Cast in Chaos.

[starlady]

Unrelated at the top: I still have a spare AO3 invitation looking for a good home. If you or anyone you know is looking to skip the queue (I hear it's ~14 days now), let me know!

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Sagara, Michelle. Cast in Chaos. New York: Luna Books, 2010.

With the caveat that I don't really recall books three and four very well (four was the Leontine book, right?), I think this is my favorite Elantra book yet. It's not, however, probably a good place to jump in to the series; for that I would recommend the first, second, or fifth books (Cast in Secret, Courtlight, and Silence, respectively).

One of the Yuletide prompts I saw on the Chromatic Yuletide list was one asking for, essentially, case fic for this series, because in the books it's always almost the end of the world, even as the real end of the world looms in the background, rushing closer with each passing month, day, and chapter. But I'm getting ahead of myself: once again, Private Kaylin Neya of the Hawks of Elantra, the capital of the Eternal Dragon Emperor, finds herself in a position where only she and her companions can save their world of Elantra, this time from a threat that comes from beyond the world itself. To Sagara's credit, there are good reasons for this threat to be coming for Elantra, and she explains them within the text itself, just as there are good reasons that Kaylin and her companions (I love that image, and keep returning to it) are the ones who must deal with it.

These books just squeak into the ambit of urban fantasy, and one of the pleasures I derive from them is seeing how Sagara subverts the tropes of that sub-genre; ostensibly, for instance, there is the obligatory supernatural love triangle, but this is a Sagara West book, and so it's only in this sixth book, despite Kaylin's immortal…suitor marking her as his consort in the first book and a confession of love from her mortal partner Severn in the second book, that we get a kiss (no, I'm not saying between whom). I'm not holding my breath for a sex scene, either; I was surprised enough at that confession of love, and I enjoyed seeing a discussion of that love again in this book. It's interesting to me how Kaylin's principles, and Sagara's, compel them both to return to the character of Severn, who really is kind, compelling, and a ruthless, selfish bastard, depending on how you look at it. He is fundamentally not boring, and neither are these books; I spent some time in this book laughing out loud at, and reading aloud, some of the dialogue, which really snaps, for sheer pleasure in it. Kaylin and her friends are about as sarcastic as I am, which I enjoy. I've also enjoyed seeing Kaylin and her companions grow and change over the course of these novels, and I look forward to more of that.

The thing about these books, and the West novels, is that the End of the World is always in the offing, and as much as I love reading both sets of books, I do want eventually to see that End confronted and either averted or not. It's a tribute to Sagara's writing that she always makes us feel the immediacy of each new threat while the continuing ones don't lose their palpable menace, but I want them to come round, and I hope that they will after Kaylin's etiquette lessons. The good thing about having read this book five months late is that now I only have about seven months until Cast in Ruin.

Comments

[lnhammer]

Wait, this is book six? What was five, and how did I miss it?

(Don't answer that last clause.)

---L.

[starlady]

Five is Cast in SIlence.

[lnhammer]

Clearly, an afterwork visit to B&N is called for.

(I need a desk calendar anyway.)

---L.

[starlady]

That's the spirit!

[lnhammer]

Hmph -- B&N had Chaos but not Silence. Time for online options ...

---L.

[starlady]

Ouch! The one I was at yesterday had Silence and Fury only.

[lnhammer]

These shelves had only Chaos and the mm paperback of Shadow.

---L.

[inkstone]

Heh, there's always such a lack of on-page kissyface and sexytimes in the West/Sagara novels that it always startles me when it is there. Probably because I then add more weight because it was included. I know there's a moment between Jewel and Devon in House Name that had me squinting.

[starlady]

Interesting. I know I thought in Hunter's Death that Jewel/Devon was very possibly being hinted at in at least a few scenes, but that was pretty much obviated by The Sun Sword.

And yeah, it's interesting how much more I am on the alert when there are so few scenes related to romance or to sex in any way.

I think this was my favorite of the Elantra books so far.

[inkstone]

Oh, I'm glad I wasn't the only one. I always thought Jewel/Devon was being hinted at in Hunter's Death but thought I was just imagining things. Sun Sword made me think I was imagining things. But now that we're coming to back to this in House War, I'm wondering why it's been included and, I guess, highlighted (?) again.

Anyway, back to the Elantra books. I really did like this one. I loved the ending of the book with the drums.

[starlady]

Oh no, I've totally thought that every time I've read HD. And even in the early books of The Sun Sword there seemed to be a very little of it, except then later they have that fight. Given that we're about to jump past the end of the Sun Sword, time-wise, I can only hope or think that it's going to be relevant in the rest of the House War if it's in House Name.

Yeah, I liked this one a lot too. It was really satisfying on multiple levels.

[inkstone]

Oh, I definitely think it's going to be relevant. House Name keeps having this thing come up in various conversations about how you can't serve two masters and I can't think that it's anything but deliberate. But I'll guess we'll see!

[starlady]

Oh noes, Devon!

[yifu]

re: AO3 invitation
May I? Thank you!

[starlady]

Sure! You can PM me your email, or I think I can c&p & PM you the code, too.