to argue.
@Lannister,
You can be honest with us - you really do hate Mircea! ;-)
Leodora wrote: "@Lannister Yeah I did read Tomas' short, but I didn't really like it, and the character just bugged me even more after I read it. So yeah, I'm happy Tomas is out of the picture ^^ Haha I would be..."
Didn't I read somewhere that Denmark is supposed to be one of the best places to live in the world. Or maybe the people were the happiest, or something like that. It was good anyway!!
I loved the scene you're talking about in Storm of Swords LOL! One of *the* most satisfying parts of the story.
Claire wrote: "Maybe, on an unconscious level, Cassie did know Tomas wasn't human. That's why despite being attracted to him and his obvious interest, nothing ever developed between them. She knew something wasn't right, even if she wouldn't admit it to herself. "
That's an interesting idea. I think Cassie was so happy to feel she was doing a good thing for another person who, she thought, was in an even worse situation than her. It makes it a little sad that it was all a sham. It's certainly possible she was somewhat in denial.
I like the idea of Cassie as the unreliable narrator, and what we believe as factual (because Cassie says so) may not actually be the case.
Ah! Debate! ;)On Time Travel... For it to even be theoretically possible, it would be unable to loop.
E.G
Current timeline - I killed... Hmm... who? My Ex??
Then I go back in time to stop myself from killing my ex.
Now there is no point in my ever having gone back in time in the first place... hence. no Loop.
Or.
I go back in time, and shoot myself.
No more me, so how did I get to future me to go back and shoot myself??
I LOVE this topic! LOL
I think that with "time-travel" its more of a 'branching-off' due to choices. And we just follow the branch that "Our" Cassie is on...
So in an alternate branch, she wouldn't have met Mircea in the past and the Double Geis wouldn't have occurred.
But Where's the fun in that???
So we follow the branch where she does. :D
-For this to be plausible, one has to assume that there are an infinite number of alternate branches which have yet to be explored.-
Lannister wrote: "However, I *love* distrusting him... / I always like it when Mircea doesn't get what he wants and his plans go awry, cos he's too damn smug sometimes! :P "*Grins* Ditto!!
I love his character, even if I don't much 'like' him.
I love that Cassie almost NEVER does what he wants! ;D
Mod
ans Lannister, we the Danes are known as the happiest people in the world ;)
I had totally surpressed that the consul is suppissed to be Cleopatra! not really how I picture her in my head :p
Leodora, have you seen the boob pic in the gallery on KC's website?Jax, ah, the many worlds theory! That one also makes my head explode. :)
I don't know that we should be getting too science-y about what's possible and what isn't. I mean, we're talking about a story about vampires after all. Some things you just have to take on faith. And I have faith that in one of those many worlds I'm sipping tea with Marlowe right now :)
@Jax - Hence synchronous instances of time running in parallel! Not many worlds, just many tracks of time.@Lannister - are you saying Vampires don't exist?
And why do I feel I'm now being tag-teamed by a group of women? ;-)
I'm going to jump on the Mircea train, not the hateful one (sorry, Lannister!!) because I do like him, and I think his feeling are real, not JUST because of the geas. Does the geas play a part?? Of course it does. But do I also think even without it he would love Cassie?? Yes. I still think that even without the geas he would love her. Partly because she is so freaking lovable (I think it's the spazziness about her.) and because she is so interesting to him, even from a young age. She brings new stuff to the table, (and though this is going to sound creepy, I don't mean it that way,) a lot like Dory, who is a the only one of her kind, always keeps him on his toes. I think that as much as he ACTS like it bothers him, I think he also loves that the girls in his life are the way they are. They keep him interested, entertained, and yes, worried like a mother hen, but still. Life with them is never boring!!On the other hand I will agree that when Mircea's plans go awry, I do kind of love it. It just makes for such good reading. And sometimes I think he deserves it for being Marlowe sneaky at times. I love that they are "in cahoots" that is just the perfect way to describe them. And then Pritkin comes in, and more spazzing ensues and it's always a roaring good time.
On Tomas. Thank the lord he left. In my head, it is to make way for Pritkin and Mircea, but in that aspect, I agree with everyone who is glad he left for all the reasons, like he was too much on the straight and narrow. Pritkin and Mircea BOTH can barely keep up with her, Tomas, with all his...issues...would have been a jailer and it would not have been fun for Cassie, she is too much a free spirit, which I think it because of growing up at Tony's where she was controlled and used for her powers.
And on a COMPLETELY different note, this is regarding the TtS chapters, but also refers to TtD, and it is just something I have been wonering because of all the geas talk (view spoiler)
Mod
Hmm Aileen that is actually a very good question... OMG I can't wait seven weeks!!
LMAO do you WANT to be tag-teamed dc?
As far as the geas and the Pythia goes, I personally do not feel they have any type of tie to each other, so to speak. The geas affected only Cassie and Mircea directly though one could argue that since it affected the mental well being of Mircea that it had a detrimental affect on the Senate as well. I believe that both Marlowe's and Mircea's interest in the Pythia is that: 1) They, at least Mircea for certain, believed that Cassie would indeed be the next Pythia, and 2) The Senate never had any sort of control over a standing Pythia before.One has to remember that the Circle always raised and trained the Pythia's to be, I think their called sybils or something like, and thus exuded all control over them. This basically gave the Circle an insider's hold on the new Pythia which in turn gave them the upper edge in the Pythia's views. The Senate clearly wanted to turn the tables on the Circle as far as their choke hold on the Pythia went, and Cassie was their chance to do this. One should always remember that if Marlowe is involved, then there is something underhanded afoot.
Duane, maybe not in this universe :)
Thank you Lannister!! I remember that the circle always controlled the Pythia, which is why I'm wondering not only WHEN did Mircea start that interest in the Pythia's, but did he know after he met Cassie in...the 19th century...that she would become Pythia?? So did THAT start his interest?? Because the geas rebounded onto him, so he knew he had to keep track so he could meet Cassie one day?? That's why I am curious about the timeline aspect. If his interest started PRIOR to when Cassie touched him and gave him the geas, then I'm sure his motives will one day be revealed, BUT if his interest started AFTER Cassie touched him, I wonder if THAT sparked his interest, and it was just good luck, or maybe a bit of smooth talking on his end, that made the Senate want their hand in that piece of the pie.
And in an attempt for me to bring the discussion back on line and to stay on subject:Chapters 13 and 14
I guess the big events are the storming of Magic Headquarters by Rasputin and the gang, Cassie and her crew traveling back in time again (without creating a paradox, I might add ( snicker, snicker )), and Cassie meeting Agnes, the standing Pythia, only to have her die and pass her powers onto Cassie. After correcting the issue with Cassie believing she had to have been boinked before she can receive the Pythia crown, the truth being she can receive the powers regardless, but if she doesn't complete the ritual the powers take control of her instead of her controlling the power (damned mages, spreading false rumors like that, anyway!))
Wow, a lot going on, and a lot we can discuss on the above subjects. Also, since Chapter 14 is the last chapter in the book, we can spend the next few days (through the 19th) discussing anything we would like to. Well, about the TtD book, anyway. I'm know I'm probably the biggest offender right now of getting side-tracked and leading y'all astray with me. I hope Lannister remembers how unreliable I was at leading the discussion and forbids me from doing it again. :-()
Also, as I'm sure we all know by now, Karen Chance - you know - Cassie's mother - has given us the chance to pursue our quest for knowledge. She is going to "hang out" with us through what sounds like all of the rereads of the Cassandra Palmer books and graciously answer questions on things we would like to have more details on, or don't understand how they fit into the scheme of things.
I think we all know how fortunate we are to have her here with us, and I for one am pleased to know that despite her success as an author, she still is humble enough to spend her time here with us, basically at our disposal.
I know one thing that is on my mind is a comment Karen made about "all the Gods being the same" in the Tempt the Stars book. I am not quite sure what this means, and would really like Karen to give a detailed explanation on what the statement means and on how it affects the book in general.
Ahem, er, ah, What? It's a Cassandra Palmer book! Karen did say she would be happy to clear up anything we had questions on concerning any of the books! ;-)
Leodora wrote: "LMAO do you WANT to be tag-teamed dc?"Oh, my. God willing....
