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Elemental Masters #6
Unnatural Issue
A brand-new Elemental Masters novel from the national bestselling author Mercedes Lackey.
Richard Whitestone is an Elemental Earth Master. Blaming himself for the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, he has sworn never to set eyes on his daughter, Suzanne. But when he finally sees her, a dark plan takes shape in his twisted mind-to use his daughter's body to bring back the spirit of his long-dead wife.
Richard Whitestone is an Elemental Earth Master. Blaming himself for the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, he has sworn never to set eyes on his daughter, Suzanne. But when he finally sees her, a dark plan takes shape in his twisted mind-to use his daughter's body to bring back the spirit of his long-dead wife.
361 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2011
186 people are currently reading
2382 people want to read
About the author
Mercedes Lackey
432 books9,549 followersMercedes 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
"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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 313 reviews
October 17, 2011
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.
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.
August 27, 2011
As with so much of this series, an agonizing read. No attention paid to narrative, pacing, or plot; occasional, interesting historical details undermined by the slapdash production values, which cause me to mistrust the author's research. Well, that's not wholly true: I believe she's spent some time taking notes about dairy management of the period.
That said, the book's greatest sin is its distracted characterization: Suzanne goes from bland to actively detestable, and achieves semi-convincing character growth only in the last thirty pages. The character she becomes would have been worth the couple of hours (and thirteen bucks) that I spent. But the character as written? Good god, I got through the book by wishing her ill. As for Lord Peter Almsley--criminally underwritten, which is a pity, since I had fond memories of him from earlier novels and bought the book chiefly because it featured him. Spent his scenes gnashing my teeth at all the wasted opportunities for development. Only likable minor characters in the book have appeared as protagonists in the other novels, and so benefit from the reflected glow of past effort. A good thing, since Lackey didn't extend herself to give them any substance in this book.
Weakness of plot not helped by the exclusive use of the most heavy-handed villain I've read to date--a misogynist, gasp!--who succeeds only in being so believably stupid that we have no trouble believing Lackey can wrap up his plots in fifteen pages. (Half that, with a better editor.)
Not the worst thing I've ever read, but definitely shelved in hell.
That said, the book's greatest sin is its distracted characterization: Suzanne goes from bland to actively detestable, and achieves semi-convincing character growth only in the last thirty pages. The character she becomes would have been worth the couple of hours (and thirteen bucks) that I spent. But the character as written? Good god, I got through the book by wishing her ill. As for Lord Peter Almsley--criminally underwritten, which is a pity, since I had fond memories of him from earlier novels and bought the book chiefly because it featured him. Spent his scenes gnashing my teeth at all the wasted opportunities for development. Only likable minor characters in the book have appeared as protagonists in the other novels, and so benefit from the reflected glow of past effort. A good thing, since Lackey didn't extend herself to give them any substance in this book.
Weakness of plot not helped by the exclusive use of the most heavy-handed villain I've read to date--a misogynist, gasp!--who succeeds only in being so believably stupid that we have no trouble believing Lackey can wrap up his plots in fifteen pages. (Half that, with a better editor.)
Not the worst thing I've ever read, but definitely shelved in hell.
September 28, 2012
"Donkeyskin" is one of my favorite fairy tales. It's dark, creepy, and disturbing. That's everything that Lackey isn't these days. She was, long ago, capable of being dark and disquieting. That's one of the reasons her Last Herald's Mage trilogy is so popular - because of everything she put Vanyel through. But over the years, she's started to write lighter and lighter fantasy. I've read interviews where she says her lighter works sell better than her dark ones. I try not to blame her for writing what people will buy but it makes me wonder why she chose one of the darkest fairy tales for this series.
A light treatment of "Donkeyskin" just doesn't do the tale justice. Even with the looming start of WWI and a necromancer, nothing really seems to touch the main characters at all, other than a few paragraphs of crying over how terrible hospitals on the front were. Even Phoenix and Ashes, with its treatment of wartime PTSD, was a darker novel than this one. It's truly a shame when a re-telling of "Cinderella" is darker than a re-telling of "Donkeyskin."
I've read many truly excellent historical fantasies in the last few years -- Connie Willis, Delia Sherman, Susanna Clarke, as well as straight historical fiction like Sarah Waters, Heyer and Austen. Lackey's "historical" details don't hold a candle to any those ladies. There's nothing truly wrong with her settings, but there's not that sense of place that I've come to crave from a good historical novel. One of the greatest things about Willis's Blackout/All Clear, for instance, was that it really made me feel like I understood what life is like during WWII - both the good and the bad. With Lackey, though, I don't even get the sense that the characters understood what life was like during WWI, and that makes the characters seem incredibly shallow.
I am biased against Lackey; writing yourself into a book and making your alter ego be the love interest of the loner main character is incredibly amateurish and I can't believe her editors allowed it. I've given up on all her other series but, I love fairy tale re-tellings, so I continued on with this one. My tastes have really moved on from Lackey's trademark lightweight style. Maybe I should have moved on as well.
A light treatment of "Donkeyskin" just doesn't do the tale justice. Even with the looming start of WWI and a necromancer, nothing really seems to touch the main characters at all, other than a few paragraphs of crying over how terrible hospitals on the front were. Even Phoenix and Ashes, with its treatment of wartime PTSD, was a darker novel than this one. It's truly a shame when a re-telling of "Cinderella" is darker than a re-telling of "Donkeyskin."
I've read many truly excellent historical fantasies in the last few years -- Connie Willis, Delia Sherman, Susanna Clarke, as well as straight historical fiction like Sarah Waters, Heyer and Austen. Lackey's "historical" details don't hold a candle to any those ladies. There's nothing truly wrong with her settings, but there's not that sense of place that I've come to crave from a good historical novel. One of the greatest things about Willis's Blackout/All Clear, for instance, was that it really made me feel like I understood what life is like during WWII - both the good and the bad. With Lackey, though, I don't even get the sense that the characters understood what life was like during WWI, and that makes the characters seem incredibly shallow.
I am biased against Lackey; writing yourself into a book and making your alter ego be the love interest of the loner main character is incredibly amateurish and I can't believe her editors allowed it. I've given up on all her other series but, I love fairy tale re-tellings, so I continued on with this one. My tastes have really moved on from Lackey's trademark lightweight style. Maybe I should have moved on as well.
July 10, 2015
Another lightweight entry in the Elemental Masters series. This one tries to follow the "Donkeyskin" story by Charles Perrault. As the book opens, it would seem that Lackey does a good job of staying close to the tale, but by the end of the book, it's very much another one in her series. That's not necessarily a bad thing--the final confrontation is as good as anything that Lackey has written. However, despite her willingness to include extreme violence, Lackey's books are never all that horrifying. As readers, we know precisely what Susanne's father wants to do to her (heck, even the cover copy gives that away!), but Lackey's writing lacks the necessary punch for it to really sink in and disturb. I don't want to say that Lackey dodges the hard questions or fails to explore the darker side of this tale. That's simply not true. The sad fact is that Lackey is just not a good enough writer to make readers invest in the characters in such a way as to be horrified. She used to be able to that; her Last Herald-Mage series is one of the most disturbing litanies of character torture that I've ever read. But this book doesn't have that emotional force.
