Cast in Shadow

Chronicles of Elantra, Book 1

By: Michelle Sagara

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Seven years ago, Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered— and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin….

Since then, she's learned to read, she's learned to fight and she's become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and the immortal Barrani, she's made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth.

But children are once again dying, and a dark and familiar pattern is emerging. Kaylin is ordered back into Nightshade with a partner she knows she can't trust, a Dragon lord for a companion and a device to contain her powers—powers that no other human has. Her task is simple—find the killer, stop the murders… and survive the attentions of those who claim to be her allies!

Spellbound? Listen to more Chronicles of Elantra.

©2011 Michelle Sagara (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Better than I expected

I picked this up not expecting a lot. The cover led me to expect a YA or a romantic light fantasy. I would say this is better characterized as more adult or high fantasy, but I believe younger audiences would still enjoy it. It is not a romance at all, if that is what you are looking for, this is not it. I was pleasantly suprised and will be getting the second of the series shortly. It is detailed, and if you are looking for something that moves quicker in the beginning this is not for you. You do have to commit to the book, the beginning has a lot of set up and detail, but I did not find it a problem and enjoyed how Michelle Sagara brought it all together in the end.

The story deals with a woman who has joined The Hawks, a military faction, after having been orphaned and living on the streets in the Fiefs as a child. She explores the mystery of marks that mysteriously appeared on her skin as a child and what they mean while investigating a number of child deaths in the fief of Nightshade that took place when she was a child and started happening again now she is an adult.

Social factions are divided by species of human and human/animal combination species. This type of theme can be a cheesy, but Michelle Sagara handled it pretty well. Social castes are separated based on species and economics.

I would recommend this book, ignore the cover of the book. The cover misrepresents it.

An okay read

Would you try another book from Michelle Sagara and/or Khristine Hvam?

I'm not sure. Purchased this book when it was on sale for $4.95. The story was okay, but it felt like it dragged out.

Would you be willing to try another book from Michelle Sagara? Why or why not?

I think this is the of this series for me. It just wasn't to my taste.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

I wouldn't really call it a romance, it is more a coming of age story, and dealing with the past.

A bit hard to follow

There are many characters and because only a few were given consistent accents it was hard to follow who was speaking and what kind of creature they were. I like the story line and it had a very satisfying ending, but it could have used an additional narrator to do the male characters voices.

Good

Good but not my thing. The narrator was good. But I think I will try the nexted book in the series.

Fantasy at its finest.

If you could sum up Cast in Shadow in three words, what would they be?

Excellent. Riveting. Fantastic.

What did you like best about this story?

It's a tie between the characterizations and the world building.

What does Khristine Hvam bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Every character has a distinctive voice which a) brings the characters to life and b) helps the listener distinguish who is speaking.

Any additional comments?

This listen is a good use of a credit.

Great characters.

Somewhere between 4 1/2 and 5. Great world building, good characters but a bit wordy at times. That said, I'll definitely continue on. It doesn't hurt that one of my favorite narrators does the audio for the entire series.

Boring story

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I was bored by the whole story. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, but gave up about halfway through, and quit listening...

Addicted to the series, but leaves you hanging...

I read this entire series back-to-back so I'm only going to comment on the first book's board.

I'm obsessed with this series. It's definitely addicting...but by the end of the last book I'm still hanging and holding out for some major relationship development of the heroine. The author basically teases you throughout the series. You keep feeling like "Okay, this book will be the one", but then I'm disappointed by the end and left hanging.

The first two books were my favorite, especially book 2. Book 1 was hard to get into at first, because the world and its many casts of people are very difficult to grasp at first. By book 2, the confusion subsides. But book 2 is definitely worth working through the complicated world development of book 1. Book 2 is AMAZING!

I'm in a love/hate relationship with this author. I love her world (Elantra) and I love the characters. I even love the struggles and challenges and the main story lines. There is so much adventure and mystery! On the other side, it's sooooooo wordy!!! You're in the middle of an intense action/climatic scene and I feel like the intensity and build up get overtaken by the wordiness. It's almost like the author starts out on the right path of being wordy to tease and build up your emotions, but then just keeps going and going until you're like, "enough already, just get on with it...I get that the 'word' is complicated" (you'll know what I refer to when you read it - - not a spoiler).

The narrator is great, though! I'm definitely a huge fan of Khristine Hvam! She does a great job with all the character voices, keeping them separate and recognizable without needing to tell us who's speaking. After soooo many books and a building mass of characters, I'm amazed she keeps pulling out new voices.

I'm a critical person, so don't let my negative comments fool you. I definitely loved this whole series and recommend it. Just brace yourself for difficulty establishing the world and its characters at first, and then dealing with climatic wordiness with each book. If you can get past those, you'll really enjoy the action and adventure. Here's hoping the next two books (I read on the author's blog that book 8 will now be split in two because she had too much to say) will focus more on the heroine's relationship/romantic development. It's about time!

Agree with other reviewers

It started off really promising and I was excited for it for maybe the 1/4 of the book, but I didn’t ever really bond with the characters and near the end I really didn’t care who died mostly, and it was really vague even near the end of what exactly was going on, and I love books that don’t just spell out everything for you but this was different, the more the book went on the less I cared

One of my favorite series

This is one of my most favorite series and I was delighted that the narrator was good because sometimes you get kind of dull sounding narrator but she does very well I love the voices and everything.