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A Tale of the Sazi #3
Captive Moon
World-class entertainer and Sazi councilmember, Antoine Monier has taken his big cats all over the world without any trouble—until his latest trip to Stuttgart, where one of his tigers is stolen and killed. To Antoine's surprise, the German police have another tiger in custody—a tiger who is actually a lovely Turkish-American woman, Tahira Kuric. Like Antoine, Tahira is a shapeshifter, but of the Hayalet Kabile, the ghost tribe of shapeshifters. And despite their immediate attraction, Tahira wants nothing to do with Antoine—the Sazi are the enemy of the Hayalet Kabile. But Tahira doesn't have a choice, because she and Antoine have discovered that she is a fabled "power well," able to store magical energy from other shapeshifters—and something is hunting her, eager to use her powers for itself. Only if they can set aside their peoples' ancient rivalry and rely completely on each other—body and soul—can Tahira and Antoine save themselves and their people.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
381 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2006
About the author
C.T. Adams
31 books302 followersAlso known as Cat Adams, a dual-partnership writing team with Cathy Clamp.
She spent seventeen years in the Denver metro area and now resides in Texas with a large dog and pet cats. Office work provided a living while she pursued the goal of becoming a novelist. Forming the partnership with Cathy Clamp was the catalyst that led to publication and the two have enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration, with two series published within the Tor Paranormal Romance line: The Sazi, and the Kate Reilly/Thrall books. In addition they have authored stand-alone novels and participated in several anthologies. Working both as a team with Cathy and individually, Cie plans to be involved in writing novels for years to come.
She spent seventeen years in the Denver metro area and now resides in Texas with a large dog and pet cats. Office work provided a living while she pursued the goal of becoming a novelist. Forming the partnership with Cathy Clamp was the catalyst that led to publication and the two have enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration, with two series published within the Tor Paranormal Romance line: The Sazi, and the Kate Reilly/Thrall books. In addition they have authored stand-alone novels and participated in several anthologies. Working both as a team with Cathy and individually, Cie plans to be involved in writing novels for years to come.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
September 1, 2010
I looked back, but apparently I wasn't reviewing books regularly when I read the first two books in this series. The most dominant thing I remember from the early books is that lycanthropes can smell emotions as food odors. Kind of novel concept.
This book was placed in the same universe, but focused on different characters. Nice for a type of clean start when you don't quite remember the earlier books.
In the end, there were two things that really irritated me about this book. Can't recall if the same complaints apply to the whole series, or not.
1. The lycanthropes.
* They shift by magic, not biology.
* There is no sense of conservation of mass - you can end up with super large or super small lycanthropes, no matter how large or small the human form.
* They only have a full animal form (not a half man/half animal form), yet they can talk as an animal. Guess those vocal cords don't shift. Or they do, since the cats still growl like their natural counterparts. Contradictory.
I know, this is SF/Fantasy. There needs to be a suspension of disbelief, but sometimes authors make it harder than they need to. It's especially confusing since Laurell K. Hamilton mentored these authors. Yet, they went diametrically opposed when it comes to Laurell's attempt to make her lycanthropes follow real biological rules. (Laurell also has a bio degree.)
The magic I could overlook. The talking in animal form was distracting, but ignorable. But the lack of conservation of mass was really annoying.
A snake like lycanthrope appeared to shift into a form as small as a natural snake. Yet, there were beyond life sizes snakes, and a spider. Beyond the gross factor, they almost gave me the old "Batman and Robin" campy vibe. Like I could see the crude animitronics used to move the spider creature around. It didn't feel "lost in fantasy" real, it felt "damn this is bad" old sf campy.
Anyway, completely different argument.
2. Forcing the multicultural thing a bit too hard.
There is a "dear readers" section before chapter 1 which points out their noble goals of multiculturalism and acceptance and can't you hear "We are the World" playing already.
I quote:
One of our goals for this alternate reality is to show that despite our cultural differences, country borders, and prejudices, people are people, whether human, shifter or somewhere in between.
Okay, for one, if you have to point out a dominant theme, you're doing it wrong. And, two, beating someone over the head with a concept, and teaching them about a concept, are two completely different things. This felt like overkill.
No two characters could share a culture or country of origin. And their differences were highlighted, rather than their similarities. The Australian character deliberately used terms that don't exist in either American or British English. So even the English world was highlighted as more different then similar.
It felt like a little kid drawing characters. We'll make this one blue, and this one green, and this one purple.
Last time I heard, the melting pot concept was about showing what we have in common.
Plus, this was preaching. I don't like preaching outside of church. I picked up this book for entertainment, not to be lectured. I'll pick up non-fiction book if I want to be lectured.
