Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara

"Cast in Silence" is the latest in the "The Chronicles of Elantra" by Michelle Sagara. In this book we learn more about Kaylin Neya's past. We already knew that she grew up in the fief of Nightshade, that she left there after a tragedy, and that eventually she found herself in the city proper working as one of the Hawks, protecting the people of Elantra. But what happened inbetween her time in Nightshade and becoming a Hawk? And just how did a girl from the fiefs end up a Hawk?

Nobody really knew what Kaylin had gone through during that period of her life because Kaylin had done everything she could to hide and forget that portion of her life. It may have been a short period of her life, but it was one that she did not remember fondly, and one that had forever changed her.

When Kaylin left Nightshade she found herself in the neighboring fief of Barren, and was quickly "adopted" by a gruff girl/woman named Morse. Morse taught her everything she knew, which meant a lot about theft, fighting, and how to kill with out flinching. Kaylin began to work for the Master of the Fief and quickly proved herself to be adept at carrying out his business.

The story of her past unfolds slowly, intertwined with the story of what's currently going on in Barren. The heart of the fiefs has become on unstable, and it is finding a way to let it's darkness out through Barren because it has the least strength of all the fiefs. Now Kayling must go back, face her old haunts and her old friend (and enemies) to discover why Barren is under going the changes it is. Along the way she'll have to admit to her friends her most closely guarded secrets, and learn to come to terms with her own past.

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