Twisted Kingdom

First, I apologize for the delay for this review. I had it planned for earlier this week, but we had a busy week and much more interesting stuff than this review to post :D

As for this book... You know, sometimes, you buy a book that looks good: beautiful cover, great back blurb, and you just want to like it. You really want to like it... and so when you don't, it's really disappointing. Well this is what happened with Claimed by Shadows...


Claimed by Shadows by Karen Chance: DNF
published by ROC in March 2007

Cassie Palmer is a clairvoyant as well as a medium who was raised by vampires. She's also the heiress to the title of Pythia, the world's chief of clairvoyants in the magic community. Along the title comes new powers that Cassie does not want to be burdened with, but she doesn't have a say since it is THE power that does the choosing. After the events of Touch the Darkness, Cassie is on the run... from everyone: the vampires, the fey, the mages, the witches, etc. She also looking for Antonio, the vampire that has killed her parents, for revenge.

While interrogating one of Antonia's second-in-command, Cassie learns that a geis has been put on her by one powerful master vampire. A geis is a magical claim that warns off any would-be suitors, and might also explain the rather ... intense attraction between them. However, before she can ask for more details, two forces burst in: one that would see Cassie die and one that is there to protect her... and everything that can go wrong, goes wrong...

Genre: fantasy, psychics, magic, vampires, the fey
Series: Cassie Palmer series, book 2

Review: So this was really a roller-coaster ride. It's hard to explain, but my problem is that there was too much action (can't believe I'm saying this) and that made it hard for me to follow. One of Cassie's new power is the ability to travel in time - but she doesn't have much control over it. This just complicates the story. While reading, I didn't know when an event was starting and ending. I think I read half-way the book before giving... it was just too much.

The Characters - Cassie is an interesting character, that I won't deny. My problem though is that we always see her when something is happening, in action. I don't have a sense of who she is as a person. This makes it hard for me to connect with her... or even root for her. I mean, is Cassie a good or bad guy? So yeah, I don't know who she is as a person. I know she is a clairvoyant, a medium, the next Pythia, a person that everyone seems to desire and covet... but do these things define her personality? No, at least not entirely. So I guess what I'm complaining about is the depth of the characterization... which wasn't deep enough to make me care about Cassie.

Some characters from Touch the Darkness reappears, but the same problem occurs. They're all busy fighting, running and etc. for me to have a sense of who they are. I have to admit that I was happy to see Pritchkin as he's quite an intriguing character.

The Story & Writing - I was really confused while reading this book... way too much happened, but I've already complained about it, so I will stop. Something else that made me stop reading this book is the requirement for a person to become a Pythia. One minute, they all believe that the heiress (Cassie) must be a virgin, another minute, no-no, she has to lose her virginity, etc. I'm tired of this kind of plot where virginity plays such a big role... it's been done and we all know the result of it: sooner or later, she will have sex. Which brings me to my other complain, and this is strictly the romance reader side of me speaking: couldn't she at least sleep with someone she loved? I guess not...

The Cover - The cover is really nice, better than the first one I think... which is what push me into buying the book and finally, start reading the first one.

Sigh. I'll probably try to read this book again, maybe it's easier when you've alread tried once... However, I'll wait and see before buying the third one. All in all, I was really disappointed because I really wanted to like this book :(

I first heard of Ms. Nalini Singh when Slave to Sensation, her first book in the series, was released and getting good reviews in blogland. Both Cindy and Kristie as well as others were screaming "KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER" and seriously, I had to search for it for two entire weeks before getting my hands on it! And I just absolutely loved it :D So this time, I didn't take any chances and pre-ordered it :D Lucky me, it even arrived to my house before the release date, unfortunately, this and that have prevented me from reviewing it T_T I guess better late than never!

Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh: 4.25/5
published by Berkley in March 2007

Faith Nightstar is a F-Psy, i.e. a foreseer, who has had predictions since she was 3 years old and has been on the dot 99% of the time. As a result, her abilities are highly sought by business enterprises to predict the market trends and so, she is very precious to her clan. However, F-Psy are known to be the most fragile of the Psy and have a tendency to plunge into madness in their forth of fifth decades. Thus, most live in reclusion without physical contacts, because they trigger visions, and Faith is no exception - although she has more control than most. However, Faith has been troubled lately by dark visions and is afraid that her descent to madness has started. She knows that if her body breaks, it won't stop the Psy community to use her brain - for visions or for research to understand the mind of F-Psy. Thus, her only chance of a "normal" life would be to run away and drop from the Psy-net... However, no Psy can live without the feedback provided by the Psy-net... Except for Sascha Duncan, the mate of Lucas Hunter, alpha of the Dark River, the leopard changelings clan. Faith will do anything to stay alive and so, decides to go look for Sascha for help or at least, explanations... while slipping out of her compound, she runs into Vaughn D'Angelo, a jaguar changeling and Sentinel of the Dark River clan.

Genre: paranormal romance, shapeshifters, psychics
Series: Psy-Changeling world, Book #2

Review: I liked and enjoyed this book, but not as much as Slave to Sensation (StS). However, I still think that as a sequel, Visions of Heat is very good and does not disappoint. The story is good and enjoyable, but it's just I didn't connect with Faith and Vaughn as much as I connected with Sascha and Lucas. As a couple, Sascha and Lucas were more interesting in my opinion.

The Characters - Faith is an interesting heroine and certainly not TSTL. She has a head on her shoulders and knows how to use it. She's got a personality and can stand on her own. She's a bit ignorant of the outside world, but why go outside when it's dangerous for you? I guess you could say she's as much a loner as Vaughn and so, they fit well. The only thing I thought annoying a little was she kept warning Vaughn to not touch her - and that, I understand... but the repetition of the warning got tedious near the end, esp. when it was obvious Vaughn would not back up. As for Vaughn, I found he played with fire as he kept touching - I don't know, when someone tells you they might die because of something you're doing, if you really care for them, maybe you should consider stop doing it? I understand Vaughn's side, as he believes if Faith is to live outside of her compound, she must get accustomed to touch... but seriously, he didn't have to push her that fast. Otherwise, I liked Vaughn and thought of his story really interesting and actually, quite sad. No wonder he's such a loner and doesn't want to get that close to others. By the way, if you've been wondering, Vaughn is as yummy and alpha as Lucas, but I thought there was more chemistry between Lucas and Sascha than Vaughn and Faith.

We also get to revisit many, many characters, which to me is always a pleasure. I have to say however, that I'd like to see more of the other Sentinels and learn about them. I also love Roman and Julian, Tammy and Nate's cubs, they're just so, so, so cute! Talking about Tammy and Nate, I hope Ms. Singh does do like Ms. J.R. Ward and kill one person of the couple - it's a very bad idea, Ms. Singh! We like balance and we don't need all the males to be single! Two other interesting characters, Kit - the possible next alpha. To know that there's already a next heir/successor apparent makes me a bit nervous, because I don't want Lucas to die :P but then, I guess Lucas could step down and that's an interesting idea/plot. The other interesting character is Judd Laurens, a Psy and something else. I wasn't expecting to see him in this book, but it was good to see him. Especially since he is the main character of the next book, but kudos to Ms. Singh, because his presence is very subtle. It doesn't scream: I have to start advertising for my next book! I have to make people wonder about Judd for my next book! Most importantly is that Judd does not steal the spotlight.


Story & Writing - The world Ms. Singh created is fascinating and quite complex and she did a good job in StS, setting it. So you don't have that much new information in this book. The only aspect of the world that is still quite unknown to the readers are the humans, but I'm sure that's coming up. What I really liked in StS and Visions of Heat is the flow between them. Not every author is capable of using what was written in the previous book to its full potential, but Ms. Singh was able to and the transition smooth. I guess what I mean is that the two books are continuous, as opposed as two separated stories within the same world and that is great.

The Cover - Hmmm, I don't dislike it, but I don't like it either...

Am I keeping this book? Yep :D

Anything else? Not really... Oh well, perhaps yet. If you go to Ms. Singh's website/blog, you'll see that she got her new cover. Her next book is called Caressed by Ice, coming out in September if I'm not wrong... and she has a story in Wild Thing, an anthology, for October :)