Patricia Briggs – new covers

Posted on April 15, 2008 by janicu

Patricia Briggs

The cover for Cry Wolf the first book in the new Patricia Briggs series is out. This follows the story "Alpha and Omega" which was in the On the Prowl anthology and which is a spin off from the Mercedes Thompson series. I like it. Man I hope Briggs can keep up with having two series, each book 6 months away from the other.

Bone Crossed – potential cover

And Dan Dos Santos, the artist responsible for the art in the first 3 Mercy books posted this artwork for Bone Crossed online. Urban Fantasyland also posted this. At the point I'm considering it the potential cover because I haven't seen anything official yet (?). Like it, and really like Dos Santos' work.

And more covers – over at Patricia Brigg's website there was news that Patricia Briggs' books are being re-released with new covers. Hmm. I like the old Steal the Dragon and When Demon's Walk covers better though it's a big plus that the new covers have more clothes on the girls and the colors are brighter. On the other hand I definitely like the new Hob's Bargain cover better, except she's wearing a lot of makeup that looks very modern. And Dragon Bones – the tights from the old cover where hideous.

The typeface and costumes for all – better.

Steal the Dragon

Steal the Dragon cover

New Steal the Dragon cover

When Demons Walk

Demons Walk cover

New Demons Walk cover

The Hob's Bargain

Hob's Bargain cover

New Hob's Bargain cover

Dragon Bones

Dragon Bones cover

New Dragon Bones cover

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Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs

Posted on April 14, 2008 by janicu

Dragon Bones (The Hurog Duology, Book 1)

Patricia Briggs

Dragon Blood (The Hurog Duology, Book 2)

Patricia Briggs

I picked these two up because I wanted to read Patricia Briggs' backlog. These two books are a duology that is pretty straight fantasy with some unique elements. I think these are quite good because of the main character – Ward of Hurog who is also the narrator most of the time (the first book has a first person point of view throughout and the second book switches from first person from Wards POV to third person centering on someone else).

There is a lot of emotional, verbal, and physical abuse heaped Ward and his two siblings by their father the Hurogmerten. Ward pretends to be stupid after he was beaten so badly he had to relearn how to talk, and loses his magical abilities. Meanwhile his sister is a mute and his brother tried to commit suicide. The first person viewpoint is unusual in fantasy I think, but it works because we see Ward's thought process before he acts like a slow giant and understand what he's trying to do. When Ward's father dies, you see that sometimes Ward's act is too good – now he's generally thought unfit to rule his Keep, and his uncle has to "help" him in the transition while talk of committing him to the King's Asylum circles him. The two books deal with the aftermath of Ward's father's death and Ward's long battle to keep control of his beloved home, while of course dealing with a despot of a King and the usual political intruiges. It's hard to tell who is on his side and who is not, because it turns out he's not the only one pretending to be something in order to stay alive. On top of all that is the fantastical aspect – odd powers and ghosts that are unique to Ward and Hurog (which means dragon). There is also a bit of a romance in here, but not really a large part – just overall a side story and not a focus. Sweet nonetheless. Also there is the group journey thing, but not quite quest-like, more like moving strategically as in war.

Overall, if you like fantasy these are worth a read. Very interesting plot and well written. I liked it a LOT better than Briggs' Hob's Bargain which I wasn't that fond of, but there were some aspects that I feel nitty over:

1) The weird first person to third person switches in the second book. A bit jarring.

2) There's a lot of rape or alluding to rape. At least 3 main characters. An interesting trend along with the other types of abuse described. I don't know what to make of it. In some ways I didn't like it even though it sort of revealed some characters evil or other characters overcoming their past. I dislike it but not as negatively as I do disliked it in certain other books. Hmm, maybe because it wasn't central to the plot. I don't know.

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Star of the Morning by Lynn Kurland

Posted on February 27, 2008 by janicu

Star of the Morning: A Novel of the Nine Kingdoms

Lynn Kurland

This is a fantasy novel by an author who usually writes romance. I hear she has some popular time travel romances out. I think I was curious to read this because I liked her voice in the The Queen in Winter anthology. There's a little half-teasing tilt to it, especially when the characters banter with one another.

