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Michelle Sagara West is a Japanese Canadian author. She writes epic fantasy, though some of her works have been described as Urban Fantasy and YA.
Order of Books Of The Sundered Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Into the Dark Lands | 1991 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Children of the Blood | 1992 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Lady of Mercy | 1993 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light | 1994 | Description / Buy |
Order of Chronicles Of Elantra Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cast in Moonlight | 2001 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Cast in Shadow | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Cast In Courtlight | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Cast in Secret | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Cast in Fury | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Cast in Silence | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | Cast in Chaos | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | Cast in Ruin | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | Cast in Peril | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 10 | Cast in Sorrow | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
| 11 | Cast in Flame | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
| 12 | Cast in Honor | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
| 13 | Cast in Flight | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
| 14 | Cast in Deception | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
| 15 | Cast in Oblivion | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
| 16 | Cast in Wisdom | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
| 17 | Cast in Conflict | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
| 18 | Cast in Eternity | 2022 | Description / Buy |
Order of Essalieyan Chronicles Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Echoes (Short Story) | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Huntbrother (Short Story) | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Black Ospreys (Short Story) | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Weapon (Short Story) | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Warlord (Short Story) | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | The Memory of Stone (Short Story) | 2011 | Description / Buy |
Order of Essalieyan Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Memory of Stone & Other Stories | 2011 | Description / Buy |
Order of House War Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Hidden City | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | City of Night | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | House Name | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Skirmish | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Battle | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Oracle | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | Firstborn | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | War | 2019 | Description / Buy |
Order of Sacred Hunt Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hunter's Oath | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Hunter's Death | 1996 | Description / Buy |
Michelle Sagara West Anthologies
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sword of Ice and Other Tales of Valdemar | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | DAW 30th Anniversary Fantasy | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | DAW 30th Anniversary Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthologies | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Five Seasons of Angel: Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Discuss Their Favorite Vampire | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Happily Ever After | 2011 | Description / Buy |
Sagara worked in a number of bookstores as a part-timer before finally settling down at Bakka-Phoenix, a retailer that specializes in science fiction and fantasy.
When she was young, Sagara’s parents were always reading to her. Like most children, she started with the picture books her parents bought her. She had no real choice in the literature she read.
Over time, as her tastes matured, she moved on to non-picture books. By the time she was six, the author had devoured every Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys book she could find. Then she moved on to Enid Blyton, C.S. Lewis, and Tolkien.
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were particularly impactful to the author. At first, Sagara loved The Hobbit, and when she realized that The Lord of the Rings had discarded the protagonist of the first book in favor of introducing an entirely new cast, she chose to abandon The Lord of the Rings altogether.
But when she was 11, Michelle Sagara West gave Tolkien’s most popular book another chance and it blew her mind. She was amazed by the language, the elegance of the story and the themes of sacrifice, friendship and loss.
It is little wonder that The Sundered, her first series of epic fantasy novels, has been described as “Tolkienesque”.
There was never a question in the author’s mind that she would write epic fantasy. The genre appealed to her because it always transported her to worlds that had limitless possibilities.
The stories that fantasy told were so wide-ranging in scope and she could not wait to tell stories with similar settings. As a successful author, Sagara has published books as Michelle Sagara West, Michelle West, and Michelle Sagara.
This separation between her writing identities wasn’t intentional. Her first novel was published by Del Rey under the Michelle Sagara name. That was in 1991. Sagara was working fulltime at Bakka.
She was already married, and once the decision to have children was made, the author concluded that the months she would spend at home caring for her first child would afford her plenty of opportunities to write.
But the books Del Rey published did not sell quite as well as Sagara would have liked. So she reached out to DAW in the hopes of landing a second publishing avenue.
Because she did not yet know the final direction her Del Rey-published novels would take, whether they would soar or ultimately crash, she asked DAW to publish her next book under the Michelle West name.
In the years that followed, various circumstances pushed Sagara to nurture the growth of her pen names. Today, Sagara’s fans will tell you that the books she publishes as Michelle Sagara are shockingly distinct from her Michelle West works.
Best Michelle Sagara West Books
Sagara loves to write stories with multiple points of view because they allow her to increase the scope and unpredictability of her books, with some of the best titles in her bibliography including:
Cast in Shadow: Kaylin escaped Nightshade. Children were being marked and then killed, and those same markings had appeared on her skin. So she knew her only option was to flee, and she did just that.
When she finally emerged, Kaylin had changed. She had started over in the city of Elantra. She could read and fight and, as a member of the Hawks, it was her job to police Elantra.
Kaylin thought she had successfully buried her past. But then children started to die again and Kaylin was ordered to return to Nightshade to investigate the matter.
Cast in Courtlight: Kaylin defeated a great evil and for her reward, she was assigned an even more dangerous task.
The girl has to infiltrate the Barrani High Court. She must become someone else and use her magic to keep the High Lord’s Heir alive even as she maneuvers the traps that have been laid out to stop her.
But her mission is easier said than done. The Barrani High Court is a complicated place. It would only take a careless word for Kaylin to forfeit her life. She must proceed carefully, lest she steps on all the wrong toes.
When Does The Next Michelle Sagara West book come out?
Michelle Sagara West doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Memory of Stone & Other Stories and was released on January, 1st 2011. It is the newest book in the Essalieyan Series.