Cast in Shadow: Chronicles of Elantra, Book 1

So I got the free prequel to see if I would like the rest of the books. I have now listened to the "1st" book of the series and used my new credits on the other four.
Good story, nice execution, enjoying every minute of the characters and look forward to the rest of the story.

fresh,
intelligent,
ENTERTAINING

Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
Equally well written, narrated, and fresh

Masterful rendition of character personalities shine, still conveying (i feel) what Michelle Sagara intended...filling my mind with a thoroughly fleshed out, comprehensive visual, emotional, intellectual experience. Awesome movie happening in my mind.

It was so good that I will read the rest of the series befor I move back to Lee Childs - Jack Reacher series.

I've never read the print version, but loved listening to this book.

The mystery, thrill and the fantasy of the story.

She brought the characters alive and did a great job bringing the personality and persona of each character out. Very interesting indeed!

The Chosen One

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!

Really - only three words. Entertaining - Vivid - Detailed

There are really so many memorable moments, but -- Kaylin was called to the Lord's office to explain her actions at the orphanage and after revisiting her troubling childhood (in great detail - this was the first glimpse into her past), how she put together a family and how they were taken away from her, the Lord wrapped her in his wings and accepted her explanation. Quite touching.

Teela the female Barani - I just love her hautiness.

This book is so detailed -- it is really difficult to choose only one of anything to talk about. But ... it was quite moving when Kaylin was called to the orphanage to 'heal' one of the children. Kaylin is quite fond of the children. This one was very close to death and proved to be difficult to heal. It turned out that in order to do so, she had to give of herself - her essence (if you will). Then finding out that healling the child put the child, herself and potentially the world in jeopardy.

I was introduced to Michelle Sagara’s work when Audible offered her novella Cast in Moonlight as a free download. I very much enjoyed learning about Kaylin as a child (if you can call her a child as she is quite street-wise).

Michelle Sagara creates very interesting characters – immortals, cat people, winged soldiers. On several occasions I found myself sitting in my car, in my driveway, listening to find out what was going to happen next or waiting to see how a problem was going to be resolved.

I plan on getting the next download in the series.

The story is exciting laced with unexpected twists. Khristine Hvam is the 'perfect' narrator for the lead character.

I actually liked all the characters.

I have listened to nearly a hundred books and Khristine may be the best I have ever enjoyed.

I realize I am gushing on Khristine Hvam but I am convinced many more sci-fy writers should seek her out.

I'm surprised that the Elantra books are published by a romance imprint, because there is no romantic or sexual content whatsoever. Instead, this is an immersive fantasy tale. It's a page turner, and while it's definitely guilty of some fantasy cliches, that only improves the pace of the story and the believability of the fantasy world. The races are not the usual vampires or elves, so the world and story feel fresh. The plot reads like a mystery (I think--I don't actually read mysteries), but it unfolds naturally, rather than relying on cheap plot twists.It may not be original or epic, but this is a very darn good listen--thoroughly addictive, like movie popcorn but without the calories.

The best part of this book, though, is the narrator; her voice is clear, and she easily expresses emotion without overdoing it. Hvam does an excellent job voicing the characters (so you always know who is speaking), and it never feels forced. Khristine Hvam has become my favorite reader on Audible, and this book is perfectly suited to her talents.

I downloaded this after listening to the free novella, Cast in Moonlight, that Audible had available for subscribers. I'm now working my way through the rest of this series, and all the subsequent books have been satisfying. I highly recommend The Chronicles of Elantra as a series, and this book is definitely the place to start.

This is a great introduction to a great series, and the NARRATOR CAN'T BE BEAT!

This book rates in the top 10 of the books I have listened to.

The main character was exciting to follow

I do not remember listening to any other of her performances.

I did not want to stop after I started listening.

I purchased this novel because I listened to the four hour Novella that was the prequel and I really loved it. I listened to this novel and loved about 12 hours of it. After that It seemed like it was just dragging on and on and on! I didn't even really pay attention to the ending. I was soo dissapointed! I really liked the begining of the book, the mystery, and the intrigue. But by the time I got to the end I just couldn't wait for it to be over. I am not saying that the ending was bad, but somewhere between the 12th and 14th hour I just lost faith and didn't really care what happened as long as it ended. Sorry, but I don't think I will be purchasing the next book in the series unless it happens to be listed on one of the $4.50 sales.

I read some of the other reviews and most of them were positive so I percevered 3/4 of the way in. But I succumbed and couldn't go on. The storyline was dull and it wasn't put together very well. . I couldn't get the imagery happening in my head.