So this is a straight fantasy, with a little romance (not really in your face). Adhémar, king of Neroche has suddenly lost his magic powers, his magical sword doesn't work anymore, and he's very put out by it. His youngest brother Miach, who is also the archmage, suggests that he travel to the most unlikely place to find someone who can wield the sword. At the same time, a mercenary named Morgan who has been asked to bring a magical dagger to the king. They cross paths but Adhémar can't reveal his identity or the reason for his quest and Miach can't reveal why she's going towards the palace or that's where she's headed. Miach pops in to check on his brother and starts tagging along because he's interested in Morgan even though he's supposed to be monitoring the kingdom's borders. There's some light banter between the brothers (king – grumpy, archmage – deflecting grumpiness with practiced ease), and also humor from Morgan's belief that the king is a huge jackass who should keep his mouth shut. She proclaims this any chance she gets. The conflict here is that Morgan loathes magic but Miach is a mage so he worries about what she thinks when she finds out. At the same time Morgan is very troubled by her quest and about learning that she has an affinity for magic.

The book started out amusing – I really liked the beginning, but after a while it went into the usual fantasy quest route and I started to lose interest. There wasn't anything very urgent or compelling going on that would keep me glued to the page, the pacing was quite relaxed. Perhaps too relaxed. I almost walked away from this book even though I only had 50 pages left, I just wanted to skim the end and had to make myself read it (and that's where more interesting things started to happen). I'd recommend this for readers who don't generally read fantasy and want something light and wholesome to read. I also had the random thought that this story lends itself to being easy to read out loud. I was thinking – "I bet my grandmother could read this out and it would be ok, because this book has nothing really dirty in it". Maybe some cursing and graphic violence would give it some pizzaz, but I don't think that's the author's thing, and it wouldn't fit into the rest of the story anyway. Oh well – it wasn't a bad read, but to me, a bit tame after what else I've been reading lately. This is the first book of a trilogy; the second book is The Mage's Daughter and continues this story.

P.S. My fiance didn't like this cover. Hmmph! I ignored him. The only thing I have to say about the cover is – she should be wearing pants. She's supposed to be a mercenary.

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Keeping It Real by Justina Robson

Posted on February 25, 2008 by janicu

Keeping It Real (Quantum Gravity, Book 1)

Justina Robson

First of all – this book is a trade paperback and… I HAVE to say this – it smells good! The paper is a nice quality, it does not have that newspaper smell of mass market paperbacks, instead it brings to my mind the smell of a nice new textbook (in a good way). I could get high on the smell. And the book feels heavy, meaning the paper is dense. I was quite pleased with the experience of reading because of this. I would not mind it at all if more publishers paid attention to things like paper if they are going to charge $15+ for a trade paperback.

Anyway, moving on to the actual words on the pages. The book begins with a short summary under the heading of "Common Knowledge" that describes what has been going on in the world. A quantum bomb that exploded in 2015 has changed the world as we know it, opening up five other parallel realities to ours. When I read the first page which described the bomb and altering matter, I was a bit bored. It was pretty late at night and I was sleepy, and I was suspicious that this was a prologue in disguise. Many people skip those things. I never do, but I did put the book down. A while later I read past page 1, and things got interesting. I recommend that you DO NOT skip the Common Knowledge section, it explains much about the parallel worlds (Alfheim - populated by elves, Zoomenon – world of the Elements, Demonia – filled with demons, Thanatopia – realm of Death, and Otopia – world of Faerie). By the time the story starts the information there will be useful.

