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Touch the Dark | 
 enlarge | Author: Karen Chance
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy Used: £0.33
You Save: £6.66 (95%)
New (27) Used (13) from £0.33
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 945
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0451460936
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780451460936
ASIN: 0451460936
Publication Date: June 28, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Great Paranormal Thriller! July 18, 2006
Rune Z
70 out of 71 found this review helpful
Touch the Dark is a fast-paced dark fantasy with a wry sense of humor and great characterization. It opens with Cassandra Palmer, a clairvoyant on the run, finding her own obituary pasted onto her computer screen. The newspaper clipping informs her that she will die in a little over an hour. It's a warning, she assumes, from the vampire who had been chasing her for years. Cassie had been his personal clairvoyant until she found out that he had her parents killed in order to use her abilities for himself. She tried her best to destroy him three years ago, but failed, and now he wants revenge.
Cassie gets away, but to stay safe, she needs to cut a deal with the vampire Senate, a group who rules the other vampires with an iron fist. They are not known for being sympathetic, but they are willing to make an exception in her case in order to control her power. Cassie has to find a way to retain control over both her independance and her head, in the middle of a vampire war that threatens to destroy her world.
Touch the Dark manages to incorporate mystery, action-adventure and romance into the story-line, yet keeps the fantasy foremost. If you like modern fantasy with a bite to it, you'll love Touch the Dark!
Loved it - can't wait for the sequel February 3, 2007
clairefromwales
47 out of 48 found this review helpful
What a great debut novel.
The plot revolves around a series of interlinked supernatural power struggles with Cassie, a runnaway clairvoyant, at the centre of it all - and it slowly becomes clear that a rather large destiny is about to come her way. Although there is lots of backstory, it's pretty apparent that there's a lot more going on underneath it all (as I'm sure will become clear in later books in this series.)
I tend to flit around the edges of this genre, not having read anything by some of the big players like Laurell H, but I thought that this book was enjoyable and accessible, while still being quite dark and densely packed with detail.
I liked the humour and humanity of the book and the fleet of different characters, magical creatures and supernatural beings. The dialogue was snappy and readable and had fun with a few stereotypes, like when Mircea commands Cassie to come to him.
Characterisation is a real strength of the author. Cassie is a great heroine - I didn't think she was passive at all, just very aware of the strengths of those around her and slowly coming to realise what her new powers meant.
The vampires were fabulously written. Suitably enticing, but with real ambiguity in their intentions. I liked the idea that many of them were famous historical characters.
Mircea was gorgeous, but managed moments of apparent vulnerability which only added to the attraction. When he finally lost his temper, you were left in no doubt of why he held a senate seat.
One of my favourite characters was Pritkin the barking mad, demon-hunting war mage. He has an awful lot of unattractive features, but there was just something about his single-minded determination.
I loved all the backstory and complications. It reminded me a bit of Simon R Green's Deathstalker and Nightside novels - those books also have a phenomenal number of beautifully realised characters, lots of intricate backstory and some mind-bending time travel. I rather suspect that like Green, Karen Chance will be picking up tiny strands hinted at in this book and weaving them into later installments.
Better than Anita October 9, 2006
HMatthews
21 out of 27 found this review helpful
No, as another reviewer commented, this isn't an Anita Blake book. Thank God! It has an excellent plot, male characters who aren't mentally challenged doormats there to show off how smart the heroine is, and a heroine who doesn't think that killing things is the only way to solve a problem. It's an excellent dark fantasy, and I can't wait to read more from this author. And I really, really hope she never turns into a Laurell Hamilton!
Vamp-tastic! December 2, 2007
L. Felthouse (Derbyshire, UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I happened across this book in the fantasy section of Waterstones. I was looking for some new material in that genre that wasn't necessarily a best-seller and therefore thrust in your face at every opportunity. I'm now very glad I took the time to look. I love vampire novels, and books about various ghosts and beasties and I was immediately drawn after reading the cover blurb of this one - "Can you ever really trust a vampire?"
Desperate to find out, I bought this book and the sequel. I was drawn in right from the beginning of Touch the Dark. The narrative voice is very easy to read, a very conversational style, with not many big words! As I continued to read I was grateful for this easy style as the novel is so action-packed with so many different characters and events, it's already hard to keep track!
The book begins right in the middle of the action. The main character Cassandra Palmer returns to her desk at work to find a note attached to her computer, containing an obituary. Hers. Most people would be horrified by this prospect, but as we soon find out, Cassie isn't just anybody. She's a clairvoyant with a great deal of power and this makes her both desired and feared by other magical people - not least vampires.
Cassie immediately goes on the run and takes flight to warn her roommate Tomas and let him know that she has to leave town. Just as she is trying to get away with explaining as little as possible, the two are attacked. Cassie tries to protect Tomas, but as the violence continues, she discovers he can hold his own - because he too, is a vampire. Once the threat has dissipated, Cassie wants answers. But they're not necessarily what she wants to hear...
Cassie's powers are sought after by many magical groups, some who would like to use them for good, others not so good. The problem is, Cassie has been brought up her whole life in the company of a most unsavoury vampire who exploited her powers to make himself rich. And now Cassie wants him dead and out of her life for good so she can continue with a fairly normal and quiet existence. But what she doesn't realise is many, many more people are looking for her... some to protect her, some to kill her. Before long, she has no idea who she can trust or where to turn... will Cassie ever get the quiet life she desires?
I thought this book was fab! It was completely action-packed from start to finish and you have to make sure you're paying attention to who's doing what, or you'll quickly get lost. But this book has everything; action, great characters, magic, and even a little bit of sex to spice things up even more!
Readers into this kind of genre will love this book. It's very dark and threatening; you can't take your eye off the ball for one minute, but once you start reading, you won't want to. It's definitely my favourite vampire novel so far, but then, I've yet to read the sequel... I'll post the review as soon as I'm finished!
Brilliant, fast paced - I got sucked in and enjoyed the ride June 16, 2008
S. Hopgood (Kent, UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I must admit that I was a bit shell-shocked for the first third of the book. The author dumps you right into the thick of a very complex world and you have to go with it. So much so that I spent a lot of time thinking that the back story should have been made into a separate book. However, by the end of it I really missed the style and pace and couldn't wait to start the next two sequels.
Don't expect full resolution in this book. It's more like a Janet Evanovitch 'Stephanie Plum' book in it's treatment of the heroine and the main male characters. I've read the sequels now and I still couldn't tell you who Cassie is going to end up with (although she has had some great encounters with some of them!). The suspense of that alone means that I can't wait for more from Ms Chance.
It's vivid, funny and perplexing. There are some fantastic characters and ideas. I'm hooked.
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