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Elemental Masters #5
Reserved for the Cat
In 1910, in an alternate London, a penniless young dancer is visited by a cat who communicates with her mind to mind. Though she is certain she must be going mad, she is desperate enough to follow the cat's advice and impersonates a famous Russian ballerina. The cat, it turns out, is actually an Elemental Earth Spirit, and leads her to minor stardom.
Meanwhile, the real Russian ballerina has fallen victim to an evil troll who takes over her body and kills her patrons, drinking their life essences in order to strengthen his powers. And soon, the troll focuses his dark attentions on the young dancer...
Meanwhile, the real Russian ballerina has fallen victim to an evil troll who takes over her body and kills her patrons, drinking their life essences in order to strengthen his powers. And soon, the troll focuses his dark attentions on the young dancer...
328 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 2007
143 people are currently reading
2,591 people want to read
About the author
Mercedes Lackey
506Ìýbooks9,320ÌýfollowersMercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.
"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.
"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.
"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:
"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."
Also writes as Misty Lackey
"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.
"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.
"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:
"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."
Also writes as Misty Lackey
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 339 reviews
January 19, 2008
Lackey never produces great literature, but she often gives her readers an entertaining read. She is uneven, though, and this book is, well, boring. The ideas and the plot aren't bad, and I really liked the villian. However, this needed a couple of rewrites before it was published. Lackey has forgotten the "show, not tell" creed taught in all fiction writing classes. Way too much uninteresting explanation of every single plot point; way too little focus on the characters.
April 10, 2009
Not as riveting or as engaging as Ms. Lackey's first Elemental Masters novels, but still entertaining and enjoyable. I found the introduction of Wolf, Nigel and Arthur so confusing that I had to read it twice ... and I don't think I ever really got a sense of Nigel or Arthur as separate entities, which is what makes me drop it from 4 stars to 3.
February 15, 2020
I've read this book so many times I can practically recite it, but it just gets better and better with every reread. I wasn't actually going to post about it here, but it's given me so much pleasure of the years that I felt I kind of owed it a review. Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters series is possibly my ultimate favourite of all fantasy books. Each one is based on a different fairytale and set in an alternate England in the early 1900s. Instead of your typical fairytale however, Lackey uses elemental magic to create her wonderful worlds and stories. Reserved for the Cat is, in my opinion, the best of them all.
'Based loosely on the tale of Puss in Boots, Reserved for the Cat takes place in 1910 in an alternate London. A young dancer, penniless and desperate, is sure she is going mad when a cat begins talking to her mind-to-mind. But her feline guide, actually an Elemental Earth Spirit, helps her to impersonate a famous Russian ballerina and achieve the success she’s been dreaming of. Unfortunately she also attracts the attention of another Elemental Spirit� a far more threatening one� and the young dancer must once again turn to her mysteriously powerful four-legged furry friend.'
God, I love this book. I can't explain how much without taking a photo of myself in the process of actually licking my battered copy. I admit to not really recognising the fairytale it originated from at first, but that's hardly a fundamental issue. The fairytale link is more of an interesting aside than anything concrete. The other books in the series do follow the original stories more closely, but so what? :)
So. Ninette is a semi-successful ballet dancer in Paris until she accidentally offends the Prima and ends up penniless with desperate plans to prostitute herself. However, a guardian in the form of a cat sent by her father finds her and persuades her to follow his madcap plan to Blackpool, England. Once there, Thomas sets up a ploy to convince the owners of a famous music hall that Ninette is actually Nina, a famous Russian ballet dancer shipwrecked on the coast. Soon though, it turns out that Ninette has angered one of the most dangerous elemental creatures of all time and she must earn the help of the Elemental Masters who own the music hall she now dances for.
I think it's the tone of Ms. Lackey's books that makes them so wonderful. They're beautifully written, in a semi-formal tone that leaves you in no doubt you're reading the work of a talented author. They are fantasy books, but it's not in-your-face fantasy. Instead, there are two nicely interwoven plots in Reserved for the Cat - there's the talking cat and the elemental magic, but then a large part of the book is also Ninette's struggle to win the trust of the music hall owners and succeed as a ballerina. They bounce off each other perfectly, leaving a pleasant mix of the mundane and the magical.
