Best Fantasy Books Pick: Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn

This is Book 4 in the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn. If you’ve read the last book “Kitty Takes a Holiday” you know that Cormac, the gun-loving mercenary vampire and werewolf hunter, is in prison for killing someone in order to save Kitty. That leaves Kitty and Ben (a newly made werewolf) to fend for themselves.

This fantasy book opens with them receiving a visit from a local vampire named Rick. It seems that Rick wants to overthrow the Denver master vampire and wants Kitty to help him. He also suggests that Kitty go to Denver and overthrow the Denver werewolf alpha. He believes that with his vampire loyalists and her new Denver werewolf clan they can defeat the ruling vampire and his followers.

Kitty left Denver several years ago in an attempt to flee an abusive and violent alpha – the same alpha that Rick wants her to kill. She’s not about to return there to get involved in vampire and werewolf politics. She flatly refuses Rick and discounts his plan, vowing to never return to Denver.

So of course, a situation arises that forces her back to Denver. Her mother, who lives there, has taken ill and Kitty returns to Denver with Ben to see her. Although she’d hoped to remain incognito and take care of her family affairs quietly and privately, she soon finds herself face-to-face with Rick, the Denver alpha, and the Denver master vamp. So much for her plans!

By this time it’s obvious to Kitty that a vampire and werewolf war is brewing on the surface. Not against one another, but it looks like the two rulers plan to unite against their insurgents. Kitty knows this will spell trouble for every werewolf and vampire in Denver and that the potential for human collateral damage is high. When a string of werewolf and vampire murders occurs and an acquaintance of hers is killed Kitty knows she can no long sit on the sidelines. She either has to stay and fight or flee Denver before the war gains momentum.

I’m not telling which choice she makes.

Carrie Vaughn knows how to write evenly paced urban fantasy with solid storylines. Every installment in this fantasy book series meets that criteria and this one is no exception. What I really like about this book is the range of emotion experienced by Kitty. Grief, guilt, shock, anger, love, compassion, sorrow, regret, outrage, and revenge are all here and collectively serve to illustrate Kitty’s character growth, an element not always present in some of today’s urban fantasy books.

Carrie Vaughn’s writing is as tight as ever and her ability to mix the emotional aspects of the storyline with pulse quickening adventure makes this fantasy book a winner. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend that you check it out.