A Study in Sable (Elemental Masters)
Mercedes Lackey
ISBN: 9780756408725
Germanic opera divas, Sherlock Holmes, and the Watson couple as Elemental Magicians.
So much fun, so fluffy. I'm still bemused by the cover flaps giving the entire storyline away, as they did with the other most recent book with the Native American plotline. Very odd, but that was the one off note in an otherwise quite satisfying read (although the call-backs to the Selkie book were a bit heavy-handed).
Showing posts with label Elemental Masters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elemental Masters. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Fantasy: From a High Tower, Mercedes Lackey
From a High Tower (Elemental Masters)
Mercedes Lackey
ISBN: 9780756408985
Fantasy: mash-up of Rapunzel with a German wild-west tale.
Read June 2015
These last few books have struck me as odd for various reasons. This time around, I was perplexed by the jacket copy that gave away the entire story to the 3/4s mark. I was floored when I began reading and the story never picked up the pace - I was expecting the info in the jacket copy to be the set-up for the story, not the largest portion of the story itself! That just struck me as very strange.
Once I got over that, I did enjoy the tale. These are mostly light-hearted stories about good men and women who are masters (or adepts) at working with elemental spirits, and who stand against evil people who wish to use the elemental power (here presented as overwhelmingly neutral to human morality and affairs) for evil.
This particular story also involves the last heroine from Blood Red who has grown into her role as a legit ass-kicking guardian warrior, which was gratifying. There was also a sub-plot involving a tribe of Pawnee enduring racism and caricatured portrayals of themselves in an attempt to earn money to purchase titles to their ancestral land. I thought that was handled with skill and grace, but I am not native, so there may be issues I don't see.
Another fun little story, and a new set of interesting characters to add to the roster of interesting people in the overall series.
Mercedes Lackey
ISBN: 9780756408985
Fantasy: mash-up of Rapunzel with a German wild-west tale.
Read June 2015
These last few books have struck me as odd for various reasons. This time around, I was perplexed by the jacket copy that gave away the entire story to the 3/4s mark. I was floored when I began reading and the story never picked up the pace - I was expecting the info in the jacket copy to be the set-up for the story, not the largest portion of the story itself! That just struck me as very strange.
Once I got over that, I did enjoy the tale. These are mostly light-hearted stories about good men and women who are masters (or adepts) at working with elemental spirits, and who stand against evil people who wish to use the elemental power (here presented as overwhelmingly neutral to human morality and affairs) for evil.
This particular story also involves the last heroine from Blood Red who has grown into her role as a legit ass-kicking guardian warrior, which was gratifying. There was also a sub-plot involving a tribe of Pawnee enduring racism and caricatured portrayals of themselves in an attempt to earn money to purchase titles to their ancestral land. I thought that was handled with skill and grace, but I am not native, so there may be issues I don't see.
Another fun little story, and a new set of interesting characters to add to the roster of interesting people in the overall series.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Blood Red, Mercedes Lackey
Blood Red
Mercedes Lackey
ISBN: 9780756408978
Read June 18, 2014
Elemental Masters "Series"
Another Elemental Masters book, this one reworking Red Riding Hood, and I like it. It's a little rough around the edges, but nothing near so irritating as Unnatural Issue was, and a much more original story than Steadfast. I liked it about as much as I liked Home from the Sea.
I do think the whole "prejudice" character conflict was a bit wedged in there, but that didn't detract from the story too badly.
On the other hand, I'm greatly pleased that we didn't end this with a wedding or romance, which was delightful.
Rosa is an Earth Master, and she was studying with her Grossmutter before a shifter (werewolf) viciously attacked and killed the old lady, and tried to kill Rosa, who defended herself by calling upon the aid of the Earth spirits of the forest. Now Rosa is a Hunter, and uses her talents to rid forests and villages of vampires, rogue magicians, and werewolves. A social vacation at a White Lodge is interrupted by a pair of cousins who bring word of an ancient and continuous predation upon a part of Romania, and the trio heads out to investigate what they believe will be a single mad sorcerer. If only it were so simple.
