Cast in Moonlight (Chronicles of Elantra, #0.5)

Cast in Moonlight (Chronicles of Elantra 0.5)

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93  ·  rating details  ·  482 ratings  ·  64 reviews
Barely a teenager, Kaylin Neya is a thief, a fugitive and an attempted assassin. She also has a smart mouth, sharp wits and mysterious markings on her skin. All of which make her perfect bait for a child prostitution sting in the city of Elantra - if she survives her first meeting with the Hawks!

Join Kaylin for more adventures in the Chronicles of Elantra.

Cast in Moonlight...more
Audiobook, Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged, 5 pages
Published November 1st 2001 by Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.
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The UHQ Nasanta
2 - 2.5 stars

Narrated by Khristine Hvam

This audiobook was a free download from Audible.com, and being free (as well as recognizing the author), I thought, why not? This is my first (I think) introduction to the author, and I was interested in learning this was a prequel to a series I had been eyeing for some years now. Having listened to this more than once (first time to listen, second time to review), I am now ambivalent over whether I want to continue with the series.

I think I might have enj...more
Dana "dew"
Cast in Moonlight is a novella that serves as a prequel to Michelle Sagara West's Elantra series. It's a bit of a police procedural set in a world of high fantasy. I stumbled on to the series and have been hooked ever since.

My review pertains to the audio version narrated quite wonderfully by Khristine Hvam. (Yes, she affects different voices, inflections, and cadences of speech for different characters. This happens to be one of the reasons I enjoy her as a narrator --- Apparently, though (hav...more
Adam Shields
I am not going to bother reviewing this on my blog. It was a free exclusive on Audible and no longer available. You can get it in a short story collection, but not as a stand alone.

It is a prequel to the Chronicle of Elantra series. This was put out by Harlequin's Luna (their fantasy imprint) and if I had known that I probably wouldn't have listened to it. But it doesn't have any romance in it. It is a simple and decent novella about a 13 year old that gets adopted into the police force in a fan...more
Maya
13-year-old Kaylin, orphan from the “ghetto”, fails during her job as an assassin. Instead of executing her though, the intended victim sees her potential, decides to take her in and make her fight for the good side. Before long Kaylin, together with her new co-workers, gets involved in the investigation of a serial children murder.

It maybe sounds like any other Urban Fantasy series, but I really enjoyed this prequel to the Chronicles of Elantra. The mystery was intriguing, the characters divers...more
JanBreesmom
I have just now finished listening to "Cast in Moonlight" by Michelle Sagara on Audiobook. I knew very little of the book when I began reading. It looked interesting to me and the blurb on the site enticed me to read it.

This book seems to me to be written for young, young adults--I think twelve and thirteen year olds would enjoy the characters and the story. It is written simply, the main character is a thirteen year old girl, and she is treated as a child.

In this book there are many different k...more
Jordan Dossett
Ok, I have to first say that this started by saying it was a Harlequin Book and I cringed. The last free book I got from audible.com that was a Harlequin was called Vampires Tango and well come on the name of that last one kind of screamed Fabio w/ Fangs, but it was actually good and not about being "sexy". When I started Cast in Moonlight I had no idea what to expect the description is not even really a description but I needed something short to take on and this is what I chose. The intro told...more
Beth
This type of fantasy isn't normally my cup of tea. (At the first sign of cat people, I'll put the book down and back away slowly.) But there was an interesting mystery lurking beneath the fur and feathers, and the young heroine reminded me a bit of Arya Stark, so I kept reading.

The description of this story, by the way, is almost entirely inaccurate. There are no child prostitutes and no sting operation. Rather, children are being abducted from the slums ("fiefs") and ritually murdered. Kaylin,...more
Gene
I chose to read Michelle Sagara West's Chronical of Elantra prequel before tackling the first book. It just makes sense to me, but it's not without its dangers: the story could be fragmented, trying to tie up too many loose threads; since it's written after other novels in the series, there's the chance that key information isn't passed along in the novel; and an onslaught of information could overload your brain as the author tries to explain an entire life history. Rest assured, Cast in Moonli...more
David
Nov 28, 2011 David rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: 13-year-old girls, hawk and lion people
This short (4 hour) novella was a free download from Audible, so what did I have to lose? Apparently it is a "prequel" to the author's fantasy series, which I have not read.

