Review: Cast in Secret, Michelle Sagara

Title: Cast in Secret
Author: Michelle Sagara
Begun: August 23, 2007
Completed: August 25, 2007

You have to be careful when reading Michelle Sagara - whatever the name she's using. So much of her exposition slips in where you least expect it, important details of motive and history are constantly eluded to and only very rarely fully elaborated on. Her books require close reading and a lot of thought, and Cast in Secret is a perfect example.

The third book in the fantasy/romance Elantra books, Cast in Secret chronicles once more the adventures of reformed street kid (well...sort of) Kaylin Neya. If Samuel Vimes had stayed at the bottom of the Watch ranks and had a lot more serious trauma and been a girl, he might be something like Kaylin. She is endearingly lower class, and she sticks to those principles despite her frequent forays in the Elantran aristocracy. It's hard not to love Kaylin.

Cast in Secret forces Kaylin to confront her prejudices against a variety of issues, most obviously the Tha'alani and her own unpredictable magic. Sagara once again explores Kaylin's unrequited-and-highly-tense chemistry with the mad, bad and dangerous to know Lord Nightshade (you want to laugh at the name... and then you meet him) and the stoic Severn. It's easy to cast Severn in the "strong, silent good guy" role, but he's much more morally complex than that. Sagara also has the good sense to bring back Tiamaris, my favorite character in the first book and more than a simple bit player here.

Like the preceeding novels - Cast in Shadow, Cast in Courtlight - Cast in Secret blends genres and techniques in a highly intricate pattern. Though it comes from the Luna line and is billed as romance and fantasy, it's also a good part gritty crime procedural. But though Cast in Secret doesn't quite spark as much as Cast in Shadow, it certainly piques the interest for the fourth book. When, hopefully, we may get some of the much-delayed gratification.

Cast in Secret at Amazon.com