A Spoiler Free Reread Review
I have said before that the Cassandra Palmer series is chaotic and that I really should brace myself for more oncoming chaos. Well, Curse the Dawn definitely ramps up the chaos. It honestly felt as though Karen Chance wanted to do a couple different stories and had to figure out how to put them all together rather than something cohesive. The main plot of the book is explained via info-dump at the end of the book... after a bunch of battles and body-swapping and general nonsense that kind of pays off in the end... I honestly have a hard time remembering everything now that I've finished Curse the Dawn.
I think one of the main issues is, as Cassie actually addresses with Mircea at one point, the fact that she has little to no information about anything. I get that she's one of the more vulnerable characters in terms of abilities and that everyone wants to protect her, but the lack of information and training she's given as a result of this is frustrating, to say the least. Take the body-swap between Cassie and Pritkin, for example. Even in Cassie's body, Pritkin is able to shield and fire off spells whereas Cassie is just doing the same things she always does: basically nothing. Sure, she gets in a few lucky shots at some of their pursuers, but that's only so long as she manages to keep her hands on a gun. After that, she's helpless. I find this incredibly annoying. I assume Cassie's had time to get in at least some physical training, if not magical, but apparently she hasn't been using her time wisely or it hasn't occurred to her to use her time in that manner. Just "Swim, read, maybe do a little shopping." Cassie, darling, you've been in combat situations for the last four books, maybe use some of that down time to train. You clearly need it and know you're going to need it. It's extremely frustrating that you're not doing it at this point.
I'm also vaguely frustrated by the "mistress" drama Cassie's internalized around Dorina... and then just decides not to ask Mircea about it when she has the chance. Of course, if you're specifically reading the <i>Cassandra Palmer</i> books and not the <i>Dorina Basarab</i> books, you don't know who the "mistress" is, but still... I hate this sort of thing. If ya'll would just TALK TO EACH OTHER, there would be less problems. But no, no one wants to actually talk about things unless they're apparently setting up traps or planning coups. Which reminds me, are either Cassie or Pritkin going to tell anyone about Jonas' "Pythia Recall Device?" I assume that's going to need to be explained at some point...
Which brings me to another frustration that also ties into my "Cassie is super untrained" issue. Mircea knows Cassie travels in time. He knows she gets randomly yanked through time and can't/doesn't really control when she gets back and yet... assigns a bodyguard who can't/won't be able to be with her on these sojourns and will thus be punished if anything happens to Cassie during those times. I do not like this. It makes Mircea seem cruel, which isn't really something we've seen him be on purpose at this point. Manipulative, yes, but not cruel. I really think he should maybe have Marco (said bodyguard) also made aware of Cassie's power yanking her off and, I dunno, also tasked Marco with TRAINING HER as opposed to what actually happens.
Well, now that I've ranted about what I disliked about this book... I liked the body-swapping thing. The story slowed down to basically a halt while Cassie and Pritkin dealt with that and met Jonas, but a breather was definitely needed. I guess the Three Dees were kind of fun. Nice to see a little representation. The part where Cassie, Pritkin, and Caleb go into MAGIC to rescue the prisoners was a highlight.
Uhm, yeah, Curse the Dawn was honestly a mess. It was one of those "let's just go from one crisis to the next with no clear endgame until five minutes before the endgame" kind of stories. I preferred it when that wasn't the case.
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