Shadowland (Cassandra Palmer, #4.2)

by Karen Chance

[Quirky Cat]

Shadowland is one of the many novellas in the Cassandra Palmer World – and it is absolutely worth reading! It’s the fourth novella in the series with Pritkin being the main perspective. It’s set between A Family Affair (one of the Pritkin novellas) and Hunt the Moon. But seriously, make sure you don’t skip A Family Affair, because it adds much needed context.
Shadowland directly follows the events in A Family Affair. Which means that once again the trouble in this novella is sort of Pritkin’s fault. Okay, only some of it is actually his fault. But it’s a refreshing change, isn’t it?
The novellas in this series do a great job of fleshing out the world of Cassandra Palmer. Plus they allow for some unique perspectives. I regret not having read everything in order the first time around! So I would strongly advise that fans read all of the novellas available – but in order whenever possible.


Shadowland is quite possibly my favorite novella out Pritkin’s perspectives. It was fun, fast-paced, and surprisingly full of emotion - I know how easy it is to just assume that Pritkin runs on pure rage and coffee, but it isn’t quite an accurate assumption.
I should probably clarify that Pritkin isn’t the only perspective in this novella. He’s just the main one – or at least it feels that way. Cassanova gets a chance to have a meltdown (naturally), and there’s even some time spent with Cassie too.
There were so many elements about this novella that made it fun to read. I think my favorite part about it is how one small thing ties together the beginning and the end. It’s silly and cute, but that just makes it feel so much more human. And honestly, at the end of the day it’s those sort of victories that Pritkin needs to hold onto.
I loved the chaos in this novella. Mainly because there was such a strong sense of order to it – once you figured out the pattern. Best of all, it showed how strong Cassie is in an environment like that. Girl can use chaos as a weapon if she tried hard enough.
The emotional reactions Pritkin had in this novella brought it to a whole new level. I’m pretty sure he experienced almost every emotion during the course of this plot. Which sounds exhausting. But seriously, Karen Chance did a great job of reminding us of the human half of Pritkin here. While also keeping the incubi half clearly in our minds as well. That’s a tough balance.
I’ll be honest with you here; I had actually kind of forgotten about Shadowland and everything that happened in it. I guess it’s been that long. So I’m absolutely thrilled that I’ve been going through the series and reading them all again (all credit to the Karen Chance Street Team for the motivation there). I had forgotten how much I loved some of the moments here.


For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks