Dark Earth

Jason Halstead
Fantasy
CreateSpace/ March 2010
Mass Market/ 229 Pages
Series Dark Earth #1

Eric's learned at a young age that the odds are stacked against most people and only hard work would see him through it. That stubborn pragmatism helped him through the death of his young wife and raising of his infant daughter. He never suspected that the odds were being worsened by people and powers outside of his control.

Eric's daughter Jessica quickly proved to be a prodigy that could perform miracles with anything she attempted. Once she hit the age of 13 the true nature of her talents began to be revealed. A simple drawing so perfect it seemed to be alive was followed by a garden filled with life beyond that of anything the Earth had seen in recorded history. Then came the next assassination attempt, foiled by that same stubborn and pragmatic father.

When an earthly assassin proved no match for Jessica or her protector a hunter was sent from another world. A world bound parallel to the Earth and only reachable during the rarest of times and by the most dire of circumstances. Ignorant of the impossible nature of the task Eric had set for himself, he must learn call upon an inner strength he never knew he possessed when Jessica is snatched from her very garden and abducted through the shadows into the other earth.

Eric, refusing to admit defeat, learns the true nature of not only his daughter and her amazing powers, but also his own legacy bequeathed unto him by a father he never knew. A father that is darker than the hunter and one who has only conquest and domination at any cost on his mind

I picked this book up because it looked interesting

What I liked the Most? Percy the squirrel (read it and your'll understand)

What I liked the Least? The logic gaps - I get that it's fantasy, but there are still REALLY large holes in the logic

Review: Ok to be honest, it took me awhile to get into this story. I got it over at Amazon for my Kindle and really didn't even know I had it until after I read Lost Girls & went looking for the rest of the series. But once I actually started reading it the second time around. I couldn't put it down. Sometimes I think I must be massively sexist in the books I read, because I simply do not do male dominated stories (unless it is true crime).

This book has a lot of really good points, interesting story twists, and over all a decent read. But I had issues with some of the logic gaps & drops. There is a really cool scene about midway through the book that gives nothing to the actual storyline, but was one of the best written.

Recommended to: Fans of mixed up fiction - was a little scifi-ish, a little fantasical, and a little WTF did I just read.

Best Quote: Fair is a concept invented by lazy people that want the same privileges hard working people have, without wanting to do the work.

Book: The Fire Rose

Mercedes Lackey
Fantasy
Baen / 1995
Hard Back / 448 Pages
Series Elemental Masters #1

Rosalind Hawkins is a medieval scholar from a fine family in Chicago. Unfortunately, her professor father has speculated away the family money and died, leaving young Rosalind with no fortune and no future. Desolate with grief, forced to cut her education short, she agrees to go West to take a job as a governess to a wealthy man in San Francisco. A boom town in the 1850s, in 1905 San Francisco is the center of culture in the new West, and perhaps there she will rediscover a reason for living. But when she arrives at Jason Cameron's mansion on a hill overlooking the Pacific, she discovers that there are no children, not even a wife, in residence: just the gentleman himself and his enigmatic manservant. Penniless, Rosalind stays despite her misgivings. For the household is very odd indeed. Despite there being but one servant, the huge house is immaculate and food is prepared and served in the most elegant manner. Oddest of all is the master of the house: Rosalind never sees him, but communicates only through a speaking tube, and only at night. But then...she is happy. For her job in the household is to read to him: Latin, French, Greek, German - and she feels herself coming alive once more. As for Jason Cameron, through his contact with Rosalind, he, too, is renewed. An Adept and Alchemist, Master of the Element of Fire, he had attempted the old French werewolf transformation - and bungled it. Stuck in wolf form, over the years he had slowly been losing his humanity. Rosalind is bringing it back to him. But when a rival alchemist offers Rosalind the chance to restore her family's fortune in exchange for Jason's secret, who will she side with? And then the earthquake strikes....

I picked this book up because I was intrigued by the picture on the front of the book

What I liked the Most? The twist on the traditional fairy tale

What I liked the Least? Paul DuMond’s slimely yucky butt – but hey you are supposed to dislike him lol

Review:Wahoo – a twisted version of Beauty & the Beast. Wonderfully written & conceptually stunning. I enjoyed the tale as kind of a sweet treat to be picked up on rare moments not something to make a meal of.

To make this a fair review I do have to criticize the over use of italics it really pulls you out of the story at times.

Sidenote: there is apparently some confusion with this book as to whether or not it is part of the Elemental Masters series. I choose to put it with the series because even though it is set in a different area of the world – it is very much similar to the concept

Recommended to: Fans of fantasy

Book: Take A Thief

Mercedes Lackey
Fantasy
DAW / 2002
Hard Back / 435 Pages
Series Heralds of Valdemar #5

Young Skif is the very personification of a hard-knock life. Since Skif is an orphan, his uncle, Galko Londer, is his guardian. Far from being a concerned and tender relative, Master Londer regards Skif as little better than a slave. Skif is required to work in his uncle's tavern, which is managed by Londer's equally unpleasant son Kalchan, for the chance to sleep under the tavern stairs. Fortunately for Skif, one of Queen Selenay's laws is that all children under a certain age must be provided with an education, which Skif cares little for, and breakfast, which he looks forward to eagerly since his cousin is not inclined to feed him. The youngster supplements his temple breakfast by sneaking into rich men's houses and stealing food.

One day, after filling his pockets with food from Lord Orthallen's dining room, he runs into another young thief who consents to take Skif with him and teach him how best to break into houses and pick pockets. The boy leads him to Bazie, a crippled ex-soldier who makes his living, Fagin-like, by running a small ring of boy thieves in the poor sections of Haven. In Bazie's home, Skif finds the friendship and acceptance he has craved all his life, until tragedy strikes and his new family is taken from him.

Once more alone, Skif vows vengeance and, despite his young age, sets about to get it. And he is well on his way to achieving it when he steals a pretty white horse left unattended in a city park and finds himself, after a wild ride through Haven and the surrounding countryside, the newest Herald-trainee.

The above Dickens reference is not an accident. This novel, in spots, has a very Dickensian atmosphere, especially with Bazie and his boys, though Bazie's motivations are not entirely the same as Fagin's (having been in my high school's production of Oliver some years ago, I'm familiar with that story).

The story takes place almost entirely within the bounds of Valdemar's court city, Haven, and not the nicer parts, either. Lackey brings the poorer quarters of Haven to vivid life, and makes it a place you definitely don't want to visit without several friends and a good, stout walking stick.

Skif's background has never been a secret, and this tale of how he became a thief and then a Herald is a welcome addition to the Valdemar series.

I picked this book up because I freaking love this world

What I liked the Most? Finally Skif’s story from top to bottom

What I liked the Least? While I realize that Skif is not a normal child – I’m still offended by putting him in a dangerous position


Review: Skiff has always been one of my favorite “back ground” characters – his development into “real boy” lead showcased his heroics, histrionics, and bastardized English perfectly. My only “complaint” is that the language got in the way of the story.

I love revisiting Valdemar when ever I get the chance & this trip was well worth it. Valdemar is a nice comfortable place to escape to when you don't want to think too much. Even if this installment shows you the darker underground of the otherwise perfectly groomed land.

Recommended to: Every one – I loved this book

Best Quote: Have'ta be some kinda Master Thief, I guess. Somebody with all kinds uv tricks. Wonder if they's 'prentices fer that kinda work?

Book: Unnatural Issue

Mercedes Lackey
Fantasy
Daw / 2011
Hard Back / 361 Pages
Series Elemental Masters 7 (Donkey Skin)

Susanne Whitestone had always lived in Whitestone Manor, her ancestral home in North Yorkshire. She was the daughter of a country squire, but life for Susanne was no different than it was for any of the many servants in her father's great house. For though she was Richard Whitestone's only child, she had never set eyes on her father, who lived as a recluse in a sectioned off wing of the manor. But Susanne was happy; raised by her father's warm and loving servants, it suited her to do simple household chores, work in the dairy, and tend to the extensive grounds that lay beyond her father's private inner gardens. For Susanne was an Earth Master, and liked nothing more than to keep the land itself and all of its animal inhabitants--both mundane and fae--well nourished and thriving. And Susanne was surprisingly well-trained as a mage of the Earth, despite her father's neglect, because for the last eleven years, she had had a special friend in the forest--a powerful fae being known only as Robin. Robin had taught Susanne since she was ten, and he had given her such a thorough education that Susanne doubted that any mortal Master could find fault with her practices.