So, nice idea, bad execution.
I've had this book sitting on my shelf for some time. (I bought it back in 2006.) I'm not sure I would have reached for it if I didn't already own it. And I'm not sure if I'll continue with this series after this.
This book was placed in the same universe, but focused on different characters. Nice for a type of clean start when you don't quite remember the earlier books.
In the end, there were two things that really irritated me about this book. Can't recall if the same complaints apply to the whole series, or not.
1. The lycanthropes.
* They shift by magic, not biology.
* There is no sense of conservation of mass - you can end up with super large or super small lycanthropes, no matter how large or small the human form.
* They only have a full animal form (not a half man/half animal form), yet they can talk as an animal. Guess those vocal cords don't shift. Or they do, since the cats still growl like their natural counterparts. Contradictory.
I know, this is SF/Fantasy. There needs to be a suspension of disbelief, but sometimes authors make it harder than they need to. It's especially confusing since Laurell K. Hamilton mentored these authors. Yet, they went diametrically opposed when it comes to Laurell's attempt to make her lycanthropes follow real biological rules. (Laurell also has a bio degree.)
The magic I could overlook. The talking in animal form was distracting, but ignorable. But the lack of conservation of mass was really annoying.
A snake like lycanthrope appeared to shift into a form as small as a natural snake. Yet, there were beyond life sizes snakes, and a spider. Beyond the gross factor, they almost gave me the old "Batman and Robin" campy vibe. Like I could see the crude animitronics used to move the spider creature around. It didn't feel "lost in fantasy" real, it felt "damn this is bad" old sf campy.
Anyway, completely different argument.
2. Forcing the multicultural thing a bit too hard.
There is a "dear readers" section before chapter 1 which points out their noble goals of multiculturalism and acceptance and can't you hear "We are the World" playing already.
I quote:
One of our goals for this alternate reality is to show that despite our cultural differences, country borders, and prejudices, people are people, whether human, shifter or somewhere in between.
Okay, for one, if you have to point out a dominant theme, you're doing it wrong. And, two, beating someone over the head with a concept, and teaching them about a concept, are two completely different things. This felt like overkill.
No two characters could share a culture or country of origin. And their differences were highlighted, rather than their similarities. The Australian character deliberately used terms that don't exist in either American or British English. So even the English world was highlighted as more different then similar.
It felt like a little kid drawing characters. We'll make this one blue, and this one green, and this one purple.
Last time I heard, the melting pot concept was about showing what we have in common.
Plus, this was preaching. I don't like preaching outside of church. I picked up this book for entertainment, not to be lectured. I'll pick up non-fiction book if I want to be lectured.
So, nice idea, bad execution.
I've had this book sitting on my shelf for some time. (I bought it back in 2006.) I'm not sure I would have reached for it if I didn't already own it. And I'm not sure if I'll continue with this series after this.
May 16, 2016
Better on the second reading. Antoine the whiner is not one of my favorite characters but Ahmed is and look forward to each and every scathing remark. Definitely skipping Howling Moon in the series reread, Raphael and Catherine are both self centered elitist annoyances for whom I wish only bad things.
March 27, 2023
4/5
I read this over a decade ago so here are my notes.
Antoine rescues Tahira from jail; both are cat shifters. Tahira is from a secretive group that is at odds with the Sazi (shifter) council Antoine leads. An enemy wants her for her unique power.
I read this over a decade ago so here are my notes.
Antoine rescues Tahira from jail; both are cat shifters. Tahira is from a secretive group that is at odds with the Sazi (shifter) council Antoine leads. An enemy wants her for her unique power.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
September 12, 2020
Possibly the worst French I have ever seen in a book.
January 5, 2022
Reading for the second time
I realized than I hadn’t left a review and this book definitely deserves a fabulous review the story if wonderful and entertaining. ENJOY!
I realized than I hadn’t left a review and this book definitely deserves a fabulous review the story if wonderful and entertaining. ENJOY!
October 20, 2023
Book 3 of 8, Antoine & Tahira. A great continuation of the series. Intrigue and hot romance abounds. Enjoy!
May 25, 2024
Awesome book
June 1, 2024
In Captive Moon, we have the continuation of the series…which takes us to tiger shifters. It is so rare to see tiger shifters and so I always soak them up….and these two authors did a fantastic job with Captive Moon. Our heroine, is being held captive while looking for her brother, our hero finds out about her predicament and saves her when he realizes that she is a shifter. They form a union of sorts, to hunt down those killing tigers, and to find her brother who is still missing and Tahira suspects he has been taken and/or killed. But she needs to find out the truth. This was quite a treasure find and once I picked it up I just couldn’t put it down once I started. These two were fire together, and they have such a great connection to one another….their chemistry isn’t one I would want to miss out on and I quite enjoyed seeing the mysteries that become unraveled and revealed to the reader.
