Kitty Steals the Show (Kitty Norville #10) by Carrie Vaughn
Tor Books (Aug 2012) | Paperback, 342 pages
Urban Fantasy
I’ve had a love hate relationship with Kitty. On the one hand she’s a nice character, loyal and caring, but on the other she’s not very interesting, and shall I say, rather dull. Plus I’ve always struggled with buying into her badass-ery. She’s never really shown a fierce side, never goes into battle all guns blazing. Most of the time she has all her friends with her before she can fight the bad guy. And yet everyone is scared of her. She’s the Alpha of her pack, and I have never understood how she managed that.
With that aside, I do like the characters in the Kitty books, my favourite was Cormac, a gun toting werewolf hunter, who then met Kitty, and turned into a wimp. There was great chemistry between them and I have always held on to the hope that Cormac was Kitty’s person. But no such luck. Instead Cormac has become the wierd sidekick. The extra who only gets a few lines in a wider cast of characters. This is such a shame as he was a really charismatic character. I think this was a huge mistake on the part of the author and I wonder whether looking back Vaughn wishes she had gone the Cormac route rather than Ben.
The relationship between Kitty and Ben is just SOOOOO dull. There’s absolutely no fireworks, no spark, no heat, no sexual tension, no chemistry – nada. And Cormac, well he’s on a mission to help the ghost who’s taken up residence within him find out who her family is and help her reconnect. Really? That’s it? This is what the hunk of testosterone is reduced to!
In the previous instalment, Kitty’s Big Trouble, I felt as though the story had moved into the realms of fantasy rather than urban fantasy. It was slow going for me. I was hoping that with this instalment the series would get back to form. Sadly I don’t think it has. It’s back to being more urban but to be honest I think this series has run out of steam and should really end. The plot is pretty thin with Kitty travelling to London for a paranormal conference, getting in the middle of a war between supernaturals.
There just wasn’t enough of a plot or storyline to keep my interest. What I did manage to read took me weeks. In the end I put it aside for a while in the hope that I would eventually finish it, but every time I tried I ended up putting it down after only a few pages, it just didn’t engage me at all. In fact I was bored, and after 197 pages I stopped reading for good and admitted defeat.
VERDICT:
Unfortunately, Kitty Steals the Show is the worst instalment in the series to date. After nearly 200 pages, it still hadn’t gone anywhere. There’s no character development and the plot was dull and unexciting. It’s a shame as the earlier books were good, but I think it’s time for Kitty to say goodbye, unless, of course, there’s a real shakeup with the characters, but if not then I can’t see me picking up the next book in the series.
RATING: 
CARRIE VAUGHN ONLINE
Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads
BOOKS IN SERIES ORDER
- Kitty and the Midnight Hour
- Kitty Goes to Washington
- Kitty Takes a Holiday
- Kitty and the Silver Bullet
- Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand
- Kitty Raises Hell
- Kitty’s House of Horrors
- Kitty Goes to War
- Kitty’s Big Trouble
- Kitty Steals the Show
UK COVER
BUY YOUR COPY
7 Comments
I started reading this series, but never got past book 1. I agree with you. For a heroune alpha female, kitty lacks something. May be time for me to call it quits on reading any more. Great review
Reply
Kitty does lack something and although I don’t think all UF heroine’s have to be tough, there has to be a reason why everyone is scared of her and Kitty just doesn’t have that.
It’s a shame as I did enjoy the others in the series, even though it’s not a brilliant one.
Reply
After reading your reply, something just ocured to me. I love the MErcy Thomspon series. She isn’t kick-ass, but gets dragged into trouble. Now she is a great heroine!
Reply
Yes she is! I love Mercy. But she doesn’t have everyone acting scared of her all the time. But even though she’s not overtly kick-ass, she does know how to use lots of weapons, plus she will change into her coyote if necessary, whereas Kitty never fought as her wolf (if my memory is correct). I think Briggs just writes her heroine very well.
Reply
Unfortunately last few books in the series lost that drive… I haven’t read this one yet, but I’m not in a rush. However, I would recommend a standalone by Carrie about superheroes which I thought was awesome, it’s called After The Golden Age.
Reply
Yeah, there’s definitely that feeling of no drive or purpose with this book. It’s just really bland. All the characters are just the same as the last few books. I have The Golden Age on my shelf, I may get around to it one day
Reply
I’m behind in this series as you know, so I nearly didn’t read your review in case of spoilers. But while I’m behind, I am really not digging the Ben /Kitty relationship. Cormac is one of may fav characters, I’m sad the sizzle has gone there
Reply