95 Books In 2006, George W. Bush read 95 books. We will do better.

I don’t have much to say: Mercedes Lackey writes straight-up fantasy stories. She writes about magic in interesting ways—I do think that the way magic works in this Elemental Mastersseries is pretty interesting. Each mage has an elemental type, and controls power by bargaining with (or if evil, compelling) creatures of that element. Different types of mages have different strengths and weaknesses which relate to the way the elements interact with one another.

I like reading these books as mindless relaxation. There are inconsistencies (really, the woman doctor is the first one who leaves the room at the sight of zombies? Really? As a turn of the century doctor, I’d say she’s probably seen just as bad in the operating room. Also, soldiers are going to bother sending a woman who is serving competently as a nurse home because she’s not qualified? I have trouble buying that given that it’s made clear that the person who is sending her home has a shortage of capable people…). The romance plots are predictable because they are typical idealistic fantasy romances.

There were a few moments in this particular book where I thought things were going to get really macabre (necromancy and WWI battlefields? lots of potential there). But the writing never gets scary, and the descriptions are never really gory or gross. So the creepiness really depends on the reader’s imagination; not necessarily a bad thing in a light read.

~Claire