March 8, 2009
I've really liked C.T. Adams' and Cathy Clamp's Thrall series and even though this Sazi book was pretty good too, I couldn't help but feel that something was missing. I can't put my finger on it, maybe it's because things seemed to stand still for most of the book, and didn't really move forward except for in the beginning and then in the end. I also felt rather indifferent about the characters, which is always a bad thing. :/ I've only read this book in the Sazi series so far though, so maybe the other books in the series give more of an 'ooohh' reading experience, this third book was merely just a pleasant little read.
July 10, 2014
I had three chapters left and I could not find the will to finish it. The plot was okay and it would have been better if the characters were better. I was looking forward to reading this one. I thought it was going to be about weretigers and the like...but...oh my it just wasn't good. Antoine is extremely hard to like. Tahira was okay but I found her to be unbelievable.
I found myself skimming the pages as the characters ate and shopped. -_-
I found myself skimming the pages as the characters ate and shopped. -_-
March 27, 2008
In Captive Moon we learn of different groups of Sazi and how they are interacting with each other. We also learn of groups that are trying to destroy or control different groups of Sazi, and who they are and how they are attempting their takeover of the Sazi and humans, alike. Great Story, and incredible ending!
April 4, 2014
Antoine is an acquired taste. His insecurities as hard to reconcile with the typical Alpha attitude found in paranormal romance. He does grow and that saves him. The introduction of a new set of lycanthrope a with no loyalty to the Sazi made it a transitional story with plenty of future implications on the world building that is taking place.
May 26, 2014
She's from a separate tribe from the Sazi, and has a rare ability that is coveted by the bad guys. Lots of traitors in this story. I liked the section where they played with Babette and her cubs.
Cougar, Tiger, Snake, Spider shifters. He's Cougar-Lion mix (cougar is dominant), she's a Caspian Tiger.
Cougar, Tiger, Snake, Spider shifters. He's Cougar-Lion mix (cougar is dominant), she's a Caspian Tiger.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2015
Book three of the Sazi series where shapeshifters live hidden in the plain sight amongst humans. This one is based around a Sazi jaguar who happens to come across--and rescue--a member of the Hayalet Kabile, an offshoot of shapeshifters who are "at war" with the Sazi. Can the two of them put an end to the centuries-old hostilities between the two factions?
July 19, 2012
since I had to skip a few books in this series..I went back and ordered them. This was a story about a guy who doesn't have a clue. It takes him forever to get one. Gee. Someone should have hit him over the head with it. the story was still good.
March 11, 2016
An enjoyable time passer, and unlike the first two, Tony plays only a minor party. Antoine, who is on the council, stumbles into some intrigue with a tigeress were, who is being hunted. Decent story but not a keeper.
March 23, 2015
For whatever reason, this book was not as good as the earlier books. The characters were not well formed and the magic was ill defined, especially at the end. Some minor characters come out of nowhere to be important. The book needed more time in the oven.
January 27, 2020
Pretty interesting. I liked the worldbuilding, and I easily identified with the new characters, so that was good. Looking forward to reading the next book.
August 7, 2021
for some reason, can't find my PB copy; so I bought for NOOK!
December 26, 2008
Was ok. I figured out a few pages in I have read it before. Oops. :) Like the world. ANd I want one of those Quilts! You'll see when you get there.
May 15, 2010
I just love this series! I think the author's are wonderful and I love them for bringing me a fresh new type of paranormal romance and I am so looking foward to more from them!
Want to read
July 24, 2012i have only read an excerpt in the back of "Moon's Web" but i loved it. I was hooked. can't wait until i get the actual book.
February 1, 2014
Needs more Tony, but....still a good book. The intrigue of the hidden tribe was very cool and I liked the way the authors tied the world together with the earlier events in previous books.
January 1, 2010
Not one of the better paranormal romances I've read.
August 18, 2015
loved it!
June 14, 2018
I remember reading this series a very long time ago, probably close to when I started reading pnr and way before I started using an ereader. I don't know why, but this one was the story that stuck with me of the original Sazi series. I reread this one and fell in love all over again. Maybe because of how real the characters and their emotions were, despite the paranormal story. It was an awesome shifter romance years ago and still is one of my favorite shifter series. Besides, how this author duo describes scents is just FANTASTIC! Love revisiting the original Sazi.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews