the Author
August
23
37 Comments

CAST IN ATONEMENT Spoiler Thread

Posted in Spoiler.

I’m sorry — I should have done this last week, and totally forgot, being filled with angst and dread about the writing. Else­where, someone reminded me that it’s been a long couple of months, and it has, but, well. Writing not going well = no one wants to hear me whining.

But before I hide under a rock, I really should have posted this thread. As usual, I will avoid it and the comments if you want to discuss the book among your­selves. And as usual, it’s a spoiler thread, so if you hate spoilers – I don’t, my long suffering husband does – you’ll want to avoid this one.

37 Responses to CAST IN ATONEMENT Spoiler Thread

  1. Wendy S. says:
    August 23, 2024 at 11:47 am

    Wonderful book. Nicely long and intri­cate. Very helpful to (re)
    read Cast in Eter­nity first as it picks up where that leaves off.

  2. Joanna says:
    August 23, 2024 at 12:53 pm

    Michelle, please feel free to whine. My gosh, this is the 18th book in a series! You have also written a new spin-off, a trilogy, and how much more I honestly don’t know, because I discov­ered you when you were like 7 books in. I’ve seen you through, what is it now, five “last books” and, as a fellow writer who had a cute innocuous book turn into a trilogy and then 20 books (which went into boxes and into my garage, never to see the light — editing them was the death of me, trying to keep all the threads some­what tied and having the book universe become a living thing — people call us the creators but some­times it is more like we are the herders) I have utmost respect and sympathy. I’m sincerely just glad you didn’t give up on the whole thing, and that your publishers haven’t, either.

    My only semi-complaint as a reader is “Grrrr! Where is Night­shade?” But, you have Emelda and Terrano and I just love what universe you have metic­u­lously built (likely with bloodied hands and arthritic wrists — that much typing and editing had to have hurt) and the heart that you put into it every day you show up for your world and for us. Thank you. 

    If it helps to talk things out, go ahead! We may not always answer but in what ways we can be there for friends we may never meet in person, we are here.

  3. Rish says:
    August 23, 2024 at 4:47 pm

    Can someone remind me when Kaylin brought Severn a name from the Lake? About 67% in, it says that Severn has a True Name that Kaylin brought to him. She mentions it in a conver­sa­tion with Severn. I’d like to go back and reread that part, but I cannot for the life of me remember when that happened.

  4. Raeann Schurter says:
    August 23, 2024 at 5:12 pm

    I agree with missing Nightshade…I was thinking about him during this book as well! And rereading Eter­nity was helpful dor me aa well. Great Book! It led to me revis­iting your Jewel books :)

  5. Gretchen says:
    August 23, 2024 at 5:16 pm

    Rish, I’ve read all the Cast books 2 or 3 times and the Severn books once, all quite recently, and I’m 99% sure this is the first time Severn having a True Name has come up. In Oblivion, it’s explic­itly said that Kaylin did not bring back a name for him. 

    I guess it was a case of “the author reserves the right to have a better idea later”? It was such a casual mention though; I’m not quite daring to hope it’s going to become a big deal later!

  6. Vicky J says:
    August 23, 2024 at 6:24 pm

    I believe the book Rish is looking for is the second one, Cast in Court­light in Chapter 14 where Kaylin, with Severn in tow, is under­going the Barrani Test of Name. If I remember correctly, Night­shade, through his guard Andellan, manip­u­lated Kaylin’s tour of the High Halls to see if she would see a word at the entrance to the test. (If you can’t see a word, you’re not allowed entry to attempt the Twst of Name).

    Loved Cast in Atone­ment. Kaylin is actu­ally kind of compli­mented at least twice in the book by Lanna­garos and either Sana­balis or Evanton for restraint and clear (for Kaylin) thinking. 

    I’m wondering if the situ­a­tion Teela first went to see Kaylin about (an old human caste court case), will come back in the next book or two.

  7. Therese says:
    August 23, 2024 at 7:32 pm

    @Rish it’s on Page 329. :)

  8. Therese says:
    August 23, 2024 at 8:15 pm

    Cast in Atone­ment was so good. I really hope Mandoran or Terrano actu­ally share their name with Kaylin in the next book. It would be so fun to read!

  9. Marie says:
    August 24, 2024 at 1:07 am

    The part where she mentions that her mother told Kaylin her father is dead but Kaylin thinks she might have lied was inter­esting. Since the first book and in Harvest Moon short we hear her mention Kaylin knowing nothing about her father. I keep thinking her father’s iden­tity may be impor­tant. Espe­cially after certain reve­la­tions about someone else’s parentage in another book. (Don’t want to spoil another book since it’s not in the main series. But it does bring up some inter­esting possibilities.)

  10. Nicki Himmel says:
    August 24, 2024 at 7:55 am

    I have been a fan from the very begin­ning. I too miss Night­shade popping up. Since he’s the one who start Kaylin on her adventures.

  11. Janet Ruth Warden says:
    August 24, 2024 at 9:49 am

    Miss Night­shade too, but I also would like to know what happened to the little girl from orphanage that got marked, and what has happened to the little baby Leontine.

  12. Marti says:
    August 24, 2024 at 10:18 am

    Was just shop­ping at Barnes & Noble. Encoun­tered SIX DIFFERENT TITLES from your lever, Michelle. Congrat­u­la­tions!! Nice to see how popular your works have become, including espe­cially, the most two recent Cast books

  13. anuvergnu says:
    August 24, 2024 at 10:50 am

    Re the final comment By Vicky J August 23rd regarding the cast court case. Maybe it’s a refer­ence to the death of Robin’s family in ‘Shards of Glass’ . That was kept out of the hands of the Hawks by the caste court. It would be fantastic to continue the story of Robin and Raven (yet another bril­liantly crafted female character)

  14. Karen says:
    August 24, 2024 at 1:25 pm

    Please feel free to whine to us if/whenever you feel like whining. We all need to whine some­times (some more often than others) and we, your commu­nity, are here to be that target…and happy to spare your in-person family. We will accept it and not judge you. (should I be selfish and add will trade accepting whining if/because it allows more writing and there­fore more books?)
    a hug in case you need one,
    Karen

  15. Carol Duffy says:
    August 24, 2024 at 6:23 pm

    Please feel free to whine here! Loved the book and more Bellusdeo. I did miss Night­shade. Should you care to address this, I would like to know more about his rela­tion­ship to the Consort and who was the Barrani with the white hair in the picture in his tower.

  16. Diana Brock says:
    August 24, 2024 at 11:44 pm

    Ditto to the whining comment previous folks mentioned. The carrying of the name from Cast in Court­light wasn’t for Severn. It is her name. Some­times I get confused and have to reread because I think I read it wrong. I am currently rereading all, to refresh every­thing for Cast in Atone­ment — I’m 61, and bad memory😂.
    I reit­erate a previous state­ment I made about a pronun­ci­a­tion dictio­nary. I decided to borrow an audio book of the first and found errors where I was thinking of the pronun­ci­a­tions. If I could afford it I would buy all the books audio and build my own dictio­nary. When building the audio books, do you coach the narra­tors how to pronounce the names?

  17. Short n Squawky says:
    August 25, 2024 at 10:30 am

    @Diana Brock The way I’ve been reading it is that Severn does have a true name Kaylin carried for him. Kaylin says, “… if you die — if I die — I’m almost certain the names will go back to the Lake of Life.” And then Severn replies, “until they do, will we live forever?” (around the 68% mark). So that reads to me that Severn *does* have his own true name. However, I also couldn’t find where Kaylin gives it to Severn; in the Cast in Court­light, Kaylin gives Severn her name, not his own name.

  18. Therese says:
    August 25, 2024 at 1:21 pm

    There was a state­ment some­where in Court­light where one of the Barrani told Kaylin that Severn is a part of her in a way they don’t under­stand. Later someone asked Kaylin about why she changed and Severn didn’t and she replied that he didn’t need to. Perhaps their names are linked in some way. It’s also possible that some time between the later books Kaylin returned to the lake to retrieve a name for him.

  19. Tom Hauser says:
    August 25, 2024 at 8:30 pm

    I loved the return of the Green in this book and the tidbit that the Green was older than the Ancients! I can’t wait for Severn to be revealed as the child of the Green. I really liked the ending in the garden.

  20. Gretchen says:
    August 26, 2024 at 12:19 pm

    @Tom — yes, more Green is always a delight! 

    I really enjoyed learning more about the “life cycle” of female dragons and how Bellusdeo and her eight sisters were supposed to end up and how things even­tu­ally went. Commu­ni­cating with her is going to be very chaotic from now on! Imagine how her tower will deal with it 😂

  21. CRYSTAL SMITH says:
    August 27, 2024 at 11:22 am

    I wondered about Severn’s name as well. I figured it would come up in one of his books. I loved the book. It was amazing. I didn’t miss Night­shade lol. He annoys me. I am 100% with Helen on this. I was a little disap­pointed That they didn’t end up with 8 more female dragons. To help take the pres­sure off of Belles­deao. I was hoping the green would reach all the way to Elantra now so there could be short trips to the west march or that Kaylin would become warden to the Green in Elantra which would really chap Avonelles behind. it made sense that the green is older then the ancients I always saw it as a child of the elements because thanks to the Devourers story we know that the Elements were the orig­i­nals as well as the devourer, and that the elements created the first chil­dren. Im looking forward to how shadows place in the world will be shown.

  22. Mary Lynn Allen says:
    August 28, 2024 at 11:20 am

    I miss Night­shade but was so happy the Green acknowl­edged Kaylin with the dress again. I just want you to keep writing in this world I so love so many of the char­ac­ters. I espe­cially love how often Terrano sticks his nose in and ends up helping. Each book brings back char­ac­ters that I as a reader am invested in.

  23. Mathew Foster says:
    August 28, 2024 at 7:59 pm

    I really, really want the dress to appear on Kaylin when she walks the High Halls. The oppor­tu­ni­ties for humour/adventure would be expo­nen­tial. Thanks for another awesome read

  24. Mary Lynn Allen says:
    August 30, 2024 at 10:02 am

    After rereading Cast in Atone­ment I noticed the Keeper refers to the Green as a She. I don’t remember that from previous books.

  25. Gretchen says:
    August 30, 2024 at 11:32 am

    @Mary Lynn That one didn’t jump out at me, but I noticed a lot of pronoun incon­sis­tency in this book. I’ve decided to lean into it and just assume that once you reach such levels of incom­pre­hen­sible power, gender as a social construct completely breaks down 😂

  26. michelle says:
    September 3, 2024 at 1:30 pm

    @Gretchen: I’m sorry about the gender incon­sis­tency. I think I started the Wevaran as He, and slid to they, because gender isn’t really a construct for them in the same way as it is for Kaylin =/

  27. michelle says:
    September 3, 2024 at 1:31 pm

    @Mary: the Keeper can interact with the Green as a sentience because the Green is far more similar to the wild elements he is tasked to both protect and control; that’s Evan­ton’s paradigm

  28. Gretchen says:
    September 3, 2024 at 4:33 pm

    @michelle: no worries! As a mom-to-enby, I’m a big fan of the singular “they” and if I recall it was refer­ences to the Ancestor that seemed to flip back and forth (some of which seemed inten­tional, some of which could just have been me reading too fast.) One more symptom of how we’re all completely sucked into this world and the char­ac­ters you’ve created — thank you for that, by the way 🥰

    I’m itching to re-read Atone­ment already, but I think I have to wait a bit. There were some themes on death and loss and the whole forever of it all that hit a little too hard right now.

  29. Lee says:
    September 10, 2024 at 6:28 pm

    Just on the point of Night­shade… Kaylin still has the mark he left on her cheek? That seems unre­solved. And I don’t think it was ever explained how/why Castle Night­shade seems so different to the other Towers? I miss Night­shade as a char­acter too.

  30. marinamoon says:
    September 14, 2024 at 10:51 pm

    Dear Michelle,

    Thank you so much for another great book. I really needed this since I stopped reading as much as I used to after my cancer battle. Lost my mom last month to the illness. So my moods fluc­tuate often. But when i picked up your books. It was the same spell all over again. I was entranced and reading daily until I was done. I love this world you created. It’s so beloved and fasci­nating to me. Bows in deep gratitude. 

    Oh my gosh, lol. I was also thinking of Night­shade and expected for him to somehow pop up, lol. Love that we all had the same thoughts. We may see him or hear of him in the next book. You never know. =0p I re-read the book before this one, yeah. Because in my head was Robin and the Acad­emia. Wince. Love the new char­ac­ters though. Had to re-read. Took me 4 days. =0p And this book took me 6 days I think. So bloody good gosh! I want more. Shoot. Grins. I feel like Kaylin got Severn a name. But i can’t remember where I read that. Hmm.

  31. Chris Carlucci says:
    September 15, 2024 at 10:29 pm

    I know most (all) of the comments in this post are related to Cast, but I’m hoping that some of the Essalieyan fans (or Michelle) are also reading and can clarify some­thing for me. 

    I’m a little confused about the swords/shields used by the Arianni and the Kiali. I got the impres­sion that they were totally spirit creations by the wielder and that if either was destroyed, then it caused damage to the spirit in some way that prevented them from being used again without a consid­er­able amount of effort/focus/energy on the part of the wielder, if it was possible at all. Yet there was talk of one being making a new shield for Merralonne — do we think that we has talking about making him a new “spirit” shield, or just a “normal” replace­ment shield?

  32. Petunia says:
    September 21, 2024 at 3:04 pm

    I am one of the ones who doesn’t miss Night­shade, Kaylin’s adven­tures didn’t really start with him, and his interest was mostly because of her future trip to the past. His castle was different because the sentience wasn’t awake (same way Hallion were mostly asleep) and seems to have been built on an Ancestor. Night­shade always said he controlled his castle because the sentience wasn’t active. His brother and his last argu­ment with Night­shade in the castle acti­vated the base sentience defenses. Night­shade is now trying to reset rela­tion­ship with his tower now that it awake and Night­shade doesn’t get to be in such clear control. When it happened, I though it could easily take a decade or more for him to get his tower and his working process going smoothly, if ever. Also, Night­shade is a power but the types of situ­a­tions Kaylin is dealing with now are not his specialty, just like they aren’t Tesla’s. Teela will be there because of having closer rela­tion­ship to Kaylin and her attach­ment to the Cohort. As she moves more into other planes, I would expect Weavaren and Cohort to be more central.