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@Karen - Well you're certainly more successful of an author than I could hope to be, and way ahead of many more well established authors. You have two very successful series to your credit not to mention other writings; that certainly says a lot about your writing prowess. And if you're willing to hobnob with us and have the courtesy to answer our questions, then that says something in your favor, too. I know many, if not all, of the people in this group are ecstatic that you decided to drop in on us. I know it's probably not as big a deal as an Angel coming down from Heaven to visit, but it's damned close!Anyhoo, thanks for the explanation. And I do believe that mythology is tied together across all areas of the world. We were having a discussion earlier on the Norse mythology, and how many of the gods in their cultures were actually rulers from surrounding countries that influenced their tales. Melding them together would be natural enough, as many of the books on mythology I've read actually list out a huge number of Gods and their names and relationships in the different cultures; it's far too many of them to be mere coincidence. One book I've read, Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs by John Lindow, is especially good at describing the gods and their many names and aspects, as well as where they came from and on how they fit into the various cultures.
It sounds like it's going to be good; I'm fairly bursting with anticipation of its release. I hope it's as good as Fury's Kiss - I still think that that book was your best to date. And please don't take that to mean the others are sub-standard; Fury's Kiss was just excellent. I rarely give out five stars when rating a book, but that one was definitely a solid five. I've read it a couple of times, then piss and moan about having to wait for the next book in the series to come out. Man, I love Dory - makes me want to change my name to Louis-Cesar! ;-)
I am so completely in support of any plot line that involves Cassie rescuing Pritkin. I might have just flailed excitedly.Anyway, I finished my re-read of Touch the Dark. Something that happened toward the end gave me an idea about the teaser chapters for Tempt the Stars so I posted that in our spoiler thread.
I had totally forgotten how much of a grump Pritkin was! It's hard to remember the former pain in the ass when we all love him so much now.
Thing I just read I found odd...(btw I'm behind, sorry, been busy). Back when Cassie is releasing Jimmy the Rat from his cage (sidenote, NICE work with "the Rat" that's hilarious. I don't know why I am just now finding that so funny.) she gets stuck in the tar baby spell, falls down, and JIMMY pulls her up...HOW??? His hands are completely mangled. I just read that and got really confused.Also...how does the pixie know that Cassie is the Pythia??
@Aileen If you recall, Cassie meets Radella in book 2 and agrees to help her. They work together with Francoise. At the time Cassie in book 1 is freeing Jimmy the Rat, Cassie from book 2 is breaking into Dante's to free Francoise.
I fell in line with Karen's thinking as far as Mircea and his feelings for Cassie and the timeline of the Cassie books. I think it's weird sometimes to see 500 year old vampires fall for 23 year olds... but really, they don't live their life like 500 year old vampires, they live their life as if they are pepetually stuck in their 30's. Kind of. It's really a mix I suppose, in my mind. They have the traditions, values of the their past, and that is hard to let go. But at the same time, they NEVER age. We have mortality, we age. So to us, we perceive age visually. But if you are immortal....??Basically, Mircea's lifestyle is frozen at that of a man in his late 20's, early 30's. Perfect for Cassie really. Old soul, younger living. (Same thing with Pritkin).
ha ha I finished reading the book. Some things I noticed:1) I love how Radella goes you're not my Cassandra. lol I can't wait for the next book reread.
2) Pritkin thinks cassie is not human... He doesn't even realize he is both on the right and wrong track. Likewise, Cassie calls him a predator. She had no clue how she was on the right track either ;)
3)I really did forget how sexy Mircea can be. I mean that scene in the room... whew. And yes, I know it's the geis, but wherever the feelings came from, their feelings and attractions are real. I mean dude was practically dying to devour Cassie. LOL.
I see it as "it's not how you meet, but what you do with it", type of deal.
At the same time, Mircea can never see her as anything more than a possession, that was made clear even as early as TtD. Which is sad. But not for us Prissie fans! lol
4) Cassie is very smart. From the beginning, she knows how to play the vampires. She is more vampire than she would like to admit. She also figures things out quickly and efficiently. I don't think the people around her give her enough credit. But it works to her advantage that they see her as a "dumb blonde" I suppose.
Karen Chance Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
Touch the Dark (other topics)Greywalker (other topics)
