Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey

Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey
Series: Elemental Masters, #4
Published: October 4, 2004
Publisher: DAW Books
Pages: 480

In this dark and atmospheric rendition of the Cinderella fairy tale, an intelligent young Englishwoman is made into a virtual slave by her evil stepmother. Her only hope of rescue comes in the shape of a scarred World War I pilot of noble blood, whose own powers over the elements are about to be needed more than ever.

"A dark tale full of the pain and devastation of war...and a couple of wounded protagonists worth routing for." —Locus

I'm glad to say this is still my favorite of the Elemental Masters books. The first time I read it (must've been five years ago), I remember immediately reading it again because I loved it so much.

Review: The Gates of Sleep by Mercedes Lackey

The Gates of Sleep by Mercedes Lackey

Series: Elemental Masters, #3

Published: January 1, 2002

Publisher: DAW Books

Pages: 389

For seventeen years, Marina Roeswood had lived in an old, rambling farmhouse in rural Cornwall in the care of close friends of her wealthy, aristocratic parents. As the ward of bohemian artists in Victorian England, she had grown to be a free thinker in an environment of fertile creativity and cultural sophistication. But the real core of her education was far outside societal norms. For she and her foster parents were Elemental Master of magic, and learning to control her growing powers was Marina's primary focus.

But though Marina's life seemed idyllic, her existence was riddled with mysteries. Why, for example, had she never seen her parents, or been to Oakhurst, her family's ancestral manor? And why hadn't her real parents, also Elemental Masters, trained her themselves? That there was a secret about all this she had known from the time she had begun to question the world around her. Yet try as she might, she could get no clues out of her guardians.

But sudden death and upheaval will change Marina's life as she know it. Will she be able face the danger that's been following her since birth?

Confession time - that last paragraph of the synopsis is my own. The actual last paragraph on the back of my book is way too spoilery.

I first read this book in my middle school years - and I distinctly remember thinking it wasn't nearly as good as The Serpent's Shadow. Upon rereading it, I was inclined to change my opinion. Until I reached the end of the book.

Review: The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey

The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey
Series: The Elemental Masters, #2
Published: March 1, 2001
Publisher: DAW
Pages: 394

Maya Witherspoon had lived most of the first twenty-five years of her life in her native India. As the daughter of a prominent British physician and a Brahmin woman of the highest caste, she had known only luxury. Trained by her father in the medical arts since she was old enough to read, she graduated from the University of Delhi as a Doctor of Medicine by the age of twenty-two.
But the science of medicine was not Maya's only heritage. For her mother was a sorceress - a former priestess of the mystical magics fueled by the powerful and fearsome pantheon of Indian gods.

Though Maya felt the stirring of magic in her blood, her mother had repeatedly refused to train her. "I cannot," she had said, her eyes dark with distress, whenever Maya asked. "Yours is the magic of your father's blood, not mine...." Surya had never had the chance to explain this enigmatic statement to her daughter before a mysterious illness claimed her life. Yet it was Maya's father's death shortly thereafter which confirmed her darkest suspicions. For her father was killed by the bite of a krait, a tiny venomous snake. In the last hours of her mother's life, in the seeming delirium of her final fever, Surya had repeatedly warned Maya to beware "the serpent's shadow." With the sudden loss of her father, Maya knew she must flee the land of her birth or face the same fate as her parents.

This was actually my first Mercedes Lackey novel. I also think that it might have been my first brush with modern fantasy, though I definitely had read stories with fantastical elements and styles (I'm thinking of The Little White Horse).