Karen Chance Fans discussion
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2011 - Touch the Dark Reread
I was going to reread them anyway. This will be much more fun!Have I ever mentioned that none of my friends read books? And that I rarely have someone to talk about them? :)
Well at least u have friends here wanting your input :D
I know, and believe me, it feels great! :D
i would say yes but i already reread them in January... but nice thought and have fun!!!!
I'd love to join the discussion, but probably will not re-read the books. I have so many others to read for the first time. I do look forward to the next book, I read the first chapter from the website and it was funny.
Aw man ive just re-read it 3 times! (different formats ofcourse, id give myself a headache constantly readong) Im currently re-reading dory.. and realising its not as great as id first thought =(
Just finished rereading Touch the Dark and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. The only problem I had this time around is I felt that there was too much information, like it was CLOYING me, beating me down into a little heap, but upon further reflection, I think it's just because I still remembered most of it, and it's not my first time around.Also, I'm not sure how I felt about this the first time, but I was disappointed with the romance the second time around, considering that there really wasn't any. I've conveniently forgotten how the romance progresses in the series, which makes me that much more determined to hurry up and find out!
And maybe I've been reading too many books where heroines rack up a good body count, but I'm a little disappointed with her lack of kick-ass-ness.
Monica wrote: "And maybe I've been reading too many books where heroines rack up a good body count, but I'm a little disappointed with her lack of kick-ass-ness."You're not alone there, I haven't started the reread yet but I distinctly remember being annoyed that Cassie seemed to be no more than your typical damsel in distress who just happened to have a special ability. Of course that situation has (somewhat) changed but I'm getting the sense her progression arc is still... ah, progressing. In other words I hope KC's is still building her up to a be as badass as Agnes was. It'll be nice to see her in a "FEAR ME" light instead of the usual of running into walls and fainting (cough, EtN :().
I actually really like this about Cassie, shes not quite a damsel in distress but she is pretty normal. I tend to get so sick of kick-ass protagonists, they dont seem to have anything to learn and theyre always so arrogant! Cassies like a breath of fresh air in this genre, shes been thrown in to a situation where she needs to fight for her life and shes so useless and stumbling through everything its funny.. but the fact that shes gradually getting better and learning to deal with it is what makes her great for me. Im glad she didnt just automatically know what to do and was tough as nails!I dont know if anyone else has this view.. maybe ive just read far too many strong protagonists to love this about Cassie. Also the fact that her uselessness gives PPritkin an excuse to have more time with her makes this a non-issue for me =D
What I really like about Cassie is that even if she is not a kick-ass heroine, she's a woman of action.It seems that everyone has to be tortured and really scarred person to be a hero. She has not been raped (ok almost) and does not have a psychotic breakdown every book.
Yes she gets thrown in situations where she is out of her depths, runs for her life all the time (or runs toward trouble more like). Yes she is fundamentally flawed and clueless with all matter magical. I just wish that Cassie could stick it up more often to Pritkin from time to time about his lack of knowledge of vampire culture to balance all the times that he tells her she knows nothing.
Shes just not that petty though is she, Cassie has so many enemies that she isnt going to bother arguing with her allies over semantics.. plus she agrees with Pritkin that she doesnt know anything lol I love that theyre both ignorant to eachothers speciality, be it vampires or magic.I find myself shouting at her for not sticking up to Mircea! she knows that hes untrustworthy because he has to follow orders yet she doesnt act on her knowledge. It frustates me so much that she tells Mircea whatever he wants to know eventhough he doesnt give her the same respect! But I guess it comes back to her choosing her battles and not arguing with her allies.
I want to know more about the demons and Pritkins stint in Hell, but im mostly looking forward to the full story on his wife.. although I really hope he doesnt get all mushy about it (not that i think he will) Cassie would likely be unbelievably jealous if he actually showed some raw emotion for his long dead wife. Roll on June! ^.^
"Natasa wrote:You're not alone there, I haven't started the reread yet but I distinctly remember being annoyed that Cassie seemed to be no more than your typical damsel in distress who just happened to have a special ability. Of course that situation has (somewhat) changed but I'm getting the sense her progression arc is still... ah, progressing."I wish it would progress a little more progressively, but I'm only just finishing book two, and I don't remember much of the series. Well, I remember random bits and pieces.
"Kayl wrote: I actually really like this about Cassie, shes not quite a damsel in distress but she is pretty normal. I tend to get so sick of kick-ass protagonists, they dont seem to have anything to learn and theyre always so arrogant!"
I agree with you there too, but when you take into account that she's been on the run for a while, and she's even taken target practice, I expected her to be better at self defense. Every time something goes down, I find her hiding under a table. Ok, sometimes hiding is strategic. And based on her background with fighting (or lack of it), rushing into the middle of a fight is just plain dumb. And with the vampire strength, forget about it. I just wish she didn't spend so much time cowering in a dark corner.
