Cast in Shadow, by Michelle Sagara

Posted by: Redhead on: February 21, 2012

• In: Michelle Sagara
• 12 Comments

Cast in Shadow, by Michelle Sagara

Published in 2006

Where I got it: purchased used

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A little bit Steven Brust, a little bit Ben Aaronovitch,  Cast in Shadow is a dark fantasy mystery with police procedural scenery. Even magical realms require law and police, and the city of Elantra is no different.  The three branches of law are the Hawks, the Wolves and the Swords, and young Kaylin is so very proud of having grown up to be a Hawk. She is proof that one can come from a very dark place to grow up and lead a life of light.

Kaylin isn’t young per se, but as humans are the most short lived race on this world, all the non-humans around her see her as a child, and treat her as one. Exposed to magic as a young child, Kaylin will go to great lengths to hide the strange tattoos on her arms and legs.

The magic of the world isn’t fully explained, but we know Kaylin is a healer, and that healing magic is very rare.  She’s late to work because she spends her nights healing in the orphanages and birthing caves. Once upon a time there was someone she couldn’t save, and she can’t bear to see that happen again.

When the killings start again, and the children’s tiny mutilated bodies are found with tattoos that nearly match Kaylin’s, all eyes are on her. She’s marked, but no one knows by who, and what for. Partnered up with a man from her past and a mysterious Dragon Lord, Kaylin is went back to the fief that defined her childhood to investigate. She’ll have to face every fear and every truth she’s been spending her entire adulthood avoiding.

I don’t read a lot of traditional urban fantasy, which is a shame, because it can be so much fun!  Although Cast in Shadow wasn’t easy for me to get into, once I did I had a really good time with it. Its got action, good fight scenes, emotion, politics, racial tensions, and the ultimate urban fantasy guilty pleasure the mysterious, handsome, misunderstood immortal dude with the overdramatic title of Lord Nightshade. Kaylin’s mortal old flame Severn hasn’t got a chance against that guy! Scenes with Nightshade put me in the mood to watch Underworld again.

Sure, Kaylin’s naivety got stale after a while, but damnit, I liked her as a heroine! She’s not the smartest girl on the block or the most beautiful, but when something needs to be done, damnit, she does it.  Even better, she’s wonderfully feminine.  She’s conflicted about romantic feelings for men in her life, has body image issues, knows when the sound of a certain man’s laugh turns her on, hates cleaning her apartment, and has a weakness for saving the lives of orphans.  She’s not a tomboy in the slightest, and she doesn’t want to be. She just wants to be her.  For very personal reasons, I really appreciated all of that.

Like I said, I had a tough time getting into Cast in Shadow, and that may be in part because Sagara throws the reader in at the deep end. At first, we don’t know who any of these characters are, where we are, why people are speaking different languages, and that some of them are naturally immortal. I stumbled a lot in those first 80 pages or so.  But the book practically oozes potential, and Sagara’s city of Elantra feels very fleshed out even if the characters don’t always.  She pulled me in with just the right quantity of information and I wanted to know more. Clunky prose and oddly edited dialog aside, I wanted to know what had happened in Kaylin’s dark past, and what her future held.

If you’re looking for a fun read that’s going to entertain without flipping your brain inside out, Cast in Shadow is a good bet.  It’s not the best book you’re ever going to read, but you’ll have a good time and you’ll be entertained.

 

Tags: dragons, fantasy, magic, mystery, romance, urban fantasy