Praise for
MICHELLE SAGARA
and The Chronicles of Elantra series
Cast in Shadow
âNo one provides an emotional payoff like Michelle Sagara.
Combine that with a fast-paced police procedural, deadly magics, five very different races and a wickedly dry sense of humorâwell, it doesnât get any better than this.â âBestselling author Tanya Huff
âFirst-rate fantasy. Sagaraâs complex characterizations
and rich world-building lift her above the crowd.â âNew York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong
Cast in Courtlight
âReaders will embrace this compelling, strong-willed
heroine with her often sarcastic voice.â âPublishers Weekly
âA fast-paced novel, packed with action and adventure â¦
integrating the conventions of police procedurals with more fantastic elements.â âRomantic Times BOOKreviews
Cast in Secret
âThe impressively detailed setting and the bookâs spirited
heroine are sure to charm romance readers as well as fantasy fans who like some mystery with their magic.â âPublishers Weekly
âRemarkable ⦠Filled with time-release plot threads and
intricate details, these books are both mesmerizing and unforgettable. If youâre a fan of rich fantasy, this is the series for you!â âRomantic Times BOOKreviews, Top Pick (4½ stars)
MICHELLE SAGARA has written twelve novels since 1991, when her fi rst book, Into the Dark Lands, was published. Sheâs written a quarterly book review column for the venerable Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for a number of years, as well as dozens of short stories (or novellas, to be more exact).
In 1986 she started working in an SF specialty bookstore, where she continues to work to this day. She loves reading, is allergic to cats (very, which means they crawl all over her), is happily married, has two lovely children, and has spent all of her life in her native Torontoânone of it on Bay Street.
She started reading fantasy almost as soon as she could read, and fell instantly in love with Narnia; her next fantasy discovery was Patricia McKillipâs Forgotten Beasts of Eld. She moved on to The Hobbit, which led to her discovery of the life-changing The Lord of the Rings.
Her greatest hope for her writing is that someone will read it and be moved by the same sense of magic and mystery that she fi nds in the books she loves.
She will talk about writing, bookselling and books forever if given a chance. Youâve been warned.
This is for Tanya and Fe, with gratitude for long years of friendship that involved phone calls about all of lifeâs little anxieties and triumphs, none begrudged.
The home team, again, came through: First and foremost Thomas, Daniel and Ross, who put up with my imaginative flights and figurative absences; John, Kristen, Jamie (affectionately referred to as His Majesty), Gary and Ayami, who do the same; and my mother and father.
The away team: For this book, my editor, Matrice, patient with my unusual inability to deal with outlines; my agent, Russ Galen; and of course, as always, Terry Pearson, who read it all a chapter at a time.
Thanks, guys.
In the old days, before the Dragon Emperorâsometimes called the Eternal Emperor by those responsible for toadyingâhad invested the Halls of Law with the laws which governed the Empire, angry Dragons simply ate the idiots who were stupid enough to irritate them. Or, if they were unappetizing, burned them into a very slight pile of ash.
Ash had the advantage of requiring little to no paperwork.
Marcus Kassan, Sergeant for the Hawksâone branch of officers who served in the Halls of Lawâstared gloomily at a pile of paperwork that, were it placed end to end, would loom above him. At over six foot, that was difficult. The desire to shred it caused his claws to flick in and out of the fur of his forepaws.
The desire to avoid annoying Caitlin, the woman who wasâinasmuch as the Hawks allowed itâden mother to the interior office, which set schedules, logged reports, and prepared duty rosters and pay chits, was just slightly stronger. In their personal life, Leontines disavowed all paperwork, usually by the expedient of chewing it, shredding it, or burning it, when it wasnât useful for the kitsâ litter.
Then again, heâd been at his desk for the better part of an hour. He expected thereâd be a shift in the balance before the dayâwhich looked to be long and gruelingâwas over.
Caitlin smiled at him from the nest she made of the paperwork she endured, day in, day out. It was a slightly sharp smile that looked, on the surface, quiet and sweet. That was Caitlin. Human all over. Sheâd been with him for years. He was aware of her value; the three people before her had lasted two weeks, three weeks, and four days, respectively. They had all babbled like morons.
Fear does that, Caitlin had said when sheâd applied for the job. She was bird-thin and fragile to the eye, and her voice was soft and feminineâno growl or fang there. But definitely some spine. She was one of two people who manned the desks who could stand six inches from his face when he was on the edge of fury. She barely blinked, and attributed that, regretfully, to his breath.