Mercedes Lackey
ISBN: 9780756408978
Read June 18, 2014
Elemental Masters "Series"
Another Elemental Masters book, this one reworking Red Riding Hood, and I like it. It's a little rough around the edges, but nothing near so irritating as Unnatural Issue was, and a much more original story than Steadfast. I liked it about as much as I liked Home from the Sea.
I do think the whole "prejudice" character conflict was a bit wedged in there, but that didn't detract from the story too badly.
On the other hand, I'm greatly pleased that we didn't end this with a wedding or romance, which was delightful.
Rosa is an Earth Master, and she was studying with her Grossmutter before a shifter (werewolf) viciously attacked and killed the old lady, and tried to kill Rosa, who defended herself by calling upon the aid of the Earth spirits of the forest. Now Rosa is a Hunter, and uses her talents to rid forests and villages of vampires, rogue magicians, and werewolves. A social vacation at a White Lodge is interrupted by a pair of cousins who bring word of an ancient and continuous predation upon a part of Romania, and the trio heads out to investigate what they believe will be a single mad sorcerer. If only it were so simple.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Reserved for the Cat vs Steadfast, Mercedes Lackey
Reserved for the Cat, Mercedes Lackey (published 2007)
Re-read August 9, 2013
ISBN - 978-0756403621
Steadfast ("reviewed" on my reading page June 10-15, 2013)
While reading, I felt that the plotline of Steadfast was very
similar to Reserved for the Cat, but then I read that way back in
2007 when it came out, and my memory was a bit fuzzy. I re-read
Reserved yesterday, and they really are quite similar.
I have to wonder if that is on purpose, because the whole of
Reserved for the Cat had a feel of "ballet girls are better than
variety-show dancers" to it, and the whole point of Steadfast was to
feature those same slightly lower class of dancers and personages as the protagonists and important figures in that same
world.
There were minor differences of course - Nina/Ninette the ballerina
couldn't choreograph, while Katie is a brilliant dance designer. The
gathered "powerful menfolk" are Masters in the first and Magicians in
the second. The foe was an Earth Elemental in Nina's case, and Katie's
abusive husband in the second. Although I do pause for a moment that in
the comparison, it's sort of rough for Katie's poor hubby that an Earth
Elemental comes off as so much more crafty and witty and clever than that poor sot.
What's interesting is that reading them so close together, I can't
really decide that one is better than the other, just that they are so
very close to each other in style and tone and plot. Really, the major
difference I see is that Ninette gets to save herself in the end
(although she hides that knowledge) and Katie gets saved in the end by a
magical dragon who thinks she's sweet. As a woman, I have to say I
like the first option better. However, the entire plotline (in both
cases) is a woman alone and dependent on the whims (thankfully of the
most noble and kindhearted sort) of the current batch of men who are
angling to save her because it helps them out. Not much in the way of
agency when you're relegated to taking orders, after all.
On a final note, re-reading Reserved for the Cat did make me question one thing: why didn't the Cat ever reveal himself to Ninette?
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Previously Published Review: Unnatural Issue, Mercedes Lackey
Sir Richard Whitestone was an Earth Master, as his family before him, tuned to the elements of hearth, home, and healing. He was called to London to capture and kill a dreaded Necromancer, practicer of forbidden blood and spirit-binding magics. Just part of his duty as a "good" magician and Master to help protect the innocent. While away in London, his beloved wife dies in childbed, and as he sees her lying dead hours later, he blames it on Susanne, their newborn daughter.
He forgets his grief by isolating himself on his magic-filled second-floor, poring over tomes of dusty magic practice, while Susanne is raised by the servants in the equally-isolated Yorkshire moors.
After 20 years, grief and desperate desire have driven Sir Richard to become what he once hated, and with his need for a perfect "vessel" for his wife's spirit, he chances to see Susanne out on the moors, and realizes that she is the perfect image of his wife. Now his hatred and bitterness has an outlet. Now all he must do is catch her.
Now, I won't go any further to avoid spoilers, but here's some highlights.
