From: b.scott@csuohio.edu   
      
   On Sat, 14 Mar 2015 10:36:49 -0400, Michelle Bottorff   
    wrote   
   in in   
   rec.arts.sf.composition:   
      
   > Brian M. Scott  wrote:   
      
   >>> I can't remember what I've read by Michelle West, if   
   >>> anything,   
      
   >> As Michelle West she's written the Sacred Hunt duology,   
   >> the Sun Sword hexalogy, and so far five volumes of the   
   >> House War, with probably two yet to come.  ...   
      
   >> As Michelle Sagara she's written the Chronicles of   
   >> Elantra, featuring Kaylin Neya; it currently stands at   
   >> ten volumes. She's also written two volumes, _Silence_   
   >> and _Touch_, of an urban fantasy series.   
      
   >> Oh, and her first was the Sundered tetralogy, as   
   >> Michelle Sagara West.   
      
   > I don't think I've read any of them.  But I'm sure that can be   
   > rectified.   
      
   > Care to suggest a starting place?  :)   
      
   Elantra is a little more straightforward and a definitely   
   faster read.  It’s essential to read the books in order.   
   With one exception, when Nr. 8 got out of hand and turned   
   into Nrs. 8 and 9, they all have very satisfactory endings,   
   and even Nr. 8 comes to a decent pause, but they are   
   definitely sequential.   
      
   Emotional depth is her trademark, and the Essalieyan books   
   have even more of it than the Elantra books.  A great deal   
   is conveyed by indirection.  I’ve read them in the order of   
   publication, but I think that I’d recommend a different   
   order now: the first three House War books (_The Hidden   
   City_, _City of Night_, and _House Name_), then the Sun   
   Sword hexalogy, and then the later volumes of the House War   
   series.  The Sacred Hunt duology is best treated as a side   
   story, I think.   
      
   While I think that the Essalieyan books are ultimately more   
   substantial, two things about the Elantra books especially   
   appeal to me.  A significant part of the fantasy element   
   revolves around notions of language and story as having   
   real creative power.  And Kaylin Neya could have been   
   called forth specifically to appeal to me: as I realized   
   long ago, I’ve a weakness for that kind of character both   
   in fiction and to some extent in real life.  (Jewel, from   
   the other series, strikes quite near the target, too.  That   
   won’t mean anything, but if you’ve read Alma’s _The Secrets   
   of Jin-Shei_, Xaforn is another.)   
      
   Brian   
   --   
   It was called ‘Birdsong at Eventide’, and it went, ‘Ting   
   _pling_ ting pling _ting_, ting tong, ting tong, ting   
   tonggg clonk, bother!’  At least, that is how it went   
   when Myrtle played it. -- _Larklight_, by Philip Reeve   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)