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Publication
New York : DAW Books, c2012.
Description
The Empire has declared war on the small, were-ruled kingdom of Aydori, capturing five women of the Mage-pack, including the wife of the were pack-leader. With the pack off defending the border, it falls to Mirian Maylin and Tomas Hagen--she a low-level mage, he younger brother to the pack-leader--to save them.
Language
Original language
English
User reviews
LibraryThing member cynrtst
I think this is a promising start to a new series for Tanya Huff. A different take on the shape shifting universe, this story is about a woman who's parents would love to see married to the very upper crust society of shape shifters who marry humans with Mage potential. Unfortunately for Mirial's
Very exciting action and heartfelt moral dilemmas of the nature of war,
PS: I read it in a day and a half, lol.
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parents, war intervenes and the Alpa of the Pack is assassinated by the invading army and the Leaders wives are abducted by the Emperor Leopold. Leopold has pronounced werewolves an abomination and has offered a bounty for their pelts. Mirial has flunked out of Mage University and hasn't told anyone yet. She sees the abduction and sets off with the Alpha's brother, Tomas, to rescue the Mage wives, who are involved in a prophecy that Leopold's Soothsayers have reported. Very exciting action and heartfelt moral dilemmas of the nature of war,
PS: I read it in a day and a half, lol.
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LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher
Tanya Huff is on the short list of authors I now buy in hardcover because I have acquired their entire back catalog used and now I feel vaguely guilty. I am not sad at all to have jumped on this one.
It's a werewolf fantasy novel with steampunkish overtones - the evil Empire is in the throes of an
The other thing I particularly liked is that unlike recent reading of mine, the soldiers of the evil Empire are given equal viewpoint time, and are portrayed sympathetically enough that while they start out as unequivocal antagonists, by the end I'm totally on board with the Captain as one of the heroes.
(I think it's interesting that unless I'm misreading it, the male protagonist's romantic relationship at the beginning of the book is never quite stated - perhaps this is an attempt to get around the "gay relationships always end in death" trope? If so, I think it's unnecessary - it doesn't have any of the other elements of that trope, it adds a welcome element to what otherwise seems to be an aggressively hetero society, and the one explicit gay relationship is adorable.)
It's a werewolf fantasy novel with steampunkish overtones - the evil Empire is in the throes of an
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industrial revolution - and as sick as I am of the standard urban fantasy werewolves, these are not those and they work very well in an action-adventure context. Huff always writes excellent female characters, and the gradual reveal of just how villainous the villain is works very well. The other thing I particularly liked is that unlike recent reading of mine, the soldiers of the evil Empire are given equal viewpoint time, and are portrayed sympathetically enough that while they start out as unequivocal antagonists, by the end I'm totally on board with the Captain as one of the heroes.
(I think it's interesting that unless I'm misreading it, the male protagonist's romantic relationship at the beginning of the book is never quite stated - perhaps this is an attempt to get around the "gay relationships always end in death" trope? If so, I think it's unnecessary - it doesn't have any of the other elements of that trope, it adds a welcome element to what otherwise seems to be an aggressively hetero society, and the one explicit gay relationship is adorable.)
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LibraryThing member imayb1
A fantastic sort of bildungsroman, this story describes the journey of a brave young woman determined to save her people from genocide at the hands of a bigoted emperor bent on expansion of his empire.
LibraryThing member kmaziarz
The small kingdom of Aydori is at war, under threat from outside by the sprawling Kresentian empire. Within the cities near the border, life as usual continues on in the face of battle, with parties and operas and young women trying to catch the eyes—or noses—of the unmarried nobles—who are
Steampunk-of-manners meets high fantasy meets werewolf saga in Huff’s fascinating newest title. The Silvered is seamlessly constructed and fascinatingly original, and sequels are to be hoped for!
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all either werewolves (known as the Pack) or mages. One such young woman is the, by her own admission, eminently sensible Mirian Maylin. Mirian has recently been sent home by the university because her magecraft was deemed to be too scattered and low-level to ever be useful. But any thoughts of marriage or society are derailed when the battle at the border begins to go against the Aydori and the city empties. However, the mad Kresentian Emperor has sent a small force into Aydori under cover of battle to capture the mages foreseen by prophecy to be instrumental in either the rise or the fall of his empire. All five of the captured mages are women, all are pregnant, and all are married to the Pack’s leaders. Mirian finds herself, along with young werewolf Tomas Hagen—youngest brother of the Pack Leader—the only hope the captured mages have of rescue. But she herself is the sixth mage foretold, and as the two heros race deep into enemy territory, facing danger at every step, Mirian’s supposedly weak mage-craft begins acting strangely…Steampunk-of-manners meets high fantasy meets werewolf saga in Huff’s fascinating newest title. The Silvered is seamlessly constructed and fascinatingly original, and sequels are to be hoped for!
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LibraryThing member readinggeek451
An interesting take on werewolves, and on mages, wrapped up in an absorbing story with well-rounded characters, including a sensible, independent-minded young woman.
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Lovely. A great new world - fantasy medieval, with one polity beginning to use science/technology. A fascinating variant on werewolves - a lot of the standard tropes, but no connection to the moon (not sure whether there's a moon on that world, actually - I don't think it's mentioned, even in terms
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of having light at night). An excellent bit of culture clash, as the actual setup of the werewolf polity - the Pack and its nation - contrasts with what the Empire understands about them. And of course - this is a Huff, after all - excellent characterization, vivid description, and an exciting and reasonable sequence of events. There's clearly another story or two that could be told - the Silvered have just begun, and the last chapters give some hints about what they've begun - but I don't know if it will actually be written. Things could also stop here, just fine. Excellent book, and definitely one I want to own and reread regularly. Show Less
LibraryThing member silentq
This is the Napoleonic werewolves story that Huff was hinting about in her LJ. Technological war comes to the country that's relied on werewolves and mages working on concert, and they can't stand against silver bullets. Five mages are captured and are being raced to the emperor, and the only ones
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left to go after them are the brother of the dead Pack leader and a first level mage. Marian is an awesome heroine, cranky about her feet hurting and her clothes getting ruined, but practicle about trading for clogs and stealing peasant clothes when necessary. She grows into her powers by necessity and we get a lesson in the magical history of the world as we go along. My only complaint is that the voices of Marian and Danika, the head of the captured mages, were so similar that at one point it took me two paragraphs to figure out who was telling her story (probably because both are very strong women and they were both captured at that point). The horrors of war aren't brushed over, especially as we see one Imperial soldier waking up to just what his country is doing. Show Less
LibraryThing member bgknighton
Excellent beginning! Where does loyalty begin and end? For Reiter, does loyalty trump doing right? Mirian and Tomas start to grow a new (old?) kind of pack. What is the price you will pay for power? Your sanity, your sight? How far will you go to be free?
LibraryThing member lauriebrown54
In ‘The Silvered’, the world is similar to ours during the Victorian era. Except there are werewolves, mages who can control different elements, and magical artifacts from the past. There are also guns and airships. It’s vaguely steampunk in feel, even though there is no actual steam
Mirian Maylin, 19 years old, has some mage blood. She has tested as having powers in several elements, but has not progressed beyond first level in any of them. She has been invited to *not* come back to the university next semester because she performs so poorly. Her mother’s biggest worry is that Marian might not attract the attention of someone of the Pack, and marry into it. Marian does not care if she ever gets married.
We start the book with a war beginning; the Empire is attacking the country of Aydori and has declared Pack members to be abominations. A rather garbled warning from a Soothsayer has Emperor Leopald kidnap the top five members of the Mage pack. Mirian finds herself in the position to follow the Mage pack to the Empire’s capital city and try and rescue them. She also finds herself in the company of Tomas Hagen, younger brother to the Pack leader, and, with Captain Reiter of the Empire forces following her because they think she’s the missing sixth member of the Mage pack.
I really liked the characters; Mirian is strong, smart, and stubborn (and, according to Hunt Pack members, smells amazing- a sign of mage powers) and she and Tomas have to grow up a lot in just a few days. While they find themselves partners by chance, they work very well together. Likewise the kidnapped Mage pack leader, Danika, has to face great personal loss along with physical and psychological abuse but stands up to it. I should warn you there is a lot of brutality in this book; it’s set during a war and it doesn’t bring out the best in a lot of the soldiers. It also shows the peril of dehumanizing others; it makes it far too easy for people to discount the worth of their lives.
The book ties up all the loose ends- even though as I got near the end of the book I couldn’t figure out how the author would manage that in such a short number of pages. But I’d forgotten how good a writer and world builder Tanya Huff is; parts of the ending are very unexpected, it’s neatly done, and, while this is a standalone novel, there are a few things that could lead into another volume set in this world if she wanted. I’m hoping she’ll do so!
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technology. Mirian Maylin, 19 years old, has some mage blood. She has tested as having powers in several elements, but has not progressed beyond first level in any of them. She has been invited to *not* come back to the university next semester because she performs so poorly. Her mother’s biggest worry is that Marian might not attract the attention of someone of the Pack, and marry into it. Marian does not care if she ever gets married.
We start the book with a war beginning; the Empire is attacking the country of Aydori and has declared Pack members to be abominations. A rather garbled warning from a Soothsayer has Emperor Leopald kidnap the top five members of the Mage pack. Mirian finds herself in the position to follow the Mage pack to the Empire’s capital city and try and rescue them. She also finds herself in the company of Tomas Hagen, younger brother to the Pack leader, and, with Captain Reiter of the Empire forces following her because they think she’s the missing sixth member of the Mage pack.
I really liked the characters; Mirian is strong, smart, and stubborn (and, according to Hunt Pack members, smells amazing- a sign of mage powers) and she and Tomas have to grow up a lot in just a few days. While they find themselves partners by chance, they work very well together. Likewise the kidnapped Mage pack leader, Danika, has to face great personal loss along with physical and psychological abuse but stands up to it. I should warn you there is a lot of brutality in this book; it’s set during a war and it doesn’t bring out the best in a lot of the soldiers. It also shows the peril of dehumanizing others; it makes it far too easy for people to discount the worth of their lives.
The book ties up all the loose ends- even though as I got near the end of the book I couldn’t figure out how the author would manage that in such a short number of pages. But I’d forgotten how good a writer and world builder Tanya Huff is; parts of the ending are very unexpected, it’s neatly done, and, while this is a standalone novel, there are a few things that could lead into another volume set in this world if she wanted. I’m hoping she’ll do so!
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LibraryThing member quondame
Just re-read again. This is still a great book with an interesting take on were-wolves. Lots, of character and action, evil villain, strange mage craft. The scenery could be better drawn, but serves well enough.
LibraryThing member whatsmacksaid
Loved it--I don't reread books very often anymore, but I will definitely be rereading this one.
LibraryThing member kcollett
Mirian is basically a Regency heroine who doesn’t want to go to balls and attract the right men that her mother wants her to—in a kingdom governed by good werewolves and being pushed to the brink by an implacable empire run by a mad emperor. A group of five women mages are kidnapped and taken
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into the heart of the empire; Mirian seems to also be targeted, but she and Tomas, whose closest friends have all just been killed in a terrible battle, rescue each other and go in pursuit. Show Less