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Claimed by Shadow
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Claimed By Shadow (Cassandra Palmer #2)
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Sep 28, 2015 03:09PM
Randy the incubus wasn't attracted to Cassie, either. He and Francoise connected instead. Perhaps incubi prefer easier conquests and less stressful partners (Chavez excepted. Drac was high-stress without a doubt!)
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Duca wrote: "You know what I still wonder? Which mage cast the almighty geis? Have we met him already? Where is he now?I would also like to draw everyone's attention to this sentence from the hilarious scene ..."
I think it may have also had something to do with those two only being possessed unlike Pritkin who is actually a half-incubus. Granted, that mutual attraction thing likely didn't help matters, either.
I know we've moved on to EtN but I was away last week and I'm only catching up now.One little thing I noticed, though it's probably nothing, is Cassie's comments that Myra really looked like Agnes. Do you think there's anything to this, beyond coincidence? I think it got mentioned a couple of times. I doubt Agnes had a secret love child who turned out to be Myra, but I wondered if maybe there could be a distant relationship somewhere. I mean, where do the kids at the Pythian Court come from originally? Do their families just hand them over if they spot a gift for clairvoyance in the hope they'll be Pythia, or what? Do the Pythias keep in touch with their families? I guess there are no Pythias who had children?
does anyone know where I can get this book. I have read the first book but I am having a hard time finding this book
@Patty You should be able to buy it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.
This is where I usually start my re-reads. It brings in so many characters that I really enjoy, Cassanova for one. That man kills me! We also get to see the full effect of what I call "Hurricane Pritkin." <3 Hints to his heritage are right there in his scenes with Cassanova too. Interesting! Side note, I looked up duthracht as in duthracht geis. It means devotion in Irish. Anyone want to bet it has it's origins in ancient Welsh? Oh! I have a friend who speaks modern Welsh, I should ask her.
Mod
"Hurricane Pritkin" <3
Huh... I always assumed Duthracht had german or eastern european roots. You learn everyday :D But I can't help but wonder who the wizard was who was powerful enough to put the geis on Cassie - perhaps the former head of the silver circle??
It seemed German to me too, based on the spelling, but Google says otherwise. Considering who wrote and presumably named it, Irish makes more sense though. I never really gave the mage who performed the spell any thought. In my mind s/he was a good mage that Mircea found but whom probably didn't work for the circle directly since there is quite a bit on animosity between the groups. Cassie at 11/12 wasn't very powerful yet so putting the spell on her shouldn't have been difficult. She was just a powerful seer then and didn't have the Pythian power behind her yet.
Casanova and Fred are probably my two favorite side characters. They each get more interesting and amusing as the series unfolds.
Mod
Neither did I, but for some reason it bothered me this time around that we don't know who cast the spell. My gut says it was Jonas.
I don't think Cassies age has anything to do with casting the spell - no matter who it's cast upon the spell must be difficult, what with all the things that can go wrong.
Hmm.. I never gave much thought to Fred - still don't. In my head he's just a grey mouse sitting in the corner watching things play out. I find Marco much more fun! In all his hairy glory! :D
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You must be on a mobile device, "Protein" lol. I bet the mage is obsessed with protein. Regardless, I follow you. Yes, IMO it's very relevant. Most people in the US call him Mircea, Master, or Senator. Master doesn't apply to Pritkin and Senator is pretty generic, so all that's left is Mircea. Also he's mostly talking to Cassie about the vampire, so the more familiar name is natural. Perhaps in a more formal setting he would use a more formal title. I think Mircea uses "Mage Pritkin" or "that warmage" to avoid familiarity with the man. He dislikes Pritkin and wants to put as much distance between him and Cassie as possible. Any time you use the word "that" with a generic it shows contempt to the person to whom you're referring.
Mod
Exactly! I gotta keep an eye out for how they speak of each other when they're in the same room ^^
Cameo wrote: "Huh... I always assumed Duthracht had german or eastern european roots."As an Eastern European who speaks German I can say, not bad instintcs, Cameo! :D Both 'du' and 'Tracht' are words in German, but it's just a coincidence (they mean 'you' and 'folk uniform').
Love both your discussion of names too btw! :D Mircea is weird because he is usually 'Lord Mircea' ... I'm not sure if there is a rule for naming Senators, but Marlowe is 'Lord Marlowe' and not 'Lord Kit' (lol) or 'Lord Christopher'. Dorina is also called 'Lady Dorina' and not 'Lady Basarab' so I'm not sure how that gets decided. (Plus it might be creepy for Mircea and Dory to be 'Lord and Lady Basarab' despite being technically correct). Mircea does remark in CbS that he detests titles, so maybe he likes being 'Mircea' instead of 'Lord Basarab'.
The only 'that'-phrase I found was 'that mage' by Marco, referring to Jonas. Pritkin is usually 'the warlock' 'the mage' or 'Mage Pritkin' I think. Definite articles are pretty common in noun phrases and fairly neutral I think. But just like vice versa, Mircea rarely ever addresses him directly. Plus, Mircea openly voices to Cassie that he doesn't believe that he's a mage and that his name probably isn't even John Pritkin :D (I mean he's right, but it's funny to read).
Dajuan wrote: "This is where I usually start my re-reads. It brings in so many characters that I really enjoy, Cassanova for one."
Yep, totally! Plus, we get a sequence in Faerie! Faerie!!! And it's quite a long scene too, but considering what we know from later books, KC could probably write a separate series about Faerie alone! (And maybe should :D But that's another matter). What did you think of the Faerie story arc? It left a lot of questions unanswered.
I'm almost done with the Fairy (Faerie? that's what I get for listening and not reading) arc right now. Definitely paying more attention and taking some serious notes. I may even go back and reread it all. There are quite a few mentions about war and things that come up later.
It's spelled Faerie in the books, at least my versions, but on a related note, listening to the books must be a unique experience! On the one hand, audiobook readers will never have to ask KC how character xyz's is pronounced but in return spellings would be tougher... like geis (pronounced as gash or cash apparently?) and seiðr maybe. Also, I heard voice actors do accents when they read different characters? Or are supposed to (KC once answered questions that Marlowe is supposed to be British but isn't, and Mircea is supposed to have no accent, but does). I've never heard any Cassie books, what's people's experience with them?And yeah, there's so much mention of it already, even hinted in TtD, but so much more in CbS... and then all of that is put on hold, even though it's been introduced to play a major part in the plot! We get some present fey stuff in Dory, Cassie is just past-fey stuff after that isn't it. I wonder when we will get all the fey stuff resolved. Maybe KC really could use another series, about Caedmon/Aesubrand maybe, or Claire's family I guess?
Sorry for the misspellings then! I try to catch those. Listening is unique. The readers (there have been 2 so far, 2nd one is better) aren't perfect on pronouncing names/words but it is better that just reading. Both readers got Mircea right and Rafe wrong. One said Rosier right, the other did not. Each tries to do accents to varying degrees of success. Mircea has an accent in the Dory books but not really in the Cassie. Marlow doesn't in The 2nd Cassie book. Not sure about Dory, don't think I have listened that far into her series yet. (Dory's reader sounds like my mother in law, it bugs me).KC couldeasily do more shorts with the fey characters. I'd like more shorts in general anyway. Being added into Compilations has to be a
Good way to getnsome new readers too.
I wouldn't worry about misspellings, we do it constantly too! Just figured it would be even tougher when one is used to listening.Wow, those are interesting variations! Lol at the mother-in-law, I could never get into books that sound different than what I imagine them. Imagine your mother-in-law narrating gory zombie vampire body parts exploding. Or maybe don't.
And yep, KC needs shorts, more books, and maybe an Encyclopedia :D Good point about the shorts. While I love her freebies, I wonder if her shorts appeared in anthologies it might ultimately be better for her? Both profit-wise and advertisement-wise...
I read first, then listen while I do other things (typically sewing or driving). When I do my big write-ups then I look up words. Actually, I've noticed different things listening versus reading. Using another part of your brain really does make a difference! Plus hearing Casanova screech versus just reading that he screeched is a real treat :) They do his accent pretty well. (If anyone wants to friend me on Audible I will send you any of the Cassie books. I think your first send is free, if not I have too many credits racked up anyway and need to use them or lose them. Name is the same as it is here.)The rune stones have me really interested this re-read as well. I looked up their names and I'm trying to track what happened to the other two runes (not the fertility rune). I have a theory, but want to wait until I'm done to write it all up. Cassie is just about to get in on with Tomas right now.
Mod
Wow, it seems really sloppy that the accents differ so much in the audiobooks. It would freak out my OCD so bad.
I like the runes too (not just because they're norse in origin ^^), but I have a feeling that fertility rune is gonna come back and bite Cassie on the ass... or help her out immensely at some point. Could go both ways ^^
The accents have gotten better with the new reader. I think the rune is going to help her. She may have single handedly fixed the dark fey's birthrate problem! They dark are totally on her side just as the light are on the gods'.
Mod
This is book #3, I think, but Apollo said that Cassie's greatest gift was drawing people to her. He's not wrong, she has a knack for it. I think the rune will have done just that. I'm at the last battle with Myra now, should be able to finish tonight.
Aren't they? They are on the opposite side as the dark. Now I cannot remember what made me come to that conclusion.
It's not that the light fey are on the side of the gods, I think. It's more like the Svarrestri king (Æsubrand's father) being on their side - Dory's troubles with the fey in Fury's Kiss are a result of this. But, the Svarrestri are just one family/house/type(?) of light fey. I don't think we know what the Alorestri have decided (unless we count Pritkin's adventure off-screen in Faerie in HtM where it appears that the Alorestri have joined the gods as well). But I think the Blarestri are not on the side of the gods, but who knows? Caedmon has not appeared since DM, and we only have Æsubrand's words to go on in this.
And it's not that all dark fey are opposing the gods. Many of them do not have the power to choose who they will support. The Dark King's wife did attack Cassie, although this was due to being ordered by Aries/the Spartoi, rather than the dark fey king.
I forget the names of Cassie's narrators for the audiobooks, but I do remember that when the switch happened (second narrator came with TtS) I was a bit disappointed. The first narrator sounded much more like Cassie to me. The second narrator did do Pritkin better, though. I did not like the Dory narrator in the beginning, especially because she gave Dory-Mircea an accent, which is kind of jarring, since Mircea is known to only have an accent on occasion. However, she grew on me, and I enjoy them now, and I think she actually got Dory's voice perfectly.
Also, the legend Dory hears from the vamp in MD says that all fey are demigods, and that the original Vaenyr and Aesyr were the gods themselves, and that light fey are the humanoid demigods while the dark fey are the grotesques, but that they are still demigods. And, I can't remember native fey, but I assume native fey must have been mentioned, but that my memory is foggy.
I always start my rereads with CbS as well, but mostly just breeze through it. There are, however, several notable things there, and not just the geis.
First, the Mircea at the theater is on the hunt for Drac, we see how Jack was made, Billy gets a real body in Faerie and it's never touched upon again (him kissing Cassie immediately was both not surprising and incredibly funny, and it makes me wonder if Billy will want to go to faerie more often). Then we see Cassie getting angry that they were torturing Thomas without asking her, which I think is the first sign of Cassie showing 'arrogance of a goddess' as Rosier puts it later in TtS. I don't think she planned on jumping in to save Thomas, and well, it was a trap anyway, but she decided to save him when she saw just how much they'd tortured him. If Jack had not been so through, Cassie might have left him there.
Then we find out about the second life the Pythias get when they die, which makes Agnes' story that much sadder, especially when Rhea comes along later on and Cassie suggests she talks to Francoise.
It's kind of interesting how the first three books showed a lot more of the vamps' world, while the latter books focused more on the mages and demons, as Cassie slowly binds them together to fight the gods. But at some point, all of them: vamps, mages, demons, were either barely allies/antagonists/enemies - especially the mages and the demons.
I suppose the fey are next.
Well crap, I'm going to have to reread/listen to Dory now to catch the Fey stuff. It seems too important not to do so. I have a lot of trouble keeping the various houses apart. Time to start another note file. Finished CbS on Friday or Saturday and am ready to start my write up. I did notice a few new things. The Fey politics wasn't as heavy as I'd originally thought.
Billy gets a real body in Faerie and it's never touched upon again (him kissing Cassie immediately was both not surprising and incredibly funny, and it makes me wonder if Billy will want to go to faerie more often). Then we see Cassie getting angry that they were torturing Thomas without asking her, which I think is the first sign of Cassie showing 'arrogance of a goddess' as Rosier puts it later in TtS
Billy in faerie was interesting. I wish we'd seen more of him! I can't see him wanting to go back after what happened and almost happened the last time. He is too attached to Cassie to potentially leave her behind. His isn't a romantic love perse, but it is a love none the less. They are very connected.
