Claimed by Shadow

by Karen Chance

Roc, $74.99; 374 pp

This a true sequel, not a stand alone, to Touch the Dark, continuing the miss-adventures of Cassandra Palmer, reluctant clairvoyant and time-traveling Pythia-in-training. She is still dodging vampires, gun-toting mages, and Myra, a malevolent and ambitious rival for the Pythian throne and powers.

This story begins with Cassie trying to keep the 3 Graeae, the Grey Ladies of the Perseus myth and the Disney film Heracles, out of trouble at a casino staffed by incubi. One friendly incubus makes the moves on her and gets his infernal hand slapped forcibly away by a mysterious geis set to protect Cassandra from advances made by anyone other than the caster – or an approved substitute, and the incubus is not on that short list. Who cast it, and why? It doesn’t take Cassie long to deduce the who, and she quickly figures out the why as well: that attractive Master vampire Mircea wanted to make sure she’d be left alone, for only a virgin can become the next Pythia – and only then by losing her virginity ritualistically. Cassie wants the geis gone, but only someone at least as powerful as the caster can remove it, and entities packing that much power and friendly to Cassie are few.

She teams up with the mage Pritkin, even though he previously was one of those commissioned to hunt her down with extreme prejudice. Pritkin owes allegiance to the regulatory Circle of Mages, but he owed first allegiance to the former Pythia, Agnes; if Agnes wanted Cassie to succeed her, that’s what he intends to facilitate, which he can’t very well do if she’s dead.

Book Two follows several of the threads left dangling by Book One to neatly tied resolutions, but by no means all. Fortunately, Book Three, Embrace the Night, has a release date of April 1^st, 2008; and if you go to the author’s website, www.karenchance.com, you can even read a couple of chapters. – Chris Paige