Cassandra Palmer
#3594.06 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 24 books Status Ongoing 2006–present Reading commitment High Karen Chance Last reviewed 2026-11-05
Overview
Karen Chance, an American author, began this urban fantasy world with Touch the Dark in 2006. Cassandra Palmer is a clairvoyant raised by a vampire mobster who becomes the Pythia, the supernatural world's chief seer, and is pulled into politics among vampires, mages, fey and gods. The Dorina Basarab (Midnight's Daughter) series, begun in 2008, follows a half-vampire hunter in the same world and shares characters such as the vampire Mircea Basarab. A third series, starting with Junk Magic in 2022, follows the war mage Lia de Croissets. Novels continue to appear, most recently in 2026.
Urban fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (24 works) counts toward ranking
Cassandra Palmer Karen Chance
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Touch the Dark | 2006 | 1 | core | 3.72 (37,122 ratings) |
 | Claimed by Shadow; Publisher page text is brief, so the synopsis is short. | 2007 | 2 | core | 3.97 (23,444 ratings) |
 | Embrace the Night | 2008 | 3 | core | 4.08 (23,387 ratings) |
 | Curse the Dawn | 2009 | 4 | core | 4.15 (21,700 ratings) |
 | Hunt the Moon | 2011 | 5 | core | 4.24 (17,901 ratings) |
 | Tempt the Stars | 2013 | 6 | core | 4.14 (9,115 ratings) |
 | Masks; A prequel about Mircea Basarab, first released as an ebook; the print-format first edition was not confirmed, so the ebook ISBN is given. 406 pages per the publisher. | 2014 | 7 | core | 3.98 (1,662 ratings) |
 | Reap the Wind | 2015 | 8 | core | 4.07 (5,749 ratings) |
 | Ride the Storm | 2017 | 9 | core | 4.17 (4,465 ratings) |
 | Brave the Tempest | 2019 | 10 | core | 4.31 (2,813 ratings) |
 | Shatter the Earth | 2020 | 11 | core | 4.32 (2,264 ratings) |
 | Ignite the Fire: Incendiary | 2021 | 12 | core | 4.06 (1,376 ratings) |
 | Ignite the Fire: Inferno | 2022 | 13 | core | 4.23 (1,119 ratings) |
 | Hijack the Seas: Seismic | 2024 | 14 | core | 4.32 (527 ratings) |
 | Hijack the Seas: Tsunami | 2025 | 15 | core | 4.51 (401 ratings) |
Cassie Palmer, a clairvoyant, becomes the Pythia and is drawn into wars among vampires, mages, fey and gods.
Dorina Basarab Karen Chance
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Midnight's Daughter | 2008 | 1 | core | 4.00 (20,399 ratings) |
 | Death's Mistress | 2010 | 2 | core | 4.20 (17,540 ratings) |
 | Fury's Kiss | 2012 | 3 | core | 4.27 (11,227 ratings) |
 | Shadow's Bane | 2018 | 4 | core | 4.31 (2,980 ratings) |
 | Queen's Gambit | 2020 | 5 | core | 4.30 (1,544 ratings) |
 | Time's Fool | 2023 | 6 | core | 4.08 (745 ratings) |
 | Fortune's Blade | 2024 | 7 | core | 4.46 (663 ratings) |
Dorina Basarab, a dhampir vampire hunter and daughter of Mircea Basarab, works with the vampire Louis-Cesare in the same world.
Lia de Croissets Karen Chance
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Junk Magic; Published as a standalone ebook and paperback; 516 pages per the publisher. | 2022 | 1 | core | 4.31 (983 ratings) |
 | Weird Magic | 2026 | 2 | core | N/A |
Lia de Croissets, a half-werewolf War Mage Corps officer, fights in the same supernatural war.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Cassandra Palmer? Cassandra Palmer's Core Canon is 24 books.
- What is the reading order for Cassandra Palmer? Publication order, starting with Touch the Dark. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Cassandra Palmer finished? Ongoing (2006–present).
- How much reading does Cassandra Palmer take? High reading commitment (estimated from 24 Core Canon books).
- How is Cassandra Palmer ranked? #359 in this site's official ranking, based on 209,126 reader ratings across 23 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #359?
Ranked #359 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.06 across 23 core books.
- Backed by 209k reader ratings.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.72 to 4.51.
- Less than 0.01 behind #358, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.46.
One Core Canon book here doesn't have a recorded rating yet and isn't counted above: “Weird Magic” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.).
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 24 books · Ongoing · 209k ratings · Ranks #359 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running urban fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (24 Core Canon books)
- Touch the Dark (2006)
- Claimed by Shadow (2007)
- Embrace the Night (2008)
- Midnight's Daughter (2008)
- Curse the Dawn (2009)
- Death's Mistress (2010)
- Hunt the Moon (2011)
- Fury's Kiss (2012)
- Tempt the Stars (2013)
- Masks (2014)
- Reap the Wind (2015)
- Ride the Storm (2017)
- Shadow's Bane (2018)
- Brave the Tempest (2019)
- Queen's Gambit (2020)
- Shatter the Earth (2020)
- Ignite the Fire: Incendiary (2021)
- Ignite the Fire: Inferno (2022)
- Junk Magic (2022)
- Time's Fool (2023)
- Fortune's Blade (2024)
- Hijack the Seas: Seismic (2024)
- Hijack the Seas: Tsunami (2025)
- Weird Magic (2026)
Documented internal/story order
- Touch the Dark (2006)
- Midnight's Daughter (2008)
- Junk Magic (2022)
- Claimed by Shadow (2007)
- Death's Mistress (2010)
- Weird Magic (2026)
- Embrace the Night (2008)
- Fury's Kiss (2012)
- Curse the Dawn (2009)
- Shadow's Bane (2018)
- Hunt the Moon (2011)
- Queen's Gambit (2020)
- Tempt the Stars (2013)
- Time's Fool (2023)
- Masks (2014)
- Fortune's Blade (2024)
- Reap the Wind (2015)
- Ride the Storm (2017)
- Brave the Tempest (2019)
- Shatter the Earth (2020)
- Ignite the Fire: Incendiary (2021)
- Ignite the Fire: Inferno (2022)
- Hijack the Seas: Seismic (2024)
- Hijack the Seas: Tsunami (2025)
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Cassandra Palmer and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Psy-Changeling Romantasy / Urban fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.20
- Women of the Otherworld Urban fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.10
- Otherworld (Sisters of the Moon) Urban fantasy / Romantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.07
- The Laundry Files Urban fantasy / Dark fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.07
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.06 across 209,126 ratings on 23 Core Canon books. 1 additional Core Canon book hasn't been rated yet, so it isn't counted here. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: 22 universes from the candidate register; Cursed Bunny ruled out; open synopses for Anna Strong, Allie Beckstrom and Alex Craft accepted 2026-11-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: Karen Chance Tier 2
- Karen Chance official site Tier 2
- Karen Chance official site: About Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-11-05
Rule: Core Canon = the Cassandra Palmer novels (Touch the Dark, 2006, to Hijack the Seas: Tsunami, 2025, with the prequel Masks), the Dorina Basarab novels (Midnight's Daughter, 2008, to Fortune's Blade, 2024) and the Lia de Croissets novels (Junk Magic, 2022, and Weird Magic, 2026); novellas, short stories and anthology contributions are excluded.