Published by Tachyon Publications
Age Group: Adult
Format: Anthologies and Short Story Collections
Genres and Categories: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Selkies, Shapeshifters, Vampires, Werewolves
Series: Kitty Norville #16
My Rating:
Published on: 16th October 2020
Pages: 288
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Forbidden Planet / Bookshop.org US / Waterstones
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The final installment of the bestselling Kitty Norville series showcases the paranormal escapades of Carrie Vaughn's fan-favorite werewolf talk-show host. This engaging short fiction collection--with its own soundtrack for each tale--is sure to delight both existing Kitty fans and anyone who enjoys urban fantasy at its grittiest and best.
"The only urban fantasy world where I want to read every book of the series."
?The Denver PostIf you've loved Kitty's adventures, you have been waiting for this book!"
--Seanan McGuire, author of Come Tumbling Down and Every Heart a DoorwayKitty Norville still can't stay away from trouble--of the supernatural kind.
Everyone's favorite werewolf DJ is here to mix it up just one last time. Here you will find, or will be lucky to newly discover, the irrepressible Kitty Norville with friends and enemies alike: Rick the vampire; Jessi Hardin, paranormal detective; Kitty's werewolf husband Ben; Cormac, the bounty hunter; and the ever-villainous Dux Bellorum. These irresistible tales are full of unpredictable twists and turns: lupines experimenting with astronomy, a cheating boxer with preternatural strength, vampires arriving from the Philippines.
As a special treat, author Carrie Vaughn (Bannerless) has provided her own selections for a mix-tape: Story notes and songs dedicated to each tale. Whatever you do, don't miss Kitty before she is gone.
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The most recent and final addition to the Kitty Norville series, Kitty’s Mix Tape, is what prompted me to return to the series again. Nostalgic kicked in when I saw the book tours and interviews advertising for the book, and the next time I went looking for something to read I found myself first picking up Kitty’s Greatest Hits (read my review here) and next on the list was this one.
Unlike the other short story collection, this one was mostly fresh to me, except for one story that featured in the Urban Enemies anthology (review here). This time the stories focused more on Kitty and Ben and their escapades, including some short but fun stories where the author, Carrie Vaughn, clearly had fun pondering what happens to werewolves during supermoons, blue moons and all other sorts of moon phenomena. They were interjected between other stories intended to give the reader a giggle, and they did just that!
As with the other anthology, I was left with a deep desire for more. Two stories, in particular, stood out to me for showing the potential for a new series branding off from the Kitty Norville one that explored the wider supernatural world. These were The Island of Beasts, which was set in England in the early 1800s and gives us a glimpse of how things were for werewolves in Britain at that time. It hints at various things and just made me want to know more. Then there is Sealskin which is a follow-up to a story in the previous short story collection (The Temptation of Robin Green) which opens the doors to a whole new world of, as you can guess from the name, selkies and quite possibly even more. The original story with Robin Green included a variety of mythological creatures, so there has already been a hint of what exists.
Overall, Kitty’s Mix Tape is a good anthology and unlike the previous one, it serves as a good starter/sampler for people who are not familiar with the series as well as a goodbye to those of us who have finished it. The stories are entertained and varied, offering a full glimpse of what you can expect from the full Kitty Norville series. As with any short story collection, you are going to get some spoilers, and I can only think of one potential spoiler given in this anthology. Here it’s mentioned in passing, whereas Kitty’s Greatest Hits has an entire novella devoted to it. Even then, it’s not a series-ruining spoiler. So if you’ve heard things about this series and want to try it out, then this might be a good way to do just that! 🙂
About Carrie Vaughn
Carrie Vaughn is the author more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories. She's best known for her New York Times bestselling series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty who hosts a talk radio advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. In 2018, she won the Philip K. Dick Award for Bannerless, a post-apocalyptic murder mystery. She's published over 20 novels and 100 short stories, two of which have been finalists for the Hugo Award. She's a contributor to the Wild Cards series of shared world superhero books edited by George R. R. Martin and a graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop.
An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado, where she collects hobbies.
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