For a very dark, very emotional version of this tale, I recommend Robin McKinley's Deerskin. Be warned: it is dark, and if you read Lackey for her lightweight nature, you might not like Deerskin. But more than anything else, Deerskin is a novel about healing, and it is good.
Perhaps that's part of my problem with this book. Despite the horrific events Lackey writes about, only one character is deeply wounded mentally and still in recovery at the end of the book. If our protagonists can walk away from such things without psychic bruises, is it any wonder when I, as a reader, feel next to nothing of their pain?
For a very dark, very emotional version of this tale, I recommend Robin McKinley's Deerskin. Be warned: it is dark, and if you read Lackey for her lightweight nature, you might not like Deerskin. But more than anything else, Deerskin is a novel about healing, and it is good.
Perhaps that's part of my problem with this book. Despite the horrific events Lackey writes about, only one character is deeply wounded mentally and still in recovery at the end of the book. If our protagonists can walk away from such things without psychic bruises, is it any wonder when I, as a reader, feel next to nothing of their pain?
November 24, 2011
To be honest, I find myself reluctant to review Lackey's work at all at this point, despite the fact that I still pick up most of them. Usually off the sale rack or as a library loan at this point, where once I would rush to get my hands on the newest hardcovers as they were released. So I'm doing the latest three as a trio in one. Considering I read the three of them over two days while resting in bed (I've been a bit off lately) I think that's fair.
"Unnatural Issue" is another typical piece from Lackey, although admittedly I find this series more appealing than current entries into her other series. This time out we get our heroine running from an absentee father on the brink of WWI. And Dad has taken up necromancy. The usual glimpses of other characters from the series, and these are all carefully tied one into the next.
Maybe it's just that I'm older now, and my tastes have changed. The simplistic writing, arch-typical characters and familiar plotlines don't have the same appeal as they once did. The Valdemar series has become a sadly repetitive set of coming of age stories, fairly formulaic. "Changes" stays right on the road, with the exception that this time she hasn't closed the arc on the third shot out.
"Beauty and the Werewolf" from the The Five Hundred Kingdoms Series is fairly predictable as well, although retellings of classic fairy tales are always welcome.
So why do I keep coming back? I guess for the same reason people like Twinkies. They're sweet, fluffy, simple, and remind us of simpler, happier days. Misty Lackey writes novels that are the equivalent of comfort food for me. And in that they excel.
Because while these days I appreciate dark chocolate Tiramisu, sometimes you just want a twinkie.
"Unnatural Issue" is another typical piece from Lackey, although admittedly I find this series more appealing than current entries into her other series. This time out we get our heroine running from an absentee father on the brink of WWI. And Dad has taken up necromancy. The usual glimpses of other characters from the series, and these are all carefully tied one into the next.
Maybe it's just that I'm older now, and my tastes have changed. The simplistic writing, arch-typical characters and familiar plotlines don't have the same appeal as they once did. The Valdemar series has become a sadly repetitive set of coming of age stories, fairly formulaic. "Changes" stays right on the road, with the exception that this time she hasn't closed the arc on the third shot out.
"Beauty and the Werewolf" from the The Five Hundred Kingdoms Series is fairly predictable as well, although retellings of classic fairy tales are always welcome.
So why do I keep coming back? I guess for the same reason people like Twinkies. They're sweet, fluffy, simple, and remind us of simpler, happier days. Misty Lackey writes novels that are the equivalent of comfort food for me. And in that they excel.
Because while these days I appreciate dark chocolate Tiramisu, sometimes you just want a twinkie.
November 9, 2011
Well, it didn't infuriate me as much as The Wizard of London and I didn't want to fling it against the wall like I did Reserved for the Cat, but I officially no longer enjoy this series. The Victorian/Edwardian-era setting, so interesting for the first two or three novels, now grates on me. The gender and class politics that seem to resolve at the climax of each book just come back in the next one. I have utterly no patience left for the (male) characters with their relentlessly cheery 'by Jove!' 'old girl' and 'let me just discuss this with Mater and Pater'. The romantic dramas in this book seemed particularly forced, well beyond the point of believability, and I lost utterly all sympathy with the characters when the one male lead, purported to be a talented investigator and after having chapters of dialogue with several other characters explicitly discussing Richard Whitestone, had a this conversational exchange:
Female lead: "My name is Susanne Whitestone."In looking back on this series, the only volume I truly enjoyed was the first, Fire Rose. And I'm not even sure I need to own that. My collection of this series is hereby disbanded.
Male Lead: Whitestone.... now why does that name sound familiar?
FL: "Let me tell you my family history."
ML: Whitestone.... where do I know that name?
FL: "Yo, my dad was so evil and also an Earth Master."
ML: An Earth Master... hmmm, I should know this.
January 13, 2021
Is it still a love triangle when person A loves person B but person B loves person C but person C doesn’t know person B exists? Or is that just unrequited love at that point? Anyway the romantic dynamic was more interesting than person A not being able to choose between persons B and C, who are both madly in love with person A.
Also I just really love a select few of the Elemental Masters series. The ones that don’t work for me are dullllll but this isn’t one of them, even though it’s far from perfect.
Spontaneous reread/relisten.
ETA: Lord Peter Wimsey homage for the WIN.
Also I just really love a select few of the Elemental Masters series. The ones that don’t work for me are dullllll but this isn’t one of them, even though it’s far from perfect.
Spontaneous reread/relisten.
ETA: Lord Peter Wimsey homage for the WIN.
August 27, 2016
This WWI resetting of the creepy "Donkey-Skin" fairy tale is an improvement in plot and pacing over some of Lackey's other recent efforts, although the romance was very poorly done -- surprisingly so for an author who is usually moderately successful in that area.
One star off for not only blatantly stealing another author's character but for doing it so poorly.
One star off for not only blatantly stealing another author's character but for doing it so poorly.
November 18, 2022
Another good story. I cared about the characters, their strengths and growth, and their fights and struggles. One of the best anti-war novels I've read in a while. I like how Lackey is able to pull social issues into these stories.
July 5, 2011
This is the seventh book (or the sixth, according to DAW’s count; the first was published by Baen in 1995) in Lackey’s “Elemental Masters” series, which I’ve been enjoying very much since we happened to pick up Phoenix and Ashes (the fourth one) last year. One of the good things about them is that they don’t really have to be read in order, although they have some characters in common.