Richard Whitstone was also an Earth master, but since his beloved wife's death in childbirth with Susanne, he had lived a kind of half-life in his secluded and isolated section of the great manor. He hated even the thought of the child who had ended his wife's life, and had refused to acknowledge or care for his daughter. His life had withered, and his spirit had contracted into a hard, cold thing. As he had grown bitter, twisted, and blighted, so had everything he could see from his windows--his once-beautiful gardens were now as stark and withered as his own heart. But as the years passed, Richard found that there was one thing that gave him solace--the thought, first just a fleeting thing, then later an obsession, that he could bring his Rebecca back to life through the dark practice of necromancy. He would need an appropriate vessel for her spirit, a young woman, preferably one who looked like she did and was approximately the same age that Rebecca had been at the time of her death--twenty-one.

Meanwhile, in London, Lord Alderscroft, Head of one of the oldest and most powerful White Lodges of Elemental Masters in the Empire, had serious worries. There were intimations of trouble on the continent--not of just a small conflict, but war on a scale that had never been seen before. Alderscroft had dispatched many of his Masters to the continent to try to avert this coming disaster, and was functioning with a fraction of the support he usually had at his disposal when reports of Blood Magic came to him from one of his mages in Yorkshire. With his lodge depleted, Alderscroft had no choice but to send Lord Peter Almsley, one of his most powerful operatives, up north to find and dispatch this mysterious necromancer. But will Lord Peter get to Susanne in time?

I picked this book up because Series

What I liked the Most? Peter (The “Rich” Twin) is back – I really like him

What I liked the Least? Biggest issue the phony fake illusionary romance that’s not a romance and what’s up with Rose.

Review: The opening chapter shows us Earth Master Richard Whitestone returning home from a dastardly necromantic battle only to discover that his beloved wife has died in childbirth. He dramatically blames the child and tells the help to rid him of it and then locks himself away in his dusty, magic filled tower.

Dun-dun-duuuuun - 20 years & the story takes off – the baby (Susanne) has grown up and matured into a feisty country lass unsure of her position (neither staff nor family), but very sure of her magical knowledge due to her very interesting teacher. One day, Richard sees her walking out of the woods and latches onto the idea that his wife has come back from the dead. When that fails to be proven true he becomes what he once hated & turns to necromancy to return his wife to him via his daughters body.

I did not care for Richard’s misogynistic notations – finding them to be simplistic and utterly boring, but the father as the villain – well played.

I do feel that the "love triangle" was a complete waste of time & paper – it should have either been more of the story or left out, I don't really care which.

All in all a fun read that delighted me.

Recommended to: Everyone

Best Quote:

Book: Magic's Price

Mercedes Lackey
Fantasy
Penguin Group / July 1990
Mass Market / 352 pages
Last Herald-Mage Series, #3

Valdemar - the once-peaceful kingdom protected by the magic of its Herald-Mages - is now besieged on all fronts. The king lies near death, the neighboring land of Karse wages a relentless war against Valdemar, and the forces led by a master of dark forbidden magic are massing to strike the final devastating blow against the kingdom. And Vanyel, the most powerful Herald-Mage Valdemar has ever known, has become the primary target of the evil which is reaching to poison all the land. With all his fellow mages slain, Vanyel alone remains to defend his people against the dark master's army. Yet a dream vision has revealed to Vanyel the fate which awaits should he and his Companion Yfandes take up the dark master's challenge. And if either Vanyel or Yfandes falters, the dream will become a horrifying reality in which both Valdemar and its last Herald-Mage must pay the ultimate price.

I picked this book up because The end of a trilogy

What I liked the Most? That you can see the true growth of a character.

What I liked the Least? It's the final chapter with Vanyel

Review: I was blown away by this story. You have the younger but much more experienced person literally hunting the older/shyer one. Brilliant. And the story line - wow tears til the end. I must say that I LOVED this trilogy - even if this one wasn't my favorite.

