Ravings of the Semi-Lucid

Title: Elvenblood
Author: Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: I loved the first book in this series to distraction.

Synopsis: The powerful magic of ruthless Elvenlord masters has for centuries rules the world.
Even Shana, the legendary Elvenbane prophesied to deliver the oppressed into freedom,
is helpless before such power. She and her ragtag band of outcasts, half-blood wizards,
escaped human slaves, and free-thinking dragons have gained only a token victory
against the mighty lords.
Only the long-forgotten Iron People, a band of human nomads, have escaped the tyranny
of the reigning wizards. How have they survived through the centuries?
As the winds of change sweep the world, and as tensions seething beneath the surface
of Elven society threaten to break into open revolt. Shana meets the ancient tribe.
Could an age-old secret free Shana and her people...or will its discovery call down
their doom.

My Thoughts: This was a hard book to grade. Because while there was a lot here that I liked, what I didn't like I really, really didn't like.

What works here are the recurring characters. I come back to serieses like this because I want to read about characters I've come to love. And I have definitely come to love Shana and Keman and Mero. I also liked the additional characters we meet here, particularly Sheyrena, an elven lady whose brother, Lorryn, has been a hidden half-blood. It is in fact Sheyrena that grows a lot over the course of the story from an idealistic, childish little girl to a strong, capable woman.

The Iron People were also an interesting addition. There was enough here that I would have liked to learn more about their culture.

I also really liked seeing a glimpse of elven society we didn't get much of in the last books. It's fairly clear that elven women are just as oppressed, and in some ways further oppressed, as the slaves. And I liked that small, women's magic was just as important as the flashy stuff used by elven men, and it's in this way that Sheyrena comes into her own.

Now for what I didn't much like.

First, the villains. All of them--and there was a new villain popping up around every tree in this book--are of the moustache-twirling, "Bwahaha! I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!" variety. Everyone who isn't all that thrilled with Shana is villified, and I would have preferred some genuine motivation other than what we got.
The other thing that didn't work for me in a huge way will be so shocking, and also tread into spoiler territory, that I am putting it behind the cut.

( Cut for the rest of the spoilers )

There is a third book in this series, Elvenborn about an elvenlord. I haven't decided whether I want to read it or not. It would take an exceptional character at this point for me to find anything remotely sympathetic about the elvenlords, and apparently Shana and friends don't appear at all. I might read it because I'm a series completist that way, but after this book, there has to be an extremely compelling story involved, and I'm not sure this particular fantasy world really has a lot more to be mined.

So would I recommend Elvenblood ? Sure. It's not nearly as good as the first book, but it's not a bad read, if you don't mind a few cliches, and can overlook the ridiculously stupid romantic elements.

I know, two reviews in one day. It's kind of amazing, really.
Title: The Elvenbane
Author: Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey
Genre: fantasy
Grade: A

Synopsis: Two masters of epic fantasy have combined in this brilliant collaboration to create
a rousing tale of the sort that becomes an instant favorite. This is the story of
Shana, a halfbreed born of the forbidden union of an Elvenlord father and a human
mother. Her exiled mother dead, she was rescued and raised by dragons, a proud, ancient
race who existed unbeknownst to elven or humankind. From birth, Shana was the embodiment
of the Prophecy that the all-powerful Elvenlords feared. Her destiny is the enthralling
adventure of a lifetime.
( This will run long, and there will be spoilers )

I read a lot while I was gone, since I didn't have the Internet to distract me during my downtime. I'll see if I can remember everything.
( Click for the list )

I think those are all the books I actually finished. At the moment, I'm in the middle of several other books.

Oh, and I have to mention that a couple of ebook authors made it onto my never read list again:

• Jordan Summers: Her stories are about five close female friends who all stupidly go off to the jungle for haut smexing. I never made it to the hot smexing part, because I couldn't get past the fact that the heroine of the first book freely admitted she knew nothing about the outdoors, yet was happily galavanting around the jungle.
  
  
• Charlotte Boyett Compo: In the book of hers I tried, her male character refers to a woman's secretions as tasting like boiled potatoes... which took me out of the story and made me collapse into hysterical laughter for a long time. Seriously... WTF, boiled potatoes? Not romantic.