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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

121) Kitty Steals the Show by Carrie Vaughn

The Blurb :

Kitty has been tapped as the keynote speaker for the First International Conference on Paranatural Studies, taking place in London. The conference brings together scientists, activists, protestors, and supernatural beings from all over the world—and Kitty, Ben, and Cormac are right in the middle of it.

Master vampires from dozens of cities have also gathered in London for a conference of their own. With the help of the Master of London, Kitty gets more of a glimpse into the Long Game—a power struggle among vampires that has been going on for centuries—than she ever has before. In her search for answers, Kitty has the help of some old allies, and meets some new ones, such as Caleb, the alpha werewolf of the British Isles. The conference has also attracted some old enemies, who’ve set their sights on her and her friends.

All the world’s a stage, and Kitty’s just stepped into the spotlight.

My Thoughts :

Kitty Norville has been one of my favourite werewolf characters ever since the series came out. Ten books ago this series made me go wow and kept surprising. So when this book opened up with Kitty off to London I wasn't just surprised but very excited! Kitty off to my homeland? That sounded like a lot of fun.

The first half of the book was pretty cool. I liked the whole run up to going, the worry about the plane journey and meeting up with Ned, the master vampire. His story was very intriguing and I hope this isn't the last we see or hear of him. The conference was also interesting. The subjects the author came up with sounded good and I would have liked to have taken part in if the conference was real. The little side story of Amelia was also a nice fresh angle. I think I liked that part the most.

However after the halfway mark I felt the story slipping away. Politics got in the way and so many characters crawled out of the woodwork. It was hard to keep track of who was who and what they all wanted. The conference was practically forgotten and things were just a rush of getting from A to B and finding that person and saving the other. The paranormal aspect was entertaining but the reasoning behind it all was weak and unappealing. Also there was a huge lack of Kitty's wolf.

I have to say I admire the author for keeping the British aspect of this book real. She didn't try and make it something it isn't or add pieces of her own imagination to make it sound cool. She kept London and the culture how it should be. However I still don't understand why the conference had to take place in London. It sounded plausible but at the end of the day does everything have to be in London? Paris or Vienna would have been nice for a change.

All in all it was great to visit Kitty again. She has come a long way and I have enjoyed following her. However maybe it is time for Kitty to get a nice peaceful life with her pack, family and friends. Is it probable that this could happen? I hope for her it is. I love this series but all good things must come to an end and I would like to see the author give this series a well deserved nice ending and wow us with something else new and unusual.

Fans will love this new addition to the series and it is a must read. Although I will admit that this wasn't my favourite of the series so far. I am still a huge Kitty fan and she stays on my must read and must buy lists but I hope the next book has more to offer.




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2 comments:

Mardel said...

I'm beginning to understand why some readers and authors believe a series should be limited - So far, I've found at least three of my favorites aren't so favorite anymore. It must be hard to decide when to end a series; on one hand you don't want it to end when things are so interesting and yet on the other hand, which is better? to end when there's still a lot of life in the series or to have people lose interest because the series is kind of petering out?
End it too early and readers are upset because they want more - wait too long and people lose interest.
Must be a hard call for an author to make

Aurian said...

Great review, but I still have to read this series. I am sounding like a broken record, I know. So many books I want to read, but not enough time in my life to do it.