Recommended to: Fans of the series; anyone looking for non-sexual GLBT reading.

Best Quote: 'Let's see if we can't think of a way to bring Uncle Van to bay' - Medren

Challenges: GLBT, Summer Reading, 100+

Book:Magic's Promise

Mercedes Lackey
Fantasy
Penguin Group / January 1990
Mass Market / 320 pages
Last Herald-Mage Series, #2

The Wild Magic is taking its toll on the land. Many Heralds and Herald-Mages have died fighting to preserve the peace. Even Vanyel, the most powerful of all the Herald-Mages, is almost at the end of his strength, in need of a respite from the dual threats of war and dark magic. But for Vanyel, there can be no rest. Not when his Companion, Yfandes, receives a summons which can't be ignored - a desperate cry for help which draws them both into the heart of a magical holocaust in the neighboring kingdom. Almost overwhelmed by the devastation they discover there, Herald-Mage and Companion must try to unravel this tragic mystery. Is the young Prince Tashir, a newly Chosen Herald who can't control his own magic, responsible for the destruction? Or is Tashir a pawn in a deeper, more deadly game - and, if so, will Vanyel be able to find and defeat the true destroyer before this master of dark powers can strike again?

I picked this book up because This happens ALOT - but it was the next book in a series.

What I liked the Most? The character development of the first book is something that really impressed me, and it continues here.

What I liked the Least? Tashir - what a little idiot.

Review:Vanyel, older but still a young man, has experienced a lot in his short life, but still has much to learn - about himself, about love and life. Unfortunately he has continued to isolate himself, and is often confused, angry, hurt. The plot can be a little tricky to follow at times but it's a matter of keep reading, things do become clear.

Recommended to: Fans of the series, emotional readers

Best Quote: "I choose to remember you in love, not tears" - Vanyel

Challenges: GLBT, Summer Reading, 100+, Para999

Book: Magic's Pawn

Mercedes Lackey
Fantasy
Penguin Group / June 1989
Mass Market / 352 pages
Last Herald-Mage Series, #1

Though Vanyel has been born with near-legendary abilities to work both Herald and Mage magic, he wants no part of such things. Nor does he seek a warrior's path, wishing ins. tead to become a Bard. Yet such talent as his if left untrained may prove a menace not only to Vanyel but to others as well. So he is sent to be fostered by his aunt, Savil, one of the famed Herald-Mages of Valdemar. But, strong-willed and self-centered, Vanyel is a challenge which even Savil cannot master alone. For soon he will become the focus of frightening forces, lending his raw magic to a spell that unleashes terrifying wyr-hunters on the land. And by the time Savil seeks the assistance of a Shin'a'in Adept, Vanyel's wild talent may already have grown beyond anyone's ability to contain, placing Vanyel, Savil, and Valdemar itself in desperate peril.

I picked this book up because I was already reading some of her other books & wanted to try a Valdemar tale.

What I liked the Most? This was truly an emotional book. I usually get invested in the characters / settings, but this book went way beyond anything I usually feel. I cried, I laughed, I felt this story from beginning to end.

What I liked the Least? Nothing! This was a truly wonderful book.

Review: This is a wonderful story about love, friendship, revenge, pain, and all of the other wonderfully messy human emotions. It proves that love is a valuable thing that should not be taken for granted. That revenge is not always the answer and that true friendship can heal. It also shows that without the pain, some things may never have come about. And that just because something horrible happens, you should not give up.

This book truly shows us what Mercedes Lackey can do. Duplicate and show real human emotion. While this book is grim (depression suicide, abuse) it does not skimp on how a real person really would feel about those things if they had them do onto them. Normal people don't bounce back the next week about losing the one that they are in love with, and this is what the author believes and she shows it quite amazingly! While it can be a hard book to read at a couple of parts, it truly is genuine and will even have you look within yourself for similar feelings.

It is an exciting novel, that transports the reader to this wonderful land of Valdemar and let's them see into the minds of people who are different. This book keeps you turning pages all the way through and encourages you to read it more than once.

Recommended to: To any fantasy lover ready to really feel a book.

Best Quote: 'Now I'm a bully. And I don't like it' Vanyel

Challenges: GLBT, Summer Reading, 100+, Para999