Kitty's Greatest Hits

A Kitty Norville Book

By: Carrie Vaughn

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Kitty Norville, star of a New York Times best-selling series, is everybody's favorite werewolf DJ and out-of-the-closet supernatural creature. Over the course of eight books, she's fought evil vampires, were-creatures, and some serious black magic. She's done it all with a sharp wit and the help of a memorable cast of werewolf hunters, psychics, and if-not-good-then-neutral vampires by her side.

Kitty's Greatest Hits not only gives listeners some of Kitty's further adventures, it offers longtime fans a window into the origins of some of their favorite characters. In "Conquistador de la Noche", we learn the origin story of Denver's Master vampire, Rick; with "Wild Ride", we find out how Kitty's friend T.J. became a werewolf; and in "Life Is the Teacher", we revisit Emma, the human-turned-unwilling-vampire who serves the aloof vampire master of Washington, D.C.

This entertaining collection includes two brand-new works: "You're on the Air", about one of Kitty's callers after he hangs up the phone; and the eagerly awaited "Long Time Waiting", the novella that finally reveals just what happened to Cormac in prison, something every Kitty fan wants to know.

Leader of the pack: listen to more titles in the Kitty Norville series.

©2011 Carrie Vaughn, LLC (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"These side stories set in the world of Vaughn's paranormal novels are all well written and tightly plotted." (Publishers Weekly)

A Variety of Kitty!

Kitty's Greatest Hits was another nice addition to the Kitty Norville series. I would not buy this as an ebook, but it makes a very good listen.
Yes. This is made up of a variety of 'shorts' that have been included in anthologies and I believe at least one was available on the author's website. It's important to know that up front.
But I'm not about to criticize on that point. A greatest hits CD is nothing more than a group of hit songs that are re-released with a couple of new ones thrown in to help sell the next CD....and we all buy them. This audiobook is running on the same idea. I haven't read all the anthologies that include a Kitty Norville short, so I'm glad that this collection is available. I like the variety that you get while staying in the 'Kitty' universe, and it was well worth the money just to listen to "A Long Time Waiting".

Excellent collection of stories

Kitty’s Greatest Hits give readers a great selection of stories, both in the Kitty universe and of some of our favorite characters.

Of the stories not about Kitty and her friends, I really loved The Book of Daniel and A Princess of Spain. At one point in the novels, Kitty is speculating on what historical figures might have been supernatural creatures. The biblical Daniel, of Daniel and the Lion’s Den, is one on which she speculates. Could Daniel have been a lion shifter? That might explain why the lions didn’t eat him.

A Princess of Spain tells us the story of Arthur Tudor, the sickly older brother of Henry Tudor — Henry VIII. What if Arthur’s sickness was a plot in vampire machinations? Arthur’s wife, Catherine of Aragon, and Henry discover the plot and “save” Arthur from the wicked vampire.

I also love the “origin” stories of Rick and TJ. Conquistador de la Noche reveals how Rick — Ricardo de Avila — was turned vampire in Mexico long before most European vampires came to America. Wild Ride assures us that T.J. chose to become a werewolf, but was too dominate a wolf to be comfortable in most packs.

And, of course, Long Time Waiting is the brilliant story of Cormac and Amelia’s fight against the demon haunting the prison, and how they became partners in Cormac’s head.

Actually, there aren’t any bad stories in this collection. Even the short short ones are fun. My only complaint is that I would have preferred the stories be presented in chronological order, rather than in publication order, or there was some notation of when each story took place in the timeline of the novels. That would have been helpful. I also would have liked to see some stories about General Sherman and Odysseus Grant.😉

I’m very glad all the stories were collected into one volume, and that Marguarite Gavin narrated them all. Having a consistent narrator for the entire series is fantastic. Gavin does an excellent job.

I’m super glad I took the time to reread the entire Kitty series. I rated several books higher than I did on my original read, and I’m so glad there was a resolution to the Roman story-line. Kitty is one of my favorite series.😉

Short stories, not another novel

Of course if I'd read the description I would have known this before I purchased it, so that's my fault. On the other hand the majority of the stories just didn't grab me. You do get to learn some of the back stories of some of the characters, and the final story is definitely the best of the bunch, as someone else had noted. But all in all, unless you're a fan of short stories, and are desperate for a Kitty Norville fix, I'd take a pass on this one.

nice set of stories

so many questions answered about characters I've come to love in this series. backstories I had hoped to learn about in later books tied up in a nice neat book of short stories. a very good listen.

Always a delight

I love the world of Kitty Norville. It's nice getting to know more about Ricardo and Cormac.

The backstories Kitty fans has waited for!

What did you love best about Kitty's Greatest Hits?

The back stories for the characters we've learned to love.

What other book might you compare Kitty's Greatest Hits to and why?

I have no comparison.

Which scene was your favorite?

Cormac's story

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and I did.

Entertaining Collection

The stories in this collection provide background for major characters like Cormac and Ben. as well as for minor characters in the series. The stories add detail and nuance. The performance is not the reader's strongest because all the characters sound pretty much alike, which isn't a problem when she reads one of the novels since those are mostly from Kitty's point of view.

A lot of good mini stories

I really enjoyed this book. My particular favorite was the Book of Daniel. It was great having some of the mysteries solved.

Great short stories from Kitty and the crew!!

This is a great set of stories from the Kitty Norville world. I've read the books that make up Kitty's series but only a few of the short stories outside of the books. Since I'm always interested in more Kitty stories (can't wait for book #11!!), I was very happy to get these "Greatest Hits" for more of a Kitty fix. From what I've heard, only 2 of the 14 stories in this are new (the rest come from scattered anthologies). I would have bought it just for the 2 new stories but since I haven't read a lot of the others I was really happy with this.

Although I liked all of the stories my Faves are:
"Conquistador de la Noche" - The story of how Ric became a vampire
"Long Time Waiting" - Details on what happened to Cormac when he went to prison
"Il Est Ne" - Facing a lonely Christmas in a diner, Kitty helps another werewolf recapture his humanity

Definately worth the purchase for any Kitty fan out there. :)

Why did I wait so long to listen to this??!!

I held off listening to this for far too long. I thought it might somehow detract from the series to go off on a bunch of random tangents just to give a little extra character background, especially if they didn’t live up to the theories I’d made up in my head. I was so wrong. Great stories that do a fantastic job of filling in all those blanks!