  33. Marilyn says:
    September 23, 2024 at 5:55 am

    Congrat­u­la­tions! I think this is one of the strongest entries in this series. I enjoyed reading it several times.
    Feel free to whine at us when­ever you feel the need. That’s part of what devoted readers are for.
    I am spec­u­lating that the Ancient and the Devourer will get together to solve/destroy Shadow.

  34. Nancy M Pyron says:
    October 1, 2024 at 12:45 pm

    @Michelle … What happened to Spike? It’s driving me crazy. We left him with the dead god in the previous book and I expected him to be with the dead god when Kaylin reached him … it was a bit shocking. I also really didn’t under­stand the ghost things … I thought they were going to be Wevaran where none emerged somehow because of all the refer­ences to the *birthing place* feel of the house and the stories told about how some­times none survive. I do love the books and, person­ally, I think Night­shade needs to find a woman his own age and species to pester. Thx for all you do and, reading the Oct post, so happy your family is okay. Covid is defi­nitely a butt kicker and it is annoying how long it takes to get back to 100%.

  35. Aquilegia says:
    December 6, 2024 at 7:04 pm

    It has taken me a long while to get my head into the right place to read. Depres­sion sucks. I had good reason for it, still sucks. 

    Overall it was magnif­i­cent, as always. Some good char­acter devel­op­ment, some time spent with old friends and with new, a very solid work and good addi­tion to the universe. 

    I am very glad that I am not the only one to notice that Severn suddenly acquired a true name. But that’s the only real nitpick I have. Michelle will simply have to tell us the story of its acqui­si­tion in a short story to appease us. :)

    There are many things I would like to see, but all we can do is follow where the char­ac­ters lead. 

    I am ambiva­lent about Night­shade. He is an inter­esting char­acter, and I would like to see him recon­cile with Annarion and become a better person as a result. But I don’t think he is a good love interest. I have ranted about it before and won’t bore you by repeating it. (tl/dr: Can you imagine them casu­ally chat­ting at the dinner table? Relaxing together in the evening? No? Then they are not compat­ible) It would be nice to return the the fief and learn a little bit more about Kaylin’s past and her parents

    It would be nice to have a few adven­tures with lower stakes. It does not have to be the end of the world every time. A nice compli­cated murder mystery where the villain is a powerful human or a middling Baranni. Or a role reversal where Kaylin gets seconded to the Wolves to help them with a hunt. And learn more about Severn at the same time. It would be nice to spend some time in the office again. 

    I would also like to return to the High Halls, Kaylin is supposed to be getting etiquette lessons there. Possibly singing lessons too. The Consort was not impressed. I really want to intro­duce Kaylin to Auntie’Tellarus.

    We haven’t spent much time with Lord Diarmat in a while. Kaylin prob­ably considers that a bonus. We have not seen Ybelline or the Tha’alani for a while either. Or the oracles. Or the foundlings, Kaylin does have an adopted son there. I love all of our new friends, but it would be nice to see old friends too.

  36. Elizabeth smith says:
    February 2, 2025 at 9:35 am

    Hi, I love all your books, but the cast series has defi­nitely become my favorite series and have been reread several times already. I miss night­shade though, when are we going to get more of him and kaylin?

  37. Jem says:
    March 11, 2025 at 9:51 pm

    @aquilegia completely agree with you! Night­shade is not a love interest. Unless people want a toxic rela­tion­ship for kaylin. He would not and has made it perfectly clear that he will never change how he runs his fief. So the only way i can think of that kaylin would end up with him is if she changed all her values and gave up on wanting her home fief to be a better place for its citi­zens. Do you guys want that? I do agree he’s an inter­esting char­acter but defi­nitely not end game. 

    Also love all the new char­ac­ters but also miss the old char­ac­ters. Foundlings. Baby Leon­tine. Oracles. Tha’alanni. I adore the Green. And want a whole lot more of them. And SPIKE!! I was sad i missed spike!

    I have the same confu­sion as a few of you with not knowing when Severn got his own name. But maybe it’s that kaylin and him share the name she took or could also have some­thing to do with his parentage. I am very inter­ested to find out more!!

    @michelle I love this entire series, spin­offs and .5s! You are doing an amazing job and I can’t wait till the next book comes out! I’ve got a count­down :D

Leave a Reply