THE CHRONICLES OF ELANTRA by Michelle Sagara
The Chronicles of Elantra is an interesting series. I’m not sure what sub-genre to slot it into. If it were a mystery series, it would be a police procedural. It takes place in an urban setting in another world, but without the usual “urban fantasy” characters — no vampires or werewolves, etc. The dialogue is reminiscent of that found in most urban fantasy novels. The chronicles are the stories of Kaylin Neya, a member of the detective division of the city’s policing agency.
The world of Elantra has six different races/species of peoples all living in one large city surrounded by fiefs — slums ruled by fieflords outside the influence of the police and mostly ignored/tolerated by the Emperor. There is more to the world, an ocean and plains at least, but these are very seldom referenced and don’t seem to have any influence on the city. The peopl... Read More
Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara
Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara is a book about outgrowing a victim mentality, finding your strength and embracing your purpose. It would be a nice book to give to a 12- or 13-year-old girl, especially one who may be struggling with identity or self-esteem issues. Two things would stop me from sharing it: inadequate world-building and poor writing.
Cast in Shadow’s Kaylin is a “Grounded Hawk,” a human in a law enforcement / espionage unit controlled by the winged race called the Ariens, in the city of Elantra. Kaylin’s sergeant is a Leontine, a lion-like humanoid, and two of her friends are Barrani, a virtually immortal race. There are also dragon lords, although they look human — or humanish — most of the time.
Surrounding the city center is a series of slums or mean streets called fiefs. Kaylin grew... Read More
The Hidden City by Michelle Sagara West
A lovingly written yet very depressing novel, The Hidden City is unlike any fantasy novel I have encountered. A tragedy with no pretensions to the contrary, this new novel by acclaimed author Michelle West visits pain upon its protagonists for over 600 pages.
The Hidden City is the beginning of a prequel to the events in West's earlier books in The Sacred Hunt and The Sun Sword series. It relates the events leading up to the war for House Terafin.
Two characters drive the plot of The Hidden City. Rath is middle aged man who has turned his back on his family’s house, and now lives in the slums of Averalaan, scraping out an existence by discovering arti... Read More
The Queen of the Dead
The Queen of the Dead — (2012- ) As Michelle Sagara. Young adult. Publisher: The New York Times bestselling author of The Chronicles of Elantra begins a new Young Adult trilogy for DAW. It began in the graveyard. Ever since her boyfriend Nathan died in a tragic accident Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night. During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was. But tonight was different. Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery. There were two others there — Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags. And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death…
Silence by Michelle Sagara
Michelle Sagara makes her young adult debut with Silence, a spooky and emotionally moving urban fantasy. The heroine, Emma, is mourning her boyfriend Nathan, who died in a car accident. She feels most at peace when she visits the cemetery in the evenings — until one night she has an uncanny encounter on the grounds. And the weirdness doesn’t end there. Now Emma can see and touch the dead, and may be able to affect these spirits in other ways as well…
Emma is a well-rounded character with both good qualities and flaws. She has a little bit of youthful egocentricity, as when she thinks that Nathan’s mother’s grief is “almost” as bad as hers (and if this irks you while reading, stay tuned — it’s part of her character development). Despite this, she’s anything but a selfish person. She looks out for her friends, both the ones who are popular and ... Read More
More fantasy novels by Michelle Sagara West
The Sundered — (1991-1994) As Michelle Sagara. Publisher: Since the beginning, Bright Heart had warred against Dark, dual divinities locked in titanic struggle… Now the Lady, First Servant of the Bright Heart, had pierced the veil of time, where the future held only one slim hope for the forces of the Light… Erin was already a warrior and a gifted healer, but scarcely more than a child. Yet the Lady named her the champion of their people — for only through Erin could Light finally triumph. A warrior whose talent was healing, a healer committed to destruction… Erin’s path would be a tortuous journey of faith into the Dark Lands!
The Sacred Hunt — (1995-2011) As Michelle West. Publisher: Once a year, the Sacred Hunt must be called. To continue the land’s and people’s prosperity, the Hunter God’s prey would be one of the Lords or his huntbrother. This was the Hunter’s Oath, sworn to by each Lord and his huntbrother. It was the blood Oath taken by Gilliam of Elseth and the orphan boy, Stephen. The fulfillment of their Oath would prove the kind of destiny from which legends were made.
The Sacred Hunt: Related novellas:
The Sun Sword — (1997-2004) As Michelle West. Set in the same universe as The Sacred Hunt, 16 years later. Publisher: Tor Leonne — the heart of the Dominion of Annagar, where the games of state are about to become a matter of life or death — and where those who seek to seize the crown will be forced to league with a treacherously cunning ally… Tor Leonne, ancestral seat of power, where Serra Diora Maria di’Marano — the most sought-after beauty in the land, a woman betrayed by all she holds dear — may strike the first blow to change the future of Dominion and Empire alike.
Speaking With Angels — (2003) As Michelle West. Publisher: Within these twelve stories are heroes, both real and imagined, characters so real it seems they’re sitting beside you, and themes and emotions so resonant that they speak to every fantasy reader. With a new introduction by Tanya Huff, and story notes by Michelle herself, this new collection brings together early and recent work by a master of fantasy.
Kindle novellas:
The novella is the ideal length for a science fiction story. It’s long enough to allow a reader to become immersed in a scene and involved with the characters; and it’s short enough to allow a reader to suspend disbelief as to the more unscientific or strange aspects of a story without questioning them too closely. Kate Wilhelm’s “The Fullness of Time,” which forms the backbone of the July/August issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, is a fine illustration of the strengths of the novella form.
“The Fullness of Time” is about a documentary film maker, Cat, who hires a researcher, Mercedes, the first person narrator of the tale, to work on a project about Hiram Granville, a famous inventor, now dead, about whom littl... Read More
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(1963- )
The Taste of Night: Joanna is too unsympathetic
Day by Day Armageddon: Not as scary as sentient squirrels