I took Cassie's actions as less arrogance than her finally having enough of everyone else making decisions about her life for her. She'd just found out about the geis and Mircea/the Senate pushing her into the Pythia's position. Her hardwon freedom is seemingly gone, again, and she just snaps. Tomas betrayed her first and foremost and she deserves to decide his punishment, not them. If anything it's her first act as Pythia.
It's kind of interesting how the first three books showed a lot more of the vamps' world, while the latter books focused more on the mages and demons, as Cassie slowly binds them together to fight the gods.
Never really thought about it, but you're right! My favorite book in the series is #4 and possibly #5 because they both deal with the mages so much more so than the vamps. #6 & #7 were demon books and #7 dealt with the Fey heavily. #8 presumably will as well. Cassie definitely does bring people together.
Meant to start this a couple days ago but work and Legend of Zelda keep getting in the way. I'm going to organize this by subject/character, probably breaking it up into a couple posts so that I don't lose anything. Overall impressions
I've mentioned before, but I usually always start my rereads here because the story really picks up in this book compared to TtD. Plus we see the introduction and fleshing out of several very interesting characters. TtD made it seem like this was going to be a vampire series with Mircea as the secondary character and Tomas as one of the baddies. While interesting enough to keep me reading, not really what I was looking for at the time. CbS turns all of that sideways in the best possible way (to steal and mangle a quote from Deadpool). The characters are still there, but the focus changes to the mages, Fey, and demons (to a lesser extent here) instead; opening up the world instantly. This was not your typical vampire book and I was intrigued. KC has a real knack for throwing the unexpected at you. Between that, her wit, her strong but realistic female characters, and her world building, I was hooked.
The Graeae
The three "weird sisters" whom have to serve Cassie for a year and a day or until they each save her life. With Cassie's life that doesn't take long. These three are a powerhouse, who are luckily are not overused in the books! We see them introduced here, see them again in EtN and briefly HtM but not since. They could have been a big help in the battle with the Alu in TtS and in a few other battles at Dantes, which we know they hang around because it's trouble central. But they could also easily turn the battles in Cassie's favor too easily and make things less interesting. The Graeae give us one of the early hints that Cassie is more than just a powerful clairvoyant. She can control the little black boxes with little effort which require a complex spell.
LIGHTBULB! The black boxes entry and exit are a gateway of sorts! Her mother's gift is control over the gateways, that's why she can use the boxes without the spell and jump into and out of them at will!! Holy shit, I just put that together. O.o
Casanova
Casanova started out as a nothing character to me, simply a guy to move the plot along, but I quickly developed a soft spot for the screeching man. He is a good plot delivery method for the geis info. Through him we learn more about the incubi and get hints as to Pritkin's true nature. We don't see a ton of him here, but it is a nice introduction to his character and to his role at the casino. He's Cassie's reluctant friend and ally. He'd just as soon she left his life, but I think he has a soft spot for her too.
Geis
Duthracht is the Irish word for dedication. So it's a dedication geis. I'm not going to go into detail on the geis because I think it's been talked to death already. Is it a good plot device, yes. Did it help Cassie get to where she is now, yes. Do I think Mircea was a slimeball for placing it on her, yes. Do I understand it from his point of view on some level, yes.
Runes
The runes are interesting. We learn about them in this book, but never hear a thing about 2 of the 3 after (Hagalaz and Dagaz). What happened to them? Here's a break down by rune with a little research and my theory as to what happened to them. (Source: runesecrets.com)
*Jera: fertility rune, stands for harvest, reward, peace on the land. We know Pritkin still has this at the end of the book because it's mentioned. Presumably Cassie gives this rune to Radella in EtN, because she promises it to the pixie. It would be really ironic, and totally a Cassie move, if she gave the dark fey the ticket to peace and power over the light. She may have won the war with this move and not even realized it. I hope we see this come around again in the near future.
*Dagaz: do over, awakening, concept becoming realized, a new day, transformation. Pritkin casts this outside of MAGIC and Cassie does so again in Faerie. We don't know the fate of this rune. Since they party is captured right after Cassie casts it, and it was not mentioned with the pile of wards given to her, I think the Fey kept it. What I find strange was how it reacted to her outside MAGIC. Cassie was pulling Mac down when Pritkin cast the rune yet he was taken back and she was not. But it worked on everyone in their party when Cassie cast it. Does that mean Pritkin purposefully left her out of his casting or what? I haven't been able to puzzle that one out yet.
*Hagalaz: create or calm a storm, hail, hidden dangers, hiding something. Pritkin uses it to get Cassie out of the Senate chambers and again in Faerie to try to get away from the Dark Fey. He kept his weaponry and Jera through that encounter so I presume he still has this rune too, but it is never mentioned. I suppose to be fair, barely a month has gone by since its last casting so it hasn't been useful to them yet. Still.
Wards
We learn more about tattoo warding here. Pritkin's sword being the spark of the conversation. At first I thought we never saw it in action, but he does use it in the final battle in London with the vampires. Short, but it was there. We also learn about Cassie's ward and Mac's ton of wards. The type of tattoo gives a hint to its power. Eagle helps with noticing things. Tiger for protection. Sadly all that we get about the final ward of Mac's that Cassie has is "Lizard" nothing more precise. So we don't know what it will do. Lizards is a pretty generic catchall term and they are a pretty diverse species. I'm interested to see if the ward plays a part later or not.
Bracelet
The knives make multiple appearances in this book. They break the wine bottle and they try to fight Myra a few times. Interesting that they didn't work in Faerie. Human magic rather than Fey then.
Ok going to stop here so that I can get ready for work and so I don't lose this.
Random but - have we ever discussed what Billy 'found out' when he re-died coming back from Fairy? The book sorta glosses over it and changes subject. He was babbling to Cassie and finished off with... And then you started talking about leaving, and then I found out -' He broke off with a strangled gasp.
The book then moves onto focus on his distress at dying a second time rather than whatever he found out. Something about fairy? Did he hear something in the transition? Mmm ideas?
Mod
He found Agnes in the necklace is my guess.
Oh yeah, Agnus - she'd have cut him off as well as he did say they she prevented him saying anything... but then that begs the question of how did she do that - was it being a stronger ghost? A carry over of her clairvoyant abilities (and if so was Rodgers supposed abilities not so unusual) ... or did she just convince Billy it was in Cassie's best interest. I may be grasping at anything that could be a point of interest here, but August is soooo far off. Thank god for Lovers Knot at the mo
You pointed out that Billy was freaking out pretty bad. Agnes probably just talked over him to shut him up. She was a pretty powerful personality. So I would say the second, she just convinced him. Maybe I'll go back and re-read that part to see if it says. Dude, I totally get it. There haven't been any new books out in general that I care about so I'm bored out of my mind. I've been living for Wednesdays when Harlots and now The Handmaid's Tale come out. This forum had been keeping me going but conversation here has kinda petered out so even that outlet is gone. That's why I haven't finished my analysis for this book. Luckily I'm pretty busy in May to keep me distracted but June and July are going to be LONG months.
Finished my reread of CbS, and shortly going to read Queen's Gambit.A few thoughts on CbS:
There are many hilarious moments in CbS. But my favourite was the one that Pritikin was trying to convince the gargoyle to remove the geis that she put on him.😊
On gargoyles, Pritkin says:
"They were traditionally employed as guardians for temples in the ancient world and for magical edifices in later centuries. But advances in warding have lessened the call for that kind of thing. Unlike the Light Fey, they can't pass for human, so their entrance is restricted."
So .... They had the same or a similar function to wards?
I liked Myra as a villain, but i wish we could've gotten more characterization for her and find out more about how she was corrupted / conspired to kill Agnes. In later books we get some details about rogues (Lizzie, Joe) and their motivations. But Myra was killed before we learned any significant detail about her background.
Lastly, did we ever see Chavez in later Cassie or Dory books? I don't remember, specially considering that he opened the trap that contained Drac.
Mod
They weren't particularly important or powerful incubii, and they would not be involved with the Demon Council decisions.
I think they played their parts and then returned to obscurity in Rosier's realm.
I don't know for sure about this. It's just an inference from the later books.
I don't know about Chavez, but Randy was still with Francoise in Curse the Dawn. Francoise was considering ditching him because he didn't want to expel his incubus.
