coral reviewed Kitty and the midnight hour by Carrie Vaughn
None
4 stars
An urban fantasy series with an ending!
The 14 books of this series are all written and published, so it's safe to start reading whenever you want; you won't need to wait years for more books to come out. Better: the last book was always supposed to have been the last book, so there is no half-assed/unsatisfying ending.
A female protagonist with strengths AND flaws!
Kitty does not always make good decisions, but she makes decisions that seem plausible for the character she is. She is not an orphan. She is not particularly over- or under-powered, compared to the rest of her world. She has some talents, but not ALL the talents. She grows as a character throughout the series, too. Very balanced, very reasonable.
Male characters who aren't just there as mind's eye candy and sex objects!
So, the objectification of men is not a big problem in society …
An urban fantasy series with an ending!
The 14 books of this series are all written and published, so it's safe to start reading whenever you want; you won't need to wait years for more books to come out. Better: the last book was always supposed to have been the last book, so there is no half-assed/unsatisfying ending.
A female protagonist with strengths AND flaws!
Kitty does not always make good decisions, but she makes decisions that seem plausible for the character she is. She is not an orphan. She is not particularly over- or under-powered, compared to the rest of her world. She has some talents, but not ALL the talents. She grows as a character throughout the series, too. Very balanced, very reasonable.
Male characters who aren't just there as mind's eye candy and sex objects!
So, the objectification of men is not a big problem in society at large, but some writers (:cough: like Laurell K. Hamilton) don't write very deep or interesting side characters and spend a lot of ink on sex. I guess I'm a little burned out on that: I was so relieved when it became clear this was urban fantasy, NOT paranormal romance. (There's a little romance, but it's not the standard kind you see in this genre. It's also not the central point.) I understood why Kitty would surround herself with the people she does, and I really cared how all of the side characters' stories would come out, which isn't always something urban fantasy authors take time to make happen.
Well-performed audiobook
I'm a fan of Marguerite Gavin. It took me a while to get used to her voice—especially at the beginning, Kitty seems like she should have a higher, less soothing voice than Gavin's—but her performance as Kitty-the-narrator is outstanding.
All around, A++ story and execution, would (likely will) read again.
