"Has the talent to become a star in the fantasy genre."

In the Kingdom of Karaazon, in the capital of Elantra, the river Abalyne separates the fiefs from the rest of society. In the fiefs, warlords rule over their own domain and have their own laws and armies. Surprisingly, the sentient species on both sides of the river, human, avian, immortal, etc get along with one another. Now there is a crisis brewing that has it roots in a series of killings that happened in the fiefs years ago when children were killed over a period of three years.

Now the killings have started only this time there are only three days between killings and the victims, like the ones three years ago have strange tatoo like makings on their bodies. Kaylin, who originally came from the fiefs, also had the mysterious markings on her body before the killings started. Now she works on the right side of the law and is determined to find the killer before the magical ritual is completed and more lives are lost.

CAST IN SHADOW is a magnificent fantasy filled with plenty of suspense, a terrific who-done-it, and a wonderful heroine sacrificing her own needs to provide selfless service to end the killing in the fiefs. Michelle Sagara provides a fantastic realm in which the audience will believe that diverse sentient species exist and live and work in harmony at least until the murders occur leading to everyone pointing fingers at anyone different. Ms. Sagara smoothly has combined mystery and fantasy in this terrific tale. She has the talent to become a star in the fantasy genre.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 15, 2005

Summary

Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered -- and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin . . . Since then, she's learned to read, she's learned to fight and she's become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and immortal Barrani, she's made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth. But children are once again dying, and a dark and familiar pattern is emerging, Kaylin is ordered back into Nightshade with a partner she knows she can't trust, a Dragon lord for a companion and a device to contain her powers -- powers that no other human has. Her task is simple -- find the killer, stop the murders . . . and survive the attentions of those who claim to be her allies!