Kaylin is a 13-year-old girl living in a rather generic fantasy kingdom that has a variety of non-humans: immortals, lion-men, hawk-men, dragons, a few other creatures. Kaylin herself is your basic standard-issue Spunky Street Rat with Issues - and Very Special Powers, of course. After a failed attempt to assassinate a noble,...more
Jo Oehrlein
Lots of times I think prequels are better read at the point where they're written in the series, rather than in chronological order. This one seems to do fine as an intro to the series, though.

It's basically a creation myth -- "How Kaylin became a Hawk". It answers some questions, but leaves lots more:
* Who wanted Kaylin to assassinate the HawkLord?
* How did she get into his chamber? (I mean really, the door has wards on it. You're telling me there's something that doesn't protect the windows/ae...more
Betsy
This is a novella prequel to the Chronicles of Elantra. It covers Kaylin's first few days with the Hawks after she arrives in Elantra at age thirteen, after attempting to assassinate the Hawklord. The plot is fast-paced and engrossing, as usual. However, I'm not a big fan of short fiction. Since I've read most of the series before this one, I didn't miss the lack of background and character development. I was familiar with most of the supporting characters who are Kaylin's Hawk comrades. But I w...more
Rosemary
When I picked up this novella I was looking for something short and diverting. When I saw that it was a Harlequin imprint, I was...nervous. I wasn't looking for a romance.

It isn't. And it was short and diverting.

It's an interesting fantasy crime procedural, set in a city ruled by a dragon, with humans, Barani, Aerians, Tha'alani, and Leontines. Magic is real, and politics are complicated.

The novel is a prequel, of sorts, to the Chronicles of Elantra series of books, and I'm sure some of what wa...more
Dawn Tutt
I could not listen to this audiobook fast enough but I also never wanted it to end.

This is listed as a Novella and there is a series of I think 7 books that came as a result of this story, I have already ordered and received the first "book" in the series which starts approximately 7 years after this story ends.

Our heroine is Kaylin who is only 13 years old and sent to assisinate the leader of the Hawks a policy keeping group in the City of Elantra. We never find out why she was sent to kill him...more
Ducky (Denise)
I loved this whole series. I know some were put off because this PREQUEL started the series when Kaylin was only 13. I happened to read/listen to the entire series before I remembered that I had this in my Audible. It really kind of set up the series and answered questions I had about the series. It was listed on one book/series reading order sites to be read between 6&7. I guess that was why I was a little confused at first when I read Cast in Shadows and though I was a little confused, I s...more
Soo
I love the series and I'm eager for any story that extends the world of Elantra and expands on Kaylin's life. This short story is about how Kaylin Neya becomes a part of the Hawks. You get a front row seat to watch what happened when Kaylin sneaks into the Tower to kill the Hawklord and fails with rigid grace.

My thoughts:
(view spoiler)[The story voice is not quite what I'm used to hearing when I read the series. It feels unfinished and uneven. The polished parts shine clearly and the rest kind...more
Tracey
I was never able to make a dent in the first "Cast" (Chronicles of Elantra) novel; the wild variety of races defeated me, I recall, and I wasn't grabbed thoroughly enough to care enough to try to figure out who was what and what that meant. (Also, the fact that there is an avian race and also a law enforcement group called the Hawks, but the avians (Aerians) aren't necessarily Hawks and the Hawks aren't necessarily Aerians. That took adjustment.

A sort of similar hurdle in this audiobook (audio n...more
Cmandersen
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Thenia
I listened to the audiobook for this novella and it was a bit confusing. The world is complex and there are several characters of different races introduced, and the narrator's versions of them did not make it particularly easy to tell apart.

