Early Review - Cast in Peril (Chronicles of Elantra, Book 8) by Michelle Sagara (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 544 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Luna
Release Date: September 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0373803507
Stand Alone or Series: 8th book in the Chronicles of Elantra
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

This is the seventh book in the Chronicles of Elantra series. The eighth book will be titled Cast in Sorrow and is scheduled for a 2013 release. This book was very similar to other books in the series; there are some fun new additions but the story progresses very slowly.

Kaylin is trying to juggle a number of things: her new dragon roommate, helping out the Midwives, her job as a Hawk, and both magical and political training with various Dragons. All of these things are brought to a halt when she is magically attacked in her home. People have been disappearing in the fifes and it is up to Kaylin to figure out why. Then Nightshade calls in the favor he requested from the Hawks in exchange for the intel he gave them in the last book; this is a favor that involves Kaylin leaving the City and heading outside of the Empire.

There are some neat additions to the series in this book. Kaylin gains a familiar and she actually leaves the city to head outside the Empire. Despite these additions I still find these books to be wordy and move slowly. I always start these books so excited to read more about the characters and then by the end I feel like I've been reading the book forever...and not in a good way.

The first part of the story focuses on Kaylin trying to help solve the mystery behind a number of disappearances happening in the fifes. Kind of the in the middle of this investigation the story switches gears. Kaylin is forced to leave with the Barrani and join them on their journey to West March.

I was a bit disappointed at the lack of resolution in this story. Kaylin never even reaches West March. Kaylin is thrust into a number of bizarre and ambiguous magical situations in preparation of her arrival there, but never arrives. Some of the situations she ends up in are a bit hard to follow and I found my mind wandering as I read.

We do learn a lot about Teela’s past and that is very interesting. The addition of the small dragon familiar is also very mysterious and intriguing. The uncertainty around what will happen when Kaylin finally reaches West March also helps to propel the story forward.

Definitely not a book to start the series on. You will have to start from the beginning to get into this series; the number of plots and characters involved has gotten increasingly complicated from book to book.

Overall I am still having some mixed feelings about this series (which I have had since the third or fourth book of the series). There are some interesting additions to the story; the familiar adds a lot of interest and having Kaylin venture into unknown territory is intriguing. But, as with previous books, the book is wordy and the plot moves at a snail’s pace. Many of the magical things Kaylin ends up involved in are ambiguous and hard to picture. If you are a huge fan of this series, I think you will love this book. If you have been on the fence with previous books, this book is more of the same.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge