Touch the Dark

Cassandra Palmer, Book 1

By: Karen Chance

Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits - talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead alike. The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk...a lot.

The undead are another matter.

Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires, but when the bloodsucking mafioso she escaped three years ago finds her again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection.

The undead senators won't help her for anything, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire - and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay.

©2006 Karen Chance (P)2008 Tantor

A slooow start...to a great series (hang in there)

I bought this first audiobook for $5, I started listening to it, stopped. Restarted and reluctantly finished. Its a hard listen with all the jumping around and lack of background in the beginning. Honestly would have returned it if they had that feature at the time.

Then I accidentally checked out the second book (Claimed by Shadow) from the library...and got hooked. I checked out the first and third book (Embrace the Night). Went back and listened to the first and got through book five as audiobooks. I now eagerly await the next book.

Despite the rough start and really confusing first book, this is now one of my favorite series. It nicely combines modern paranormal, with fantasy and magic and time travelling, oh my!

While Cynthia Holloway is not the best narrator..its listenable. If you just have to pass the audiobook I would highly recommend getting a paper copy, I never would have gotten hooked if I hadn't.

Put up with the first book!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

You need to read the 1st book because the rest build on it. Once you get #2 it get's really good!

Would you be willing to try another book from Karen Chance? Why or why not?

She needs to stop leading us on and on and on with her love life!!

Fun series that gets better with each book!

Any additional comments?
It took me a while to warm up to this book but now I have read the entire series several times. There is much detail and complexity and a number of intriguing characters. That is good because I will enjoy reading the series many times. Who wants to spend this much money on an audio book and only read it once because the plot is so shallow?

Touch the Dark introduces Cassie, a young clairvoyant, who was raised by the vampire mob who murdered her parents. She manages to escape after attempting to avenge her parents death and lives each day in fear of being recaptured.

The vampire mafioso is not the only one searching for Cassie, though. The vampire Senate, the Silver Circle of mages and the Dark Circle of mages are among those who have an interest in finding her. There is a war brewing in the supernatural world and everyone is looking for powerful allies.

It seems that Cassie is a contender to become the next Pythia, the world's most powerful seer. There are those who want to kill her and those who want to control her. And those who try to change the future by going back through time and altering the past.

Cassie must grow up fast and figure out who she can trust if she wants to survive.

Touch the Dark is a little darker than later books and spends more time on world building details. It is still a good read, though, especially the second time around when you know what is going on and can enjoy the details. The books include a lot of time travel, and you find yourself scratching your head because something doesn't make sense. That is because you don't know about something that hasn't happened yet and may not happen until a future book. Get it? You will after you read the series a second time.

I really like the narrator. She does a great job of portraying a tough yet vulnerable young woman raised by gangsta vamps. In later books she does an awesome job making me laugh out loud at the funny parts. Mircea is sexy and seductive, Pritkin is sneering and bitchy and Billy is ...well just Billy. Cynthia Holloway doesn't do deep male voices but instead changes inflection, accent and speech patterns. She starts this book sounding a bit stilted but as the series goes on captures the essence of each character and enhances it with a unique voice.

If you like this series, there is a fun companion series ("Midnight's Daughter") set in the same world and taking place at the same time. It provides a lot of background information and understanding about Mircea and his family and the kind of man he is. It fills in the blanks about why he behaves certain ways and is so protective of Cassie.

Head Spinning

This is a busy, busy book. The world the author spins is entrancing, but there is a lot going on at all times. If Cassandra was a real woman, she would have collapsed from exhaustion before the halfway point of this book! Take a break girl, have a coffee, kiss a boy, take a darn nap! It can be hard to follow, but by the end I was caught up. It's a good story and seems well thought out over all. The narrator, who I've heard doing other books, is really slow on this one, I actually sped the timing up 15% and it made it easier to listen to her. It ends on a cliff hanger, so I will be going forward. I just wish there was less action and more meat of the story was explained, there are some large plot holes I am not over thinking, just trying to enjoy the tale.

A bit slow to start but a great audio book!

I wasn't too sure about the narration at the beginning, but it quickly became on of my favorite new books to listen to!

Listening at higher speed helps

The story is a solid four stars, but the reader isn't great. I suggest listening at a higher speed. It doesn't fix mispronounced words, but it really helps on the rest.

Amazing

I have read this book over and over again since it first came out! It’s an amazing series. I would love one day to see a TV show or a Movie.

Touch the Dark

For the most part I enjoyed this book. Here's what to expect from reading:

1. Vamps, Fey, Weres, Psychs, Demons, Mages, and Witches.
2. Time Travel
3. Every public domain fantasy character that can fit

Cassandra uses human law to get revenge on one of her enemies. Of course he now wants revenge on her and she is constanly running. This is the part of the book I liked. The other stuff seemed liked fluff.

The main character isn't the common beauty-with-no-brains nor is she the overly-used-sexy-badass. She seems more real (excluding the paranormal stuff) than some of the characters I've read about lately.

One thing I don't care for is the whole pure virgin thing. Why is the virginity thing used so much? Its over done and isnt likely that a 24 year old woman hasn't had any type of sexual experiences.

Time travel logic was not used well in this book. You can't go back in time, change a major point in a person's life, and then come back into the present a finish the conversation you were having with them. Their life would be completely different.

The narrator had to grow on me. She did well with the characters with accents but if it was just an American accent then they sounded the same.

I like long books so I was pleased that it was over 12 hours. Though the time travel stuff was off, the other parts of the book were entertaining.

Sleepy Reader?

Is there anything you would change about this book?

There could have been some cohesion in the story line.

How could the performance have been better?

I just couldn't get past the readers voice, she sounds bored or half asleep. There was no change in her tempo with the action in the story.

Do you think Touch the Dark needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I know there are follow up books. I doubt I will listen because the reader is the same.

Any additional comments?

As I started the book I realized this was the second time I had tried to listen to it. I just couldn't do it.

Love this Series

What does Cynthia Holloway bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I am in love with Cynthia Holloway, her voice alone brings something to everything she reads. The way she reads makes you believe that she is that character. I can listen to her all day and like a creepy fangirl, I tend to follow her around to all of the books she reads.

Any additional comments?

I love Karen Chance her writing style can make me fall into the world that she has created. The Cassandra Palmer series was the first Paranormal Romance series that I just dove into. I bought this book three different ways. Paperback, Kindle and Audible. I am a sucker for Mircea and Pritkin. I love both those men for their differences. The Pythia thing is exciting when she decides to embrace it. I know there needs to be drama and there is so much of it in this series. Well done Ms. Chance you keep writing them I will most definitely keep reading/listening to them.