Vaughn, Carrie: Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Writer: Carrie Vaughn
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 326
And here's my first finished read of 2008! Appropriate to start off with one of my favorite paranormal fantasy writers, yes?
The book's official release date is today, New Year's, but Barnes and Noble was overflowing with copies a couple of days ago, and I was more than thrilled to pick it up. And I must say, this has got to be my favorite cover of all the Kitty books so far. Isn't it fabulous?
Anyway.
Does anyone remember reading my review for Kitty Takes a Holiday? If you don't, I said something very specific about my expectations for the series:
One day, Vaughn's going to take us back to where it all began, and Kitty will have to face her fears, her old pack, and finally reclaim what she gave up when she left home.
At least, she better.
Well, she did, because that's exactly what Kitty and the Silver Bullet is about. Kitty goes home, and it ain't easy.
Spoilers ahead.
This book actually took a little adjusting to. Whether my brain was just really working overtime or it wasn't meant to be that much of a surprise, I was anticipating several of the early revelations: Kitty's pregnancy and miscarriage, the specific complication as to why she couldn't keep the child; Kitty's realization that turning her mother would save her from cancer. There are a few others my brain is blanking out on right now, but once the subplot of Jenny was introduced, I stopped anticipating the twists and turns of the book.
I liked seeing Kitty go home. It was good to meet her family, see her back at her old stomping grounds, and seeing Ben at her side. It's funny, because I know that her hooking up with Ben was kind of sudden for me in book three, but as we learn in this one, it was sudden for her too. In fact, romantically speaking, Kitty and the Silver Bullet is all about Kitty and Ben coming to term with the human side of their relationship, even though their wolf side has already accepted the fact.
And surprisingly for me, I warmed up to the idea of them as a couple. Good thing too, given the ending. I really loved the scene with Kitty and Cormac in prison, where they kind of laid their attraction out on the table and acknowledged that while it wouldn't have worked in the long run, it would've been fun in the meantime. I still wonder what will become of Cormac once he gets out of prison, and I worry like crazy for Ben's future, especially since the excerpt for book five really doesn't give us a good idea of the plot, other than Kitty and Ben are planning a wedding, and are going to Vegas.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I was really interested in learning just how dysfunctional Carl and Meg were as alphas of their pack, and I never foresaw Kitty having to take over, though I'm glad she did. It'll make for some interesting scenarios in the future. It was also good to see what kind of hold her former alphas had over her, and what she had to overcome to finally take over and protect herself and those she loves.
I'm a little torn on the vampire stuff. It was cool seeing Rick again, and really cool learning he was far older than the current Master. The bit about Mercedes was rather odd and prickly, but I also know that she'll be back in a future book or two, so that's something to look forward to on a certain level. I say a certain level simply because I find that Vaughn's writing is stronger when the vampires aren't involved in the storyline, so for me, seeing the vampires played a major role in this book was a little disappointing, but maybe that's my vampire bias showing through (an unfortunate bias, since I can count at least four books on my shelf I've got to read that all focus on vamps). But I liked seeing this new dimension to the paranormal world unveiled, and it'll be interesting to see if Rick and Kitty continue to be allies, or if something will happen that'll put them at odds.
Of course, there's also her mom's cancer, and whether or not Kitty will have to turn her or whether or not she'll even get a chance. That's nice for some personal conflict.
What's interesting about this particular volume is that despite some subplots that can obviously be explored in later volumes, one could stop reading Kitty series at this point, if they wanted. Why, I don't know, but it's got good resolution, especially on a personal level. The end isn't as heartbreaking as the previous volume, which actually scares me, because I wonder what Vaughn's got up her sleeve for books five and six. I don't know if there's going to be a seven, but two more book is plenty of space for Vaughn to turn Kitty's world upside-down. And as much as that thought scares me, I'm looking forward to it. The Kitty books have kept a solid level of consistency, and in each volume, Kitty's always growing, she's always learning more about herself. That's a great thing in a series, and I tip my hat to Vaughn for that.
Next up: NO FREAKING CLUE. With a new year means a new term at school, new required reads, and then there's the challenges I've got going with emerald_ibis and digitalclone. Also, since I'll be trotting off to residency in three days, picking a book becomes really hard, because residency sharpens all those critical tools in my brain, and I always unleash those tools on whatever poor, unfortunate book I'm reading at the time.
So we'll see. :)