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The Case of the Spellbound Child

(Elemental Masters #14)

Mercedes Lackey

3.98 · Rating details · 862 ratings · 111 reviews

The fourteenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series continues the reimagined adventures of Sherlock Holmes in a richly-detailed alternate 20th-century England.

While Sherlock is still officially dead, John and Mary Watson and Nan Killian and Sarah Lyon-White are taking up some of his case-load--and some for Lord Alderscroft, the Wizard of London.

L ...more

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Hardcover, 320 pages

Published December 3rd 2019 by Daw Books

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· 862 ratings · 111 reviews

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Jan 29, 2020 Ellen rated it it was ok

Shelves: ghosts, fairy-tales, magic, england, sherlock-holmes, victorian, birds, mystery

I'm weary of reading about Sarah and Nan's exploits, with or without the inclusion of Holmes and Watson. I keep returning to this series hoping that its charm will be revived, and I'm consistently disappointed. I've got to come to terms with the fact that I will never enjoy the continuation of this series as much as I enjoyed earlier books like The Gates of Sleep and other similar strictly-fairy tale retellings.

Glutton for punishment that I (apparently) am, I'll probably keep reading any furth ...more

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Mar 16, 2020 Walt rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I have a love-hate relationship with this book. The plot was thoroughly engaging. The villain was especially villain-y. The suspense kept building. Then, it was over. It was not necessarily a let down. The good guys followed the clues and solved the mystery. There were no lose ends. The biggest problem I have with the book is the bizarre interpersonal relationships between the protagonists. I am also seemingly the only reviewer who read the book and thinks something is off in the way these Victo I have a love-hate relationship with this book. The plot was thoroughly engaging. The villain was especially villain-y. The suspense kept building. Then, it was over. It was not necessarily a let down. The good guys followed the clues and solved the mystery. There were no lose ends. The biggest problem I have with the book is the bizarre interpersonal relationships between the protagonists. I am also seemingly the only reviewer who read the book and thinks something is off in the way these Victorians interact with each other.

Lackey infuses magic with the world of Sherlock Holmes. It is an interesting environment. Lackey's concept of magic is a combination of Philip Pullman and Last Airbender rather than Hogwarts and the Hobbit. It is difficult for readers to understand her worldview, especially if they are jumping into the 14th book in the series. Lackey cleverly solves this problem with 2 novella stories as a way of introducing her characters and what they do. There are a lot of characters; and the two short-stories are difficult to follow each of them. However, they set me up for the main story.

The main story is that of a mysterious dark figure (I imagine the Nazgul from LOTR) captured children and appears to such energy and power from them in what is called a dark sleep. The villain is terrifying. The combination of the crime, mysterious portrayal, and motives is superbly done. I kept reading the book because I was so enthralled with the villain. When the story reverts back to the good guys chasing the villain, I became irritated.

The good guys in this story are a motley group of magicians. Lackey distinguishes between magicians and masters; but probably goes deeper into the distinction in other books. Nan and Sarah seems to be the center of the web. Both of them have powers in the spirit world. One is a medium, the other is a psychic. There is a lot of potential to add them to a Holmes-ian world. Around them are a transgender ghost / human hybrid (I am not sure), and another child, Suki, who has some magical abilities. Things get more complicated in that they regularly associate with John and Mary Watson. Holmes makes an appearance every now and then. Somehow he is dead, but not dead (I don't know). Then there is the wizard of London, Lord Aberscroft. The result is a hierarchy of some kind with Aberscroft at the top, and Nan and Sarah (Suki) at the bottom. This fluid hierarchy is what causes me trouble with the book.

Nan and Sarah are the heroines of the book. However, they constantly have to have someone else provide instruction or order to their activities. Dr. Watson is the immediate "supervisor." Almost every time he speaks he appears to be leading the discussion, but has little or nothing to contribute. Nan and Sarah (and Mary Watson) take that in stride. I have no problem with the male chaperone donning the role of the fool; but at the same time, he frequently makes condescending remarks to the women, or man-splains to them. The characters may not take notice; but this reader did.

The condescension would be easier to accept if the female leads were stronger women. However, they are no Hermione Grangers or Zena Warrior Princess. They have the stereotypical weaknesses of women, a combination of daintiness (despite efforts to describe them as combat-ready) and materialism permeate Nan and Sarah. Team Watson goes into the rural countryside to track down the missing children. All expenses are paid by Lord Aberscroft. The girls need to constantly change clothes. Their feminism will not allow them to accept money from Aberscroft; but they gladly accept presents - especially clothes. They change clothes constantly, much to girlish delight. Several times I imagined them in Abercroft's lingerie (he always packs underwear and lingerie for them in addition to fancy clothes) having a pillow fight in the hotel. .....And they need to constantly stop and eat. There is so much eating in this book, that I wonder if Lackey either has an eating disorder or grew up poor and hungry.

So Team Watson goes investigating. Nan: Let us stop and have a snack. Sarah: What did Aberscroft pack for us? Nan: Sausages! Sarah: Berries! Nan: Carrion for our pet birds (the birds talk). Sarah: Gosh I am full. Nan: How about resting by this tree while we pass into the spirit world and search for clues. Sarah: OK. Nan: No ghosts here. Sarah: I guess we should go back to the hotel. Dr. Watson: Not before you ladies clean up this mess. Nan and Sarah: Ha Ha Ha. Your are so right. Mary Watson: Now that we cleaned up I am so tired. Nan: I need to change clothes. Sarah: I can't wait to see what Aberscroft has packed for us.

Meanwhile, the children get weaker and weaker. The story seems to move at a glacial pace. Team Watson follows the clues and slowly, slowly get closer to the villain. Then, up pops Sherlock Holmes. "I have found your villain!" Case solved. Almost. The team has to trap and capture the rogue. There was no real climax. Sherlock's deus ex machina removed much of the mystery and suspense. The capture was kinda dull. The liberation of the children was anticlimactic.

Overall, an engaging story. I have no attachment to the characters. I dislike Dr. Watson. Part of that may come from jumping so late in the series. The characters seem too superficial. It is difficult to understand the magic of this re-imagined Victorian Age. Judging by other reviews, people will either enjoy the mystery or be turned off by the complexity of characters and their magical abilities. Because Sherlock has so little presence in the book, I do not recommend for fans of Sherlock. However, as a unique magical world involving spirit magicians and blood magicians, it is a fascinating creation.

...more

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Jan 02, 2020 Rachel Bridgeman rated it really liked it

Shelves: titanuary

The Case Of The Spellbound Child' is published in paperback and Kindle ebook on the 7th of January, and whilst anyone who knows my reading habits is aware of my love of seeing a series through from book 1, the synopsis of this one sounded so great I leapt straight in at number 14!

So there are 13 for me to catch up on, lucky me!

If this is your first time reading the 'Elemental Masters' series, it is an alternate Sherlockian timeline set in a world where magic, demons and ghosts are real.

We are gi The Case Of The Spellbound Child' is published in paperback and Kindle ebook on the 7th of January, and whilst anyone who knows my reading habits is aware of my love of seeing a series through from book 1, the synopsis of this one sounded so great I leapt straight in at number 14!

So there are 13 for me to catch up on, lucky me!

If this is your first time reading the 'Elemental Masters' series, it is an alternate Sherlockian timeline set in a world where magic, demons and ghosts are real.

We are given an introduction to this in the shape of Reg's story, which opens the book. He is a recently made ghost and through reading about his short afterlife, we immediately get an inkling into what ghosts can-and cannot-do, the immediate perception of the place-London,early twentieth century-and where Holmes and the Irregulars fit.

This is a post-Reichenbach Falls story, which centers Watson, Mary,Sarah and Nan and their adopted daughter Suki as they battle elemental forces in a tale loosely based on Hansel and Gretel. Children are going missing and there is only one group of detectives brave enough to stop them...

Sherlock lurks in the background of this tale, with the emphasis on the mising children and returning them to their parents. I found it a charming read, I loved the notion of people being able to master the four elements (earth, wind, air and fire) and that there were wizarding masters!

The atmosphere is very fraught with danger and I can agree somewhat with other reviewers who found the use of colloquial speech -including some terms for sets of people which some readers may find offensive-got a bit much after a while. The 'Cor Blimey guvnor!' type of thing, if that makes sense, it causes something of a disconnect on occasions, but overall, I really did enjoy this cat and mouse chase which took the opportunity to reimagine Holmesian England, and be relevant in the case of children who are being used for nefarious purposes...

A Sherlock purist may find lots to disagree with here, but this reader is always ready to flag down a hansom, and leap on board a new mystery from modern writers.Titan have a wonderful back catalogue of Sherlockian delights ranging from steampunk Holmes, to Cthulhu fighting Holmes ...more

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Dec 25, 2019 Catherine Spencer-Mills rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Once again, reading until 3 am, I reluctantly attempt to sleep. The next day I finish, sated, satisfied, in awe of an author who can keep me enthralled.

Ms. Lackey is one of my all time favorite authors. If you are looking for an adventurous read, with some frivolity, some philosophy, and page turning suspense, she's your best bet. ...more

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Jan 03, 2020 Runalong rated it liked it

Not a bad way to reintroduce a series in its 14th novel. It’s a very cosy set up in a magical version of Victorian England but does manage to contain some nasty moments of wickedness

Full review https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl... ...more

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Dec 06, 2019 Marlene rated it really liked it

Originally published at Reading Reality

I actually read this a couple of weeks ago, while I was in the middle of listening to The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl followed by Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage. I was on a Sherlock Holmes kick and looking for stories that were at least Holmes-adjacent, as both Mesmerizing Girl and Spellbound Child turned out to be.

In other words, unlike Mycroft and Sherlock, which is definitely Holmesian all the way even if it is still focused more o ...more

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Feb 06, 2020 Kiri Salazar rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I’ve always enjoyed Mercedes Lackey. I particularly enjoyed her Valdemar series As well as her twist on fairytales “The Fairy-godmother” series which takes classics and rewrites them in novel and unsuspecting ways. This review discusses some of what takes place, in vague detail, but that is why I marked it as having spoilers.

When I learned that Mercedes Lackey had borrowed a favorite character to base Victorian era mysteries I was all aboard. The Case of the Spellbound Child is book 14 of the El I’ve always enjoyed Mercedes Lackey. I particularly enjoyed her Valdemar series As well as her twist on fairytales “The Fairy-godmother” series which takes classics and rewrites them in novel and unsuspecting ways. This review discusses some of what takes place, in vague detail, but that is why I marked it as having spoilers.

When I learned that Mercedes Lackey had borrowed a favorite character to base Victorian era mysteries I was all aboard. The Case of the Spellbound Child is book 14 of the Elemental Series which imagines an England where magicians of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water live secretly among ordinary humans. But the characters of this particular book start with such complicated backstoriesI realized pretty quickly i needed to go back and read the preceding work—Book 13 The Bartered Brides, which helped immensely to keep straight the many characters in both books. It appears I am to read the series in reverse as Book 12–A Scandal in Battersea—predates the events I just read and might have helped to make the stories more enjoyable overall.

Mercedes Lackey has taken the conceit of borrowing the construct of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s world of a consulting detective and thrown it into her Elemental Series. Who wouldn’t want to imagine how Sherlock Holmes would function in a time of magic? Imagine my slight disappointment when I learned that not only does Sherlock possess no magic, but he barely plays a roll in any of the series works? Instead, the author chooses to introduce a cast of Mary and John Watson as supporting actors to three new female detectives with psychic and mediumistic paranormal abilities to hunt ghosts and use their mystic abilities to solve the crimes committed by magical villains.

The books follow Nan Killian, a psychic, and Sarah Lyon-White—a medium as they search for missing children in the wild Dartmoor countryside. They bring their young ward, also a psychic with a history as a scrappy street urchin, on a journey to look for the missing children who have disappeared over the years with barely a peep of concern from local people as they were orphans, or children from travelers who are worse than trash in most people’s minds. Along for the adventure are their pets—an African Parrot named Grey—for the color of his plumage—and a Raven whose name escapes me despite reading it constantly for over three hours. Both birds have the ability to talk. John has magic—as a Water Master as well as a doctor and Mary, I believe as an Earth Master.

The book really isn’t a bad example of a stylized Victorian mystery. You have plucky characters who follow clues and try to use their powers for good. The biggest problem I had with the books was they were just too many heroes with so many skills that the discovery of the villain and rescue of the waifs is a bit too pat.

The characters barely have to exert themselves at all. They know where the children are going missing. They quickly meet the local magicians and rule them out. They take jaunts around posing as artists, while Suki uses clever pretenses to interact with the suspects and rule them out one-by-one. And, as if having five qualified magic users and two enhanced avians wasn’t enough, Sherlock Holmes himself runs the miscreant to ground and helps to narrow down the likeliest hiding place for the man’s cottage—this despite the fact that the sleuth has his memory wiped of the travel to and from said location. There were just too many cooks stirring this particular crime pot.

Mercedes Lackey is a very talented writer. She creates very likable heroes and very detestable villains. I very much wanted to learn the outcome of the children’s captivity, so I made it through to the end. I think this work would appeal to younger readers and is perhaps intended as young adult fiction.

The biggest detractor of this particular work was the authors decision to have her characters speak in dialects that apparently reflect the wide range of diversity in what can be called English yet is entirely incomprehensible to read. I have no doubt the author made a detailed effort to capture the particular patois specific to the region. Perhaps the printed work came with footnotes that helped the reader to decipher what locals were saying. The fact that the author used the fairy Puck to grant the main characters the ability to understand said speech by swallowing a petal greatly eased their understanding, but dwarfed the reader’s opportunity to garner meaning from context had the newcomers been required to stumble around without much success to understand the locals. Truly, the phrasing was incredibly hard to understand and I took breaks from reading just to rest my brain a bit. But, if you are fascinated by dialects and magical mysteries, I suspect you could find an interest in following Nan, Sarah, Suki, their animal side kicks and Mary and John Watson on their grand adventures. But start by reading the series in the right order is my recommendation! ...more

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Aug 18, 2020 Kathy Davie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-grade, fantasy-paranormal, adventure, alternative-history

Fifteenth in the Elemental Masters alternative history paranormal fantasy series for upper middle-grade readers and revolving around magic users in a richly detailed Victorian England where Sherlock Holmes takes second place to two young ladies who work in a magical partnership with Dr and Mrs Watson and now their young ward.

My Take
I do like the bargain Nan and Sarah come up with at the start in that first "case" they solved, and it won't be the first time the group comes up with ways to help pe ...more

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Feb 07, 2020 Claudia rated it really liked it

Shelves: y2020, books-by-lackey

Latest in the Elemental Masters series and the next installment in the adventures of John Watson and associates. Sherlock makes a couple appearances as he is working on another case in Dartmoor that eventually merges with the Watson crew.

The story starts with a proverbial 'bang' as a brand new ghost (he was murdered on page one) amuses himself terrorizing the people surrounding his death location before Nan and Sarah with Peter and Suki, force him to move on. It seems like a short story that was Latest in the Elemental Masters series and the next installment in the adventures of John Watson and associates. Sherlock makes a couple appearances as he is working on another case in Dartmoor that eventually merges with the Watson crew.

The story starts with a proverbial 'bang' as a brand new ghost (he was murdered on page one) amuses himself terrorizing the people surrounding his death location before Nan and Sarah with Peter and Suki, force him to move on. It seems like a short story that was attached to the book in order to review what the group has been doing since the last adventure/book - namely helping ghosts about London move on.

A letter to Sherlock has them - with Lord Alderford's encouragement - investigating a pair of missing children only to discover that many children had disappeared over the past four years. Chapters switch between our adventurers and the viewpoint of Ellie, one of the missing children, who is being forced to serve someone called The Dark One who has nearly a dozen children chained in a hidden cottage. The Dark One steals the magical energy from his captives, using them as a battery for his own usage.

The Watson crew had some rather innovative plans to discover the villain especially with the open and wild spaces pockmarked with abandoned tin mines, bogs, streams and rocky outcroppings. Trying to find if one of the cottages hidden by generations of witches and magicians held the children.

The biggest stumbling block I had was with the Dartmoor accent and slang. Too often I had no idea what someone - especially the children and "Dark One' - was saying. But I got to the point where I would scan the dialogue, see if I could understand and then continue on.

Still a fun read but I have to wonder how many more novels are going to be generated by this series. The Elemental Masters was an interesting alternate universe especially mashing it with variants of fairy tales. Fairy tales have been set aside while Lackey focuses on the Sherlockian crew.

2020-027 ...more

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Dec 19, 2019 Anthony Atthowe rated it really liked it

Mercedes Lackey continues her mashup of Sherlock Holmes and the Elemental Masters series. I've enjoyed the series, and this mystery is a great addition.

I enjoyed the leisurely pace of the book up until the end. Where the pace picked up and finished the story quickly.

Thanks for the fun read! These novels tend to be light and fun quick reads ...more

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Jan 28, 2020 Curtis A. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Great book!

A tour DE force by this wonderful author. As always , complex and three dimensional characters continue the storyline of a completely well imagined system of magic and fantasy, along with blending alternative history elements and well loved characters from other authors. A very satisfying read!

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Dec 06, 2019 Imogene rated it liked it

Shelves: crime, ghostly, fantasy, magic

While I’m Still not sold on the Sherlock Holmes aspects of the Elemental Magician series, at least he was barely in it. Although it was a bit too neat that he suddenly had all of the answers. Still, a decent read.

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Jan 17, 2020 Marsha rated it really liked it

Shelves: adventure, fiction, fantasy, history, children-young-adults, mystery

Starts a little slow, but develops nicely with magical and psychic abilities being put to use alongside some Sherlockian observations.

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Jan 26, 2020 James rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

A story that should have been a novella has been padded out to make a full length novel. Another series reaching an end unless the author can find a new hook to hang it on.

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Aug 09, 2020 Diane rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, pastiche-or-homage-or-continuation, fantasy_gaslit, _requested-from-library

Another "I liked it" around 3.4-3.5 (i.e., good enough for a 4 only on Amazon), for this series.
Again, the main protagonists are spiritual magicians Nan and Sarah, plus their similarly gifted young ward Suki, and their avian familiars Neville and Grey, along with water and air elemental magicians John and Mary Watson.
We're told of Mary's air elementals doing some surveying and surveilling, plus some messengering and basic "proof of magic", but the birds do much more "onscreen", again leaving m Another "I liked it" around 3.4-3.5 (i.e., good enough for a 4 only on Amazon), for this series.
Again, the main protagonists are spiritual magicians Nan and Sarah, plus their similarly gifted young ward Suki, and their avian familiars Neville and Grey, along with water and air elemental magicians John and Mary Watson.
We're told of Mary's air elementals doing some surveying and surveilling, plus some messengering and basic "proof of magic", but the birds do much more "onscreen", again leaving me shaking my head a bit at how this series has diverged from its original Elemental focus.
The other major PoV is young Ellie Byerly, one of the imprisoned children, about which situation I won't give further spoilers. (Her rather self-centered little brother doesn't get any PoV time until after a certain development.)
One thing I do need to mention at this point is that they, and a number of other characters, speak in thick Dartmoor dialect, which may be frustrating for some readers.
Non-magical Sherlock Holmes, still being publicly "dead", again appears only a few times, clearly a secondary character, with scarcely any display of deductive brilliance, which makes his silhouette on the cover a bit misleading.
There is, however, a far amount of investigation by all the good guys, seeking to identify and eliminate suspects, using cover stories, etc.
Oh, I was ashamed to realize that I'd managed to forget a particularly interesting character arc from the previous volume, which I guess tells you how little impact that book in general had on me: that of new friend and cohort Caro, now known as Peter, formerly the ghost of an invalid young woman, but now happily making much better use of a no-good young man's vacated body!
Peter only appears in the first few chapters, however, and they're my least favorite part of the book — for other reasons. The very beginning is told from the PoV of a thoroughly unpleasant London thug's ghost. After he's dealt with, they next handle another quickly resolved case which turns out to be (view spoiler); I guess it was just included to show that even for magicians, not every investigation is an exciting, satisfying, and significant adventure.
Once I was well into the main story, however, I was never bored (though a few lines of explanation here and there were more or less repeated in case readers had forgotten since their first occurrence in the book).
What fairytale is it supposed to be inspired by? Hansel and Gretel, maybe?
I read this in hardcover from the library, and haven't decided yet whether I'll buy a paperback or electronic copy of this volume for myself if I see one at a good price. ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 Amy Walker - Trans-Scribe Reviews rated it really liked it

'The fourteenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series continues the reimagined adventures of Sherlock Holmes in a richly-detailed alternate 20th-century England.

'While Sherlock is still officially dead, John and Mary Watson and Nan Killian and Sarah Lyon-White are taking up some of his case-load--and some for Lord Alderscroft, the Wizard of London.

'Lord Alderscroft asks them to go to Dartmoor to track down a rumor of evil magic brewing there. Not more than four hours la 'The fourteenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series continues the reimagined adventures of Sherlock Holmes in a richly-detailed alternate 20th-century England.

'While Sherlock is still officially dead, John and Mary Watson and Nan Killian and Sarah Lyon-White are taking up some of his case-load--and some for Lord Alderscroft, the Wizard of London.

'Lord Alderscroft asks them to go to Dartmoor to track down a rumor of evil magic brewing there. Not more than four hours later, a poor cottager, also from Dartmoor, arrives seeking their help. His wife, in a fit of rage over the children spilling and spoiling their only food for dinner that night, sent them out on the moors to forage for something to eat. This is not the first time she has done this, and the children are moor-wise and unlikely to get into difficulties. But this time they did not come back, and in fact, their tracks abruptly stopped "as if them Pharisees took'd 'em." The man begs them to come help.

'They would have said no, but there's the assignment for Alderscroft. Why not kill two birds with one stone? But the deadly bogs are not the only mires on Dartmoor. '

I've not read any of The Elemental Masters series before picking up this book. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, especially as the fourteenth book in a series is probably not the best place for most people to start reading. However, I found the concept of the world that Mercedes Lackey has created to be very interesting, and knew that I wanted to read the book. I'm a bot of a sucker for Sherlock Holmes stories, and one that mixes in the paranormal is always going to tickle my fancy even more.

Luckily for me Lackey has written the book to be incredibly accessible to new readers, something that she didn't have to do. The book begins with a man being killed in London, and discovering that he's now a ghost. Over the course of this little story the reader gets introduced to some of the rules of the universe as this new ghost discovers them. It might only be a taste of things to come within the book, and doesn't cover any of the elemental magics that appear later, but it eases the reader into how The Elemental Masters actually works. By the time more magical elements were introduced I'd already discovered enough about the world that it wasn't a huge shock when characters like John Watson were performing magic.

The characters are also introduced slowly, with each one given a brief explanation as to who they are, and how they fit into this world. I only learnt a small amount of their back stories, such as Nan and Sarah working with Lord Alderscroft, or Sherlock Holmes pretending to be dead and Mary Watson having to masquerade as a man because of a previous adventure that involved Professor Moriarty. I didn't know everything about the series, but I knew enough to be able to enjoy this adventure without being weighed down by a ton of history. It felt like the perfect amount of backstory to introduce new readers without alienating people that have been reading the series from the beginning.

The history of The Elemental Masters aside, and how well the book introduces new readers; this story is actually quite a slow burning mystery. A good portion of the book goes by before the heroes even become aware of the missing children on the moors, and we follow them through a few smaller investigations before they even get involved in the central plot. I can see how this could upset a few people, and possibly feel like the book is slow paced, however, I really liked this approach. It showed that the heroes of the series aren't always involved in big adventures that involve saving the world, and that sometimes their lives can even be quite dull. The fact that one of the cases they investigate turns out to not have anything supernatural about it was, I thought, a great choice. It demonstrated a bigger world outside of the main plot.

The central plot itself was interesting, with the story of the missing children unfolding at a steady pace. At first you think that it's just these two missing children, then you discover that there's more, then you find out that they're being used to supply 'the Dark One' with magic, then you learn more about their captor. The book doesn't give you all of the answers up front, and lets you get your head around what you've already discovered before adding more layers to the mystery.

Whilst this central story is engaging, and at times very creepy, it does feel like it gets resolved a little too quickly. The heroes have travelled to the moors and are slowly investigating potential suspects and eliminating areas where the children could be held, which is all great, but then Sherlock Holmes suddenly turns up and provides them with the location of the missing children. It had been established earlier in the book that he was in the area conducting his own investigation, but it does feel a little like he swoops in at the last moment with the solution when the others are already working on it.

I love that Sherlock has a presence in the story, and gets to be with his friends to wrap up the mystery and catch the villain, but it does feel like he was brought in to wrap up the book a bit quicker. Perhaps if the book was a bit longer, and has more of the main group investigating and getting closer to the villain it would have felt a little more natural. As it is, they could have sat around and waited for Holmes to provide them with the solution and they'd have been fine.

This isn't a huge criticism, however, as I still enjoyed seeing how these characters worked together, and how they went about an investigation without the worlds greatest detective. The end where they all have to work together on a sneaky plan that involves disguises, misdirection, and perfect timing, is thoroughly enjoyable, and feels like a Sherlockian heist in the best way.

The Elemental Masters: The Case of the Spellbound Child is my first foray into this series, but it certainly won't be my last. I enjoyed the book so much that I'm definitely going back to check out the previous entries in the series, as will be reading the new releases as they come. A great combination of Victorian era mystery and magic that shows how well Sherlock Holmes can work with the supernatural. ...more

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Dec 20, 2019 MandaGunz rated it really liked it

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Apr 02, 2020 Aime Sund rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: fantasy readers, historical fantasy readers, specifically Victorian era

Victorian-era historical fiction with magic? I'm in! The cover blurb drew me in while I was browsing in the library, not really intending to take anything out that day since my TBR pile is sky-high. I have read a few of Mercedes Lackey's books over the years, so I knew it would be a good story regardless. As it turns out, I must have read an earlier Elemental Masters book, because the main characters started to ring a bell in my mind, and the more I read, the more I recalled about them. It was a ...more

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Jan 29, 2020 Corpruga rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I mean, I don't know, do you really rate these Elemental Masters books? I don't. I read them because I have to. I'm compelled to read them by the impression that Mercedes Lackey made on my young brain back in the '90s and my lifelong fondness for fairy tales (...and my only slightly younger fondness for mystery novels), and thus they get rated on their own special Elemental Masters scale. This is one of the ones with Nan and Sarah and Sherlock Holmes and company, which it seems like all the rece I mean, I don't know, do you really rate these Elemental Masters books? I don't. I read them because I have to. I'm compelled to read them by the impression that Mercedes Lackey made on my young brain back in the '90s and my lifelong fondness for fairy tales (...and my only slightly younger fondness for mystery novels), and thus they get rated on their own special Elemental Masters scale. This is one of the ones with Nan and Sarah and Sherlock Holmes and company, which it seems like all the recent ones are. I'm okay with that, though I still wish Nan and Sarah would get married. They've already adopted a kid, it seems like the logical next step.

So anyway the fairy tale in this one is Hansel and Gretel, and Nan and Sarah and the Watsons and the gang are on the hunt for missing kids. On the scale of the Elemental Masters series books, I thought this one was okay. It's not one that I'd go back and read over and over again, like The Serpent's Shadow or Phoenix and Ashes, but it's also not one where I'm wondering what the heck the main conflict is supposed to be or so uninvested in the main characters that I don't finish it, so that's good. I liked that we didn't actually know who the bad guy was until near the end--sometimes it's fun getting the bad guy's perspective, as we have in a couple of these recent Sherlock Holmes books, but sometimes it's just unpleasant. I liked getting the perspective of the kidnapped children a lot more. It's not the kind of mystery where you could actually guess who the bad guy was based on clues--that's not how these books roll--but the scene where they catch the bad guy through a complicated scheme was fun. I like complicated scheme shenanigans.

On another note, I think it's interesting that the last few books have introduced a trans character, and though it's Alternate Universe Victorian England with ghosts and magic, I don't think Peter's handled totally badly--Nan and Sarah and co. don't always get Peter and why he wanted to live as a guy (after being a female ghost....), but that seems about as realistic and as happy an ending for a trans man ghost as you're gonna get in Alternate Universe Victorian England with ghosts and magic. I hope Peter comes back and does more stuff in later books. Also, Alf returned from A Scandal in Battersea to be a jerk-ass ghost for a chapter. Ah, Alf, I knew things were never gonna work out for you, because you're a jerk, but I was glad to see you again.

My two big complaints! 1) WTF was that thing at the beginning where they're all ready to rescue this girl from an asylum and then are totally grossed out and disgusted by her when it turns out that she, a teenage girl, was seduced by some older guy who was using her and abandoned her, prompting her to induce a miscarriage because she was pregnant ? I kind of hated all our heroes for how absolutely crappy they were about her. It just seemed like that whole plotline was there to be mean-spirited. Jane Austen got name-dropped, so maybe the function was to for Mercedes Lackey to express her disdain for Lydia Bennet or that ward of Colonel Brandon's, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. 2) I sure hope Sapphire and her family are gonna come up again in a later book, because otherwise I really don't get why THAT plotline was there. I mean, I liked Sapphire and Sylvia, but in terms of narrative, they didn't really do much.

To sum up, if you don't read these books already, it would make no sense to start with this one, but since I do, I don't at all regret reading it. It doesn't have a ton of Celtic Warrior Nan and over-the-top orientalism, so that's always a plus. ...more

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Feb 08, 2020 Samantha rated it it was ok

I have several complaints about this book and I'm not sure if it's because I am disappointed that this isn't a five hundreds kingdom book, or because this really wasn't a great book.

Things I liked:

All of the chapters from the POV of the children. That was actually the only interesting part of the book, and if the whole book had been written about that, if all the chapters about Nan & Co had been cut out I think the whole book would be given 4 stars. Seriously, at one point (view spoiler) ...more

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Dec 21, 2019 annapi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, historical, historical-fantasy

This series has become a perennial favorite of mine, and especially those books with the recurring characters of Elemental Masters Nan and Sarah. With the introduction in previous books of Sherlock Holmes, and Master Magicians John and Mary Watson, it has become even more fun. This case involves the kidnapping of several missing children, and we switch back and forth from the points of view of the victims and our protagonists.

I love this world of elemental magic in Victorian times. I also like t ...more

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Jan 15, 2020 Kathy rated it it was ok

I stayed up late to finish this book because I was tired of it and wanted it over. Mercedes Lackey has been one of my favorite authors, but I don't care for the Elemental Masters series which seems wound so tightly around Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps this is because I preferred Hercule Poirot to Holmes. In some parts the plot moves briskly, in other places you have pages of description about clothes, or the countryside or the food while the characters gathered to share their thoughts and move the pl ...more

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Jul 05, 2020 Kayla Miller rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Mad, Sad, and Frustrated

Of my two favorite authors, I've always listed Mercedes Lackey. I remember being upset at the criticism leveled towards Mags's story even though many focused on the editing. And at first, I liked this novel. I'm a fan of the regular slice of life novels, the what happens after they save the world stories, even books that are more TV episodic than not. Moreover, I'm usually terrible at criticizing books. So if it's so bad that I'm noticing, why did it even get to the publi ...more

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Dec 27, 2020 Joss rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I've been reading Mercedes Lackey books for the best part of 25 years, and I've mostly enjoyed this series, although, while I don't dislike Nan and Sarah, I did prefer the earlier books. Sadly this isn't the best instalment in the series. It starts with two interludes, almost short stories, used as a kind of introduction. The second of these seemed to me to contain attitudes that came very close to victim-blaming, and, looking at other reviews, I wasn't the only one to feel that.
The main story i ...more

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Sep 27, 2020 Kayla Lords rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020-reads

The latest in Mercedes Lackey series The Elemental Masters, The Case of the Spellbound Child is...okay. It’s not awful but it’s not as good as her Valdemar series.

In this one, young magical children are being whisked away to be used as magical batteries for the villain. Unlike other recent books in the series, the villain wasn’t at all interesting, in fact they were a total mystery until the end. And then they were uninteresting, to say the least. We’re told toward the end about other magical c ...more

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Mar 03, 2020 Kathryn Baron rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020

Graphics sometimes have issues in electronic versions of books. A publisher's logo smeared over multiple pages. Extra large or fancy capitol letters displaced from the beginning of words to the next page...

Here there is a problematic silhouette of a tree. It appears at the start of every chapter, centered under the chapter number, and spills over to the next page where it covers bits of the text, making it much harder to read and being annoying. It also appears within chapters where it is left j ...more

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Dec 21, 2019 Katie Whitt rated it liked it

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

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Jun 07, 2020 B rated it did not like it · review of another edition

There are a lot of books by Mercedes Lackey that I love. Several of them are in the "Elemental Masters" series. However, I am so tired of these characters I want to weep! I bought this because I really needed something to read but I regret doing so. It is possibly one of the most boring books by Mercedes Lackey. I just find it hard to read another lackluster Sherlock Holmes tale with characters who are totally unsurprising, uninspiring and, frankly, unmagical! The use of Sherlock Holmes as a cha ...more

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Feb 01, 2020 Kirsten rated it liked it

I love these characters but I feel like Misty phoned them in. There's no real character growth and the plot is a bit disjointed. The one thing Lackey did well was create a good mystery villain, she managed to completely surprise me there! I did not like the story about the girl in the asylum, characters I otherwise like were far too judgmental and disparaging of her, and it came very close to victim blaming. The ghost was a good beginning and I was disappointed it didn't go anywhere. It also did ...more

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Feb 25, 2020 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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

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Play Book Tag: The Case of the Spellbound Child by Mercedes Lackey - 4 stars	5	11	Dec 21, 2019 12:48PM

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About Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey

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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 & M 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 writes as Misty Lackey

Author's website ...more