So the easy answer is to upgrade to Cassandra 2.0.X and use the new built in paging functionality. But to get it done on Cassandra 1.2 you are on the right path. Your syntax should be working, if you run the query you are trying in cqlsh do you get the same error? When paging like this it is best to use ">" like in the example, that might be the issue. You want to start with select * from table limit 100
then go to select * from table where token(key)>token('last key') limit 100
Also I would try it with a prepared statement. The string manipulations may be doing something funny to the offset.