What they are is historical fantasy – set in the past (in this case, primarily early 20th century England), but with significant magical elements. I’ve read enough fiction set in this period to believe that Lackey has done her research on it. There were a lot of social changes going on at this time, not to mention effects of the Great War, and they’re included in the stories. The magic, incidentally, is “elemental magic,” although there are also other abilities (such as perceiving and contacting ghosts, in one of the other books).
They are also, interestingly but not essentially, freely and loosely adapted from fairy tales. Not being as well-read in fairy tales as I’d like, I didn’t recognize the one in Unnatural Issues (I looked into the question and learned it’s called “Donkeyskin”), but earlier volumes included Cinderella and Snow White. It’s an amusing conceit and, I promise, doesn’t get in the way of the story at all.
In this volume, we have Susanne Whitestone, whose gentry father rejected her because her mother died of her birth; she’s been raised by the servants while her father stays locked up in his rooms, grieving. Both of them are Earth Masters, Susanne taught by her fae friend Robin, while her father draws in on himself and turns the whole area around the house into a blighted emptiness.
Then Squire Whitestone gets the idea that he can learn and use necromancy to call back his wife – and deposit her in their daughter’s body. Susanne learns part of his plan and flees, and the rest of the story deals with her efforts (and those of her friends new and old) to evade and then deal with her father.
Some other reviews have complained that unlike other Earth Masters, Susanne seems able to cope with living in London, and near the front in France; I think that living in her father’s blighted house helped her to cope, plus she had strong motivation. The plot point that bothers me – which I hope will be corrected in the second printing and the paperback – is that at the start of Chapter 9, Susanne carefully destroys an object that somehow still exists at the end of Chapter 21 and is key to the book’s climax. Indeed, it looks like the start of Chapter 9 was partly re-written to correct this, but not completely.
At any rate, I’ve enjoyed all these books for their well-crafted settings, and their interesting characters and plots, and they’re being added to our library as we find them, and even re-read. And that’s really a pretty strong endorsement of them.
What they are is historical fantasy – set in the past (in this case, primarily early 20th century England), but with significant magical elements. I’ve read enough fiction set in this period to believe that Lackey has done her research on it. There were a lot of social changes going on at this time, not to mention effects of the Great War, and they’re included in the stories. The magic, incidentally, is “elemental magic,” although there are also other abilities (such as perceiving and contacting ghosts, in one of the other books).
They are also, interestingly but not essentially, freely and loosely adapted from fairy tales. Not being as well-read in fairy tales as I’d like, I didn’t recognize the one in Unnatural Issues (I looked into the question and learned it’s called “Donkeyskin”), but earlier volumes included Cinderella and Snow White. It’s an amusing conceit and, I promise, doesn’t get in the way of the story at all.
In this volume, we have Susanne Whitestone, whose gentry father rejected her because her mother died of her birth; she’s been raised by the servants while her father stays locked up in his rooms, grieving. Both of them are Earth Masters, Susanne taught by her fae friend Robin, while her father draws in on himself and turns the whole area around the house into a blighted emptiness.
Then Squire Whitestone gets the idea that he can learn and use necromancy to call back his wife – and deposit her in their daughter’s body. Susanne learns part of his plan and flees, and the rest of the story deals with her efforts (and those of her friends new and old) to evade and then deal with her father.
Some other reviews have complained that unlike other Earth Masters, Susanne seems able to cope with living in London, and near the front in France; I think that living in her father’s blighted house helped her to cope, plus she had strong motivation. The plot point that bothers me – which I hope will be corrected in the second printing and the paperback – is that at the start of Chapter 9, Susanne carefully destroys an object that somehow still exists at the end of Chapter 21 and is key to the book’s climax. Indeed, it looks like the start of Chapter 9 was partly re-written to correct this, but not completely.
At any rate, I’ve enjoyed all these books for their well-crafted settings, and their interesting characters and plots, and they’re being added to our library as we find them, and even re-read. And that’s really a pretty strong endorsement of them.
February 7, 2017
It's been 2 1/2 years since I originally read this and it's not as bad as I recalled although, I do wish there had been more interaction between Peter & Suzanne. I must also say the the plot hole is no longer in evidence. I originally read this in hardback and this time was an e-book. Perhaps that's why things seem slightly tighter?
2013 Review ~ Where to begin? I have been a fan of Mercedes Lackey for 20+ years although, it's actually been some time, close to a year since I'd read anything by her. I've been in my usual rut of mysteries over the summer and was quite ready to take a break from the genre when I came across this at the library. I usually enjoy retold fairytales because often it will reveal a facet I hadn't thought of before and gets me digging deeper. So add that to the fact that I had come across a series I hadn't previously read by a favored author, I'm a happy camper.
I definitely enjoyed the main premise; bits of old world Fae, magic, and WWI all mixed together with the rather creepy tale of Donkeyskin. The prologue pulled me in and kept me reading much longer than planned but then it all fell rather flat.
Three big characters are introduced, including the main character but the three separate lines weren't joined together very well in some areas and in fact we don't hear from one at all for 2/3rd's of the book which does not do well for answering questions or even helping to understand motivations. None of them were fleshed out well and stayed very two dimensional. Nothing was invested in them; very little backstory, no depth of feelings, etc. One got the sense of the horror, despair, sadness, budding love etc. but none of it was real; only the periphery is felt. We should have been in the thick of things with the characters, good or bad, and losing little bits of ourselves to them but it was just too choppy and areas that should have been filled in better were just glossed over. This could have been amazing but I was left feeling very dissatisfied at the end of it.
I may have still given 4 stars just because it was Lackey but for one major plot hole that a seasoned author should never have allowed to print. I actually went and reread a section to make sure I had read it properly and hadn't simply misremembered what it. An artifact that the defeat of the necromancer centered upon was quite clearly destroyed in the first third of the book. How then did it's possession come to be remembered and retrieved for it's use if it were but ashes long cold?
Still, this is Lackey and I've not been put off her yet; especially not her earlier works that I fell in love with and still love. I'm still willing to read the other volumes in the Elemental Masters series and can only hope that some of the recurring characters are fleshed out better that way.
2013 Review ~ Where to begin? I have been a fan of Mercedes Lackey for 20+ years although, it's actually been some time, close to a year since I'd read anything by her. I've been in my usual rut of mysteries over the summer and was quite ready to take a break from the genre when I came across this at the library. I usually enjoy retold fairytales because often it will reveal a facet I hadn't thought of before and gets me digging deeper. So add that to the fact that I had come across a series I hadn't previously read by a favored author, I'm a happy camper.
I definitely enjoyed the main premise; bits of old world Fae, magic, and WWI all mixed together with the rather creepy tale of Donkeyskin. The prologue pulled me in and kept me reading much longer than planned but then it all fell rather flat.
Three big characters are introduced, including the main character but the three separate lines weren't joined together very well in some areas and in fact we don't hear from one at all for 2/3rd's of the book which does not do well for answering questions or even helping to understand motivations. None of them were fleshed out well and stayed very two dimensional. Nothing was invested in them; very little backstory, no depth of feelings, etc. One got the sense of the horror, despair, sadness, budding love etc. but none of it was real; only the periphery is felt. We should have been in the thick of things with the characters, good or bad, and losing little bits of ourselves to them but it was just too choppy and areas that should have been filled in better were just glossed over. This could have been amazing but I was left feeling very dissatisfied at the end of it.
I may have still given 4 stars just because it was Lackey but for one major plot hole that a seasoned author should never have allowed to print. I actually went and reread a section to make sure I had read it properly and hadn't simply misremembered what it. An artifact that the defeat of the necromancer centered upon was quite clearly destroyed in the first third of the book. How then did it's possession come to be remembered and retrieved for it's use if it were but ashes long cold?
Still, this is Lackey and I've not been put off her yet; especially not her earlier works that I fell in love with and still love. I'm still willing to read the other volumes in the Elemental Masters series and can only hope that some of the recurring characters are fleshed out better that way.
June 24, 2012
I enjoyed it (but, then, I like all of Mercedes Lackey's work). It's an easy read, pitting good (the heroine) against evil (her father). The tale is a wee bit far-fetched, but when you're talking magic you kind of have to role with it. The story takes place in England and France, on the brink of, and then into, wartime. It was a little odd to have a World War going on when the focus was really on elementals and necromancy, but it got me thinking that it would be really cool if in one of the upcoming books Lackey tackled a fighter pilot who was an Air Master (etc.) as a main character.
I loved that Robin Goodfellow was a mentor for Susanne Whitestone and that her father assigned her A Midsummer Night's Dream to read. I would have liked to see more of Puck, and it would have been fun to see Susanne as a child elemental master battling her father, rather than as a 21-year old.
Charles Kerridge, Susanne's love interest, was completely undeveloped as a character, which left a weird feeling when he became a central figure both for Susanne's feelings and her father's wrath. Charles' ignorance of Susanne's feelings, subsequent marriage to someone else, and complete memory loss were all baffling in various ways. He seemed extremely convenient in a completely unbelievable sort of way. Susanne's final page conversion to thinking of another as a possible romantic interest was also extremely convenient. Romance did not work in this novel at all. The best relationship, and most likely to bear a liaison, was between Susanne and Robin—a possibility that Lackey either did not consider, or discarded immediately (likely because Susanne had known him as a child).
I thought Susanne's escape to France was extremely odd, but it was an excellent excuse
Not my favourite Elemental Masters novel, but it was nice to see the series in action again.
I loved that Robin Goodfellow was a mentor for Susanne Whitestone and that her father assigned her A Midsummer Night's Dream to read. I would have liked to see more of Puck, and it would have been fun to see Susanne as a child elemental master battling her father, rather than as a 21-year old.
Charles Kerridge, Susanne's love interest, was completely undeveloped as a character, which left a weird feeling when he became a central figure both for Susanne's feelings and her father's wrath. Charles' ignorance of Susanne's feelings, subsequent marriage to someone else, and complete memory loss were all baffling in various ways. He seemed extremely convenient in a completely unbelievable sort of way. Susanne's final page conversion to thinking of another as a possible romantic interest was also extremely convenient. Romance did not work in this novel at all. The best relationship, and most likely to bear a liaison, was between Susanne and Robin—a possibility that Lackey either did not consider, or discarded immediately (likely because Susanne had known him as a child).
I thought Susanne's escape to France was extremely odd, but it was an excellent excuse
Not my favourite Elemental Masters novel, but it was nice to see the series in action again.
February 20, 2014
As usual, finishing a Mercedes Lackey book in this series leaves one with the same feeling as finishing a bag of cheese doodles in one sitting. Yes, you know it was mostly air, and you know it was junkfood for the brain, and you shouldn't have... but you just couldn't help it. Crunch Crunch.
Lackey's desire to write about Peter Wimsey , plus her devotion to a Kiplingish Puck, is all over this. As in her previous works in this series, her research on the real-world late Victorian and Edwardian eras sticks out in lumps... as far as the writing is concerned, those lumps would probably have been better off in a girdle.
(I am reminded of the time Shirley Jackson's daughter allegedly made up a magical world which combined Oz, Fairy Land, Mother Goose, the Hobbit, etc. "because they were scattered all over and I kept forgetting which book I had to take to get to each country.")
And yet, as usual, Lackey combines a positive talent for writing addictive scene-setting-where-nothing happens, with that thrill of Tru Crime Horror that our generation adored so much. This particular story, based on the incest-survivor fairytale Donkeyskin, lends itself to that combination beautifully. Lots of elfy Elemental magic, a dose of Puck, a dose of real-life horror in the First World War, and the terrible esoteric attacks.
This isn't my favorite in the series; as fond as I am of charming parts of books where nothing happens, I think Eva Ibbotsen did the underservant life much better, and I think Robin McKinley's Deerskin tackled the story better. But when it comes to fantasy and the first world war setting, it's a cut above Suzanne Weyn's Water Song a WWI-based retelling of the Frog Prince.
Lackey's desire to write about Peter Wimsey , plus her devotion to a Kiplingish Puck, is all over this. As in her previous works in this series, her research on the real-world late Victorian and Edwardian eras sticks out in lumps... as far as the writing is concerned, those lumps would probably have been better off in a girdle.
(I am reminded of the time Shirley Jackson's daughter allegedly made up a magical world which combined Oz, Fairy Land, Mother Goose, the Hobbit, etc. "because they were scattered all over and I kept forgetting which book I had to take to get to each country.")
And yet, as usual, Lackey combines a positive talent for writing addictive scene-setting-where-nothing happens, with that thrill of Tru Crime Horror that our generation adored so much. This particular story, based on the incest-survivor fairytale Donkeyskin, lends itself to that combination beautifully. Lots of elfy Elemental magic, a dose of Puck, a dose of real-life horror in the First World War, and the terrible esoteric attacks.
This isn't my favorite in the series; as fond as I am of charming parts of books where nothing happens, I think Eva Ibbotsen did the underservant life much better, and I think Robin McKinley's Deerskin tackled the story better. But when it comes to fantasy and the first world war setting, it's a cut above Suzanne Weyn's Water Song a WWI-based retelling of the Frog Prince.
May 26, 2018
I love Mercedes Lackey books! I love the intricate fantasy worlds she builds, and with the Elemental Masters series, she uses old England and weaves the new fantasy elements on top of it complete with a host of fantasy creatures that appear right out the very air. I also love the romance, which Ms Lackey likes to build and grow and flourish unlike the trendy love at first sight that all of the indie authors feature now (which feels like a cheat since they don’t have to work to build the relationship and feels like cutting corners). The relationship in this totally sneaks up on the reader, which is totally delicious. I also adore fairy tale retellings! This one is a new take on the Snow White tale, though it is more than a little squicky and uncomfortable when you take into consideration that the witch stepmother has been replaced by the biological father and he’s intent on having sex with his grown daughter (ew!) I did love that it kept Snow White talking to animals (it made sense in this with Elementals in place of the animals) and I did love that the Elementals all had personalities of their own (I especially loved the various fauns in the different parts of the country and the shifting personality of Robin -I almost hope for a spin-off book featuring just him). Rather than just keeping to standard Victorian England, the backdrop actually included wartime England, which we don’t see all that often in paranormal/fantasy books, and tried it’s best at the violence of the Front. One quibble I had was that the Yorkshire accent Ms Lackey employed in this was difficult to parse my way through, and it felt rather prejudiced against Yorkshire. I did love that it revisited characters from the previous books, like Maya and Peter Scott, and Alderscroft, and gives me hope that we might see Susanne, Lord Peter, and Robin Goodfellow more in following books.
December 13, 2019
Another in the Elemental Masters series only this one occurs over years instead of the relatively short periods of time the earlier ones seemed to cover.
Richard Whitestone is rushing home from London after defeating a elemental master who used his abilities for murder-for-hire. Rushing home to his beloved wife who is expecting their first child only to discover that she had died in childbirth. Devastated, he rejects his daughter and retreats into seclusion. Which sets the story.
The daughter has grown under the care of the servants and trained in her elemental abilities by Robin Goodfellow himself while dear old dad's grief has him examine and train in the necromatic arts. His plans - to lure his wife's spirit back to earth and into a body where they can be happy again. The body in question is the daughter who has grown into a lovely woman, the image of her mother.
Daughter runs away upon discovering dad's plans. Dad has psychotic break and goes after anyone who has sheltered her. The walking dead are a prominent feature even as the war in the Balkans spreads into Germany, Belgium and France.
Has a prospective happy-ever-after between Susanne and Peter as well as the opening for them to have more adventures. Jody Lee, the cover artist, has filled the cover with some adorable earth creatures including a sparrow-like bird with a bonnet and pince-nez, pears with faces and rooty legs, a locust-like insect in a topcoat among others.
2019-179
Richard Whitestone is rushing home from London after defeating a elemental master who used his abilities for murder-for-hire. Rushing home to his beloved wife who is expecting their first child only to discover that she had died in childbirth. Devastated, he rejects his daughter and retreats into seclusion. Which sets the story.
The daughter has grown under the care of the servants and trained in her elemental abilities by Robin Goodfellow himself while dear old dad's grief has him examine and train in the necromatic arts. His plans - to lure his wife's spirit back to earth and into a body where they can be happy again. The body in question is the daughter who has grown into a lovely woman, the image of her mother.
Daughter runs away upon discovering dad's plans. Dad has psychotic break and goes after anyone who has sheltered her. The walking dead are a prominent feature even as the war in the Balkans spreads into Germany, Belgium and France.
Has a prospective happy-ever-after between Susanne and Peter as well as the opening for them to have more adventures. Jody Lee, the cover artist, has filled the cover with some adorable earth creatures including a sparrow-like bird with a bonnet and pince-nez, pears with faces and rooty legs, a locust-like insect in a topcoat among others.
2019-179
July 20, 2011
Sort of a lightweight, undemanding fantasy but with a 5-star section at the end I'll tell you about in a minute. Set in England on the eve of World War I, Susanne Whitestone has led an isolated life as the daughter of a landowner but working as a servant all her life. Her father had rejected his daughter at birth when his beloved wife died birthing her and became a kind of hermit, turning away from his magical powers as an Earth Master to become a necromancer and dabble in forbidden blood arts. Susanne is also an Earth Master and learns from the ancient powerful fae Robin (also known as Puck and Robin Goodfellow) the art of land husbandry with her magic. The plot starts rolling when Susanne's father catchs a shocking glimpse of her, thinking at first it is his dead wife, and concocts a plan to call up his dead wife's spirit and put it into his daughter's body.
Now, the great part of the this novel is when Susanne flees across the ocean to France to stay out of her father's clutches and lands in the path of the invading German army. She joins the nursing brigade and although she has no nursing training, her earth magic helps heal the wounded soldiers. What is marvelous is the descriptions of the trench fighting and the horrible conditions of the foot soldiers in World War I. It's good history and an eye-opening feeling for some of the awful conditions of that war.
Now, the great part of the this novel is when Susanne flees across the ocean to France to stay out of her father's clutches and lands in the path of the invading German army. She joins the nursing brigade and although she has no nursing training, her earth magic helps heal the wounded soldiers. What is marvelous is the descriptions of the trench fighting and the horrible conditions of the foot soldiers in World War I. It's good history and an eye-opening feeling for some of the awful conditions of that war.
January 22, 2012
Unnatural Issue is better, I think, than all of the previous Elemental Masters books. That's not saying a whole lot - I'm not a huge fan. But rather than being a thinly-veiled fairy tale such that the plot is apparent from the very beginning (although it is based on a fairy tale,) this is a much closer homage to (ripoff of?) Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey. And Lord Peter is a great character even when he's doing magic rather than solving mysteries.
There's also some genuine tension with the start of World War One, which has been skirted in the previous books (with only the also-strong Phoenix and Ashes taking a look at it directly.) It gives the series a bit more of a cohesive feeling, which it sorely needs.
I still don't love this series. It's awfully thin and the fairy tale structure is not doing it any favors at all. But Lackey finally seems to have figured out how to wrest a decent tale out of the cage she's built around this series.
There's also some genuine tension with the start of World War One, which has been skirted in the previous books (with only the also-strong Phoenix and Ashes taking a look at it directly.) It gives the series a bit more of a cohesive feeling, which it sorely needs.
I still don't love this series. It's awfully thin and the fairy tale structure is not doing it any favors at all. But Lackey finally seems to have figured out how to wrest a decent tale out of the cage she's built around this series.
July 4, 2019
An Earth Master loses his wife in childbirth, promptly loses his mind, blames his baby daughter, and goes on to become a necromancer who comes up with a plan for recalling his dead wife from the afterlife and installing her spirit in the daughter's body (after evicting the daughter's spirit, of course) once she's reached the age of 21. Obviously, the daughter is not in favor of this.
The best part of this historic fantasy romance is the setting—England at the outbreak of WWI. The author's extensive research is obvious. The pacing is good, the characters are interesting enough to care about, and the fantasy plot isn't so absurd that you have trouble suspending disbelief. That's relative, of course. I mean, this is fantasy, so it's absurd by definition. This one has magic and all sorts of mythical creatures (including zombies, although not called such), but within the context of the story, it all more or less makes sense.
The best part of this historic fantasy romance is the setting—England at the outbreak of WWI. The author's extensive research is obvious. The pacing is good, the characters are interesting enough to care about, and the fantasy plot isn't so absurd that you have trouble suspending disbelief. That's relative, of course. I mean, this is fantasy, so it's absurd by definition. This one has magic and all sorts of mythical creatures (including zombies, although not called such), but within the context of the story, it all more or less makes sense.
May 29, 2012
I was thoroughly disappointed by the end of this book. There was so much repetition, the heroine had this weird stalkerish attraction to a character (despite the fact that she's supposed to have her head screwed on very straight -- and she does most of the time), the resolution of the crush was a real left turn (not as far as the "triangle" but because he and his family suddenly went from warm to nasty with a nasty fiancee to boot), and the whole denouement hinged on an object she spent like two chapters deciding to destroy and DID destroy -- only to tell us later on that she would NEVER have destroyed it that way because she knew ALL ALONG that you couldn't do that. What?!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2016
Oh, what do with this one. This is classic Lackey writing - with all the good and bad that implies. On the good, we have fun, engaging characters with some great conversation and little plot twists. On the bad, it feels rather formulaic and stilted in places. I love the way Lackey writes people which is what keeps bringing me back to her books, but they do all start reading kind of "samey" after a while. I enjoyed this one and it was a quick read, but will these characters and ideas stick with me? Not really. This was a delicious pastry of a book - easily eaten, soon forgotten.
June 29, 2011
You know, this book was almost good.
It only would have taken the deletion of a single line, maybe six words of text. But no, she has to destroy the little packet that makes an illusory version of her, and then USE IT TO DEFEAT THE BAD GUY. Editing, people. It isn't hard.
I don't actually blame Lackey for that, as much as I blame her editor.
It only would have taken the deletion of a single line, maybe six words of text. But no, she has to destroy the little packet that makes an illusory version of her, and then USE IT TO DEFEAT THE BAD GUY. Editing, people. It isn't hard.
I don't actually blame Lackey for that, as much as I blame her editor.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2014
Just. Ya know what happened...
I GOT BORED. Okay? I got bored. I'm sorry. There just wasn't anything very interesting going on here. I didn't like the main character, I didn't like ANY of the characters, there wasn't a lot of going on going on and, well, it was predictable.
So there.
:P
That is me sticking my tongue out.
Very mature, I know.
I GOT BORED. Okay? I got bored. I'm sorry. There just wasn't anything very interesting going on here. I didn't like the main character, I didn't like ANY of the characters, there wasn't a lot of going on going on and, well, it was predictable.
So there.
:P
That is me sticking my tongue out.
Very mature, I know.
July 24, 2015
1.5 review coming soon at www.fantasyliterature.com
December 13, 2021
An amazing novel of the series, harsh realities, but excellently told
This was an amazing story. It had some very dark pieces and difficult truths and realities but it was told so well it made the entire novel even richer.
I have to admit it was hard for me to read about the horrid details of Necromantic Magick, Richard Whitestone and of the very true details of World War I. In many ways it disgusted me to know that there are people in the world who would think nothing of doing such things if they could, and believe it was their right. Some of the things described truly disturbed me, even when only in the abstract. Probably because they were so well written and so believable of a piece. There were two areas that were the hardest for me to get through. One was the concept of a father willing to displace his own daughter’s soul just to have his wife again within that same body, including physically. The second was the violent nature of battle at the front lines and what not only the soldiers had to experience but the displaced countrymen, their losses, and what the healers saw and still had to discharge their duties in caring for them, or not being able to care for all, which might have been the hardest to do.
Of course with these difficult concepts you also have the alternate side with all the good done. As shown by Lord Peter, the White Lodge, the Kerrigans, Susanne and even the good people of Yorkshire not to mention Robin Goodfellow and his ilk. This balance made it reassuring to know that though this is but a story, there are others in the world who recognize what is right and good and try to offer it in the world for others to recognize. For me, I think it was this dichotomy to the story that made it resonate so well as it did.
How Susanne was brought up, and even learned about her gifts from Robin, was a truly inspired piece. It gave a thoughtfulness to what land stewardship is, that I think has been lost over the years. There are of course many good things about how women have rights, and hopefully there is less racial or class discrimination in the present, but there might be something lost too, when you consider how Corporations don’t care for their people as the Gentry once did.
I really enjoyed the explanations of what all the Gamekeeper handled, including even allowing some needing head turning if and when poaching was done within reason. Lord Peter Almsley has been one of favorite characters since the initial book I read about Dr. Maya Witherspoon. It was good to have those characters back in a story, even if some could only be used as supporting characters. It lent a more fulfilling experience, since you knew how many of them already fit into this world view.
The one thing I hope is added in future novels, as it has addressed not only racial and gender divides, is something about sexual orientation. There had to have been sons or daughters that preferred their own sex, even then. Hidden I am sure, but how would an Elemental Master look at it? Especially one with Earth Magick who knows that such occurs in nature, so why not in society as well. The Masters who deal with the Fair Folk would have also been around it as well from that society, and therefore might have a more open mind from such exposure.
Bringing in the Royals, could add a very interesting element to a story too. I would think the Monarchy would possibly know of the Elemental Masters, if not have one or two such beings within their own high ranks. Seeing how this interacts within the Elemental Magicks environs might make for a fun story.
Ms. Lackey is a truly an amazing storyteller, and I hope there will be more books in the future from this wonderful human being. I thank her for giving me so many fulfilling hours of being lost in her spectacular and even spectral worlds. Valdemar and the Diana Tregarde stories are still my two favorites, but the Elemental Masters are gaining ground with each novel I read.
This was an amazing story. It had some very dark pieces and difficult truths and realities but it was told so well it made the entire novel even richer.
I have to admit it was hard for me to read about the horrid details of Necromantic Magick, Richard Whitestone and of the very true details of World War I. In many ways it disgusted me to know that there are people in the world who would think nothing of doing such things if they could, and believe it was their right. Some of the things described truly disturbed me, even when only in the abstract. Probably because they were so well written and so believable of a piece. There were two areas that were the hardest for me to get through. One was the concept of a father willing to displace his own daughter’s soul just to have his wife again within that same body, including physically. The second was the violent nature of battle at the front lines and what not only the soldiers had to experience but the displaced countrymen, their losses, and what the healers saw and still had to discharge their duties in caring for them, or not being able to care for all, which might have been the hardest to do.
Of course with these difficult concepts you also have the alternate side with all the good done. As shown by Lord Peter, the White Lodge, the Kerrigans, Susanne and even the good people of Yorkshire not to mention Robin Goodfellow and his ilk. This balance made it reassuring to know that though this is but a story, there are others in the world who recognize what is right and good and try to offer it in the world for others to recognize. For me, I think it was this dichotomy to the story that made it resonate so well as it did.
How Susanne was brought up, and even learned about her gifts from Robin, was a truly inspired piece. It gave a thoughtfulness to what land stewardship is, that I think has been lost over the years. There are of course many good things about how women have rights, and hopefully there is less racial or class discrimination in the present, but there might be something lost too, when you consider how Corporations don’t care for their people as the Gentry once did.
I really enjoyed the explanations of what all the Gamekeeper handled, including even allowing some needing head turning if and when poaching was done within reason. Lord Peter Almsley has been one of favorite characters since the initial book I read about Dr. Maya Witherspoon. It was good to have those characters back in a story, even if some could only be used as supporting characters. It lent a more fulfilling experience, since you knew how many of them already fit into this world view.
The one thing I hope is added in future novels, as it has addressed not only racial and gender divides, is something about sexual orientation. There had to have been sons or daughters that preferred their own sex, even then. Hidden I am sure, but how would an Elemental Master look at it? Especially one with Earth Magick who knows that such occurs in nature, so why not in society as well. The Masters who deal with the Fair Folk would have also been around it as well from that society, and therefore might have a more open mind from such exposure.
Bringing in the Royals, could add a very interesting element to a story too. I would think the Monarchy would possibly know of the Elemental Masters, if not have one or two such beings within their own high ranks. Seeing how this interacts within the Elemental Magicks environs might make for a fun story.
Ms. Lackey is a truly an amazing storyteller, and I hope there will be more books in the future from this wonderful human being. I thank her for giving me so many fulfilling hours of being lost in her spectacular and even spectral worlds. Valdemar and the Diana Tregarde stories are still my two favorites, but the Elemental Masters are gaining ground with each novel I read.
September 18, 2021
This historical fantasy is set around the beginning of World War I in England. Susanne Whitestone is the long neglected daughter or Earth Master Richard Whitestone. He was off doing a job for Lord Alderscroft when his beloved wife went into premature labor and died. He blamed Susanne for murdering her and ignored her.
Susanne was raised by the servants who became her only family. When she came into her own magic as a child, she went into the woods and demanded a friend and a teacher. What she got was Robin Goodfellow - one of the oldest of the Old Fae. He became her friend and taught her and, as she grew, she became the Earth Master of her father's lands while her father nourished his obsession to reclaim his wife by studying forbidden and dangerous necromancy.
Meanwhile in London, Lord Alderscroft has heard rumors of a necromancer in Yorkshire and has sent one of his agents - Lord Peter Almsley - who is a Water Master to find the necromancer and take care of the problem.
When Richard decides to remove his daughter's soul and replace it with his wife's and Susanne finds out about it, she flees. After a three-day flight across the moors, she finds herself at the same estate where Lord Peter is staying, an estate filled with people from the masters to the servants who all have some magic. Susanne finds a comfortable home there and develops a crush on the son of the house, but her father isn't just going to let her go.
The story is filled with the horrors of World War I since Susanne flees to the continent and finds herself working as a nursing sister in order to stay close to her crush. And the badly damaged land and many deaths make the battlefields a perfect location for a necromancer who wants revenge and still wants Susanne.
I really liked this story. I thought the world building was great. I liked the way the Elementals fit into the story. I liked Susanne who was determined to have a life of her own and who has great courage. I liked Lord Peter who develops his own love for Susanne.
This is the sixth book in the Elemental Masters series, but I didn't have any problem getting into the world created. I did read the earlier books years ago and am now tempted to reread them. I read from both a print book which I bought in 2012 and a newly purchased audiobook.
Susanne was raised by the servants who became her only family. When she came into her own magic as a child, she went into the woods and demanded a friend and a teacher. What she got was Robin Goodfellow - one of the oldest of the Old Fae. He became her friend and taught her and, as she grew, she became the Earth Master of her father's lands while her father nourished his obsession to reclaim his wife by studying forbidden and dangerous necromancy.
Meanwhile in London, Lord Alderscroft has heard rumors of a necromancer in Yorkshire and has sent one of his agents - Lord Peter Almsley - who is a Water Master to find the necromancer and take care of the problem.
When Richard decides to remove his daughter's soul and replace it with his wife's and Susanne finds out about it, she flees. After a three-day flight across the moors, she finds herself at the same estate where Lord Peter is staying, an estate filled with people from the masters to the servants who all have some magic. Susanne finds a comfortable home there and develops a crush on the son of the house, but her father isn't just going to let her go.
The story is filled with the horrors of World War I since Susanne flees to the continent and finds herself working as a nursing sister in order to stay close to her crush. And the badly damaged land and many deaths make the battlefields a perfect location for a necromancer who wants revenge and still wants Susanne.
I really liked this story. I thought the world building was great. I liked the way the Elementals fit into the story. I liked Susanne who was determined to have a life of her own and who has great courage. I liked Lord Peter who develops his own love for Susanne.
This is the sixth book in the Elemental Masters series, but I didn't have any problem getting into the world created. I did read the earlier books years ago and am now tempted to reread them. I read from both a print book which I bought in 2012 and a newly purchased audiobook.
April 25, 2025
2.5 stars! Rounded down because the villain is so over the top evil, and for Puck. I don't feel like I'll particularly want to revisit this, though if I do decide to re-read the entire series in the future, I will probably read this too; it's not THAT bad. I'm not familiar with the fairy tale this book is supposed to be based on, but that's okay, because it's not like it really matters. I think the most annoying thing in this book was also the thing I found most irritating in "The Wizard of London" which is that Puck/Robin Goodfellow is an important character who actually talks a lot, has a personality, and does stuff in the plot. It feels like Shakespeare fanfiction (well, it basically IS) and while I don't object to that in a general sense, I don't really want to read it, so the way it's been integrated here annoys me.
I don't know about other people, but I personally found all the country accents really charming. The audiobook reader did a good job on them (IMHO, but I am American so I have no idea how it sounds to someone from England) and it kinda reminded me of myself reading Martha's lines from "The Secret Garden" out loud as a little girl. I know this is something I said annoyed me in "The Gates of Sleep" but that's because aside from not being a very good book, the reader also wasn't very good.
Was this a good book? Eh, not particularly, but I was happy to see Lord Peter Almsley, a character I came to like in previous books! Someone else's review said that Ms Lackey's writing isn't good enough for you (the reader) to really care about the characters, be truly horrified about stuff that happens to them, etc, and I think that's true... but I also think maybe that's why I'm reading this series. I recently read a really good, thought-provoking, smart, awesome fantasy novel (City of Stairs) and I think my brain needed something light and fluffy and dumb so it had time to recover, and this series popped up in my reading list.
I don't know about other people, but I personally found all the country accents really charming. The audiobook reader did a good job on them (IMHO, but I am American so I have no idea how it sounds to someone from England) and it kinda reminded me of myself reading Martha's lines from "The Secret Garden" out loud as a little girl. I know this is something I said annoyed me in "The Gates of Sleep" but that's because aside from not being a very good book, the reader also wasn't very good.
Was this a good book? Eh, not particularly, but I was happy to see Lord Peter Almsley, a character I came to like in previous books! Someone else's review said that Ms Lackey's writing isn't good enough for you (the reader) to really care about the characters, be truly horrified about stuff that happens to them, etc, and I think that's true... but I also think maybe that's why I'm reading this series. I recently read a really good, thought-provoking, smart, awesome fantasy novel (City of Stairs) and I think my brain needed something light and fluffy and dumb so it had time to recover, and this series popped up in my reading list.
May 7, 2018
I can see that I need to re-consider finding a book of Charles Perrault's fairy tales. At least I had HEARD of Puss in Boots, even though I had no idea about the plot. Unnatural Issue was a very fine Elemental Masters book but I again was baffled as to which fairy tale it retold.
Also, the title of the book turns out to have been a clue. This book is a faithful retelling of Donkeyskin. Yes, 40 years as a reference librarian and I had NEVER heard of this tale!
I was also especially pleased to see Maya and Peter Scott again and Peter's "twin" from his Exeter Club, Lord Peter Almsley. Since I had always enjoyed Peter Almsley in previous Elementary Masters books, I was very pleased to see him and his manservant Garrick again.
I was indeed quite taken with Susanne, the daughter who through NO fault of her own lived when her mother died in childbirth (and shattered her father's heart).
I really like the women in the Elemental Masters world. As with the previous girls, Susanne is spirited (yes, downright spunky), honest, a hard worker, and does her best when suddenly acknowledged as the "daughter of the house" to learn all of those social skills her "gentry" class expected her to have had from birth (the servants had raised Susanne so she at least had seen the upstairs/downstairs life from the downstairs point of view).
Plus, she's an Earth Elemental Master in her own right, if not fully trained.
As always, highly recommended for fantasy collections!
Also, the title of the book turns out to have been a clue. This book is a faithful retelling of Donkeyskin. Yes, 40 years as a reference librarian and I had NEVER heard of this tale!
I was also especially pleased to see Maya and Peter Scott again and Peter's "twin" from his Exeter Club, Lord Peter Almsley. Since I had always enjoyed Peter Almsley in previous Elementary Masters books, I was very pleased to see him and his manservant Garrick again.
I was indeed quite taken with Susanne, the daughter who through NO fault of her own lived when her mother died in childbirth (and shattered her father's heart).
I really like the women in the Elemental Masters world. As with the previous girls, Susanne is spirited (yes, downright spunky), honest, a hard worker, and does her best when suddenly acknowledged as the "daughter of the house" to learn all of those social skills her "gentry" class expected her to have had from birth (the servants had raised Susanne so she at least had seen the upstairs/downstairs life from the downstairs point of view).
Plus, she's an Earth Elemental Master in her own right, if not fully trained.
As always, highly recommended for fantasy collections!
February 16, 2021
Yet another great read by Mercedes Lackey - and full of so much detail that I could practically feel myself seeing the sights, and particularly smelling the smells, of both the English countryside in peacetime, and the terrible stenches of wartime in the trenches.
Mercedes writes so emotively about both, so that its hard to separate them entirely - but then, she has always been able to immerse me in whatever world she writes about, to the point that I've lost a lot of sleep while being unable to put whichever book I'm reading down, in order to sleep, at the time if reading it.
This story, dealing with Lord Peter, and the girl he finally falls in love with, was so real to me, especially with my love of history, and the years I had spent reading about the more recent involvement of the British, in the history of both world wars.
This was a book that I know I will go back to, time and time again, and find something new that I missed on my previous reading - and, as it ended on a little bit of a cliff hanger, I'm hoping that book 7 of this series 'Home From the Sea', will follow Peter and Suzanne's story, too.
Mercedes writes so emotively about both, so that its hard to separate them entirely - but then, she has always been able to immerse me in whatever world she writes about, to the point that I've lost a lot of sleep while being unable to put whichever book I'm reading down, in order to sleep, at the time if reading it.
This story, dealing with Lord Peter, and the girl he finally falls in love with, was so real to me, especially with my love of history, and the years I had spent reading about the more recent involvement of the British, in the history of both world wars.
This was a book that I know I will go back to, time and time again, and find something new that I missed on my previous reading - and, as it ended on a little bit of a cliff hanger, I'm hoping that book 7 of this series 'Home From the Sea', will follow Peter and Suzanne's story, too.
July 31, 2018
The main character, Susanne Whitestone, is the daughter of an Earth Master and minor rural aristocrat. After her mother died in childbirth, the father blamed her for it, disowned her, shut himself up in his rooms, and refused to see anyone except his housekeeper. Susanne grows up as one of the servants. Other than them, the only person she knows is Robin Goodfellow himself, who teaches her to use her own magical powers. The story proper starts in the summer of 1914, when the father, who is still obsessing alone, decides to engineer a chance to cast Susanne's spirit out of her body and necromantically replace it with the mother's. Susanne doesn't suspect the plan at first. The Lodge in London notices some stirrings of necromancy, but, distracted by the impending world war, they also don't connect it with the Whitestones. But this book has a more complicated plot than most in the series, so the situation goes through several major changes before the end. There's no big role for nonhuman animals this time, but there is for some human characters from previous books.
September 2, 2018
2.5
This is really a 1.5-2 star book. It’s not developed very well. It suffers a lot. So why did I end up giving 2.5 stars? Simple, it kept me entertained. There were some moments that were well done and where you can see talent trying to come through but it gets obscured by the rest of the novel.
I’m not sure what fairytale this is a retelling so there were no plot points that I was expecting. We follow three perspectives Suzanne, Peter, and Richard.
So, let’s just jump into the pros first.
I liked Suzanne as a character. I know there are some who might find her bland, flat, etc. But she is someone who grew up with the servants of the family. In fact, she had less then they did and was alone. If you grew up learning how to take care of yourself and having no real friend, you’re going to become someone who just thinks practically. She does however, go through some “character development” (if we can even call it that) that does not seem organic to her character. She wasn’t bland; she was just a hardworking resourceful person.
Review Continued Here
This is really a 1.5-2 star book. It’s not developed very well. It suffers a lot. So why did I end up giving 2.5 stars? Simple, it kept me entertained. There were some moments that were well done and where you can see talent trying to come through but it gets obscured by the rest of the novel.
I’m not sure what fairytale this is a retelling so there were no plot points that I was expecting. We follow three perspectives Suzanne, Peter, and Richard.
So, let’s just jump into the pros first.
I liked Suzanne as a character. I know there are some who might find her bland, flat, etc. But she is someone who grew up with the servants of the family. In fact, she had less then they did and was alone. If you grew up learning how to take care of yourself and having no real friend, you’re going to become someone who just thinks practically. She does however, go through some “character development” (if we can even call it that) that does not seem organic to her character. She wasn’t bland; she was just a hardworking resourceful person.
Review Continued Here
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