The characterisation never fails in any of Mercedes Lackey's books, but this one features especially likeable people. Ninette is desperate but still retains her morality, and struggles against the lessons her now-deceased mother instilled in her. There is a romantic interest but it's actually very well done - there's no InstaLove and it's quietly developed between the lines almost. Although Ninette is the clear protagonist, the narrative is occasionally told from the point-of-view of each of the characters, so they all become more than a little real and the plot is explored from every angle. Honestly, I feel like I know each and every one of them.
There actually isn't one single thing I dislike about this book, not one. It's a beautifully told, moving rendition of Puss in Boots with a likeable ballerina threatened by a world she never knew existed.
Read my other reviews at
'Based loosely on the tale of Puss in Boots, Reserved for the Cat takes place in 1910 in an alternate London. A young dancer, penniless and desperate, is sure she is going mad when a cat begins talking to her mind-to-mind. But her feline guide, actually an Elemental Earth Spirit, helps her to impersonate a famous Russian ballerina and achieve the success she’s been dreaming of. Unfortunately she also attracts the attention of another Elemental Spirit� a far more threatening one� and the young dancer must once again turn to her mysteriously powerful four-legged furry friend.'
God, I love this book. I can't explain how much without taking a photo of myself in the process of actually licking my battered copy. I admit to not really recognising the fairytale it originated from at first, but that's hardly a fundamental issue. The fairytale link is more of an interesting aside than anything concrete. The other books in the series do follow the original stories more closely, but so what? :)
So. Ninette is a semi-successful ballet dancer in Paris until she accidentally offends the Prima and ends up penniless with desperate plans to prostitute herself. However, a guardian in the form of a cat sent by her father finds her and persuades her to follow his madcap plan to Blackpool, England. Once there, Thomas sets up a ploy to convince the owners of a famous music hall that Ninette is actually Nina, a famous Russian ballet dancer shipwrecked on the coast. Soon though, it turns out that Ninette has angered one of the most dangerous elemental creatures of all time and she must earn the help of the Elemental Masters who own the music hall she now dances for.
I think it's the tone of Ms. Lackey's books that makes them so wonderful. They're beautifully written, in a semi-formal tone that leaves you in no doubt you're reading the work of a talented author. They are fantasy books, but it's not in-your-face fantasy. Instead, there are two nicely interwoven plots in Reserved for the Cat - there's the talking cat and the elemental magic, but then a large part of the book is also Ninette's struggle to win the trust of the music hall owners and succeed as a ballerina. They bounce off each other perfectly, leaving a pleasant mix of the mundane and the magical.
The characterisation never fails in any of Mercedes Lackey's books, but this one features especially likeable people. Ninette is desperate but still retains her morality, and struggles against the lessons her now-deceased mother instilled in her. There is a romantic interest but it's actually very well done - there's no InstaLove and it's quietly developed between the lines almost. Although Ninette is the clear protagonist, the narrative is occasionally told from the point-of-view of each of the characters, so they all become more than a little real and the plot is explored from every angle. Honestly, I feel like I know each and every one of them.
There actually isn't one single thing I dislike about this book, not one. It's a beautifully told, moving rendition of Puss in Boots with a likeable ballerina threatened by a world she never knew existed.
Read my other reviews at
January 9, 2011
My thought so far is that Mercedes Lackey may be going downhill. and the first part of which I haven't finished, really did not give me this impression but they did give me a slight feeling of uneasiness due to some bits where it sounded like polemic, like the believe-your-own-hype problem had started to set in. Agenda sticking out from behind the curtain. Haven't had that problem with this book so far, but it is also not as good. It is more like the usual problems I have with Mercedes Lackey (the same problems I have with my beloved Anita Blake books): lots of sloppiness, bad spelling and grammar not caught by editing, general lack of attention to small detail, are worse here than I remember in a while. Is this the devil of commercially successful authors? Is it that editors don't bother to edit what they know people ARE going to buy? Anyway, I've always known I have other problems with M. Lackey - for instance I don't like cops and I do like Aleister Crowley. This I don't exactly have to worry about with LKH. I don't care if LKH goes crazy and believes all her own hype, I don't care if she decides to spend the rest of her life in bed being fed strawberry ice cream by her own personal ice cream feeding servant as long as there is a laptop in there and she keeps writing books about Anita. But sometimes I worry about the peculiar philosophy of life in Lackey's books. She seems to have a very black and white trapped-in-childhood view of the world. Personally I think that, looking at reality today, it makes more sense to be obsessed with werewolves and serial killers than obsessed with how cool and nice cops and firemen are. It seems a little too Richard Scarry. Just me? On the other hand I don't guarantee to stop buying Lackey-books either. She really has a way of causing you to read the entire book very fast, sometimes a little breathlessly. Just not as breathlessly as Anita Blake gets read about!
