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It's hard to be a saint in the city (Cast in Silence review)
I made this soup (the 1991 version) Monday night and it turned out great, though immediately after finishing it tasted like a salt lick and I was angry, because I spent 40 minutes peeling tomatoes for a salt lick? But no, after setting overnight it was delicious, and I'm definitely going to take the 2009 version, a sort of cod-Bloody Mary, for a whirl, though I don't even like Bloody Marys usually. Also, don't believe the tyranny of the food mill! I peeled, seeded, and chopped my tomatoes coarsely before throwing them in the food processor on the lowest setting for about 20 seconds, and they came out perfect--lumpy, but way smoother than a salsa, which is what I would have gotten with my knife and cutting board. Also I diced the celery in the food processor. I don't really have knife skills, but at my level, I can get by.
Michelle Sagara (aka Michelle West, aka Michelle Sagara West, aka![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
msagara) is one of my favorite authors, and the great thing about her Chronicles of Elantra series, from Luna Books, is that the titles come out once a year--so, unlike the books she writes as Michelle West, from DAW, every year brings a new book to devour. Of course I went out and bought Cast in Silence, the new book, as soon as my local Borders showed it "likely in store."
I've been thinking thinky-thoughts about "series" fantasy and what exactly a "fantasy series" is--while some people apparently apply the term to any book that isn't the only and sole book telling the story of a particular set of characters, such as a trilogy or quartet of books, I personally tend to term a "series" only a set of books that are actually serial--i.e., an ongoing set of interconnected but not inextricably linked books telling an ongoing story that can nonetheless be enjoyed in separate chunks. The Chronicles of Elantra are most definitely a series (unlike the West books, which are different and much longer), and I think that Cast in Silence may be the best entrance point to the series aside from the first book, Cast in Shadow. Enough of the characters and themes introduced earlier are touched on again to give a good introduction to what the series is fundamentally about, but (aside from a few details about the previous book, Cast in Fury) none of them are referred to without explanatory details. I think Luna does a good job of indicating that the Elantra books aren't standalone by labelling all "The Chronicles of Elantra" on the cover but eschewing numbering in favor of listing the titles in order on the frontispiece.
Kaylin Neya, a young human member of the Hawks, her city's equivalent to the police, has throughout her life been dragged into the midst of magical fracases that she's only beginning to understand. Cast in Silence finds her and the only Dragon Hawk, Tiamaris, (as well as her Corporal Handred, her childhood friend and fellow Hawk, as well as former Wolf) sent to the one place in the city where the Emperor's writ doesn't run--the fiefs, and not just any fief, but fief Barren, where Kaylin spent six months of her life when she was thirteen before crossing over, literally, to become a Hawk. It's not exactly a happy reunion for any of the parties involved, since the fieflord Barren has sent his lieutenant Morse, Kaylin's sometime protector and teacher, to blackmail Kaylin into helping Barren repel an otherworldly assault from the seventh, impassable fief, Ravellon.
I've done what Sagara does throughout the book, which is throw the name Ravellon around in spooky, intimidating ways without actually explaining what about it is so terrible, but making clear nonetheless that it is terrible--I hope we'll eventually find out more in future books. Compared to some of the preceding books, Cast in Silence is more interior than usual; a good chunk of the action takes place in Kaylin's past, or in Kaylin's own mental landscape. But it nonetheless has a fair share of action, and I laughed out loud a few times, particularly at the interactions between Tiamaris and Nightshade. The book is very explicitly about Kaylin coming to terms with things she's done in her past that she regrets bitterly, choices she made out of youth that she wouldn't make again, which of course is something almost everyone experiences. I particularly enjoy the ways in which Kaylin has grown since the first book, which are most obvious in her changing relationship with Severn, but which continue to affect every aspect of her life. In some ways Silence is comparable to the most recent West book, The Hidden City (and in some ways Kaylin is comparable to Jewel), and while Silence has less leisure to go into detail, in neither book does Sagara/West particularly pull any punches about growing up poor and desperate on indifferent city streets. At least one reviewer took issue with this in Hidden City, essentially saying that she uncritically depicted child neglect--to which I can only say, I don't know why that reviewer reads fantasy, since fantasy usually doesn't take place in a contemporary setting, but far more in a cod-medieval setting like Elantra, in which, well, people have to work for a living, and there's no child protective services. But I digress. Suffice it to say that I continue to give Sagara high marks for the realistic (both emotionally and phsyically) depiction of fantasy worlds, and I enjoyed the ending of the book very much (Tiamaris is awesome), and can't wait for Cast in Chaos.
Michelle Sagara (aka Michelle West, aka Michelle Sagara West, aka
msagara) is one of my favorite authors, and the great thing about her Chronicles of Elantra series, from Luna Books, is that the titles come out once a year--so, unlike the books she writes as Michelle West, from DAW, every year brings a new book to devour. Of course I went out and bought Cast in Silence, the new book, as soon as my local Borders showed it "likely in store." I've been thinking thinky-thoughts about "series" fantasy and what exactly a "fantasy series" is--while some people apparently apply the term to any book that isn't the only and sole book telling the story of a particular set of characters, such as a trilogy or quartet of books, I personally tend to term a "series" only a set of books that are actually serial--i.e., an ongoing set of interconnected but not inextricably linked books telling an ongoing story that can nonetheless be enjoyed in separate chunks. The Chronicles of Elantra are most definitely a series (unlike the West books, which are different and much longer), and I think that Cast in Silence may be the best entrance point to the series aside from the first book, Cast in Shadow. Enough of the characters and themes introduced earlier are touched on again to give a good introduction to what the series is fundamentally about, but (aside from a few details about the previous book, Cast in Fury) none of them are referred to without explanatory details. I think Luna does a good job of indicating that the Elantra books aren't standalone by labelling all "The Chronicles of Elantra" on the cover but eschewing numbering in favor of listing the titles in order on the frontispiece.
Kaylin Neya, a young human member of the Hawks, her city's equivalent to the police, has throughout her life been dragged into the midst of magical fracases that she's only beginning to understand. Cast in Silence finds her and the only Dragon Hawk, Tiamaris, (as well as her Corporal Handred, her childhood friend and fellow Hawk, as well as former Wolf) sent to the one place in the city where the Emperor's writ doesn't run--the fiefs, and not just any fief, but fief Barren, where Kaylin spent six months of her life when she was thirteen before crossing over, literally, to become a Hawk. It's not exactly a happy reunion for any of the parties involved, since the fieflord Barren has sent his lieutenant Morse, Kaylin's sometime protector and teacher, to blackmail Kaylin into helping Barren repel an otherworldly assault from the seventh, impassable fief, Ravellon.
I've done what Sagara does throughout the book, which is throw the name Ravellon around in spooky, intimidating ways without actually explaining what about it is so terrible, but making clear nonetheless that it is terrible--I hope we'll eventually find out more in future books. Compared to some of the preceding books, Cast in Silence is more interior than usual; a good chunk of the action takes place in Kaylin's past, or in Kaylin's own mental landscape. But it nonetheless has a fair share of action, and I laughed out loud a few times, particularly at the interactions between Tiamaris and Nightshade. The book is very explicitly about Kaylin coming to terms with things she's done in her past that she regrets bitterly, choices she made out of youth that she wouldn't make again, which of course is something almost everyone experiences. I particularly enjoy the ways in which Kaylin has grown since the first book, which are most obvious in her changing relationship with Severn, but which continue to affect every aspect of her life. In some ways Silence is comparable to the most recent West book, The Hidden City (and in some ways Kaylin is comparable to Jewel), and while Silence has less leisure to go into detail, in neither book does Sagara/West particularly pull any punches about growing up poor and desperate on indifferent city streets. At least one reviewer took issue with this in Hidden City, essentially saying that she uncritically depicted child neglect--to which I can only say, I don't know why that reviewer reads fantasy, since fantasy usually doesn't take place in a contemporary setting, but far more in a cod-medieval setting like Elantra, in which, well, people have to work for a living, and there's no child protective services. But I digress. Suffice it to say that I continue to give Sagara high marks for the realistic (both emotionally and phsyically) depiction of fantasy worlds, and I enjoyed the ending of the book very much (Tiamaris is awesome), and can't wait for Cast in Chaos.