The basic premise is that Lila Black, a special agent with a body that is mostly machine, has been tasked to protect the lead singer of The No Shows – an elf named Zal. Zal is unusual amongst his kind and has made a strange choice to be "slumming" down on Earth. Someone from Alfheim, who disapproves of Zal's lifestyle is sending him death threats. Half of the book takes place on Earth and the other on Alfheim, but I don't think I can even begin to start describing it. It was so much fun to read! How do I explain why!? First of all – this was not done in a fluffy silly way – when I tried to explain it to someone: "There were elves, and one of them is a rock star-", I got a face. It's not like that at all. The characters are compelling. Lila is a woman who has guns popping out of her body and rides a black motorbike, but she's very confused about how she feels about elves – they almost killed her and that's what made her this way. She has difficulties with accepting what she looks like now. And Zal is a bit of a mystery at first, an elf who has chosen to defy his people and "go native" in another world, exiled because of his choices. His character is rather complex and undefinable. There were a couple of other very interesting characters I wish I could get into but I can't without giving away big chunks of plot. Speaking of the the plot, it unlike anything else I've read, unpredicable, full of action and thrills. There are a lot of pop culture references and jokes (other reviews say many funny LoTR references, which totally went past me, I haven't read those books since I was 14), but you don't need to get them to enjoy the story. The only thing I'd complain about is that there were times in the story where, especially dealing with elves, I felt like they understood something about what was going on that I did not (why did they do that now?). Maybe this lends itself to the whole clash of cultures between human and elf, or maybe I just need to reread those parts. I felt like Robson was an intellectual writing something fun instead of something with a serious agenda. And I'm glad, because I loved it.

Keeper!

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Wolf Who Rules by Wen Spencer

Posted on January 6, 2008 by janicu

Wolf Who Rules

Wen Spencer

This is book 2 of The Tinker Series by Wen Spencer. I think it this is it - only 2 books in the series, but I could see it continuing, so I'm actually not sure if this is the last book. I can't figure it out from Wen Spencer's website.

I really liked Tinker so I was really looking forward for Wolf Who Rules to come out in paperback. Tinker is a young female genius who lives in an interdimensional Pittsburgh. Her father created a gate which transports the whole city to Earth once a month for supplies (a day called Shutdown), while the rest of the time it is in Elfland. In book 1 Tinker saves Windwolf (aka Wolf Who Rules Wind), viceroy of the elves and gets tangled up in elf culture and in fighting off their enemies. I loved the world and the ideas used to explain elves and japanese folklore like oni and tengu. I did notice some Mary-Sue aspects to Tinker (smart, so many men are in love with her, she doesn't realise her own beauty .. blah), but some flaws did help her from becoming a complete Mary-Sue: she is only 18 and completely clueless about relationships with men and her own hormones, and she is capable of acting before thinking despite her genius. These traits continue in the second book.

In Wolf Who Rules we continue right where Tinker leaves off, and I found I had forgotten certain parts of Tinker – like who certain people were again and what certain japanese words meant in Spencer's world. For the most part I managed to pick it up but there are a couple of things I'm still confused about but I don't have my copy of Tinker to go look it up on vacation.

To add to that confusion, Tinker herself is confused and not feeling like her normal self – she has dreams like Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz and wanders around feeling out of sorts for most of this book. There was one action-y bit at the beginning of the book, then there is this waiting/set up feeling for a good 250 pages before Tinker gets in gear and charges forward to do what she does best (save the world) again.

I guess that the book is named Wolf Who Rules because this book is more about his elf world than Tinker's human one and much of the book has Tinker having to flail about in this new culture and find her way really quickly and without much instruction. Wolf Who Rules Wind actually says this about her and what she is going through and while he tries to help he doesn't have the time to be with her constantly because he's busy with elven politics.

Unfortunately in the end I felt shocked because I was actually disappointed in this book compared to Tinker. Which is a big deal because I love this author and I love her plots and amazing ideas (ok interdimensional Pittsburgh? elves? oni? spaceships?), but I felt like I expected Tinker to be take charge like she was in book 1 that seeing her out of sorts for what felt like much too long in book 2 just made the story drag. Wolf Who Rules was still full of some interesting concepts that blew my mind, so worldbuilding was still wonderful but the plot was off for me. I think trying to get the plot to fit in with an Alice in Wonderland-ish dream and a Wizard of Oz-ish dream just didn't work. Unbelievable! So far I've read 5 books by this author that are in a league of their own so me being disappointed is weird. I will still will keep buying from this author though. And I'm still keeping this book since I'm a fan of Tinker and this is the continuation of that. Maybe one day I'll reread them one after another and see if I like part 2 better then.