Update: yes, downhill is the word. Social polemic, sloppiness, no editing to speak of, AND major logical holes in the plot. >:(
Update: yes, downhill is the word. Social polemic, sloppiness, no editing to speak of, AND major logical holes in the plot. >:(
June 17, 2008
I am generally a fan of Mercedes Lackey, and I typically like her Elemental Masters books far more than can possibly be good for me, but this really was pretty terrible. The plot goes by like a speeding train--and has about as much subtlety. But plot has always been something that Lackey uses only as much as necessary to run about with her characters, so I would have been prepared to forgive a certain lack of plot if I'd liked her characters, which I usually do.
Not this time.
The story really had to hang on the heroine...who I can't even really call that, I'll call her the female protagonist instead. She knows that she's in a game and she knows what the rules are, but rather than using that knowledge either to play the game her own way or not to play at all, the way most of Lackey's leading ladies have done, instead she's content to let the game be played around her. She knows she's being moved about like she's on a chess board, and rather than fighting it she just hopes it works out for the best. It isn't until 2/3rds of the way through the book that she starts to develop any backbone or personality at all, and that's a bit late for someone whose fate was supposed to be the concern of the entire book. It also makes the ending completely unbelievable. The male characters had a similar problem in that they were completely interchangeable--no, really, I kept getting them mixed up. It wasn't until halfway through that I had a first hand on which male character was which, and even then there were a couple that were of no real use to the story. The most interesting characters were the transformed animals, and the parrot that was supposed to be the reincarnation of Wolfgang Amadeus....yes, THAT Wolfgang Amadeus. Really? Seriously? What...was the point of that?
The romance edged around a great deal of the book, but was never dealt with, not even in the epilogue. The end was like running into a brick wall; it was done and then there was an epilogue, and you're left going "What? Really? Now? That...that was it?"
Normally I'll buy a new Lackey book sight-unseen as soon as I can. I didn't with this one, and I'm very glad; if I'd paid money for this, I would have been very disappointed.
Not this time.
The story really had to hang on the heroine...who I can't even really call that, I'll call her the female protagonist instead. She knows that she's in a game and she knows what the rules are, but rather than using that knowledge either to play the game her own way or not to play at all, the way most of Lackey's leading ladies have done, instead she's content to let the game be played around her. She knows she's being moved about like she's on a chess board, and rather than fighting it she just hopes it works out for the best. It isn't until 2/3rds of the way through the book that she starts to develop any backbone or personality at all, and that's a bit late for someone whose fate was supposed to be the concern of the entire book. It also makes the ending completely unbelievable. The male characters had a similar problem in that they were completely interchangeable--no, really, I kept getting them mixed up. It wasn't until halfway through that I had a first hand on which male character was which, and even then there were a couple that were of no real use to the story. The most interesting characters were the transformed animals, and the parrot that was supposed to be the reincarnation of Wolfgang Amadeus....yes, THAT Wolfgang Amadeus. Really? Seriously? What...was the point of that?
The romance edged around a great deal of the book, but was never dealt with, not even in the epilogue. The end was like running into a brick wall; it was done and then there was an epilogue, and you're left going "What? Really? Now? That...that was it?"
Normally I'll buy a new Lackey book sight-unseen as soon as I can. I didn't with this one, and I'm very glad; if I'd paid money for this, I would have been very disappointed.
September 3, 2015
I enjoyed Reserved for the Cat. It isn't the best Elemental Masters novel, but it's still pretty solid and a decent fluff read. It does suffer from a few things, such as a changing portrayal of Thomas, the cat (it feels rather tacked on that Thomas is I'm also growing a little tired of the evil enchantress / sorceress that seems to show up in quite a few of the Elemental Masters novels (see: The Serpent's Shadow, The Gates of Sleep, Phoenix and Ashes).
I wasn't entirely happy with the end, though, as
There were also a few references that were unnecessary and I wish had been cut, namely that the magician is supposedly pretending to be either Chinese or Hindoo (this never is part of a plot point) and one act is described as wearing blackface. I'm not sure why these were mentioned, because while I'm sure they're in keeping with the time, it's still something that would be better if dealt with at length and showing the problems of this sort of cultural appropriation.
