The Wizard of London: Elemental Masters #4

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The Wizard of London: Elemental Masters #4 (Elemental Masters #5)

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 3,623 ratings · 116 reviews

Isabelle Benson has learned that an Elemental Master is behind the attempts on her students' lives-and the would-be murderer is someone very close to her former flame, "The Wizard of London."

ebook, 384 pages

Published October 3rd 2006 by Daw Books (first published 2005)

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Nov 09, 2011 M— rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I know that Lackey has a very well-respected reputation as an early young-adult author, but I consider her works as books that can be primarily enjoyed by adults. Her books might be a little sweet, yes, and shades of grey might not wander too far away from black and white, and protagonists will more often than not be later-year teenagers completing their schooling (in the first volume at the very least), but she doesn't coddle any reader and she routinely tackles broad and complex issues in her...more I know that Lackey has a very well-respected reputation as an early young-adult author, but I consider her works as books that can be primarily enjoyed by adults. Her books might be a little sweet, yes, and shades of grey might not wander too far away from black and white, and protagonists will more often than not be later-year teenagers completing their schooling (in the first volume at the very least), but she doesn't coddle any reader and she routinely tackles broad and complex issues in her books and she's extraordinarily good at tying all her myriad character subplots into the main plot's cohesive goal.

And that's exactly why this book was so frustrating. Lackey set nine- and twelve-year-old girls as the primary protagonists, except that these particular nine- and twelve- girls where not sufficient to carry the narrative, so she framed it with the perspective of an adult female headmistress and brought the headmistress in to move the plot along every time it stalled. The headmistress would have been a much more enjoyable character to set the story around, but nooooo. Lackey wanted sweet little ~~Sara Crewe~~, sorry, Sarah Jane and tough little ~~Mary Sue~~, sorry, Nan to sally forth and save the day from shyster con-artist fake-psychics and several kidnappers all with the power of their forthright honesty and kindness and love of birds.

We get it, Lackey. You love birds. Wooooooo. You used this affection to far greater effect in your Gryphon trilogy, remember?

Then we have the big bad, the wizard of book's title, who isn't so much bad as misguided and ill-trained and who has a slight romantic past with the headmistress precisely so that the plot has some reason for the two of them to be aware of each other's existence but this detail is hardly important enough for anything but a bare mention, and besides the headmistress is married by now and blissfully happy (so there).

After a long and winding story scattered around small plots of British boarding schools and mediums and ghostly possessions and the radical educational philosophy of promoting healthy eating habits and not letting children freeze and the proper care and feeding of birds and the ruin of excessive passion and other such ilk, we have the climax of the book. Where Sarah Jane and Nan save the big bad from himself by hugging him and literally declaring themselves to be his friends. Awwww.

Oh my god. 400 pages of reading for that?

Fairy Tale Connection
Nominally based on the Snow Queen.(less)

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May 07, 2013 Skylar rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Too-perfect characters (the biggest flaw anyone has is 'not pretty'), pages and pages of needless backstory and redundant narrative (literally takes up half the book), absolutely no conflict between the protagonists (despite the author telling us that they're all so different from each other, they all get along perfectly), and utter ridiculousness (sorry, but birds do not nod, nor think like humans. You could have spared a line or two to say that these are special magical birds, but no, we're su...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Ward Bond added it · review of another edition

The letter that introduced twelve-year-old Sarah Jane Lyon-White to Isabelle Harton, who ran the Harton School in central London, seemed quite simple and straightforward. But it was what was not written in the letter that resonated to Isabelle's own finely turned 'extra' senses - 'Sarah has gifts we cannot train,' the letter whispered to her, 'nor can anyone we know. Those we trust tell us that you can...'. And it was true, for the Harton School was far from ordinary. It was Isabelle's job to tr

...more

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Sep 26, 2011 MarsianMan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sarah is a twelve year old girl whose parents (English medics helping the people of Africa) have sent her back to England for her studies. Unspoken is the understanding that some of her studies might be...of a mystic (but not magical) sort. Isabella and her husband run an academy where some of the students have "extra" lessons. Sarah's very abilities and possible future are a threat to some unknown force, and that force is trying to eliminate her.

