Book Review: The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

The first in the series The Elemental Masters.

Small sample of the beginning of Chapter 1:

Rosalind Hawkins answered the door with her entire being in a knot of anxiety; expecting yet another aggressive creditor, she schooled her face into a calm she did not feel. Outside, the dreary, drizzling day was giving way to another dreary night. The home that had once been her sanctuary was now under siege --- and no longer hers.

Summary from www.mercedeslackey.com:

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.

Jason Cameron, her new employer, is a man with a problem: An Adept and Alchemist, Master of the Element of Fire, he had attempted the old French werewolf transformation, and got stuck in mid-transformation. Trapped halfway between wolf and man, over the centuries he has been slowly losing his humanity, and with it his ability to discover a cure for his condition.

Thoughts, Feelings & More

This book begins in a time period in which I am glad I was never born. Women are mere shadows of what they are today. "Rose" is left to fend for herself after her father dies. I am glad that Rose is not left to immediately find a husband to take care of her and that she did go take a job somewhere (even though something like that may happen later *wink*). My most favorite character out of this book is Jason. Who doesn't like a half man half wolf?

What would have happened differently if Darth Vader from Star Wars had been a mysterious man with a magical shop that the main character could visit to grant one wish?

In accordance with not giving too much about the plot away, Rose would have protected Jason from harm and asked Darth Vader where his face mechanism came from, after all, the time period in which The Fire Rose was written was during a time when electricity had barely been invented.

I give it FOUR BOOK GEEKS OUT OF FIVE.