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A review by katyanaish
Touch the Dark by Karen Chance
4.0
I'm picking this series back up. I never wrote a review, so this is a quick little review on re-read.
I read the first couple books in this series an age ago, and I did enjoy them and had every intention of continuing. My best guess, looking at when I dropped out, is that there was an extra long gap between books (2009-2011) right as I was transitioning to kindle, and it fell off my radar. Every once in awhile I'd come across it in my feed and remember I liked it, and fully intended to pick it back up... But it took a decade or more to finally happen. Part of it is me whining about purchasing a book on Kindle that I already own in paperback, but it has been so long I definitely needed a re-read.
Anyway, it's a good book. Lots of setup, lots of characters to meet. Cassie is occasionally a little whiny, but I attribute most of that to confusion and the incredibly fast way all this unfolds - this first book literally happens over the course of a single day. That's not a lot of time to make solid, informed decisions, so she's mostly pantsing it. I can understand, given the circumstance.
Other things, quickly...
- I recall liking Pritkin when I fell out of the series a few books down the road, so I was shocked at what a total douchebag he was here. Boy, I didn't remember that at all.
- Mircea... He's tough to read. He seems to care about her, but as a possession. I couldn't live with that, and it's gratifying that Cassie can't either.
- Are all mages douchebags? The Black Circle obviously is, but the Silver Circle seems to be too, given how invested they are in offing Cassie so they have a Pythia they've indoctrinated to be totally under their thumb. Why would the Pythia allow that? Like, institutionally... She outranks them, so why does she allow this practice at all?
On to the book 2 re-read!
I read the first couple books in this series an age ago, and I did enjoy them and had every intention of continuing. My best guess, looking at when I dropped out, is that there was an extra long gap between books (2009-2011) right as I was transitioning to kindle, and it fell off my radar. Every once in awhile I'd come across it in my feed and remember I liked it, and fully intended to pick it back up... But it took a decade or more to finally happen. Part of it is me whining about purchasing a book on Kindle that I already own in paperback, but it has been so long I definitely needed a re-read.
Anyway, it's a good book. Lots of setup, lots of characters to meet. Cassie is occasionally a little whiny, but I attribute most of that to confusion and the incredibly fast way all this unfolds - this first book literally happens over the course of a single day. That's not a lot of time to make solid, informed decisions, so she's mostly pantsing it. I can understand, given the circumstance.
Other things, quickly...
- I recall liking Pritkin when I fell out of the series a few books down the road, so I was shocked at what a total douchebag he was here. Boy, I didn't remember that at all.
- Mircea... He's tough to read. He seems to care about her, but as a possession. I couldn't live with that, and it's gratifying that Cassie can't either.
- Are all mages douchebags? The Black Circle obviously is, but the Silver Circle seems to be too, given how invested they are in offing Cassie so they have a Pythia they've indoctrinated to be totally under their thumb. Why would the Pythia allow that? Like, institutionally... She outranks them, so why does she allow this practice at all?
On to the book 2 re-read!