Kitty Norville
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Kitty Norville is the main character of a series of novels by Carrie Vaughn. She is a werewolf who hosts a popular syndicated radio phone-in show based in Denver called "The Midnight Hour". The program focuses on supernatural issues.
Contents |
[edit] Kitty and the Midnight Hour
| Kitty and the Midnight Hour | |
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Carrie Vaughn |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Kitty series |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Warner Books |
| Publication date | 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 288 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0446616419 (first edition, paperback) |
| Followed by | Kitty Goes to Washington |
'Kitty' Norville, a late-night radio DJ, accidentally starts a late-night talk show about Werewolves, Vampires, and other mythical creatures. The catch is - she's a werewolf herself, and the secret is supposed to stay silent.
[edit] Plot points
- Carl is the Alpha of the pack and therefore able to physically dominate his pack.
- A false preacher is offering to 'save' the supernatural community if they come and join his traveling Bible show. A Midnight Hour listener calls in to confirm Kitty's suspicions that all is not right with this show. This plot point is completed in Kitty Goes to Washington.
- Religious persecution rears its head in the character of the right-wing senator Kitty interviews for her show. This plot point recurrs in Kitty Goes to Washington.
- Being supernatural is not a state Kitty wants her listeners to aspire to. While it may sound cool, the reality is not what they expect.
- Kitty is too weak to face her foes at the end of the novel, and her best friend in the pack, T.J., is killed saving her.
[edit] Themes
- Kitty begins the hero’s journey to realize her own power. Her inner submissive wolf and her human lack of confidence make her the victim throughout most of the book. When her face is hidden and only her voice is heard, a more confident Kitty emerges.
- Supernatural creatures as a metaphor for rape. Kitty is literally raped by her human boyfriend, who then leaves her in the woods. Then a werewolf bites her and she is metaphorically raped. Again she has no control of her body and is too weak to fend off her attackers. Finally, she is raped by Carl, the werewolf leader. In this case her werewolf instincts as the pack "pup" lead her to accept his sexual advances even when her human self doesn’t desire him.
- Kitty distrusts the easy surface solutions to her problems that other characters offer her. Instead, she encourages her listeners to think for themselves.
[edit] Kitty Goes to Washington
| Kitty Goes to Washington | |
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| Author | Carrie Vaughn |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Don Puckey |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Kitty series |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Little, Brown |
| Publication date | July 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 260 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0446616427 (first edition, paperback) |
| Preceded by | Kitty and the Midnight Hour |
| Followed by | Kitty Takes a Holiday |
Some editions of this novel also includes the short story Kitty Meets the Band.
[edit] Plot points
- Kitty learns more about vampires, whom she was generally suspicious of, and stays with one during her trip. This vampire has kept close ties to her mortal family, who all seem to love their many times great-grandmother.
- A new love interest appears in the form of a were-jaguar who is also part of the Brazilian embassy.
- Ben's relationship with Kitty and his personality are developed. He feels out of his league, sitting with a client who is testifying before Congress.
- The supernatural community claims werewolves and vampires are created by a disease. Government researchers decide to medically study victims of such attacks. It is unclear what kind of ‘treatment’ they are seeking.
- Kitty meets a real life psychic and television personality. At first she believes he is a hoax, but after speaking with him for a few minutes she becomes convinced he is genuine and realizes how ironic her behavior is given her condition.
- Kitty and company defeat a powerful fae who was posing as a Christian preacher who could cure werewolves and vampires. Instead, he is feeding on the hopes and fears of his supernatural congregation. The fae is banished from this world. He may or may not return in future installments. The supernaturals under his control were freed.
- The religiously crazed senator from the previous book kidnaps Kitty. He wants to show the world how vicious werewolves are, and keeps her caged up and under cameras during a full moon. She changes, but rather than being vicious and entertaining for the newsmen, she curls up in the back of her cell.
[edit] Themes
- Kitty faces persecution for being a werewolf. Vaughn explores similarities between Kitty’s situation and both 1950’s McCarthyism (particularly with the extremist senator character) and modern day homophobia/gay rights issues.
- Vaughn, through the character of Kitty, maintains that the civil liberties in the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights apply to all US citizens.
- Issues of the right to privacy versus the First Amendment rear their head when Kitty meets a television journalist who is determined to capture her face on film. Kitty still wants to maintain a private life and does not wish to be photographed.
- Kitty is metaphorically raped again when she is kidnapped and forced to change into a werewolf on national TV. Her privacy is taken from her, and she is exploited for infotainment news.
- Kitty looks for someone to protect her because she still feels like an omega wolf. Each protector she selects eventually fails to live up to her ideals, and she ends up having to manage on her own. In this process, she gains more independence.
- At the end of the book, Kitty sues the people who have harmed her, unlike her previous habit of keeping her mouth closed and taking abuse. Kitty has become more assertive, though she does not want to stay to watch the process in person; she still lacks confidence, so she asserts her will through her attorney, Ben.