Had I read the novella instead, I'm pretty sure it would have gotten a higher rating, but I am very interested in both the characters and their unique world and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them.
Dan
This is the story of Kaylin joining the Guard. She's only thirteen, but she has some sort of magic-detection powers which nobody understands but everyone believes, so everyone's all "woo, Kaylin!" and together they catch some criminals.

This was all right, but only because it involved characters I knew. As a standalone novella I suspect it would be pretty blah.
Lisa
Downloaded the audio version of this Novella and listened to it while driving to appointments. It had the feel of entering into the middle of a series, which wouldn't be surprising as I've done that before. The writing was very well done although a bit too detailed in some parts for me. This series, if it is one, isn't for me.
Jules
This fantasy was outside my normal genre of reading but I gave it a shot and listened to it. The character descriptions were well done and the storyline was interesting enough to keep my attention. It did not contradict itself and keeps the facts straight from beginning to the end. This is a good book for anyone looking to open up the fantasy realm.
Danielle
Free download from Audible. I enjoyed it a lot, and I would definitely read more of her books, especially if they're read by the same narrarator, Kristine Hvam - she was exceptional. But I have to admit that the story reminded me of The Magician's Guild by Trudi Caravan - there's several similarities, so many that it actually got sort of distracting.
Greg Pugh
Jul 25, 2012 Greg Pugh added it
Shelves: audiobooks
it was an okay book. The characters are all from generic fantasy races (anthropomorphic, winged humans, etc) and nothing about the setting or origin of the main character was particularly catching. I don't plan on reading anything else set in this world, there's far more interesting books out there
Melanti
Very thin, juvenile plot and characters. And that judgment has little to do with the main character's young age.

I really should have kept my vow to never read anything published by Luna books ever again. This book reminded me why I made the vow in the first place.
Ashley
This books author has a skill at telling a story, that being said, I didn't understand a lot of the story being told. There were parts of this where I couldn't wait to find out what happened next and then there were a lot more part where I was thinking,wait...whaaat!?! Won't be moving on with this series.
Insouciantly
Extremely generic. The writing style was juvenile, and the characters were predictable. The system of magic and mythology was almost interesting, but not quite. This is not encourage me to read any of the other books in the series.
Cailin
As the story thickens I really just want to know more and more about these markings. You are given a peek into the markings in this book. You find there might be at least one person who might be able to read them and they might mean the death of Kaylin. Then again the markings do have connections with other races and Kaylin might be saved by those connections. So much mystery surrounds Kaylin and now she is sent on a job that involves the Keeper who in his self is a mystery in his self. Why woul...more
Niki
This is a free book you can get from audible. I thought it was interesting but a few times had to go back and figure out who was what, when and where again. I think I would pick other futuristic books over this one to recommend.
E_bookpushers
I have the anthology which I purchased specifically for this novella. It is a prequel to her Chronicles of Elantra series and basically tells how Kaitlin first encountered the Hawks. I really love this series!
Jammie
Cast in Moonlight was pretty hard to follow. There where lots of professions, races and names that where really hard to tell apart. And most of the characters had so many non verbal mood traits it was hard to tell how anyone felt.

It’s a good thing this was a free down load. I would have been annoyed if I had paid for this book.
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Cast in Moonlight (Chronicles of Elantra, #0.5)
Cast in Moonlight (ebook)
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Michelle Sagara West
Michelle West

Michelle is an author, book­seller, and lover of liter­ature based in Toronto. She writes fantasy novels as both Michelle Sagara and Michelle West (and some­times as Michelle Sagara West). You can find her books at fine booksellers.

She lives in Toronto with her long-suffering husband and her two children, and to her regret has no dogs.

Reading is one of her...more
More about Michelle Sagara...
Cast in Shadow (Chronicles of Elantra, #1) Cast In Courtlight (Chronicles of Elantra, #2) Cast In Secret (Chronicles of Elantra, #3) Cast in Fury (Chronicles of Elantra, #4) Cast in Silence (Chronicles of Elantra, #5)

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