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Title: Unnatural Issue
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Victorian/WWI fantasy/romance
Thingummies: 3
Synopsis: When his wife dies giving birth while he's on duty, a master magician refuses to see the child and sinks into madness and despair. On the eve of WWI, the daughter comes into her own as a magician. But her father sees an opportunity to bring his dead wife back to life--by sacrificing the child he never wanted in the first place.
Thoughts: Yet another installment in the Elemental Master series, this one is based on the fairy tale "The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter". (Yes, yes, I know--while each of these books is an update of a classic fairy tale to the mid-19th or early 20th century, the tales in question are getting increasingly obscure as she goes on.)
Not brilliant literature. Just fun. They're the literary equivalent of, I don't know, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Unsophisticated, churned out, and utterly lacking in any nutritional value. But easily consumed and enjoyed.
This one does a nice job of bridging the gap between the mannered manor-houses of the Victorian era and the horrors of World War I, which it treats quite reasonably and respectfully. (Or as respectfully as you can when--minor spoiler--a necromancer is walking around a battlefield covered in dead bodies. The results are fairly obvious.)
It was clearly written fairly quickly--there are some conversations that are awfully repetitive. And the romance, I'm afraid, falls fairly flat. (Fortunately, the romantic element is somewhat less important than Susanne dealing with her dreadful father.) Another minor problem is that some of the characters from other books recur, and Lackey is having some conservation of names problems. There are now too many Peters and Roses running around this series, and it's becoming confusing.
But there's a nice, well-developed magic system, a suitably spunky heroine, a bit of tugging at the heart-strings, and a plot that moves along at a nice clip. Grab some popcorn. It's perfect for a quick read on a rainy afternoon.
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Victorian/WWI fantasy/romance
Thingummies: 3
Synopsis: When his wife dies giving birth while he's on duty, a master magician refuses to see the child and sinks into madness and despair. On the eve of WWI, the daughter comes into her own as a magician. But her father sees an opportunity to bring his dead wife back to life--by sacrificing the child he never wanted in the first place.
Thoughts: Yet another installment in the Elemental Master series, this one is based on the fairy tale "The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter". (Yes, yes, I know--while each of these books is an update of a classic fairy tale to the mid-19th or early 20th century, the tales in question are getting increasingly obscure as she goes on.)
Not brilliant literature. Just fun. They're the literary equivalent of, I don't know, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Unsophisticated, churned out, and utterly lacking in any nutritional value. But easily consumed and enjoyed.
This one does a nice job of bridging the gap between the mannered manor-houses of the Victorian era and the horrors of World War I, which it treats quite reasonably and respectfully. (Or as respectfully as you can when--minor spoiler--a necromancer is walking around a battlefield covered in dead bodies. The results are fairly obvious.)
It was clearly written fairly quickly--there are some conversations that are awfully repetitive. And the romance, I'm afraid, falls fairly flat. (Fortunately, the romantic element is somewhat less important than Susanne dealing with her dreadful father.) Another minor problem is that some of the characters from other books recur, and Lackey is having some conservation of names problems. There are now too many Peters and Roses running around this series, and it's becoming confusing.
But there's a nice, well-developed magic system, a suitably spunky heroine, a bit of tugging at the heart-strings, and a plot that moves along at a nice clip. Grab some popcorn. It's perfect for a quick read on a rainy afternoon.
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Date: 2011-08-29 07:02 pm (UTC)From: