"Low Midnight" is the first book in the Kitty Norville series that ISN'T about Kitty. We see everything in this book through Cormac Bennet's eyes.
It was this fresh vision that I enjoyed most- The plot is slight but fun; a fairy-tale quest in order to win access to information about Roman and a shoot-out with characters from Cormac's past.¨
The story is unfolds with skill, keeping a nice balance between action and mystery.
"Low Midnight"is a pleasant read rather than a compelling one but it's a must for the fans.
Two things made the book for me: getting to see Kitty as Cormac sees her rather than how she sees herself and finally getting an insight into how Cormac deals with the having the consciousness of Amelia, a wizard executed for a murder she didn't commit, living inside him.
There are only a few scenes with Kitty in the book but they are what energises Cormac on his quest. Kitty has changed Cormac's world. First she talked him out of killing her, making him question his belief that all werewolves needed to be put down, then she folded him into the circle she thinks of as family, refusing to let him retreat back entirely into his silent-loner lifestyle.
When Cormac looks at Kitty he sees boundless energy, unconscious power and influence and inexhaustible altruism. She makes him want to be a better man. Despite her strength, she makes him want to protect her. Cormac brought Kitty into focus in a way that explains the impact she has on other people more clearly than Kitty has ever been able to explain it to herself.
Cormac has played a strange role in the past few Kitty books. Suddenly this silent hunter of werewolves and vampires has stopped hunting and started protecting and he's been using magic to do it.
I understood the explanation of how this came about - Cormac agreed to host the disembodied consciousness of Amelia, a dead Edwardian English gentlewoman with magically abilities. In return, Amelia kept Cormac from harm in prison - but I had trouble understanding what it meant. Cormac didn't talk about it and Kitty couldn't decide whether Amelia was ally or parasite or friend or something entirely new unique.
in "Low Midnight" Carrie Vaughn does a great job of breathing life into both Cormac and Amelia. I was fascinated by their relationship. I loved the idea that they would meet "face to face" in the memory of meadow from Cormac's past, when Cormac went to sleep. The characters are so compelling that I could easily imagine a spin-off Cormac and Amelia series.
"Low Midnight" moves the "Long Game" story arc forward by gaining new information on Roman that should help Kitty.