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Out of print

Posted on December 11, 2007 by janicu

Remember when I was all gung-ho about trying to do BTT every week? Well that stopped quickly. Anyway, last weeks Booking Through Thursday question was a good one:

This week’s question is suggested by Island Editions:

Do you have a favourite book, now out of print, that you would like to see become available again? (I have several…)

There are a few books out of print that I own, so in a way I'm content even though they are out of print because I can go over and pet them and hug them and laugh to myself that they are mine as much as I want. On the other hand, I wish more people knew about and owned them so it would be nice if they were still in print. Also there are some books that are out of print that are so expensive I don't own them and I'm not sure I ever will. I'm not sure these are favorites, but they do make me yearn/burn for them to be reprinted. So two sections:

1) Out of print, but still available used at prices normal non-crazies can afford:

The Adventures of Holly Hobbie – A novel, by Richard Dubelman (about $10?)- ok. I don't know if this book is any good anymore, but I read this when I was 12 or so and it's about that Holly Hobbie girl with the big bonnet around her face who is on a lot of kids toys and illustrations. In this book a girl - Liz, whose parents are archeologists, meets Holly through some time stepping magic type thing, and they go find Liz's missing dad. It involves Mayan pyramids and I remember it being fascinated by the descriptions of that ancient civilization and its beliefs. I vaguely recall some magic involving either light or an eclipse which I thought was very cool at the time. I went to the whatwasthatbook community on LJ to figure out what this book was.

Greensleeves by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (I got it for about $15-$20? but it sells for around $30 on up, eck) – I thought I posted about this book but looks like not. Sherwood Smith, author of Inda and Crown and Court Duel has recommended it on livejournal (http://community.livejournal.com/athanarel/111008.html) and describes it very well, I suggest clicking on that link for a better description than I can give. This was growing pains type of book. You see the silliness of youth and moving away from that and becoming more comfortable in your own skin. It's basically a well written young adult novel. Shannon is the main character – a girl who isn't sure if she wants to go to college instead spends the summer helping her uncle with a case with a will. She spends all summer pretending to be someone she isn't, playing detective, and trying to glean information about the people specified in the will, and along the way she comes out of her shell and also learns a thing or two about relationships.

Nameless Magery and Of Swords and Spells by Delia Marshall Turner (about $3 each?)- I bought one of these in college and didn't get the second book till a year or two ago. They can be read in either order but Nameless Magery goes first. Both are in the same universe and involves a futuristic, sci fi world/s where people can also do magic. There are robots and a mage school and smart young women protagonists and hyperspace drives and all kinds of meshing of sci-fi and fantasy and trickery. I don't think I've read anything else like it that blends those two genres so well together. And I think they're the only two books this author has written.

The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman (about $3-$5)- This is an author who has 2 books (I own both), and every year or so I will go and check if she's written anything else. And then I'll cry to myself because the answer is no. I also do this with Delia Marshall Turner but I think she's definitely not writing anymore, I feel more open ended with Katie Waitman. This book is a sci fi-ish story centering around the life of an abused boy (Mikk) who becomes the galaxy's master performance artist. In some ways it feels like a fantasy novel even though it's more sci fi. The description of the alien species, the performing arts school, Mikk's life, growing up, dealing with censorship and the stigma of his lovelife.. it's all great. The book says "discovery of the year" across it, but then.. no more books by her! I sob to myself.

The Night World Series by L.J. Smith (about $1-$10 each? Depends on how well you do on ebay) - ok this is a silly teen series with vampires and true love and whatnot. But I bonded with people who are now my closest friends over these books so I'm adding them here for nostalgia's sake. If I read over these books now, they're not bad but they aren't fabulous. I had to have them all (and maybe extra copies of certain ones) just because. And is book 10, Strange Fate, the last of this series ever going to be printed? I don't know.

2) Out of print and super expensive, maybe I can win the lottery or sell my car/left leg/kidney/soul to afford:

Anima Mundi by Mark Ryden ($300-$1000+)- An art book that has popular low brow art for those who have no idea who the hell Mark Ryden is. Lots of pictures of cute kids, animals, and meat products reminiscent of a child's picturebook. Really detailed work and often on album covers. This was on my wishlist when it was $25 on Amazon. Then three months later it went out of print and went up to $300+ dollars. After that if I saw a pamplet by this artist that I wanted, I got it without waiting around. I have his Bunnies and Bees book that I bought for $20? $25 when it came out which is now going for $90-$150 or so. Josh and my sister have a copy too. My attitude - "ok I know this is going to go up.." - *buy*. I also have Blood (one copy sealed, one unsealed) which I got for $25 each and which is selling for over $100 and it's this TINY thing really. Maybe these prices are less on ebay… Maybe not. OK I think telling Josh this is making him want to sell his Bunnies and Bees book.