[edit] Kitty Takes a Holiday
| Kitty Takes a Holiday | |
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Carrie Vaughn |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Kitty series |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Little, Brown |
| Publication date | April 2007 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 336 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0446618748 (first edition, paperback) |
| Preceded by | Kitty Goes to Washington |
| Followed by | Kitty and the Silver Bullet |
After her lycanthropy is captured on film in Washington, Kitty decides to go on vacation. She rents a cabin and decides to write a book of her memoirs. Trouble quickly ensues as slaughtered animals are left outside her door and a visitor from her past arrives with unexpected news.
[edit] Plot summary
With the money she got from her lawsuits in Washington, Kitty has decided to take some time off from her radio show. Inspired by Thoreau and his experiences at Walden, she rents a cabin and beings to write a book, although she has a hard time focusing.
During Kitty's vacation, Cormac drives up to her cabin with an injured Ben. Kitty is informed that Cormac had called Ben to help him with a werewolf hunt. Ben was attacked and infected by one of the werewolves, who Cormac then killed. They mend Ben the best they can while Ben makes it clear that he would rather be dead than a werewolf. Kitty decides that she is going to show Ben that he can live with lycanthropy. She takes him in finds that the only way to make him safe is to create a new pack of the two of them, which makes her alpha. She is with him for his first change on the full moon. The two have sex after they wake up the following morning in the woods.
While Ben is being tended to, Kitty tells Cormac about the dead animals that have been left on her door step along with small barbed-wire crosses. He thinks that these objects are part of a curse and makes some calls. The objects begin to get worse as a circle of crosses are left surrounding Kitty's cabin and skinned dogs are left hanging in the trees. Cormac continues to look into the curse, until he finds Ben and Kitty sleeping in each others arms. Upset, he gets in his Jeep and leaves.
A few nights later, Tony Rivera shows up at the cabin, called by Cormac. He informs Kitty that he can find out who is attempting to use magic on her. He traces the magic back to Alice and Sheriff Marks, but it backfired and drew dark energy to the region rather than repelling it. The locals agree to break the curse that they had laid for Kitty. As they are about to lift it, the use of magic draws the attention of the skinwalker that had been involved in the attack on Ben. Kitty tries to fend it off, but it pins her to the ground and attacks. Cormac arrives in time to injure the skinwalker, who shifts back to Miriam Wilson, and then he kills her.
Despite the killing being self-defense, Cormac is arrested. Ben and Kitty work to prove his innocence by driving to New Mexico, where Ben had been attacked, to try to find evidence that Miriam was a skinwalker. Though the local attorney believes in skin-walkers, he is being pressured by Sheriff Marks to press charges, and Cormac has too much of a record of skirting the law to not prosecute. Cormac takes a plea-bargain of four years in prison. Kitty ends her vacation after Cormac's trial, and goes back to her show, "Kitty and the Midnight Hour." She also finishes her book which Ben tells her is not what the publisher had expected, but good none-the-less.
[edit] Plot points
- Ben becomes a werewolf.
- We learn about Cormac’s past and his family.
- Kitty receives several different forms of magical protection.
- Kitty's woman vs. herself conflict continues in her changed relationship with Ben. She has sex with him because it is instinctually appropriate, but intellectually she seems less certain of her choice, especially when she sees what effect it has on Cormac.
[edit] Themes
- Kitty reflects on Thoreau repeatedly through the book, trying to liken her urge to hide in the woods to his Walden Pond experiences.
- Insular small towns and their prejudices against outsiders are examined. The problems Kitty endures on her retreat are in part caused because she is a media sensation.
- Kitty finds that she cannot be a lone wolf and enjoys having her own pack.
[edit] Kitty and the Silver Bullet
| Kitty and the Silver Bullet | |
 Pre-release Cover |
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| Author | Carrie Vaughn |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Kitty series |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Warner Books |
| Publication date | 2008 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Preceded by | Kitty Takes a Holiday |
The fourth book in the Kitty Norville series, it was released in 2008.
After Visiting Cormac in jail, Kitty has a miscarriage after the full moon. Kitty and Ben are visited by Rick, who tells them he needs to take over as head vampire of Denver and asks them they will help. Kitty declines and Rick leaves. Later, Kitty is phoned and that her mother may have cancer. Kitty rushes to Denver to see her mother taking Ben with her, and Kitty introduces Ben to her family. Kitty meets a new vampire mercedes cook an actress who ends up playing her as a fool. Kitty then meets carl and meg again and they add to the problems with Rick and the head vampire problem, Ben becomes worried for Kitty's safety and teaches her how to use a gun. At the end Kitty shoots Meg and Carl is killed by his pack and Kitty and Ben become the Alpha pair of the pack. Ben also proposes to Kitty to marry him.
[edit] Plot Points
- Kitty returns to Denver with Ben and must deal with Carl and Meg.
- The vampires gear up for a fight over leadership, and much is revealed about the habits of vampires in Kitty's universe.
- Kitty has a miscarriage.
- Ben and Kitty become engaged.