"Kayl wrote: I find myself shouting at her for not sticking up to Mircea! she knows that hes untrustworthy because he has to follow orders yet she doesnt act on her knowledge."
OMG, yes! I want to shake her sometimes when she's dealing with Mircea. The geis, she really is a pushover when it comes to him. Since she's quite capable of giving Tomas, Pritkin and even the Consul and Agnes hell, and many others, I don't see what's so holy grail-ish about Mircea that she can't tell him to stick it, even a little bit. Sometimes I feel like she looks at him, hands him a rolling pin, and says "hey, have at it buddy!"
And speaking of the geis and it not working in fairy, am I the only one that's a bit put off by her sleeping with Tomas and him getting some sort of important "avatar" position?
Just finished re-reading TTD, it's amazing how much you forget.How much Cassie does in fact love Mircea. If things had been different & she hadn't been chosen as Pyhtia. Now I'm starting to re-read CBS :D
I love rereads!!! Love Karen Chance!!! Love Mircea!!!!!
I've re-read Curse the Dawn over the past two days in preparation for this, and I tell ya, I'm really REALLY looking forward to this!I think this group is going to be in a state of frenzy by the beginning of June, waiting for Hunt the Moon!
Just over 6 weeks to go!
I have finished all of the books already. Are we talking about any of them yet? :)
Not yet! Valerie posted the schedule in the first message, so unfortunately you've got another couple of weeks to wait yet. :(Why not have a read through some of the other comments that have been posted in other threads and dive in there if there's something you want to talk about in the meantime.
I think right now is the 'calm before the storm' and the next month is going to be quite exciting in this group!
I am so excited to talk all about this series!
Me too Jessica! I feel like a kid counting down the days to Xmas LOL!
This is totally better than christmas, I cant wait for June!!
This series reread is a great idea! I've literally read several hundred books since reading this series & they all start to get mixed up in my brain. My book buddy & I were discussing it the other day and were all "This is the one with the hott mage Pritkin and the ghost homie right?" "Yeah & they're in Vegas right?" "Oh yeah & they travel through those crazy lei lines" "wait, isn't that the chick in The Hollows Series" "No she has a pixie homie & gets magic energy from the lines no traveling" "Oh yeah!" I'm sure ya'll have had similar discussions...lol. Needless to say, I'm so in!
Oh jeez, I feel like a tool... I thought everything was April as opposed to May and just kept thinking 'what's up with these slow pokes?' LOL *shamefaced grin*Sorry for the early blabbing, should I delete my previous posts?
noooo its good stuff! I re-read them twice before I knew about this re-read and needed to talk about some things so bad! Im sure nobody minds us getting into it a little early =DI am going to start the re-read again.. probably the audio version so I can get in on this action, I cant wait to hear everybodys theories.
Val Hal, I'm in. I'll not be on schedule, but I shall my light on the topics discussed. ;)
although ive just done a reread im definately up for this ;D
Mel wrote: "Val Hal, I'm in. I'll not be on schedule, but I shall my light on the topics discussed. ;)"
Are you not supposed to be baking in the sun on a beach somewhere? Glad to have you here Mel.
Woohoo, reread kicks off tomorrow! Is everyone ready? I've already re-read Touch the Dark (I couldn't wait any longer), so I'm looking forward to discussing it with everyone :D
Day 1: Ok, first day. Thanks you for joining us for this discussion of Touch the dark , first book in the Cassie Palmer series. Since we first meet most the important characters in this book, this week will be mostly be about first impressions. Each day will center on different characters mostly.Let’s start then with the main character Cassie Palmer! We meet her at the beginning running for her life for 3 years, which is a recurring theme. She has a trusty sidekick in the form of Billy Joe ghost extraordinaire. Having grown up in a vampire environment, she is pretty knowledgeable about vampire etiquette. Whatever she knows does not seem to be enough to face her new enemies.
What did you think of her when you read this book at the time? Were her actions wise? The results what you expected? We also witness the first time alteration (meeting Radella and Francoise) and double presence in the past by Cassie.
Oh1 we're supposed to know in HtM what Cassie's blood taste like :-)
okay first of all, did anybody else squeel like a girlie when pritkin barged into the senate meeting? I did I did!TtD is not the best book, it is infact the worse book in the series' however it definately has some beautiful moments. I love that KC thought so far ahead that Cassie meets Radelle and Francoise in that cage - I think its extremely inventive and I love that little scene in the next book ^.^
Whenever I read the first few chapters of TtD I always think cassie is such an idiot, I love her so much in all the other books but in the beginning she's dumb as a post. Did everybody else get that Tomas was a vamp almost instantly?? how could she not have noticed! come on cass!!