This novel was absolutely Excellent....except for...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Mandolin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When Isabelle's heart was broken by David Alderscroft, a young Elemental Master who was rising in his power and fame within the magical society of London, she fled to India where she found true love with a commoner like herself. Now, she and Frederick have returned to London where they've opened up a school for children who, like themselves, are not masters of magic but rather possessors of more occult talents including extrasensory perception and prophecy. It is to this school that little Sarah...more When Isabelle's heart was broken by David Alderscroft, a young Elemental Master who was rising in his power and fame within the magical society of London, she fled to India where she found true love with a commoner like herself. Now, she and Frederick have returned to London where they've opened up a school for children who, like themselves, are not masters of magic but rather possessors of more occult talents including extrasensory perception and prophecy. It is to this school that little Sarah, a youngster who possesses a few remarkable gifts, is sent by her parents who are concerned both for her safety in their home of India and for her education in the occult arts. At the school, which is staffed by a rainbow of cultures including Hindu and Buddhist, Sarah finds a home filled with love and understanding, where she begins to thrive. It is not long before she's helping others, including a young girl named Nan who has been abandoned by her mother and forced to beg for a living. Nan, too, has some interesting gifts and the friendship that blossoms between the two is strengthened by their individual talents. Unfortunately, those very talents have roused the anger of a formidable foe in London, one who will stop at nothing to destroy the threat that the two little girls present to her plans for power and immortality. Using Isabelle's former flame as her pawn, she is ruthless in her quest for domination. Can Isabelle, Frederick, Sarah, Nan and the rest of the school's staff, with a little help from two very special birds and one very powerful "godling", stand against her icy wrath? Or will they, too, be frozen and relegated to the nether world to which she's sent scores of children before them?

The first two thirds of this book was wonderful and promising. I enjoyed getting to "meet" little Sarah and Nan and see the changes that came over each of them as their friendship developed and as they benefited from the teaching at the school. Isabelle's own story was also interesting, though I couldn't help but feel that David's character was lacking. He didn't provoke any strong feelings in me and it was hard to really root for him as a protagonist (or even to boo at him as an antagonist!) Because not much of the book is dedicated to him, that was not such a huge flaw that it detracted from the majority of the novel. However, as the focus shifts more towards him at the end, it caused the final scenes to be something of an anti-climax. I couldn't help but feel that the author had built up a great deal of tension surrounding the little girls then suddenly shifted the action toward David, losing my interest in the process and making the denouement a letdown. An okay book but certainly not one of the better in the series and NOT an example of what Mercedes Lackey can do at her best! (less)

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Apr 15, 2011 Laura de Leon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, sf-fantasy, blogged

Probably more of a 3.5 stars, but I enjoyed it.

The best part of this book was the magical world presented. It's an alternate history, set in England in a past much like ours. There was a world of elemental mages, with the power to control an element and the magical creatures associated with that sphere, and those with more psychic gifts-- like speaking with the dead as well as various battle related skills.

The characters were also interesting, particularly David Alderscroft. He's a basically goo...more

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May 27, 2011 Erika rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It wasn't that bad.
But there are couple of things that nagged me.

(Note: this is the very first Mercedes Lachey's book that I've read.
So maybe I'll change what I feel about it after reading other books.)

•First of all, there were spelling errors. A lot of them.
e.g. Alderscroft (the wizard of London)became Ashcroft
and he's one of the main charactors!

•Unlike the title indicates, the main character is a girl called Nan.

•How did the others put it? Anticlimax?
I was waiting for something to happen but...more

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Sep 30, 2012 notyourmonkey rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-read, braincandy, fantasy, library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 19, 2012 Lis Carey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, f-sf, fiction

I listened to the audio edition. Amazon continues its foolishly short-sighted practice of not allowing linking to Audible editions, even though they own Audible and presumably make money from the sale of Audible editions. So, I'm linking to a print edition.

I hadn't read any Lackey in quite a while, having grown tired of what I thought of as her typical output. A friend recommended this, and I was very pleasantly surprised.

This is a "secret history" set in late Victorian England, with Elemental M...more I listened to the audio edition. Amazon continues its foolishly short-sighted practice of not allowing linking to Audible editions, even though they own Audible and presumably make money from the sale of Audible editions. So, I'm linking to a print edition.

I hadn't read any Lackey in quite a while, having grown tired of what I thought of as her typical output. A friend recommended this, and I was very pleasantly surprised.

This is a "secret history" set in late Victorian England, with Elemental Mages (who possess what we would call magical powers based in the four elemental powers of earth, air, fire, and water) and the Gifted and Talented (who possess what we would call psychic powers, which are in this world referred to as occult powers) operate quietly behind the scenes, with most of the population unaware of their existence.

Isabelle Harton, with her husband Frederick, runs the Harton School for Boys and Girls, intended to serve the children of British soldiers, missionaries, and government officials serving abroad, as well as the "gifted and talented" children who aren't adequately served by the more numerous schools serving those with Elemental powers. Sarah Jane, just nine years old, is sent to the Harton School from Africa, where her parents are missionary healers. Sarah Jane is clearly among the Talented, but it's not clear what her gift is, and of course her parents do not commit that information to pen and paper. Sarah Jane settles in quickly, and befriends a street urchin, Nan, who has her own problems and, it turns out, her own Talent, and all is well for a time.

Then it becomes clear that Sarah Jane has the rarest of all Talents, a genuine ability to communicate with the spirits of the dead. Shortly thereafter, there is an attempt by an elemental master to arrange the deaths of both girls.

Isabelle and Frederick, who have been concerned for a bit that the sudden gathering of several Talented children in London means that those Talents will be needed, now know that the girls are in immediate danger, and must find the source of the threat and the real aim of whoever their unknown enemy is. This is a fun, engaging adventure with well-drawn characters, not just the girls themselves and the other principal members of the Harton household, but their enemies and allies, including Robin Goodfellow (yes, that one), David Alderscroft, the Fire Mage who courted and jilted Isabelle many years ago, and his mentor, the Air Mage Lady Cordelia.

Very enjoyable, and I'm planning to look up the earlier books in the serious. Recommended.

I borrowed this book from a friend.(less)

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Aug 03, 2011 Kara rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ft-1-fairy-tales

Oh Ms. Lackey, where do I start?

Basically, besides nothing happening, the biggest problem is the re-telling of 'The Snow Queen' forgets that at its heart is the story of a person willing to go to the ends of the earth and go through hell to rescue someone she loves. In this case, the woman just happens to be next door when the guy is in danger, and rescues him almost as an after thought to her day.

Edit:

Two things worth mentioning:

One: A very minor character is described as having parties where f...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Jessie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book, fiction, fantasy, magic-fantasy

I ADORE the Diana Tregarde series and wish she would have done more with it. The Bedlam's Bard series is one of my all-time favorites. And the SERRAted Edge series simply opened a whole new world of fantasy for me.

But I'm just not a fan of Lackey's Elemental Masters Victorian fantasy series, no matter how hard I try. This one in particular was more a YA fantasy. Not because children feature in it, but because the level of writing is juvenile.

I wish I liked it better. There is such a good premise...more

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Jul 19, 2010 Patience B rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What I found so interesting in this book was that things that normally make me want to send very mean mail to authors complaing about numorous mistakes and such were there, I could just ignore them better. The Story it's self isn't particularly earth shattering, but I still really liked it. I have read and re-read this book on a number of occasions when I had nothing else to read or couldn't find something that would capture my attention, and somehow it always does. The most annoying thing about...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Delicious Strawberry rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mercedes-lackey, fantasy

