The Kitty Norville Series

Book 1: Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Book 2: Kitty Goes to Washington
Book 3: Kitty Takes a Holiday
Book 4: Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Book 5: Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand
Book 6: Kitty Raises Hell
Book 7: Kitty's House of Horrors

Gollancz (2005)
ISBN: 9780575082434
$19.99
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Reviewed by Gillian Polack, Oct 2008


“Of its kind” is a phrase usually used in a fairly derogatory fashion. “It's a good book, of its kind,” is often used to suggest that, despite its manifest strengths, a particular book can't hold a candle when compared with certain favourites or literary classics or canonical texts.

I really hate this. If a book of a particular sort is good, then it's a good read. It might only suit people who like giant epic fantasy, or cosy mysteries, or books for younger readers, but the fact that a book holds to the precise form of a sub-genre doesn't make it a bad book. In fact, it's a waste of good complaining energy, because there really ought to be nothing to complain about. You know what you're going to get when you pick it up, and a well-written and interesting book will give you joy if you like the sub-genre, whereas a poorly constructed book with little characterisation and lack of narrative tension won't give you joy even if you entirely adore the sub-genre it's written in.

Carrie Vaughn's Kitty and the Midnight Hour is a case in point. It is a vampire/werewolf book, with a touch of romance, of danger and of mystery. It fills all the necessities of the sub-genre and is charming to boot. It will never be a classic, but it is most definitely a good book.

If you like the first couple of Anita Blake books, or Stephenie Meyer, or any of the books that fit into that particular supernatural vision of America, you will like this book. If you don't, you may still like this book. Unless you're allergic to vampires and werewolves and that almost-real, almost-romance, almost-mystery version of the supernatural they belong with. If you're allergic to these things, then try Greg Benford or Damien Broderick. If you need tough intellectual writing, try some of the more recent Ursula Le Guin. If you want a well-constructed light read, with just enough world-building and characters who are worth meeting, then Kitty and the Midnight Hour is worth checking out.

Now you have read my strongly-held opinion that good reads ought not be dismissed with faint praise, I expect you want to know a bit more about Kitty and the Midnight Hour besides the fact that it has werewolves and vampires in one of those werewolf/vampire alternate Earths?

The Midnight Hour is a radio program and Kitty Norville, closet werewolf, is its host. Somehow it turns into a place where people can talk openly about the supernatural and Kitty finds herself turning into a celebrity. The least of her problems is the fact that her listeners don't know that she's a werewolf. The worst of her problems may well be the people closest to her. Somewhere in between the two in terms of difficulty are the various intervals who want to kill her.

It moves at a good pace and, unlike some vampire/werewolf novels I've read recently, the characters are real enough so that they grow and develop. I really liked the feeling of following Kitty on a path. I'm not a fan of novels with a reset button, where it doesn't matter what happens to the protagonists, they remain unchanged. If I want that, I'll re-read Peter Pan. Kitty definitely grows, and so do the key characters around her. In fact, Vaughn manages her plotting and her characterisation very neatly and the growth and change is inextricably linked to the plot. There are some strong messages in there about the value of a person, but Vaughn doesn't rub them in – she uses them as the motor.

Vaughn includes a playlist in her acknowledgements section. I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of playlists to accompany books, but it's always interesting to see what a writer has been working with. Some of the songs are ones that are almost de rigueur: Creedence Clearwater Revival and “Bad Moon Rising”, for instance, or Garbage's “When I grow Up”. Others show what lies under the surface of the novel: No Doubt's “Just a Girl”. There is a definite interplay between the music and the book, and it's fascinating to see.

My final opinion? If you don't like werewolf-vampire alternate universes and plots that contain suspense-with-a-touch-of-romance you'll be dependent on the characterisation and sense of humour to get you through. If you like those elements and the sub-genre that has developed using them, then you ought to really enjoy Kitty and the Midnight Hour.

Gollancz (2009)
ISBN: 9780575090040
$19.99
Buy this Book
Reviewed by Tehani Wessely, Oct 2009


Kitty Norville is not your average late night radio host. For one, she’s a werewolf. For another, she’s deeply involved in the paranormal behind-the-scenes politics in her neck of the woods (Denver, for the most part), and while some paranormals are out in the world, not all of them are. Kitty’s life is anything but simple, but there are still the simple things – like planning a wedding, and making the leap from radio to television in Las Vegas. Simple, right?

Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand is fast-paced and catchy. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this paranormal romp, even though I've not read any of the preceding books of the series. Vaughn does a good job of making the reader feel they know the characters, and avoids the problems inherent with series works generally, including overpopulated cast and overly powerful protagonists. I also really liked the human aspects of the story, particularly Kitty's family, who play an integral, if not central, role in the story.

There are four books preceding this in the series, and while it’s clear a lot has happened in the earlier novels, I never felt lost in the time or space of the world. This is very hard for an author to achieve at this point in a series, so kudos indeed to Vaughn for her success in this area. I will be keeping my eyes open for more Carrie Vaughn, and more Kitty Norville!