At first, I was a Tomas fan (for like 4 chapters) I wanted Cassie to get it on with him in a bad way, until Pritkin stormed the castle. I loved him instantly, as soon as she describes him in all his rambo glory I just had to have him!
I lol'd so much at Pritkin, he was so innocent in the beginning, I couldnt even get annoyed at his ignorance to the world in which he lives because his reactions were just too hilarious. Im not going to go into the storyline at all because I know you guys are going to rip right into it and I cant wait to read all your thoughts - this is just my first ramblings.
I have to finish this with Mircea, I do not see the attraction guys. I cant help seeing him as a dirty old man in this book, and when he admits he'd practically rape her if she refused, well, I couldnt believe Mircea said that!!! was anybody else outraged at him all over again? I really don't like him in this book, he's controlling to the point of being anal, manipulative, secretive - I know these things are what we all eventually like about him but at this point its driving me crazy, I like him in the other books but I kinda wish he wasnt a main character in this book.
I could go on forever but I have too much more to say and would like to hear everybodys re-first impressions before I go any furthur lol, sorry for my unsystematic rambling.
That's the beauty of rereading I think...I was pleased with little details I overlooked when first reading TtD. I always wondered if Cassie would learn more power words like the one she used in the Dante parking lot scene.Cassie in the first book is not in control of her life and her visions. It came over in the book so strongly that it was annoying and the pacing of the story suffered in my estimate. But, there was a lot of staging to do and still Cassie came as a knowledgeable person.
I liked that Cassie had a past that was not all traumatic experience (at least it does not weight her down and get self absorbed about it). She knew her place in the vampire world and was at ease with those monsters because she knew the rules. I laugh so much when Pritkin was egging on the vampires and Cassie not being able to decide if he was stupid or having a death wish. Her being able to tell him he was ignorant and about to get himself killed was priceless. I liked that KC did not make her completely clueless. Fine, she whine a bit but not as much as Billy.
Ah, Pritkin. Nope, can't say I thought much more than what Cassie did at this point, useful annoyance that might get her killed any second. So, no, I didn't like him. I didn't hate him.... He does grow on you later. TtD shows him as annoying, abrasive, and overly willing to kill first ask questions later. I hate that kind of person (okay, I don't know many 'kill first' people, but a few have the arrogant, abrasive, and know it all attitude just like Pritkin!).
I love how Cassie is portrayed. She spent her youth sheltered, followed by the rest of her life hiding. She lost everything and everyone she had cared about time and time again. Somehow she isn't bitter. Except against Tony :)
She does freak a bit when she finds out Tomas is a vamp. I think she was less 'stupid' and more unable to guess. She thought there were certain rules about her world. His hiding being a vampire so perfectly was impossible by her 'rules' so she didn't suspect him. She wouldn't even if she'd had some reason to doubt.
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Karen Chance Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
Touch the Dark (other topics)Embrace the Night (other topics)
Claimed by Shadow (other topics)
Touch the Dark (other topics)
Curse the Dawn (other topics)
Edit: Change of plan! Since we are four people to entertain you all...we are changing the rules a bit. We'll open trends for each books so that the assigned moderator can monitor comfortably daily-ish discussions. Each book will have their own for you to rant about as the weeks go by. You can visit here on Tuesday May 10th 2011 to talk about the first book.
Since it’s my first time doing it I’ll lay some ground rules. Below I posted a schedule. On May 10, 2011 we will start the reread with Touch the dark. Every Tuesday after that we'll start a new book. You can choose to read it all at once or you can spread it out over the week. No matter how you do it, please limit yourselves [mostly] to the current book for that week.
Granted it is a rereads thread this means there is no reason to mark posts as spoilers.We want to discuss also significant events pertaining to the new book (Hunt the moon) coming out. Plus we can talk about the new things we noticed and the things we had forgotten! The only things you should mark as spoiler are actual spoilers about Hunt the Moon. To do that you should use the new spoiler tag that can be found just above the comment box by clicking the link that says (some html is ok).
Since we have a collection of people helping out, we’re going to post discussion questions daily-ish. Some days we'll just ask everyone for their favorite quotes. We'll update the thread's title so you can find the new question. We'll see how that works out.
Sound good?
Here is the schedule:
May 10, 2011 - May 16, 2011: Touch the Dark
questions in posts: 47, 66, 75, 82, 93, 103
May 17, 2011 - May 23, 2011:Claimed By Shadow and novella Day of the dead
May 24, 2011 - May 30, 2011: Embrace the Night
May 31, 2011 - June 6, 2011: Curse the Dawn
So that's everything.
If you can't do the reread with us it's all good, stop by and join in the discussion.
Ready? See you Tuesday May 1o!!
By the way, I will send out an event invitation, which I think may take a few days to get to everyone so I apologize if you get it after you already joined. But if you respond yes, I think you should get a reminder before we start.