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Cast in Eternity
by
Michelle Sagara
It is part of the The Chronicles of Elantra #17 series and is a fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by MIRA Books on November 29, 2022 and has 531 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Harvest Moon, Cast in Shadow, Cast in Courtlight, Cast in Secret, Cast in Silence, Cast in Fury, Cast in Chaos, Cast in Ruin, Cast in Peril, Cast in Sorrow, Cast in Flame, Cast in Honor, Cast in Flight, Cast in Wisdom, Cast in Deception, Cast in Oblivion, The Emperor's Wolves, Sword and Shadow
Seventeenth in The Chronicles of Elantra fantasy series and revolving around Corporal Kaylin Neya. The focus is on a death that didn’t happen and the resulting ghosts..
My Take
I do enjoy Kaylin. She’s hostile to most people but in a friendly way, very eager to help people. Did I mention she’s also very, very stubborn? She’ll brave anyone to ensure the laws protect the innocent. So it isn’t a surprise that the Dragon Court frequently finds Corporal Neya at the center of unusual and dangerous magical anomalies. It’s being Chosen that saves her. She also comes to a realization about herself, a positive one! Who knew this would ever happen?!?
We learn so much from Sagara’s use of third person protagonist point-of-view from Kaylin’s perspective.
It’s so sweet that the Hawks feel so proprietary for a woman they consider a kook. Mrs Erickson is a wonderful, old woman who is nice to everyone, including the ghosts she encounters. A trait the ghosts appreciate so much, as she’s their only social outlet. As for the ghosts who live in her childhood home, their back story is slowly revealed and just nasty. They’re why she’s so worried about how much longer she’ll live.
Her household ghosts have a lot of fears, one of which includes that neighbor of Mrs Erickson’s, who excites Kaylin and Hope to such anger. It’s too bad they couldn’t follow through. What we learn about him later is whack.
It’s interesting how much information one can glean from public records, including a missing person report from 90 years ago. It took the longest time for me to draw that correlation between their later crimes.
Lol, Serralyn gets her dearest wish — because of Kaylin. Then Sagara humanizes Sedarias! Sagara also provides more information about the Lady’s duties and reinforces the pragmatism she can adopt. It is an eye-opening reveal of the requirements for a Consort to be chosen.
Sagara introduces a new element that explains the “water” in the Dragon’s altar, the “water” in the Lake of Life; the mirrors; and, she also reveals more about the history of the green.
I suspect this is true, that people seek power for its safety. I think Azoria was more interested in power for the sake of superiority. She’ll learn anything she can about how others evolve and come to life with their Words that become True Names.
We do learn more about how the Wevaren are born and escape their hatching with the imperative of survival, which ties into Azoria’s dreams. It’s part of the contrast provided between Terrano’s ambitions and Azoria’s that’s so fascinating.
I gotta say that I don’t get the idea that if the Lake is destroyed and the Barrani are dead, who’s left to rule?
While Cast in Eternity is full of action, it’s primarily character-driven — and of course, I do enjoy the core characters in The Chronicles of Elantra! Pace-wise . . . I don’t know. Sometimes it felt slow and other times it went too fast. Part of it is the prose, which can become convoluted.
In the end it’s all about long range plans that are all about possession, of ensuring a greater immortality.
The Story
It sucks when Kaylin is assigned front desk duties. It’s all paperwork and listening to idiots. Until Mrs Erickson shows up. It’s a daily expectation by the front desk; it’s even better since she brings baked goods for the Hawks.
It’s Mrs Erickson’s city ghosts who worry about Corporal Handred and the weapon he carries that pulls Kaylin’s interest. And the bullying by her neighbor that makes her and Hope so angry. Then Mrs Erickson’s house ghosts appear . . .
Kaylin’s concern rises when she sees the spirits Mrs Erickson sees as friends, four of whom saw her born, grew up with her, and continue to protect her. It all raises questions for Kaylin, especially when she looks into the records regarding property and missing persons.
Questions arise that anger the Barrani, for some don’t want the past to be uncovered, and they’re perfectly willing to destroy Kaylin if it preserves the secrets of the dead.
The Characters
Corporal Kaylin Neya is a Hawk who carries a translucent familiar, Hope. She’s also Chosen and covered in glyphs which allow her to heal almost anything. Corporal Severn Handred is her partner who carries a coveted Barrani weapon and is detached to the Hawks from the Wolves. Helen is the independent sentient house where Kaylin lives. I want a Helen who cooks, cleans, launders, and provides security!
Imelda Swindon Erickson is a widow with a gift who lives in a tiny house populated by four ghosts with a terrifying history who can’t leave her house: Jamal Rayan is a poltergeist with anger issues; Callis Creekson; Esmeralda “Esme” Noachin; and, Katie Holdern, who is the youngest. There are two more ghosts Mrs Erickson meets with, only they’re city ghosts who can’t enter her house: Amaldi and the critical Darreno. They had been Barrani slaves years ago, belonging to Azoria. Curly Erickson had been her husband. Stacia and Collin Swindon had been Imelda’s parents. One of her neighbors, Brennan Oswald, is a widower and a nasty bully. His wife had been Annalisa “Alisa”.
The Halls of Law are . . .
. . . three separate policing organizations of Elantra — the Hawks, the Wolves, and the Swords — who all work for the Emperor.
The Imperial Hawks are . . .
. . . the cops of this world, walking a beat and investigating crime.The Hawklord, an Aerian, is in charge of the Hawks. Sergeant Bridget Keele is in charge of all front desk duties. Sergeant Marcus Kassan, a Leontine, is Kaylin’s immediate supervisor. Caitlin, a human, is the Hawks’ very efficient secretary. Corporal Teela, a.k.a. An’Teela, is Barrani, Kaylin’s friend, and had been part of the cohort. Corporal Tain is Teela’s Barrani partner and another friend. Red is the coroner. Hanson is the Hawklord’s secretary.
The Imperial Swords are peacekeepers. The Imperial Wolves are the emperor’s executioners, his assassins.
The Cohort are . . .
. . . a group of Barrani young who were lost to an experiment (Cast in Peril, 8) and trapped in the Hallionne Alsanis. The cohort must live with Helen lest they destroy the city. They include Mandoran with his almost human curiosity; Sedarias is their bossy leader — and the new head of her house as Lord An’Mellarionne; Terrano, who evolved past his original existence and drives them all mad for he delights in chaos; Allaron; Annarion, who is Nightshade’s angry brother; Valliant; Serralyn, who is happily attending the Academia; Eddorian; Torrissant; Karian; and Fallessian.
The Barrani had bee . . .
. . . enemies of the Dragons, having fought several wars. Not much has changed! The current Barrani rulers live in the High Halls. The mostly apolitical Consort, a.k.a. the Lady, is sister to the very political High Lord, and she is the mother of the race. Lirienne, the Lord of the West March, is the youngest sibling of the Lady and the High Lord. Ynpharion is a Barrani angry at being bonded to Kayla, but it does have its uses, including that he now serves the Consort personally. The Avatar of the High Halls, Abel, who is not Barrani, has been freed to take up his duties again. The Lake of Life is the source of the True Names the Consort chooses from to bring newborn Barrani to life. Kaylin freed the High Halls of the terror of the Adversary in Cast in Oblivion, 14. The Warden of the West March‘s duty is to absorb the nightmares of the Hallionne and converse with it, to visit.
Spike is a being from Shadow in Ravellon, an historian who became friends with Kayla and is now ensconced in the High Halls, friends with the former (enslaved) Adversary and the Avatar (Cast in Deception, 13).
Azoria An’Berrani was a malevolent, ambitious arcanist, the supreme egoist, who took it too far. Her entire line excised. An’Berranin had been her father. Her younger and beloved sister, Leyalyn, had been intended to be a possible Consort, but she died.
The Academia, a . . .
. . . great school millennia ago with the library is its heart, had been lost when the Towers rose, and it has been rediscovered (Cast in Wisdom, 15) but it’s not mappable. Only in Elantra . . . The highly respected Lannagaros, the former Arkon, has found his true hoard — the chancellorship. Killianas, a.k.a. Killian, is the sentient being that kept the Academia running, but he’s not sentient in the way Helen is.
Starrante, a Wevaren (a giant spider); Kavallac had been a Dragon; and, Androsse had been a Barranni Ancestor. All three became librarians and arbiters. Larrantin is/was a Barrani legend who had been offered one of the Three. Robin is one of the five students who remained. Matilda mans the front desk. Bakkon is also a Wevaren and a librarian who had been trapped in Ravellon in Cast in Conflict, 16. Bakkon is currently living in Liatt’s Tower, another fief.
The Dragons rule . . .
. . . Elantra. Lord Sanabalis is the new Arkon, who rules the Library. Lord Emmerian is the youngest approachable dragon who is in love with Lord Bellusdeo, the only female Dragon, who has taken on her own Tower. And she’s another good friend of Kaylin’s. Tiamaris is now the dragon fieflord of the Tower of Tiamaris, one of seven fiefs that protect Elantra. Tara is the tower’s Avatar; both are friendly with Kaylin.
The Arcanum is . . .
. . . sort of a magic guild with arcanists, who are mages who work independently of the Dragon Emperor.
Mirrors are the primary method of communication in Elantra, although Kaylin did discover a flaw in its use. An’ is a Barrani honorific indicating the head of a House. The Hallionne are a Barrani version of an inn that is sentient, alive, and able to read minds with a duty to recreate the best comforts of a guest’s home. while preventing anyone killing anyone else. A Leontine is a lion shifter. Margot is the Elani Street charlatan whom Kaylin despises. The Outlands are a potential space, gray and formless. The giant is from a people of purpose, the Ancients, powerful beings who are almost myth, and they created everything and everybody.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a range of grays in the background with a gray sky and a ravine of grays and browns with Kaylin facing away from us in a skintight gray top and pants with a blue cape hanging down her back. I’m suspecting the somewhat transparent circle of peaches , blues, purples, and white is a portal to the outlands, a gray tower in the distance. At the very top is a testimonial in a greenish-yellow. Below that is an info blurb in white, and below that is the author’s name, also in white. Crossing Kaylin’s waist is the start of the title in white while at the very bottom is the series info in the same yellowish-green.
The title is Azoria’s dream to be Cast in Eternity.
