Michelle Sagara

Cast in Courtlight (The Cast Series, Book 2)

Book 2 in the Chronicles of Elantra fantasy series by New York Times bestselling author Michelle Sagara In Elantra, a job well done is rewarded with a more dangerous task. And so, after defeating a dark evil, Kaylin must enter a place of deceit and treachery. A world where silk and jewels hide deadly secrets…. Kaylin goes before the Barrani High Court, where a misspoken word brings sure death. And Kaylin's never been known for her grace or manners. But the High Lord's heir is suspiciously ill and Kaylin's healing magic is the only shot at saving him—if she manages to dodge the traps laid for her. Only to discover that the healing might turn out to be the simplest of the tasks before her… Originally published in 2006

Cast in Courtlight

Sarah Escorsa

Actual rating: 3.5 stars. Because I'm in a good mood today. 

Uh-Oh. Trouble in paradise Elantra? Looks like it. I mean, this definitely went downhill pretty fast. Book 1 in this series was nothing short of awesome. Hey, how many times have I not DNFed rated the initial instalment in a series 5 stars? Not many, I tell you. If you don't count books written by my Holy Trinity, that is (view spoiler)[Oh PLEASE don't tell me you're one of those clueless decapods who don't know about the Holy Trinity *shakes head in utter and complete desperation* Ilona Andrews, Pippa DaCosta and Glen Cook, you Silly Barnacle! How many times do I have to repeat this?!



 (hide spoiler)] And I even gave the prequel to this series a 4-star rating! That doesn't impress you? What if I told you the story was about a Freaking Teenager (FT™)? Yep, that's right, a FT™ as in This is YA Please Kill me Somebody What Have I Done to Deserve This (TiYPKmSWHIDtDt™)! And yet I still rated the story 4 stars! Which loosely translates to mean: bloody hell, this was pretty damn good! 

So there I was, all excited and delighted and elated and stuff at the idea of reading Cast in Courtlight. Okay, so I wasn't that excited and delighted and elated and stuff about the book cover, which kinda sorta looks like some Horrifically Terrifying Romance Thingy (HTRT™). But once you've survived early Kate Daniels covers such as this one, you can survive anything, so I didn't let this one scare me away.

So. I fully expected to be appropriately blown away by this little book here. And instead I found myself screaming bloody murder filler. I swear, there are so many repetitions, so much info dumping and blah blah blah here, you could wipe out a good 100 pages from the book without noticing the difference. Add to that jumbled, confusing stuff and you get…well, boring, jumbled, confusing stuff. Yay.



Why, then, the 3.5-star rating, you ask? Oh, my Lovely Decapods, you do ask the most pertinent questions (sometimes). The 3.5-star rating because this is one of the most interesting, original Fantasy worlds I've ever come across. Because it features a delicious array of delightfully weird species and creatures. Because the characters are all pretty awesome and cool and stuff. So YES, I'm definitely willing to put myself through tedious filler stuff, just to get immersed in Elantra again. And let me tell you, my consenting to being bored mindless is no minor occurrence. I mean, how many times have you seen me NOT (choose all that apply) kill/burn/stomp on/irremediably destroy/chop to tiny little pieces an insomnia-inducing book? Thought so. 

Anyway. What I'm so cleverly trying to say is: this wasn't as mind-blowingly AWESOME as it could and should have been. But it wasn't bad either. I mean, I'd even say it was pretty good. At times. Which definitely isn't bad. But isn't amazingly good, either. And it could and should have been way better. As in brilliant and stuff. ← Am I rehashing a tinsy little bit here? Oh, good. 



» And the moral of this Crappy Non Review is: this might be a filler, but it's an Elantra Filler. So QED and stuff.
» And the other moral of this Crappy Non Review is: Michelle Sagara, Fleet Admiral DaShrimp is watching you. You better not disappoint next time, or else he might unleash the murderous crustaceans on you. But hey, no pressure.

· Book 0.5: Cast in Moonlight ★★★★
· Book 1: Cast in Shadow ★★★★★
· Book 3: Cast in Secret ★★★ (make that 2.5 stars aka bye bye, Kaylin, it was nice knowing you!)

Nickie Mohler

After defeating power hungry evil beings in the last book, Kaylin thought life would go back to normal. She was wrong. Being forced to take lessons is bad enough, but now, she is summoned to appear at the Barrani Court. The High Lord's son is sick, and Kaylin has been summoned to heal him. If this was the hardest task ahead of her, she would be fine, but it's only going to get worse. I love this series!! Kaylin is a lovable train wreck that I can't get enough of.

Cast in Courtlight (The Cast Series, Book 2)

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