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

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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

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