Tori's Review: Hunt the Moon by Karen Chance

Paperback: 432 pages
Price: $7.99
ISBN: 978-0451413079
Released: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Penguin
Author's Website: Karen Chance 
Buy it: Amazon
Obtained: Publisher
Genre: Urban Fantasy 
Series: Cassandra Palmer 
Book Order:
1. Touch the Dark
2. Claimed by Shadow
3. Embrace the Night
4. Curse the Dawn

Cassandra Palmer recently defeated a god, which you'd think would buy a girl a little time off. But it doesn't work that way when your job description is Pythia-the world's chief clairvoyant. Cassie is busier than ever, trying to learn about her power, preparing for her upcoming coronation, and figuring out her relationship with the enigmatic sexy master vampire, Mircea.

But someone doesn't want Cassie to become Pythia, and is willing to go to any lengths to make sure the coronation ceremony never happens- including attacking her mother before Cassie is even born.

Rating:

My Opinion:
Roughly two years ago, CURSE THE DAWN was released. After such a long and tortured period of living in limbo, the fifth installment to the Cassie Palmer series has finally reached the public. And oh what a wait it was.

In a way, the hiatus was a good thing. Why? I remember when I read the first four books in this series, I was engaged, but not 100% with the writing and characters (this, mind you, was all before I embraced my book addiction; it was when I actually worried about running out of books to purchase and devour). After reading HUNT THE MOON throughout the week, and having it haunt me when I wasn't reading it, I was addicted. That little spark that was lacking in the earlier books was shining brightly, demanding my complete attention.

The writing has improved. I had an easier time picturing everything, and the dialogue definitely was a bonus. I got a real taste of characters via conversations (especially Pritkin this time around). Everything in this book flowed so smoothly and effortlessly that I couldn't help but be enamored.

There is a love-ish triangle in this series, and I thought I was going to hate it. I remember I despised the idea of Pritkin and Cassie being together initially--that is, until the two got down and dirty to save Pritkin's life in a past book. I was always a Mircea fan, but after HUNT THE MOON, I think I'm legitimately torn because both men are so likable, and both have their faults. Kudos to Chance for actually making me question who I want Cassie to be with. 

Fans of the series will definitely appreciate this installment because we learn more about character histories. I think I'm also torn between the two men because Chance focused on both equally this time around, permitting them to reveal something substantial that happened in both their pasts, and thus, making them easier to like.

I have two minor qualms with this book: some of the fight scenes, and redundancy. There was a tendency for certain things to repeat themselves--whether it was a certain behavior during an interaction, or something a little more substantial, like a trending when it comes to attacks. I hate to say it, but halfway through the story, I was able to predict the inclination in the fights for shifting, attacking, crazy chase, and regrouping.

As for the fight scenes themselves, I don't remember if I had similar sentiments for earlier books, but I felt lost at some points. I'm not sure if this was because of editing issues, or if I wasn't catching certain details. Even upon rereading these pages, I still felt overwhelmed and confused. It seemed like Chance either got lost or too wrapped up in these scenes. To me, there seemed to be a few consistency errors, but again, I'm not sure if it's my fault or not. For example, in one chase scene, Pritkin was supposedly pulled into the car (or at least, I thought he was), but then then a paragraph later, he was back on the fence, being dragged again. In that very same scene, Cassie told a vampire to drive, then took the wheel back; a few paragraphs later, the vampire was driving again. I felt it happened fairly often with the more intricate fights, which lessened my enjoyment of them since I was having difficulties attempting to envision the overall picture.

Word of warning: there is a cliff hanger in HUNT THE MOON. I, personally, was not agitated by this, but I know a lot of people will not be thrilled... especially after a two year wait for this book coupled with no word of book six's release.

Overall, HUNT THE MOON was an excellent reunion with a wonderful world and characters. Mircea and Pritkin were just as sexy as I remembered, and I actually started tearing up at the end because I thought Pritkin died at one point (but he didn't!). Cassie didn't annoy me as much like she did in the past, and I was hating every moment where I wasn't reading. I think Chance just proved that, despite a reading slump, a creative author can effortlessly wipe away the fatigue any reader may be feeling via an engaging world and characters.