As war ravages the Continent, black magic is left to fester in the countryside

Fairy tales weren't always Disney-inspired fripperies. Many of them were cautionary tales at their heart, or even just involving the dark side of the fantasy realm. Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters series has certainly taken a turn towards these darker fairy tales at times, and returns there with Unnatural Issue, the sixth book in the series.

While this is the 6th book in the Elemental Masters series, it is certainly accessible to first time readers of the series.  While there are no real spoilers that I could tell, or anything beyond basic 'fantasy world magic' to know, there may be some that I missed, so be warned.  Otherwise, read on.

When two people steal the same name, conflicts generally occur

A cat - who might be more than he appears - helps a young ballerina from France make it big in England in Mercedes Lackey's sixth Elemental Masters novel, Reserved for the Cat.

While this is the sixth book in the Elemental Masters series, it is certainly accessible to first time readers of the series.  While there are no real spoilers that I could tell, or anything beyond basic 'fantasy world magic' to know, there may be some that I missed, so be warned.  Otherwise, read on 

Even Lord Alderscroft was a young man once.

Any good series starts somewhere in the middle.  It's impossible to go into everyone's backstory right from the beginning.  So while enough information is given to understand what's going on, there will always be a few questions as to how the characters got started.  Mercedes Lackey goes back to before the beginning and shows us how Lord Alderscroft became the leader of the Magician's Circle in The Wizard of London.

While this is the 5th book in the Elemental Masters series, it is certainly accessible to first time readers of the series.  While there are no real spoilers that I could tell, or anything beyond basic 'fantasy world magic' to know, there may be some that I missed, so be warned.  Otherwise, read on

War and death cause dark magic to flourish

The Great War creates problems throughout both mundane and magical Europe in Mercedes Lackey's fourth Elemental Masters novel, Phoenix and Ashes.

While this is the 4th book in the Elemental Masters series, it is certainly accessible to first time readers of the series.  While there are no real spoilers that I could tell, or anything beyond basic 'fantasy world magic' to know, there may be some that I missed, so be warned.  Otherwise, read on.

A liberated Sleeping Beauty would battle her wicked aunt in the dream world

While this is the 3rd book in the Elemental Masters series, it is certainly accessible to first time readers of the series.  While there are no real spoilers that I could tell, or anything beyond basic 'fantasy world magic' to know, there may be some that I missed, so be warned.  Otherwise, read on.

When a beauty named Rose meets a half-man, half-beast in early 1900s San Francisco...

Books based on fairy tales tend to be a very relaxing type of story.  We already know the basic structure that it will have. The settings or side characters may change, but Snow White will encounter a poison apple, and Sleeping Beauty needs to beware spindles. By placing Beauty and the Beast in San Francisco during the Gold Rush, and making magic both esoteric and a subject that can be studied empirically, Mercedes Lackey has created The Fire Rose, the first book in the Elemental Masters series.

Rose has a problem. Her doting father a professor in Chicago has died suddenly. But not, of course, before losing all their saved money in a series of bad investments and mismanaged banks. So now the debtors have landed, she can no longer pursue her doctoral degree, and there is not many avenues left for an over-educated woman.

Out of nowhere, a notice of possible employment appears at the office of her mentor at the university. A rather rich man named Jason Cameron has sent word that he needs a governess and tutor for his two young children. Even though it would be a drastic fall in status, with no where else to go, she took the train tickets and headed west.

Upon arrival, she learns the true nature of her employment. Jason Cameron tells her that he has had a disfiguring accident and can no longer study his books by himself. He tells Rose that he needs her to read to him through a speaking tube between their rooms. While unconventional, Rose has no other options, and so accepts the new job description.

This story, like all good fairy tales, has all the characters types one would expect in a fairy tale. We have the flawed hero with the sidekick-turned-equal girl. We have a turncoat former aide to our hero, as well as an unquestionably evil nemesis. There is never really any question as to who should come out on top, and while the manner in which things wrap up might not be how the reader expects, it’s still a very satisfying conclusion to our story.

As the first book in the Elemental Masters series, it also has to set the world and possibilities for all the books to come. While this is the only book to be set outside of Britain, it does a fantastic job of explaining how magic works, what generally is and is not possible, and even opens up the possibility of Eastern magic vs Western magic with Master Pao, the herbalist in Chinatown. It does use the fairly standard teaching a new Apprentice method of explaining what’s going on to the reader, but Rose is quite intelligent and only needs to be told something once, so it doesn’t get annoying as with other books.

This quality of writing is what makes Mercedes Lackey such a well-respected name in fantasy. Throughout, I was kept up later than I should have, wanting to know what happened next, and that’s how good fantasy should be.

Highs:  It’s always fun to hear a Master Magician’s familiar talk back to them

Lows:  Rose’s despair and cynicism at the beginning could be grating but it didn’t last long

Verdict: Great reading for anyone who likes a good fairy tale

Further Reading:  The Serpent’s Shadow, The Dragon Boy

A fantasy and fairy tale book that just doesn't make it

There are a lot of fantasy novels that retell traditional fairy tales and folklore. Some give them a modern setting, such as Orson Scott Card’s Enchanted or Vertigo’s Fables series. Others combine several pieces of folklore into one story, as in the Parasol Protectorate series and Charles de Lint’s urban fantasy. The only way to differentiate between stories in this genre is quality, and I am sorry to say that Mercedes Lackey’s Firebird just doesn’t rise to the challenge.

In places the story comes so close to shining. At first, Ilya Ivanovich is a fairly sympathetic character. Essentially orphaned at birth, he not nearly as vicious , or stupid, as the rest of his father’s sons. At age three, he is taken under the wing of Mother Galina, the woman in charge of the dairy, who gentles him and encourages him to be more than his brothers are turning out to be. He also spends quite a bit of time with Father Mikail and Ruslan, the priest and shaman or Ivan’s realm. Unfortunately, along with either trying to save Ilya soul or teach him about the spirits of the land, they spend an equal amount of time patching him up after the beatings that his brothers hand out.

Lackey, does a fantastic job building up the world of Ilya. We learn just enough about the side characters, the serfs and servants in the house, and even Ilya’a ancestors in the crypt, to really want to more about the lands under tsar Ivan’s rule. It’s as if Lackey is setting up a series set across the generations of rulers and people of this land. I would have loved to read that series.

Instead, we follow the adventures of Ilya himself. Admittedly, the trouble he gets into while still at home and the solutions he comes up with are pretty clever and fun to watch. I can even forgive him the rather excessive skirt-chasing as simply something that rich boys his age do.

The story starts seriously going downhill when he leaves home and starts adventuring. We meet more characters that deserve their own stories to be told, and as the supporting characters get more interesting, Ilya gets less so. Even with all the ill luck in the world, he still finds even more trouble for himself with his silly skirt-chasing. Eventually, he pretty much deserves whatever disaster befalls him next, because he can’t leave well enough alone. By the final pages I have lost all sympathy for our poor hero, and almost find the ending a letdown.

Mercedes Lackey is a master of fairy tale fantasy. This amazing talent is seen in her Elemental Masters series. Unfortunately, all the pieces never come together in Firebird, and we are left holding a mediocre book in a series that could be fantastic, but will probably never come to being.

Highs: Al the side characters, but especially the “odd couple” of Father Mikail and Ruslan

Lows: How do people as intelligent and educated as Ilya just keep doing stupid thing?

Verdict: The first two thirds are worth the reading time, but don’t bother unless you’re stuck without anything better

Further Reading: The Fire Rose, Enchanted