Susanne is feisty, spunky, and a better magician than her father, with an interesting magical sponsor.
Sir Richard is suitably mad, and totally misogynistic. I think the progression of his obsession with Susanne came up a little quickly, but otherwise, he's an excellent villain.
Lords Peter and Charles are interesting, and the sections with Peter and his man Garrick (especially the "impersonating a mad artist" bits) out investigating in Yorkshire are quite fun. I love the way Charles' manor and holdings and people are described.
The tale gets very dark around the midpoint, with the intro of WWI into the characters' lives. Everyone is threatened both by war, and by the mad, unimaginable power that Sir Richard now posesses.
Some slight flaws:
At the very beginning, Sir Richard gets magical 'poisoning' from being in London for only a week or so, due to the death and pollution and etc, but later on, Susanne is living in London for months with no ill effects. Likewise on the battlefields of France, with death and poison and shattered magical earth-bonds, there's no mention of this causing trouble. Perhaps a niggling point, but it bugged me enough to take me out of the story at several different places.
In another type of niggle, Susanne herself, other than having a mad father, isn't ever really challenged or directly threatened magically. She deals with any number of difficulties, but these aren't ever exactly threats. That, coupled with the insistence on her magical prowess (which we never really see either) made everything seem slightly unreal, and a litle less dramatic - I wasn't ever worried for her.
Last niggle, the "love triangle" was totally unnecessary, and really wasn't handled as well as it could have been. Either make it more realistic, or leave it out entirely, I don't care which. Please don't throw silly love stories into something which otherwise tries hard to be a gritty portrayal of people dealing with the horrors of the undead and of WWI in the trenches. The contrasts do neither storyline any good at all.
Niggles totally aside, a very fun read, and totally worth the 2 hours of sleep that it cost me to finish last night.
He forgets his grief by isolating himself on his magic-filled second-floor, poring over tomes of dusty magic practice, while Susanne is raised by the servants in the equally-isolated Yorkshire moors.
After 20 years, grief and desperate desire have driven Sir Richard to become what he once hated, and with his need for a perfect "vessel" for his wife's spirit, he chances to see Susanne out on the moors, and realizes that she is the perfect image of his wife. Now his hatred and bitterness has an outlet. Now all he must do is catch her.
Now, I won't go any further to avoid spoilers, but here's some highlights.
Susanne is feisty, spunky, and a better magician than her father, with an interesting magical sponsor.
Sir Richard is suitably mad, and totally misogynistic. I think the progression of his obsession with Susanne came up a little quickly, but otherwise, he's an excellent villain.
Lords Peter and Charles are interesting, and the sections with Peter and his man Garrick (especially the "impersonating a mad artist" bits) out investigating in Yorkshire are quite fun. I love the way Charles' manor and holdings and people are described.
The tale gets very dark around the midpoint, with the intro of WWI into the characters' lives. Everyone is threatened both by war, and by the mad, unimaginable power that Sir Richard now posesses.
Some slight flaws:
At the very beginning, Sir Richard gets magical 'poisoning' from being in London for only a week or so, due to the death and pollution and etc, but later on, Susanne is living in London for months with no ill effects. Likewise on the battlefields of France, with death and poison and shattered magical earth-bonds, there's no mention of this causing trouble. Perhaps a niggling point, but it bugged me enough to take me out of the story at several different places.
In another type of niggle, Susanne herself, other than having a mad father, isn't ever really challenged or directly threatened magically. She deals with any number of difficulties, but these aren't ever exactly threats. That, coupled with the insistence on her magical prowess (which we never really see either) made everything seem slightly unreal, and a litle less dramatic - I wasn't ever worried for her.
Last niggle, the "love triangle" was totally unnecessary, and really wasn't handled as well as it could have been. Either make it more realistic, or leave it out entirely, I don't care which. Please don't throw silly love stories into something which otherwise tries hard to be a gritty portrayal of people dealing with the horrors of the undead and of WWI in the trenches. The contrasts do neither storyline any good at all.
Niggles totally aside, a very fun read, and totally worth the 2 hours of sleep that it cost me to finish last night.
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