This book was definitely better than 'Gates of Sleep' and I can appreciate the Snow Queen associations - it was a very creative idea and I really enjoyed it - but compared to the other books within this series, is just not as interesting. While gifted children certainly have their place in this universe that Ms. Lackey created, I was disappointed when so much of the focus was on them rather than the Masters. I'm hoping that after this book and 'Reserved for the Cat' we'll go back to a female Ele...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Lily rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh, Mercedes Lackey. You spring no surprises. You rush endings. Your goodies are 'good' and your baddies are 'bad' and it's all beautifully black and white and nice and lovely. So why do I enjoy you so? Perhaps because there ARE no surprises and the writing is all indulgent and amusing, which makes it the perfect guilty pleasure read. And the characters are always charming and entertaining and the dialogue funny. The bird characters in this book are adorable and the hapless title character a sad...more

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Nov 07, 2011 June rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Lackey's Elemental fans

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 14, 2012 Pat rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

this is one of Lackey's Elemental Mage series. I pick these up for the Mercedes Lackey experience, and got what I expected. Fairly good read, the bird familiars that the two girls have in the story leant a little attitude and interest to the overall tale. The main female character was fairly well developed, but ML could have gone deeper into this character and built a more complex tale by focusing a little more on the solid foundatin of the main femaile character and her husband.
I found the mai...more

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Dec 27, 2010 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From the cover, I thought this book was going to be more about Sarah, so I was a bit surprised to see that Nan was really the main character. She and Sarah complimented each other so well, they could almost have been one character except the contrast between them allowed the dialogue to progress. I felt the character of Lord Alderscroft could have been more developed - he was rather one dimensional. Then again, I was reading this for a fun, lazy day read, so the lack of a complicated plot fit pe...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Antonia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You can tell this was developed from 2 short stories. The first third is the short stories, mostly untouched so there is a change in writing style when she starts on the novel. Also the second story regurgitates a lot of the first story needlessly. There are several contradictions about Nan, first she has never had a name but Nan and a few pages later she is called Nan Killian. Once you get to the novel it's pretty good. First third I'd give a 2, maybe a 2.5. The second part I'd give a 3.5. Not...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Geoffrey Cubbage rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Readers in need of fast, mindless fun

Mercedes Lackey is dear to me from my early adolescence, and mostly writes books that are good for early adolescents. Returning to them at a later age can be a little disappointing.

I picked The Wizard of London up at a garage sale for a quarter, planning on reading it during a bout of the 'flu some day or something, but ended up reading it sober and healthy and enjoying the experience more than I'd thought.

It's an unobjectionable little pulp romp that hits all the notes you want out of a romant...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Alexandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-fantasy, to-review

I have been a Mercedes Lackey fan since the very first book of hers that I ever picked up, when I was probably around 13 years old. I devoured her numerous novels of Valdemar – in fact, they still fill much of my bookshelves today – but never found myself unduly interested in any of her other series. Having been so long finished with the Valdemar series however, and interested in a guaranteed good fantasy read, I decided to go ahead and grab a book off of my shelf that I hadn’t read yet: The Wiz...more

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Feb 20, 2013 CatBookMom rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, audio-audible, cbm-library, sff-fantasy, audio-heard, finished-2013, rereads2013

From my Audible (audiobook) review:

Much as I love these tales, this is the weakest of the Elemental Masters novels. Most of the story involves Sarah and Nan, young, magically-talented girls who come to live at the Harton School in London, run by the also-talented Isabelle Harton and her husband. Sarah has been sent home to England "for her health" from her parents' hospital in Africa, along with her remarkably wise and capable African Gray parrot, simply called Gray. Nan is taken in from the st...more

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Jun 12, 2010 Ruby Hollyberry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, favorites

This book is the perfect example of what Mercedes Lackey does to me. She makes constant errors in spelling and grammar. She apparently can't remember what she wrote in the last book and contradicts herself. She is very sloppy with minor characters. She sometimes puts speeches into the wrong major character's mouth. Her books are unpredictable in quality, some great, some awful, some patchy. This one is very patchy, zooming ahead and then dropping you awkwardly. I don't agree with her morality at...more

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Oct 02, 2008 Beverly added it · review of another edition

This book took me far longer to read than I would have liked thanks to problems in real life. However, I enjoyed it, for the most part. It was a little draggy, in certain aspects, and I can understand how the romance between Isabelle and Frederick seemed a bit much.

However, after I realized just what David Alderscoft had done to himself, it was hard not to feel sorry for him. Thanks to Cordelia's manipulations, he had lost the one thing that he could have prized above everything. Now the juxtapo...more

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Jun 07, 2008 Kathryn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction

This is one of Misty's Elemental Master's series, where she rewrites fairytales into a real world, historical setting. The Wizard of London is based on "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Anderson, and is set in Victorian London.

First, a little background is needed. Generally, the characters are elemental masters, able to command supernatural creatures of fire (salamanders, lyons), water (nymphs, selkies), earth (fawns, brownies) or air (sylvans, dryads). In addition there are people with psychi...more This is one of Misty's Elemental Master's series, where she rewrites fairytales into a real world, historical setting. The Wizard of London is based on "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Anderson, and is set in Victorian London.

First, a little background is needed. Generally, the characters are elemental masters, able to command supernatural creatures of fire (salamanders, lyons), water (nymphs, selkies), earth (fawns, brownies) or air (sylvans, dryads). In addition there are people with psychic abilities, clairvoyants, telekinetics, and mediums. The last is the rarest ability of all, to communicate with the dead. They live among regular people, keeping their abilities secret, although they have formed secret societies, in order to govern and police themselves. There are even schools dedicated to educating young elemental mages and psychics, with a healthy mix of regular children as a front to stave off suspicion.

One such school is The Harton School for Girls and Boys, run by Isabelle and Frederick Harton. It's a poor school, in an unfashionable district of London, that caters to the children of officials and soldiers who serve in India. It was believed at the time that Western children were not able to tolerate the warmer climates of India and Africa, so at young ages they were sent to boarding schools in England. The Harton School also has some "special" students. Among them are Sarah Jane Lyon-White from Africa, the daughter of a doctor and missionary, who has some minor telepathic abilities, but more importantly, is a true medium, and Nan Killian, a street brat and the daughter of an alcoholic, who would have been doomed to either an early death or to follow the same self-destructive path as her mother, if not for her clairvoyant talents that earned her a place at the Harton School. Sarah and Nan have for some reason have been graced with the attention of "guardian spirits"; Sarah's in an African Grey parrot, named Grey, and Nan's is a raven named Neville. Girls and birds are inseparable.

Sarah Jane was instrumental in uncovering a fraud ring, headed by a woman who pretended to be a medium and fleeced grieving mothers and widows. So, when Sarah Jane and Nan are attacked, it is assumed to be the work of other false mediums, trying to stay in business, or friends of the one that Sarah exposed trying to get revenge. Isabelle and Frederick step up their vigilance, and appeal to the Elemental Masters for assistance in locating the ones responsible for the attack, but their efforts are lukewarm, and when their limpid investigation reveals an Irish anarchist to be the one who arranged the attack, and that he is already conveniently dead, they loose what little interest they had. Of course that is just not good enough for Isabelle and Frederick, who feel that there is much more going on than meets the eye. So, they arrange for the entire school to take a summer holiday at the country estate of one of their psychic acquaintances. While being in the country has given the girls a bit of a respite, the one who is bent on getting rid of Sarah Jane isn't about to give up that easily.

Most of you know I'm a Misty fan, and for the most part I was very pleased with this book. I've said it before and it still holds true, she's great at creating characters who are compelling and utterly sympathetic. I also love that she puts a lot of ambiguity in her characters, they're not all good and perfect, or bad and diabolical. It's just a bit more difficult to pull that off in this series, since they're all based on fairy tales and the story just has to happen a certain way, and it's to her credit that she was still able to make the villain, who casually murders children and turns their ghosts into her servants, a little sympathetic. And you can sort of see how she might have been a decent person under different circumstances. And the protagonists make mistakes, get angry, hold grudges, and suffer from self doubt and self consciousness. There's just one way that I was disappointed, and that was when I realized that there was only about seventy-five pages left in the novel, and none of the storylines were anywhere near resolved. This worried me. And for good reason. The ending was very...anticlimactic. Very disappointing. I was, I'm not ashamed to admit, hoping for a huge climactic battle scene, and what I got was, well, not a climactic battle scene. The ending was only ten pages long, and the very ending only three pages, counting the epilogue. That's just not satisfying. And I've come to expect better of Misty, as far as satisfying endings go. But, that's my one gripe. It's a pretty big gripe, but only one.(less)

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Jan 24, 2008 Mary Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not one of Mercedes Lackey's best books, in my opinion. There were several things she kept repeating - e.g. that 3 of the servants came from different, oftentimes opposing, cultures but had come to respect each other and work together as a unified group. As this is one of the main themes of the book - differing cultures/classes/genders working harmoniously together as equals - I understand the desire to stress it, but over and over? I'm not stupid (and I really hate being treated as such) and I...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Jayme(the ghost reader) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Overall, I liked the story. I loved the two young girls. I even loved the eagle and the crow. I had to search because it said in a review, this book was a retelling of the Snow Queen. I have not read the original story. I also liked that they had Robin Goodfellow and they used a "Midsummer Night's Dream into the story. That is one of my favorite plays.
I did not like David Alderscroft. I thought him arrogant, British prick. I did not agree with his Victorian age views on women. I also didn't like...more

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Jan 08, 2011 Libby rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Mercedes Lackey is hit and miss with me. I usually enjoy her books that have hints of old fairy tales in a different setting. The Wizard of London contained hints of The Snow Queen, but I missed some of the more direct correlation. I enjoyed the young characters of Sarah and Nan--a change for Lackey to have some of her main characters be children. The story was interesting, but nothing gripping or unique. I enjoyed the read, but it wasn't really remarkable.

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Jan 28, 2009 Jacqueline rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fairy-tales, fantasy

The Wizard of London back tracks a bit and shows us some of the events leading up to the world of the other books in the Elemental Masters series. This loose retelling of The Snow Queen features children as main characters, a raven and a parrot, and glimpses of boarding school life and Indian culture.

For those of the pagan bent who ponder on the elements, this book shows a unique correlation between fire and ice that really made me think.

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Apr 08, 2010 Marcie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: britain, fantasy-sci-fi, fiction, mythology

The first Elemental Masters was better. The beginning is episodic, and almost as if she wrote short, connected stories for serial publication because of the unnecessary repetition of background details (which annoys me). The main adventure was full of adventure, magic, friendship and intrigue - so enjoyable, even if a bit predictable. She peoples her magical worlds with rich and deep and original magic mythology and characters, with generous tie-ins to Western mythology. A good read to escape in...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-fantasy

This is based on a short story she wrote several years ago. The beginning is the exact same as the short story. This is probably least favorite of all of her books I have read. It's good but not of the quality I have seen in the other Elemental Masters books or the Valdemar series. I would like to see more development of these stories, maybe do miniseries similar to how the Valdemar books are done.

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About Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts &...more Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.

"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as `my job.' My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of `story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the `folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.

"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't `not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a `high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL [`There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the `evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.

"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:

"There's no such thing as `one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."

Also known as Misty Lackey.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/merced...(less)

More about Mercedes Lackey...

Books by Mercedes Lackey

Arrows of the Queen (Heralds of Valdemar, #1)

Magic's Pawn (Valdemar: Last Herald-Mage, #1)

Magic's Price (Valdemar: Last Herald-Mage, #3)

Magic's Promise (Valdemar: Last Herald-Mage, #2)

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“Not forgiving someone hurts you worse than it hurts him...even if he doesn't deserve to be forgiven...Not forgiving someone is like not pulling a thorn out of your foot just because you weren't the one who put it there.” — 44 people liked it

“...not forgiving someone is like not pulling a thorn out of your foot just because you weren't the one that put it there.” — 9 people liked it

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The Wizard of London: Elemental Masters #4 (Elemental Masters #5)

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