Elantra stories! I read and reread them and rejoice in their being.

-
Cast in Sorrow  (The Chronicles of Elantra #9) by Michelle Sagara


Returning to the Chronicles of Elantra and life with Private Kaylin Neya is a privilege and a joy. As I was reading this it once more occurred to me that our writers are the Bards of yesteryear, opening our eyes, enabling us to see through their eyes  into the worlds they create. To be able to see what Sagara sees, look through her eyes into the world of Elantra and of Kaylin is fantastic and a reader's delight. Thank you.

In Cast in Sorrow we continue on from Cast in Peril with Kaylin (as Lord Kaylin, a Barrani appointed title from past deeds) well and truly into The West Marches. Things are not going well, Kaylin has an unasked for duty to perform as a Lord and her healing gift keeps wanting to overpower all. Healing the Green is an imperative. She is of course accompanied by her small dragon which is both a complication and maybe a blessing, or not!

Kaylin meets a water elemental, a sheet of falling water shaped as a Tha'alani in an unexpected place. 
Along the way we learn a little more of Severn. A deep character with hidden reserves and a story yet untold.
Cast in Sorrow is in part the Barrani Hawk Teela's story and also  a treatise  about the Barrani, on nature vs nurture and environment. We come to know more about these almost immortals, their drives and challenges. The idea of the word and living words or true words is important to the Barrani as it brings them into being a and defines their ongoing positions through daunting challenges. Indeed we have seen that such words are important to all Elantra under different circumstances and guises. As the story unfolds, the darker side of Teela, the aching side is shown and we sympathize and acknowledge her at a more intimate level. Those Barrani words Kaylin keeps seeing or being given charge of, at one level, seem to represent or be an analogy for the challenges of life, on how people grow and develop. Once again Kaylin and the words on her skin are the centre part of the story, it's mystery and resolution. Not forgetting her daring, her many wonderful, messy character, her many foibles, her scrappiness, her resolution and her love.


A NetGalley ARC

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Things aren’t as they seem!

-
Image
A Murderous Tryst  (Beatrice Hyde-Care Mystery #11) by Lynn Messina    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Oh my! Bea certainly has a lot to contend with. Bea’s rattled! The Duke has been missing from their bed for a night. When a distraught Bea come downstairs the next morning she finds her beloved husband Damien clasped in the arms of a glamorous female. A female who turns out to be Kesgrave’s first mistress, Mrs. Penelope Taylor! What?! Of course Bea’s heart sinks and she falls back on her painful memories of Aunt Vera’s responses to such a situation. Bea is both shaken and traumatised, but determined not to show it.  It seems Penny has been accused of murder. Actually  Penny’s desperately trying to avoid Newgate.    As a former mistress Penny does the unthinkable thing in society’s eyes. She asks for help from Bea. Bea’s response is just as shocking. She says yes. Kesgrave is as usual inscrutable. Of course this is the beginning of a harebrained chase, complications between...
Read more

Women in war—Internment by the Japanese 1942-45.

-
Image
Sisters Under the Rising Sun  by Heather Morris    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A fitting tribute to the women interred by the Japanese in Indonesia and Malaya during 1942 until liberation in 1945. Amongst the internees are a group of Australian Army nurses who were not given recognition by the Japanese as members of the armed forces and therefore not prisoners of war according to the Conventions of war.  Sister Vivian Bullwinkle is the only survivor of the massacre of a group of soldiers and nurses on Radji Beach, Bangka Island near Sumatra  in 1942, after the sinking of  HMS Vyner Brooke. There are a number of civilian prisoners in the camps like Norah Chambers and her sister Ena.  Combined, the story of these women interred under terrible conditions, their struggles and achievements are monumental.  Their gifts to their fellows beyond speech. Music plays an important part in uplifting the prisoners’ spirits. It’s truly a privilege to read about their plight, the...
Read more

A wonderful cat and mouse game!

-
Image
Lady Eleanor's Seventh Suitor (The Sutherlands #1)   by Anna Bradley If ever a woman was caught in the cross hairs of a deadly game, even as the reason for its very being is a deep mystery,  that is  Eleanor Sutherland. If ever a man stalked his prey so efficiently then that hunter is  Camden West. From the very beginning I was caught up in the manoeuvre that Cam had instigated against  Eleanor using her sister Charlotte. The lengths he is prepared to go to punish her are puzzling. What he punishing her for is even more so. Is it just because she appears cold and unfeeling? Lady Frost is the name Eleanor has been given. Bets are placed on her at White's. She has her own page! As the story develops we and Cam discover that he has badly underestimated and misjudged Ellie. As she turns the tables on him things look hopeful but always Ellie is taken by surprise by yet another layer that is added to the equation. It isn't until the end that we start to s...
Read more