Wagner's Trilogy – Tannhauser, Parsifal and Lohengrin by Willy Pogany (from $300 to $2000+ each depending on edition and condition). Pogany was a prolific illustrator in the early part of the last century, mostly of children's books. Some of his best work is in this set of three books. I found illustrations of Lohengrin online several years ago and since then I've been looking for copies that aren't expensive. All I can find for "cheap" aren't first editions, and even those go for $200-$300. I have Tannhauser (reprint), but not the other two. Like this on ebay. I don't remember how much I paid, but it was not over $150 and that was a few years ago. Every book in the trilogy have lovely pages bordered with illustrations and pictures, both black and white and in color and the boards for these books are often gilted and pretty. I once saw pictures of the whole set for sale online bound in white leather going for about the price of a car.. $10,000.. I coveted. I saved the pictures for that sale on my computer but they got lost in hard drive crashes. Oh well. Here's an image heavy link to many gorgeous Pogany illustrations. P.S. I also like his version of Alice in Wonderland.

Masques by Patricia Briggs – This book goes for at least $60 on ebay, $120 to over $600 elsewhere. Which I think is CRAZY. I find that Briggs's earlier work isn't as good as her recent books, but yes there is the compulsion to own everything by an author you like. Masques was her first published book I think. Right now, she's very popular because her Mercy Thompson series is one of the best urban fantasy series out there (in my opinion). Sigh. $60 is too much for an old used paperback book that may not be that good.

Mushroom Girls Virus by Deanne Cheuk – Another art book. This one came out in 2005. I saw this, loved it at first sight and bought it from the author. I'm glad I did, now it's out of print and selling for at least $150. Sheesh. I bought it for $45. Mine's not "mint" because I actually wanted to look at it, but I keep it in a plastic wrap because its got a lovely embroidered cover and I don't want anything to mess it up. I hope it gets reprinted, its lovely and girly and pretty. Click here for illustrations in the book. Also here.

There's more but I'm tired..

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Enchanted, Inc. By Shanna Swendson

Posted on December 2, 2007 by janicu

Enchanted, Inc. (Katie Chandler Series, Book 1)

Shanna Swendson

Remember that post I made a while ago about this series (I was miffed because I heard they were chopping it off at book 4 instead of the complete 5)? I finally got around to reading book one.

The series is about Katie Chandler, a Texas girl who has relocated to the Big City (NYC) and discovered that she's normal. So normal that she's in fact rare – someone with no magic in her what-so-ever, which means that she is not fooled by enchantments and can see through them. She thinks she's just not jaded enough when no one else blinks at the girl in fairy wings or the gargoyles that aren't always in the same place. Then she finds out other people aren't seeing what she's seeing and she's so unusual she's offered a job.

Excerpt of book 1

In one word – the book was "charming". I think it has a sweet, uncomplicated appeal to it. Nice texan girl comes to New York and makes good using her common sense. I also like the idea of a secret side to the city, and the author does incorporate a lot of New York into the story. There is also a lot of interesting aspects to the magical world that the author included in the story (like how many frogs in Central Park really are princes and the hijinks that ensue when Katie gets talked into going to kiss some with her tipsy female coworkers). I'm having a little trouble categorizing the genre of this book though. The romance is so light I don't even know if I should mention it, but I think it's possibly going to come up more in following books. I think it comes closest to being chick-lit. Except ..I guess I'm used to chick-lit books being more stand-alone and something, than this book feels. Anyway: a pleasant read, I found it hard to put down. I'll be looking for book two.

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The Hero Strikes Back by Moira J. Moore

Posted on September 14, 2007 by janicu

The Hero Strikes Back

Moira J. Moore

This is the second book of this series. I reviewed the first book, Resenting the Hero here. Book two continues where book one left off – Dunleavy Mallorrough (Lee) and Shintaro Karish (Taro) are a Shield and her Source, who protect the populace from natural disasters. Taro senses these disasters and channels them away while Lee protects Taro and shields his body from the forces which would otherwise tear him apart. Paired together after years of training at an academy from an early age, they will have to work together for life. If one dies, so does the other.

After their last adventures, the Pair is back in the city of High Scape, normally a hotbed of disasters which the Pairs must avert. Now there are odd climate changes, but not disasters, and on top of that Lee is afraid for Taro because minor nobles have been disappearing. Again Lee is the narrator of this story so we see everything from her perspective. I get the feeling that although she's supposed to be an observant and quiet Shield, she misses a lot about other people and how they perceive her. After their rough beginning as a Pair, she and Taro have a closer relationship, with some moments where I thought both were being very oblivious about how deep the relationship really was.

So far this series is light fantasy – easy reading, not too taxing, but there is an underlying layer of more serious subjects. Unfortunately the books point out these underlying layers and then frustratingly nothing really gets resolved about them. In book one, it's pointed out how terribly some Shields (steadfast, dependable) are treated by their Sources (flightly, dramatic), but while Lee is shocked and dismayed by this, she doesn't act. In book two we learn of how both Sources and Shields are resented by the population for getting everything for free, and there seems to be a mistaken notion that they do hardly anything for it, but if the Pairs are doing their jobs, the normal population should never know what disasters they have avoided. The resentment by the population, which usually is far below the surface, is exacerbated by the odd climate changes – blizzards, snow in July followed by miserable rain and hot muggy days followed by snow again. For some reason, these don't count as disasters and Sources/Shields can't do anything about them (I thought this was odd but OK.. I guess I'll go with it). Meanwhile, from Lee and Taro's perspective – they had to sacrifice their whole lives for this job – they left their families at an early age, they can't earn any money so they can't give any heirs anything when they die, and their lives are on the line protecting the public, all while they are stuck with a partner they may not like, who might stupidly die and take them with him/her. When the unrest finally dies down, I didn't see any resolution to this problem of public misconceptions of Shields/Sources and the work they do. Is it another thing that Pairs are just supposed to deal with? And what about the odd climate changes? Theres a resolution, but there is more to it that I really hope gets addressed in subsequent books.

Oh the cover – again, don't know why it was made to look like this book could be humor, it isn't, but it shows Lee and Taro with probably Lee's mother, but maybe its Taro's. Both Lee's and Taro's mothers come to visit in this story. It was interesting to see more of where these two came from and how this may have colored their personalities, but this wasn't touched on as much as I expected with the cover. It was a smaller side story. We learn more about Taro's years before he got training at the academy and how that affects his personality now. We also see what Lee's mother thinks of how Lee was taken away at such and early age. There is a discussion there that again, Lee with her stoic personality just listens and says nothing even though we can see she's thinking plenty. Drives me nutty when she does that! I also think it drives the other characters nutty too.

Excerpt of chapter 1 here.

Basically – an ongoing series, that has a lot of things I'm interested in seeing resolved so I'm pretty much sucked into seeing what happens. I also like how flawed the characters are, even though they can drive me nuts (of course Lee) so that's sucking me in too. It looks like there is so far 6 books planned from Lee's POV, and then 2 more by another character (?? hmm wonder who. It's not Taro). There is a cover of book 3, Heroes Adrift, out on Moira Moore's website and I like it much better than the first two.

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Nightseer by Laurell K Hamilton

Posted on September 3, 2007 by janicu

Nightseer

Laurell K. Hamilton

A quickish review. I haven't been into Hamilton for a while, but I saw this at Goodwill and picked it up for 50 cents. It's a reissue of her first novel and I was interested in seeing Hamilton's earlier work. This book is very different for the paranormal/urban erotic fantasy she's famous for today – this is straight fantasy,

The story focuses on a young noble named Kelios with some unusual powers – she's a seer plus she has magic abilities. She lives somewhere that sounds like a special place of learning for magic. I got the impression that all magic users have to get an education and become a "master" in their particulay skill before they are allowed out in the world. In Kelios' case, she is a master in one ability but still a journeyman in the other.

