Michelle Sagara – The Elantra Chronicles
I have to say that Michelle Sagara [West] has done a great job in this series. I think the books have gotten better with each one. Most of them I could hardly put down and read with great energy. When I picked up the 1st book of this series, Ms. Sagara was a new author to me and I was more a fan of traditional SF than Fantasy. It is because of writers like Tanya Huff that I was more open to read this kind of book. These two writers – both Canadian – have a fun and easy way about their story telling. There is a nice rhythm of humour and angst. There is a blend of Tolkien, and Andrea Norton going on here. Around this time I found authors, David Weber’s Oath of Swords Series and Elizabeth Moon’s Fellowship Novels that are also high adventure and in Weber’s case a little humour does creep in a bit.
Michelle Sagara’s writing is very tight and her creativity is high. In her books she starts out with quite a few environments, politics, characters and species. This isn’t hard for her and we aren’t bogged down by this complexity. Surprisingly she offers more – kind of like slowly opening up a flower, where every petal is a story, an adventure and a revelation all at once. The images of the people and places are strong, colourful and feel real. To some extent I am a bit critical of the main character’s behavior which reminds me of a formula heroine in a romance. Sometimes I felt it was a bit heavy handed. The good news is that the character seems to be leaving that flaw behind and is becoming as adult as everyone else. The adventures are colourful and surprising. Although the stories are in themselves romantic, the romance is held back to focus on the big story of all the hidden or lost knowledge. This is an adventure story 1st. This is a tale of the aftermath of a huge social system that may well reach beyond their world. After all the humans were the last to arrive and no one can say where they came from. … I wonder if Orson Scott Card has read these books? I think he’d like them.
Not since Dan Simmons – Hyperion and Ilum Series, Alan Dean Foster – Adventures O f Flinx: of the Commonwealth or Journeys of the Catechist. or Tanya Huff [both her vampire and her witch stories – and even her space operas], have I seen such good story telling and so fresh. I would also lead you to Justina Robson’s Quantum Gravity Series‘ if you enjoy the colour and adventure of magical realms.
The world of Elantra, the Fiefs and the Outlands
Read the books in series. The heroine Kaylin is an anomaly, she is the Chosen and she is an uneducated human. You are beside the heroine as she gets an education on the job, fighting crime. There are plenty of opportunities for her to find out what she is becoming and learns about who she is as a magical person. Through living her daily routine and how to deal with so many species and social standing.
- Mortals: Humans and Tha’alani – the Thought readers
- Immortals: Dragons – Dragon Court: Emperor and Ruling species, Aerians – Lords, Barrani – Barrani Court: Lords and High Lords and the Liontine – Lion people who where not created like the others.
- Then she adds more characters like the Ancients [who built everything and seem to be the creators], Elementals, The Towers and Hallionnes…..[ sector guardians left behind by the Ancients],
- a whole race of lost mortals appear along with a female dragon – and while wild magic is around a magical egg is ‘born’ – soon to hatch and become?
- and of course wizards, mages, arcanists and the magically touched like the oracles – who come from every race and are either banned or heavily controlled by the Dragon Court.
- Ferals and all sorts of twisted creatures of old bad magic – usually from the wars
Prequel: Cast in moonlight – 2012 
To date, this is the only book I haven’t read. Although there is a lot of story untold in the 1st book I hope this isn’t a mini series prequel. I am looking forward to the next book, at the end!
Summary/Review:
Barely a teenager, Kaylin Neya is a thief, a fugitive and an attempted assassin. She also has a smart mouth, sharp wits and mysterious markings on her skin. All of which make her perfect bait for a child prostitution sting in the city of Elantra–if she survives her first meeting with the Hawks!
1st book ~ Cast in Shadow – 2005 
Summary/Review:
It’s been seven years since Kaylin fled the crime-riddles streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Now Kaylin is unwittingly thrown back into her past–a past she would rather forget, full of questions, danger, and even death. Original.
2nd ~ Cast in Courtlight – 2006 
Summary/Review:
Kaylin goes before the high court to save the High Lord’s heir, but finds that the healing might be the simplest of her tasks.
3rd ~ Cast in Secret – 2007 
Summary/Review:
Still avoiding magic whenever possible, Corporal Kaylin Neya relished investigating a regular theft once again. Until she found out the mysterious box was taken from Elani Street, where the mages and charlatans mingled, and it was sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two. But she was hoping this might be a mundane case— —when in a back room Kaylin saw a lost-looking girl in a reflective pool…who called out Kaylin’s name. Shaken, Kaylin tried to stay focused on the case at hand. But since the stolen item was ancient, without a keyhole, and held tremendous darkness inside, Kaylin knew unknown forces were again playing with her destiny—and her life….
4th ~ Cast in Fury – 2008 
Summary/Review:
“When a minority race of telepaths suspected of causing a near-devastating tidal wave, Private Kaylin Neya is summoned to court and into a PR nightmare. To ease racial tensions the emperor has commissioned a play, and the playwright has his own ideas who should be the focus”–Back cover.
5th ~ Cast in Silence – 2009 
Summary/Review:
“A member of the elite Hawk force that protects the City of Elantra, Kaylin Neya has sacrificed much to earn the respect of the winged Aerians and immortal Barrani she works alongside. But the mean streets she escaped as a child aren’t the ones she’s vowed to give her life guarding. Those were much darker … Kaylin’s moved on with her life–and is keeping silent about the shameful things she’s done to stay alive. But when the city’s oracles warn of brewing unrest in the outer fiefdoms, a mysterious visitor from Kaylin’s past casts her under a cloud of suspicion. Thankfully, if she’s anything, she’s a survivor …”–P. [4]
6th ~ Cast in Chaos – 2010
Summary/Review:
“Kaylin Neya is a Hawk, part of the elite force tasked with keeping the City of Elantra safe. Her past is dark, her magic uncontrolled and her allies unpredictable. And nothing has prepared her for what is coming, when the charlatans on Elani Street suddenly grow powerful, the Oracles are thrown into an uproar and the skies rain blood…. The powerful of Elantra believe that the mysterious markings on Kaylin’s skin hold the answer, and they are not averse to using her–how ever they have to–in order to discover what it is. Something is coming, breaking through the barriers between the worlds. But is it a threat that Kaylin needs to defend her city against–or has she been chosen for another reason entirely?”–P. [4]
7th ~ Cast in Ruin – 2011 
Summary/Review:
Seven corpses are discovered in the streets of a Dragon’s fief. They are all identical, down to their clothing. Kaylin Neya is assigned to discover who they were, who killed them, and why. Is the evil lurking at the borders of Elantra preparing to cross over?
8th ~ Cast in Peril – 2012 
Just finished it and it was as good as all the rest. The characters are quite believable and interesting and the non-stop adventure to adventure is invigorating.
Summary/Review:
It has been a busy few weeks for Private Kaylin Neva. In between angling for a promotion, sharing her room with the last living female Dragon and dealing with more refugees than anyone knew what to do with, the unusual egg she’d been given began to hatch. Actually, that turned out to be lucky, because it absorbed the energy from the bomb that went off in her quarters….
9th ~ Cast in Sorrow …
Other books by this author:
Michelle Sagara had written quite a few books since 1990 under the name of Sagara and West. It seems she is starting another series Queen of the Dead. I have read the 1st book – Silence – 2011. This series is considered a youth book. It isn’t naive but the characters are young and have the concerns of the young. I see potential in the new series and will read the next book.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy 