Kitty Goes to Washington (Kitty Norville)

This book is the follow up to the wonderful "Kitty And The Midnight Hour" featuring a young werewolf who has a midnight talk radio show. In the first book Kitty found herself growing up and eventually had to leave her pack and go on the road when she felt they let her down. "Kitty Goes To Washington" starts a month after those events when Kitty is called to testify to a senate hearing on werewolves and vampires. She arrives in Washington and spends some time as a tourist, and alongside the usual American monuments and museums she visits a Werewolf bar (where she meets the rather lovely were-jaguar Luis) and the vampire Mistress of the City, Alette, with her sidekick Leo. However, whilst waiting to be called to testify, Kitty finds herself investigating the Rev Elijah Wood's church, breaking into a US facility with Cormac and interviewing a former Nazi werewolf. And time time for her testimony is becoming dangerously close to the full moon. As in the former book, this is a really good fun read with some fast pacing, some interesting vignettes into werewolf life, a little love interest and a lot of amusing plot. Kitty is a great character with a winsome naivete but with a streak of iron through her too. As an English reader I noticed a classic American mistake; Alette and Leo apparently have a "British Accent"; of course there is no such thing - there's English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish and others as well but "British" can't refer overall to one accent. Still I got the message - that they probably seem like your traditional film villain because of that accent. It also became very clear that Carrie Vaughn is a bit of a tourist herself with some very gushing descriptions of Kitty's time looking round Washington. "Kitty Goes To Washington" doesn't have complete backstory so those who haven't read the first book might not get all the nuances, particularly with regard to why Kitty left her pack. There are more supernatural creatures in this book than the previous but it isn't overloaded with them like some urban fantasies these days. Carrie Vaughn sticks to all the traditional tropes for this genre - vampires being allergic to garlic, werewolves to silver, etc - but she infuses her own interpretation on what it might be like to be one of these creatures. I liked the way that we see into Kitty's head, we follow her trying to rationalise her situation, to see the good in it and to help others see some possible benefits of their status as different from normal humans. I've made it sound a bit philosophical which it isn't, it's just a fun book with a possible deeper message in there for those who want to look.

When I read Vaughn's first book, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, I couldn't put it down. Kitty Goes to Washington is thankfully no different. The premise: due to the popularity of her radio talk-show about the supernatural beings of the world, Kitty is subpoenaed to testify in a Senate hearing that discusses the truth behind the legends, and determines if a research center will continue to get its funding for its research into vampirism and lycanthropy. This book, we see more vampires, though in DC, not Denver. And even more interesting, we meet other were-creatures than just werewolves, which is great. You've got conflict, a bit of romance, and lots of fun, which is the great thing about Vaughn's books. They're fun to read, and the author is obviously aware of the humor, and craziness, of the situations, and never passes up a chance to go *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* to the audience. It's not to say the story doesn't take itself seriously, or that the characters don't take themselves seriously. They do, but it's still fun. Vaughn has an excellent use of humor, and while the first person voice is common to the pop-horror/supernatural genre, Kitty never comes off as wish-fulfillment. She makes mistakes, gets in trouble, and her gut reaction is always to run and hide. The first book was very character-focused, and we got to see Kitty evolve into the woman she is in book two, but the great thing is? She's still evolving. I know books three and four have been greenlit, and while I don't know how many stories Vaughn plans to tell with this character, but I have every confidence the stories won't simply be serial adventures. Each story builds on itself. If I have a complaint with this book at all, it's that I worry it's straying into familiar and overdone territory in terms of the premise and the future: government learns about supernatural beings, government takes actions, rights are violated, etc." X-Men and The 4400 have definitely explored this, and while I don't mind seeing it explored again, I hope we get a fresh angle. When Vaughn uses the conventions/clichés involving vampires and werewolves, she always does so with a bit of humor and well-done detail so you don't take it for granted. The conflict is definitely settled by the end of this book (with several surprises along the way), but it sets up for far more. I look forward to the third installment. If you haven't yet read Vaughn's work, and you like the pop-horror genre (vampires, werewolves, and demons--oh my!), definitely pick up Kitty and the Midnight Hour. I'm a sucker for reading books in order, and think everyone else should be too, but also: characters in or referenced in the first book make appearances in the second, and in terms of character, it's important to know how Kitty has evolved and what her origins are. Don't pick this book up cold and expect to get the details of how she became a werewolf, because all you get is a vague story without the truly heartbreaking details. And i

The author fulfilled her promise to deliver a book as interesting and well-crafted as her first one in this series. And it's not one of those, "Let's just create a filler book to tie the rest together" books that seem to be so popular right now. It tied up some loose ends and created new ones that are sure to keep the reader eager to read book number three. I look forward to the next "Kitty" adventure.

This book exceeded all of my expectations. Though this novel is a sequel, it works well as a stand-alone book. Even if you haven't yet read "Kitty and the Midnight Hour," "Kitty Goes to Washington" will be a great read: action, adventure, politics, sex, Nazis, mad scientists, cultists - and amazingly enough, it all flows together in a beautifully written and highly entertaining story. This book both expands upon, and improves upon, both Kitty as a character and Carrie Vaughn's previous work. Kitty, though an adult, is growing up and becoming more mature and responsible; though she is losing her naivety, she keeps a fresh perspective on the world while still retaining her fun and relatively innocent nature. The story, too, is showing the author's rapidly maturing style and mastery over her work; this novel is both more complex and more expansive in outlook and geography than her previous novel, expanding as the character expands and matures. I would highly recommend it to both those new to the genre and to Carrie Vaughn, and am really looking forward to her next book!

The second in Carrie Vaughn's werewolf DJ series, 'Kitty Goes to Washington' is fresh, funny, poignant and very, very readable. I must say I liked it much better than the first one, Kitty is less angsty in this book as she finds her footing as a 'lone wolf' on the airwaves. The plot revolves around a Senate hearing that Kitty gets subpoened to testify at as an expert witness on lycanthropy. 'Kitty Goes to Washington' is a great twist on a genre that has been going downhill of late and I for one hope that Ms. Vaughn gives us more. The playlist of songs at the beginning of the book is a nice touch. I like a soundtrack that goes along with a story.