Cast in Atonement

By: Michelle Sagara

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

The latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Michelle Sagara's fantasy book series, The Chronicles of Elantra!

In the City of Elantra, only one holds the key to peace—or eternal darkness.

At the end of three long wars, Bellusdeo is the last of her kind, the sole surviving female Dragon in the City of Elantra. When she appears one evening on the doorstep of her former roommate, Corporal Kaylin Neya, her demeanor is dreadful—more so than what’s expected of the Dragons’ notoriously tempestuous temperament. Kaylin’s new roommate, Mrs. Erickson, is quick to see the reason for Bellusdeo’s despair—the eight ghosts of the Dragon’s dead sisters, chained to her and unseen. Pleading for release, revenge and, above all, peace.

Now Kaylin and Mrs. Erickson must embark on a perilous journey, from the hallowed halls of the Academia to the depths of forbidden magic, to confront the very essence of mortality itself. Can Kaylin help release the untapped power within Mrs. Erickson to save Bellusdeo’s sisters…or will unlocking the past plunge the realm into an unfathomable darkness forever?

©2024 Michelle Sagara (P)2024 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Good but needs your full attention

Great characters as always but kept getting lost in the exposition. this is a better book to listen to while doing gardening or chores than driving or falling asleep. Needs longer periods of time paying attention than I seem to have these days at bedtime or that I can devote while in traffic. :)

What great characters

The narrator is so terrific at presenting the characters and the story! Always wanting the next book immediately!

she's renaming herself

I very very much. enjoy these books but I will admit having listened to them multiple times each time. a new book in the series comes out since there's frequently a long wait between one book to the next. I was getting a little annoyed in the amount of whining that Kaylin was doing. I believe Michelle West writing as Michelle Sagara to be a very decent well-written and an excellent story building author; however, in several of her recent books I felt that Kaylin was never going to grow up or mature emotionally. Each prior book she would discover that when it came it time for her to act she would always get into these why is everybody picking on me, woe is me, I don't know how to use these marks, or I really should be more responsible. Worse yet she would be forced to confront something that would remind her of Stephie or Jade and we would end up down a spiral of self loathing of herself and to a certain amount Severin. I can't say that me myself I could do completely move on either but sometimes when I look at Severin's side of things I know he dearly loves her, has for years, and feels like he needs to protect her but I also think having been in her head enough times I wonder why he doesn't lose it.

I'll admit I was getting very close to giving up on this series even though I overall enjoy the storyline because of the direction or lack of direction or lack of improvement that the main character was experiencing. because no, she is no longer a mascot. maybe that's my own age showing. all that said, I actually liked the storyline that has been introduced with Imelda and am kind of curious where this will go. I believe that there is enough of a buffer and the storyline moved in around enough that we didn't get the whining or at least I didn't feel encumbered by any of her persistent doubts and self self-loathing in this this or the last book. I am actually looking forward to the next book. I just hope it doesn't takes as long for the next book to come out. I know Ms. West is busy writing her other series as well, but now that she's become a full-time author, I hope we will see more books coming out in the future and more frequently. Because as a whole she really is one of my favorite authors.

As always I Ms Hvam knocks it out of the park. I believe she is one of the better narrators out there for female voices. as far as pitch, clarity and ease of listening. I think the emotion comes through with her portrayals of each character.

(forgive any grammar issues I was using speech to text and had a cat using my arm as a pillow but wanted to get this out as soon as possible before I get distracted).

I really love it when there is more than one climatic moment.

I loved the ending and the way this story was written, I’m happy for belousdeos and hope to hear more from her sisters, I’m also happy that eventhon pointed out that she was being unfair to the other dragon. And I also love it when Kaylin’s view point and attitude is challenged, she tend to be a much sometimes and can get on my nerves with her negative attitude

character growth and more Severn :-)

I thoroughly enjoyed the audio. my only quibble was that occasionally the narrator's voice did not match the character, but I attribute this to the scripting and not the narrator

Her world construction

The author weaves her storylines into her world, creating evermore complex problems along with believable characters who have problems within their own world is quite interesting to see how they get solved.

So many things come together in this adventure

If you love this series as I do, this chapter of adventure has it all !!!

Worthy installment in series

Spoilers:
Mrs Erickson has moved in with Kaylin, the Cohort, and now, ghosts from the Imperial Palace. She’s learning about them, and how to manage them, when Bellusdeo arrives with 8 ghosts in tow. The focus shifts to how to help her/them. But wait, we need to know more about Mrs Erickson’s skills to figure out how to best help Bellusdeo. But wait, the Keeper asks to meet her, goes to Mrs E’s original home with Kaylin & crew, and gets sucked into a portal. Now he needs retrieval. Oh, and Turrano followed K and also needs retrieval. Now we need to find out more about Azoria An Barannan: her goals, her research and her schemes. It does culminate with retrieving the Keeper, a new host for the Palace ghosts, restoring an ancient and finding them a new home, correcting B’s naming and merger, and truly neutralizing Azoria’s dangerous overlap into the world of Elantra.
Hvam does a really good job with narration.

Such an emotional response to the story and the narrator really brought it to life.

This is a great addition to the series! I love the unearthly setting and new beings. The heart strings always get pulled on in this series but they don't get past the point of no return, thankfully (I wouldn't be such a big fan of it got too painful to read). This heroin is so relatable but still fantasy. The dress is such a quirky issue, but gives that extra fullness to the story.

Weaving the individual threads together was great and fun to watch

I like how everyone has their own personality. Kaylin is a force as the chosen and I love how they rotate around her. I wish she and Severn would develop feelings for each other though I believe he has them for her.