A very big part of Kelios' life is a memory of her mother's death and a vendetta against her mother's murderer. But she has other enemies too. Who are they? Well – you have to figure that out as you read. The writing is in an easy to read style, but this book feels like the second book of a trilogy rather than the standalone it is – there are a lot of references to an adventure the heroine Kelios had before that sounds like it deserves it's own novel. Along with this is seemingly established relationships that I felt dropped into as I read – friends, enemies.. not much detail why. There were also a lot of references to terms I had to guess at. For instance, I believe Kelios is both an Enchanter and a Sorcerer, but Hamilton doesn't explain the difference. It also felt like a third book could have come after this one because of left over plot strings, plus only towards the end do I feel that I am beginning to get into Kelios' character and a couple of other characters. Leaves me wanting. On top of that, there is a lot of battling and fighting in this book and very little explaining. I'd recommend this as light reading but with a warning that you may feel unsatisfied. I kept reading even though much of it was confusing just because there was this odd relationship between Kelios and a suitor who kept pursuing her and I was wondering where it was going. Otherwise.. I didn't really have a reason to keep reading.

Conclusion: Frustratingly sparse in plot information.

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Cast In Secret by Michelle Sagara

Posted on August 17, 2007 by janicu

Cast In Secret (The Cast Series, Book 3)

Michelle Sagara

Cast in Secret is the third book in the Chronicles of Elantra series so I am going to give an overview without giving spoilers for the first two books (Cast in Shadow and Cast in Courtlight).

The setting is a fantastical city by the sea – ruled by a dragon emperor. As with all cities, it is segmented into different neighborhoods, and it is full of people of all castes, races and beliefs. Living side by side are mortal humans, mages, winged people (the Aerians), lion people (the Leontines), Dragons, super-empaths (the Tha'alani), and elf-like immortals (the Barrani). Kaitlin grew up in the poorest part – in the fief, but now she is an adult, and belongs to one of the three arms of the law – the Hawks. This is akin to the detective branch. The Swords are the beat cops, and the Wolves are the executioners. Kaitin is unusual – she has unexplainable magical ability and tattoos on her body which bring attention to her from powerful people.

Book 1 seemed to center on the story of Kaitlin and where she came from and introduces the main characters. Book 2 moves the plot forward while focusing on the Barrani. In book 3, the focus seems to be the Tha'alini.

This book is a magic-filled detective story. Kaitin is asked to investigate the theft of a locked box with no keyhole. Of course things are not that simple. In fact, things could get very bad if the box isn't found. On top of that, Kaitlin – who has a major soft spot for children, sees a girl in the reflection of a pool in the same room the box was stolen from. This girl calls out her name, and Kaitlin feels she must find and help this child.

This will be the 3rd book in what so far is a 5 book series. So while the story is almost standalone, when it comes progressing Kaitlin's relationships and powers and it does feel like a transition book. This is a Luna book, which usually means some romance, but there is very little in this series. There are two possible love interests, but the relationships are subtle.

As usual, the writing is very strong. There are interesting characters and magical happenings and I LOVE the worlds that Sagara creates. As I have said before – she's on my autobuy list.

But I have a couple of nits. In all books, Kaylin is considered ignorant and barely an adult that world – and I'm just as clueless as she is, so the reader learns as she does. I felt that this worked in book 1 and 2 but by the third book I'm beginning to feel irritated. This is because people pointing out her stupidity and offensiveness by not knowing their customs in book 3 was getting tired – she should have learned not to keep making this same mistake, or they should have learned to stop pointing this out, no? Another repeating theme was Kaitlin's exclusion from important secrets. If she is supposed to help everyone, shouldn't they tell her these things? This happening in every book means you have to read slowly and pay attention because Kaitlin (and the reader) are kept in the dark with only small hints about the big secret thrown in along the way. This is ok, and in fact enjoyable for a couple of books, because I like the way the story takes it's time to unfold, but by the third, I was feeling impatient with this ploy. I'm actually surprised that I found ANYTHING negative to say here, because I love love love Michelle Sagara.

OK even with this nit, I liked the book, but it does not topple my favorite – the second book – Cast In Courtlight. AHH, one more year for the next one!

Hmm. I just looked at Sagara's website and she says "The "Cast" Series (5 linked books – not a pentalogy)". What does not a pentalogy mean? So maybe this is why it feels like each book is semi-standalone. I hope that more progress is made in finding out what her powers mean and the relationships though..

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