Cast in Peril

Cast in Peril  

by Michelle Sagara is part of her wonderful young adult series featuring Private Kaylin Neya, a young woman with far too much to juggle.  The admittedly poor quarters where she lives are a bit overcrowded considering the unusual egg that she is caring for and her Dragon roommate that she reluctantly shares quarters with. The etiquette lessons as well as the onerous magic lessons are assignments that she bears with semi-tolerance but they're definitely not something she enjoys.  An assignment that she is given little choice about complying with has only one unexpected benefit...it allows her to move around without the presence of her dragon roommate.  Unfortunately, it doesn't save her from the rigorous rituals and pitfalls of dealing with the sometimes very deadly Barrani but she does have a few allies to rely on, including one very enigmatic winged creature.

These fantasy stories are a great blend of commonplace themes such as being late for work or night emergency calls and creative twists such as baring one's throat for a predator who is also one's boss as a gesture of apology.  There are little asides which add delightful accents to the tale such as a knife blade which is melted without heat and then reformed into a different shape by a creature's breath, color changing eyes amongst different species to communicate emotional states or a being which can act as a path but still generate a face for communicating with a human.  The series is packed with these fascinating details and continues to evolve even as Kaylin herself does. 


My Amazon review for Cast in Peril is at this link under ELF2060.  I appreciate all 'yes, this was helpful' votes.  It can be read as a stand-alone if one doesn't mind ignoring the mysterious interconnections that these beings all have with one another but it would be much better savored if one is familiar with the various players.  The series (Chronicles of Elantra) is presented below.


             

Silence

Silence
by Michelle Sagara is Book One in her 'Queen of the Dead' young adult series.  Typical for Ms Sagara, the book centers around a young girl who is tested by tragedy and continues to display a strength of character and maturity far beyond her years.  The contrast between the very teen-like situations and the unconventional solutions employed to solve the increasingly complicated non-traditional problems being presented gives this story fascinating twists. There's a great scene that involves Emma intervening to make sure that her friend Michael has the seat that he feels comfortable in...by bopping the offending kid on the head with her book.  The reader is given an insightful perspective on the tricks that can be employed to provide comfort to someone who requires consistency in his life and the advantages of being able to distill life into its essentials.  Emma and the rest of the eleventh graders (and pseudo-classmates) provide a fascinating look at the potentials available in youngsters who are on the cusp of adulthood woven in a mesmerizing tale of loss, ghosts and strength.  I anxiously await the next in the series.  My Amazon review is at this link under ELF2060.  As always, a 'yes, this was helpful vote' is greatly appreciated.

Also recommended is Ms Sagara's 'Chronicles of Elantra' series which starts with Cast in Shadow