Michelle Sagara Reviews

Added September 26, 2005

Cast in Shadow

Author: Michelle Sagara
Publisher: Luna Books
Available At: Bookstores Everywhere
Publishing Date: August 2005
Genre: Fantasy
Format: Trade paperback
Price: $13.95
ISBN: 0-373-80236-6
Author Email/Website: www.sff.net/people/Michelle.Sagara/
Reviewer: Safiya Tremayne
Rating: 8.8 Gargoyles

Intense, fast-paced, intriguing, compelling and hard to put down, Cast in Shadow is unforgettable. Sagara introduces readers to a different type of heroine, one chosen by destiny who remakes herself by sheer force of will. Kaylin's childhood was spent in the fief-lands, where law was merely a word and starvation one of the cruelest and most familiar of enemies. Her life wasn't easy, but neither was it without love. Until the day the marks appeared. They covered her arms and her legs. It wasn't the marks that worried her and her makeshift family as much as the fact children were dying in their fief-land. And every single one of the dead children bore the same marks Kaylin did.

It has been many years since she left the fief-lands and made a new life for herself. A life of her choosing, the life of a Hawk, and she loves most every minute of it. To her great horror and dismay, her life has taken a turn for the worse. Children are once again dying in her former home and every one of them bear the marks. To discover the truth and reason behind the murders, the Hawklord sends her back into the Nightshade fief-land with a Dragon and Severn, one of the few people from her past she would much rather forget or kill.

Once in Nightshade, the nightmare truly begins. Not only has she gained the interest of its lord, the Barrani Nightshade, but also something within his keep that calls to her and bestows an unexpected power. Even with this new gift, Kaylin knows she's running out of time and if she can't find the answer, there is no telling how bad things will become.

Cast in Shadow is a remarkable tale. While the beginning is the tiniest bit slow, the story quickly gains pace, pulls you in and refuses to let go. The world building is superb, with the history, politics and social dictates differing greatly, adding depth. Throw in the history of the Old Ones and the legends surrounding the power of Names and you have a world familiar and foreign all at the same time. Sagara presents an intriguing heroine, whose history has shaped her and whose present and future events will shape even more. As a reader, I enjoyed the fact, Kaylin didn't have all the answers, that she had a hard time passing her classes on magic, that the one thing she truly excelled at was languages. Her flaws made her much more believable and endearing.

Michelle Sagara has proven herself to me and I know I'll be rereading Cast of Shadows several times before the release of Cast in Courtlight (Summer 2006).

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