the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn

The Bibliotheque et Archives National only had the first three in the series, which is a shame. Fortunately, they had all of them together on the shelf, so I was able to start at the beginning. It’s always nice to start at the beginning.

The series starts with Kitty in Denver. She works nights as a DJ at a local radio station, sleeps during the day, and hangs out with the Denver pack. Kitty is a werewolf. Perhaps if her parents had known this would happen to her, they would have called her “Kate”, or “Katie”, but it wasn’t really in the plan. Bored one night, Kitty opens up the phone lines, and discovers her niche. At the same time, Kitty upsets the status quote in the super natural community. The local vampire master, and Kitty’s alpha, don’t want any attention. Hence our conflict. Like any good novel, Carrie Vaughn created rules for her version of our reality. Kitty belongs to a pack, vampires belong to Families. Masters, Mistresses, and Alphas enforce order in their territories. What I didn’t like was that while Ms Vaughn didn’t buy into the sexy seductive vampire trope, she did buy into the idea that lycanthropy increases the libido. Kitty’s Alpha is entitled to have sex with any member of the pack. I’m pretty sure that’s not wolves. I’m pretty sure that’s chimps, or maybe gorillas, that mate like that. Only the alpha female of a pack takes a mate. Just to be sure though, ask a wildlife biologist, not a psych major. Aside from the indiscriminate sex, I thought Ms Vaughn’s portrayal of pack dynamics, and wolf behaviour was pretty good. Wolves are pretty shy, and they do prefer to have a clear dominance hierarchy. As the Dog Whisperer will tell you, your dog is happier if someone else is clearly in charge. If a well written, character driven novel with a strong female protagonist isn’t enough for you, there is also the play list. Kitty is a radio DJ. She plays music, late at night. All the music mentioned in the book is music I would go out and buy. At the beginning of each volume is a play list, or in my case, a shopping list.

When next we meet Kitty, she is living out of her car, as she travels cross country. Each week, she does her show from another city. Then she gets called to Washington. In Washington, she meets new friends, old friends, and new enemies. I read Kitty and The Midnight Hour first. It probably could stand on it’s own, but I think it would help to read these books in order. Characters that were introduced before, will be reintroduced, but sometimes it helps to know their histories.

Speaking of histories, we’ll get to know a little bit more about Kitty’s. What really happened the night she became a werewolf? Once again, there will be two plots. When the first conflict is resolved, Kitty will be left with another problem. Ms Vaughn doesn’t do it as well as Michael Crichton did, but then he wrote action/thrillers. Kitty isn’t in an action/thriller. Once again, there is a playlist. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find all the songs on Youtube.com . I’ll just have to look for them on iTunes.

Kitty was an English major in college. I would have pegged her for a journalism major, because she’s in radio. She complained all through the last two novels that nobody reads anymore. Taking a cue from the literary world, when it all became too much for her, Kitty retreated to a cabin in the woods. Unfortunately, Kitty is not Thoreau, and trouble comes looking for her. Kitty is visited by old friends, makes new enemies, and discovers what else goes bump in the night. Clicking here may be considered a spoiler.

The two plot, double conflict, device doesn’t work as well this time around. In Kitty Goes to Washington, Conflict 2 is a natural extension of Conflict 1. In Kitty and The Midnight Hour, Conflict 2 works beautifully as a subplot, and ties together some of Kitty’s inner conflicts, questions the listeners ask her about destiny, free will, good and evil, that she avoids answering for herself.

We’re back to pack dynamics. Who defines who is part of a pack and who isn’t? Questions about family, and family loyalty, are explored all around. Personal histories are delved into, and we understand some old friends, and their choices, a little better now. Kitty once again, tells us a little bit about the night she became a werewolf, but not a lot. It’s in her past, and her past is behind her. Of course, don’t forget the playlist!

I really enjoyed the first three books. They were a wonderful distraction, a vacation in my pocket, taken half an hour at a time. Which is, to be truthful, why I started reading in the first place. While it is tempting to call Kitty Takes a Vacation, the weakest of the three, I’m not sure that’s accurate. It’s more subtle in its themes, and Kitty still had a few things to learn. It doesn’t stop here, though. There’s more. I will read them. I will read them if I have to walk to the store, and buy them myself.