Paperback
Expected publication: September 25th 2012 by Luna
Source: Net GalleySynopsis:
USUALLY DISASTER DIDN’T STRIKE QUITE SO CLOSE TO HOME…
It has been a busy few weeks for Private Kaylin Neva. In between angling for a promotion, sharing her room with the last living female Dragon and dealing with more refugees than anyone knew what to do with, the unusual egg she’d been given was ready to hatch. Actually, that turned out to be lucky, because it absorbed the energy from the bomb that went off in her quarters….So now might be the perfect time to leave Elantra and journey to the West March with the Barrani. If not for the disappearances of citizens in the fief of Tiamaris-disappearances traced to the very Barrani Kaylin will be traveling with..
Review:
When I found out at the end of the last novel that Kaylin would be going on a journey with Nightshade, I was happy because I felt that Nightshade would finally get the page time he so richly deserves. I really didn’t expect the novel to turn out as it ultimately does. I really didn’t.
This is not to imply Cast in Peril was bad. Not in the least. The novel delivers on action, further development in some characters and deepening the mystery about the marks found on Kaylin’s body. It just doesn’t deliver what it promised where Nightshade, the character, is concerned. Severin gets more than ample page time as his relationship with Kaylin veers into uncharted territory and Kaylin herself starts to, perhaps, warm to the idea of Severin as more than just the best friend and companion she has cast him as so far. What is lacking for me is the interaction, real honest interaction, between Nightshade and Kaylin. If he is not a contender for her feelings, I would prefer it to be known rather than having the whole thing lingering. I am okay with him as just another character in the wonderful world that Sagara has built up but at this point, I need some development either ways.
So yeah, that’s my gripe with this novel. Another thing that surprised me was that for the first time in the series, a story arc is not completed by the end of the novel. So the next book is a continuation of the adventure from this book and a year is just too long a wait for the next one.
I did like this novel. I know it may not seem like it from my complaints but I would read anything Sagara wrote with a smile on my face. Her word smithery is sheer genius and she instinctively knows how to create situations and characters that are alien to anything human and yet still retain a spark that you can relate to and empathize with. I mean, when you are empathizing with stone buildings, you have to admit the author has talent. You know? I also liked how this novel lets you glimpse the politics behind the dragons and the Barrani. And the familiar, a little dragon who has decided Kaylin belongs to him? Is just beyond cute.
So yes, if you are a faithful reader of this series, it will in turn enthrall you and frustrate you. But you will come back for the next one because if there’s anything this novel proves, it is Sagara’s ability to tell a good story.
