Karen Chance: Curse the Dawn

• ISBN-13: 9780451412706
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
• Publication date: 4/7/2009
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 400

 Cassandra Palmer may be the all-powerful Pythia now, but that doesn't mean people have stopped trying to kill her. Most of the supernatural power players don't want independent-minded Cassie as chief clairvoyant - and they'll stop at nothing to see her six feet under. 
 The Vampire Senate does support Cassie in her position, but their protection comes with a price: an alliance with the sexy master vampire Mircea, who has claimed Cassie as his own.
 But even the vampires will have trouble keeping Cassie alive now that the self-styled god Apollo, the source of the Pythia's power, has it in for her in a big way. To save her life - and the world - Cassie's going to have to face down her creator once and for all...  

 This is going to sound absolutely horrible, but it took me to the end of the second chapter to be 100% certain that I hadn't read that book before. I'm going to attribute that to having flipped through at another point in time to find certain plot points so my mind could be at peace. Yes, I do that. I frequently read the end of novels just to make sure that I'm not going to be throwing it at a wall later.
 Cassie's in a pickle. Isn't she always? She really doesn't want to kill anyone from the Silver Circle, since those lives are the ones preventing Apollo from entering this world. On the other hand, those crazy bastards are out to get her, and 90% of them don't care if she's dead or alive, and would, in fact, prefer her dead. So there's a paradox for you. Also, Mircea is being hyper-protective, as usual, and that is growing increasingly frustrating for the new Pythia. To top off all of her other problems, she accidentally manages to swap bodies with her erstwhile companion Pritkin, causing strife and confusion for all.
 All's well that ends well, however, and I'm terribly interested to see where Chance will take Cassie in the next book. I won't tell you why, because that would spoil everything, but I'm pumped.
 I felt that, once again, Chance managed to jam pack her novel full of action. She's really not a fan of letting her heroines rest, but that's more of a symptom of the genre, I think. It certainly makes the novel fly by faster when you don't have time to get bored. I'm also on tenterhooks to see how she's going to deal with the tension between Mircea, Cassie, and Pritkin. I'm Team Mircea all the way, and I can't say I'll be terribly pleased if that relationship goes sour, but I'm willing to ride wherever Chance takes me. Especially with all of the juicy Mircea-Cassie emotional goodness going on. Mm, mm, good.
 The other downside to her fast paced plot is the whiplash-inducing wrap-up. Within two chapters we fight the big bad, solve the world's problems (for the time being), and return life to fairly-normal with some improvements. Because there's so much going on, when we finally confront the major problem, you kind of get a "oh, we're doing this now?" feeling. It's a little disorienting.
 Overall: A-
 I enjoyed it, as I always do, although the ending was a little too speedy for my taste.

Kim Harrison: Black Magic Sanction

• Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Harper Voyager; Reprint edition (December 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061138045
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Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter - and lived to tell the tale. But she's never faced off against her own kind...until now. 
Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment - her worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom. But trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and a lowlife ex-boyfriend-turned-thief.

I love Kim Harrison. I always have, ever since I first read one of her books, which was actually the third in the Hollows series, which was understandably confusing. I got through it, obviously, and enjoyed it. Part of what I love about Harrison's Hollows is that the world is so amazingly fleshed out. She's got pretty much every supernatural species one can think of, working in a fully functioning Cincinnati with its own history and complex political structure. She also has fully developed characters that come and go, but that always bring something to the table. She is able to handle multiple plotlines smoothly and they make sense. Sometimes it can get hard to keep track of what has happened and what's going to  happen next, especially when sometimes there are large gaps between readings, as is the case with me. However, Harrison does a great job of reminding us what has happened to get us to the starting point of the new novel without making it sound like a painful recap.
 In this edition, we have Rachel - surprise - running for her life. She has managed to piss off everyone at least once, but she's good enough at what she does that she eventually convinces them what a bad idea it really is to mess with her. She is, unfortunately, a victim of circumstance this time. Her previous battles have forced her into a corner, and instead of understanding that most of what she does is out of necessity and not choice, her enemies chose to punish her for what others have caused. Yes, Rachel made the choice, but when your other choice is death, becoming the student of a demon isn't all that bad of an option. Anyway, the point of all that is that she is being hunted for something that is out of her control. While she may be forced to practice black magic upon occasion and consort with demons, she still holds onto her morals, sometimes to the inconvenience or detriment of herself. I like that about her - even if it makes things harder, she still will do what's right. It's suitably frustrating when she sticks her neck out for someone (several times in this particular novel) and she catches crap from the person she's saving because they can only see the method. That's a personal rant, though.
 Harrison develops Rachel even further, and she finally accepts what she is. Furthermore, her relationships with Trent and Algaliarept are developing and I'm interested to see where it's all going. Honestly, I don't hold out much hope for her and Pierce, although he's funny and useful at times. We're heading to the end as the series is to end at thirteen books and this is number eight. Rachel's going to have to get her life together in five books, and it's going to be one hell of a ride. She got one demon mark off, she's only got one left and a boatload of smut on her aura. We'll see....
 Overall: A
 There wasn't much breathing room in this novel and it largely focused on Rachel's issues, naturally. At times it got a little confusing, especially the physics of ley lines. Still brilliant obviously.