Review: Kitty Goes To Washington by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Goes To Washington by Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville #2
Published on: July 1st 2006
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Werewolves
Pages: 321
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed

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Celebrity werewolf and late-night radio host Kitty Norville prefers to be heard and not seen. So when she's invited to testify at a Senate hearing on behalf of supernaturals, and her face gets plastered on national TV, she inherits a new set of friends, and enemies, including the vampire mistress of the city; an über-hot Brazilian were-jaguar; and a Bible-thumping senator who wants to expose Kitty as a monster. Kitty quickly learns that in this city of dirty politicians and backstabbing pundits, everyone's itching for a fight.

Kitty Goes To Washington will never win a title contest.    Although it accurately sums up the major draw of this book, it communicates no allure at all.

It is a little wrong of me however to say that the title sums up the major draw.    Much of this capital is not as seen on the tourist maps.    Here we have bars that cater to were‘s of all species, complete with werefox bartender and werebear bellydancers, and vampire queens who have the entire city in their backpocket yet manage to be very modest and equitable about such power.  Then there’s Kitty and her radio show, which manages to tackle the tough questions like where can I sell my soul to a devil and what are the military applications of werewolves.

I surprisingly liked this entry in the series.    Having skipped like a stone throughout much of these books, I found the continuity between this and the last one to be remarkable.  The characterization of Kitty as a lone and rather belly-up, super-submissive wolf makes the moments when she actually shows backbone all the more interesting.    It is easy for an urban fantasy protagonist to get too assertive.    Then everything hinges on the moment when she lets her guard down and becomes agreeable.

On the other hand, Kitty keeps an even keel.    You will even find when in the bed of a werejaguar that she remains much as we always knew her.    You may also be surprised that the relationship with the werejaguar occurs entirely behind closed doors.    Any action that the two may have been up to is left entirely to your imagination since the most that is narrated is their movement to the bed.

What else to say?    The narrative juggles plots like nobody’s business.    Themes get that treatment too.    Commentary ranges from what makes a good leader to what is loyalty to what is the role of the supernatural in science and the government.    This jungle of plots can be very refreshing and the author consistently evinces a musculature in crafting sentences.    Nearly no embellishment, just further layers of detail.    This would be the reason the author gets by with such quiet titles.    The tiny stone’s throw ripples out into the wide webbed world.

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