I wasn't entirely happy with the end, though, as
There were also a few references that were unnecessary and I wish had been cut, namely that the magician is supposedly pretending to be either Chinese or Hindoo (this never is part of a plot point) and one act is described as wearing blackface. I'm not sure why these were mentioned, because while I'm sure they're in keeping with the time, it's still something that would be better if dealt with at length and showing the problems of this sort of cultural appropriation.
March 20, 2015
2.5
Reserved for the Cat is the sixth stand-alone novel in Mercedes Lackey’s ELEMENTAL MASTERS series of fairytale retellings. As the title might suggest, Reserved for the Cat is a “Puss in Boots� story and it’s actually recognizable as such (unlike some of Lackey’s other retellings that go too far afield from their sources).
Ninette, our heroine, is an orphaned ballet dancer who has lots of talent but is fired from her gig with a famous Parisian ballet company after inadvertently evoking the jealousy of the company’s reigning diva. Unable to get more work in Paris, she is about to prostitute herself when a talking cat appears and promises to make her a superstar. The cat leads her to a seaside town in England where she impersonates a famous Russian dancer and joins a local troupe of entertainers. Things go well until... Read More:
Reserved for the Cat is the sixth stand-alone novel in Mercedes Lackey’s ELEMENTAL MASTERS series of fairytale retellings. As the title might suggest, Reserved for the Cat is a “Puss in Boots� story and it’s actually recognizable as such (unlike some of Lackey’s other retellings that go too far afield from their sources).
Ninette, our heroine, is an orphaned ballet dancer who has lots of talent but is fired from her gig with a famous Parisian ballet company after inadvertently evoking the jealousy of the company’s reigning diva. Unable to get more work in Paris, she is about to prostitute herself when a talking cat appears and promises to make her a superstar. The cat leads her to a seaside town in England where she impersonates a famous Russian dancer and joins a local troupe of entertainers. Things go well until... Read More:
September 24, 2014
Despite being a Mercedes Lackey fan for years, Reserved for the Cat is the first Elemental Masters novel I've read. Admittedly, it was the one I picked up first because of the titular cat. I'm a sucker for books that involve cats as major characters.
Ninette is a dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet. She's not the lowest on the program, but in spite of her hard work, she's not one of the stars either. Until one day she gets her lucky break when the Etoile cannot make her performance, and Ninette is chosen to dance the past. One glowing review makes her the target of the dancer she replaced and Ninette finds herself out of a job. With few options open to her, she starts listening to the advice of a talking cat. The cat takes her to England where she pretends to be a famous Russian dancer, shipwrecked on their shore. Unfortunately, something else has already donned the disguise of that dancer, and it doesn't like Ninette sharing her reputation.
Reserved for the Cat is everything I expected from a Lackey novel. The style is easily read, the plot is engaging and the characters are lovable. The best part about the book is that the romance subplot is understated, which is a welcome change from her usual books. This one is definitely recommended for Mercedes Lackey fans.
Ninette is a dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet. She's not the lowest on the program, but in spite of her hard work, she's not one of the stars either. Until one day she gets her lucky break when the Etoile cannot make her performance, and Ninette is chosen to dance the past. One glowing review makes her the target of the dancer she replaced and Ninette finds herself out of a job. With few options open to her, she starts listening to the advice of a talking cat. The cat takes her to England where she pretends to be a famous Russian dancer, shipwrecked on their shore. Unfortunately, something else has already donned the disguise of that dancer, and it doesn't like Ninette sharing her reputation.
Reserved for the Cat is everything I expected from a Lackey novel. The style is easily read, the plot is engaging and the characters are lovable. The best part about the book is that the romance subplot is understated, which is a welcome change from her usual books. This one is definitely recommended for Mercedes Lackey fans.
April 17, 2025
I really enjoy her Elemental Masters books. I liked the story for this one even though it really wasn't a retelling of a fairy tale but it had fairy tale elements. I liked that the parrot had the soul of Amadeus Mozart. I found the characters likeable. The villian was pretty good. She was clever. I liked the main character of Ninette. My only criticism is you didn't find out what happened to all the main characters afterwards, just the cat. I thought the cat should have told Ninette
October 27, 2007
It feels a bit more like a children's story than I expected, though I do know that quite a bit of Lackey's audience is in the younger age ranges, I've never been quite as aware of it feeling young as in this one.
August 5, 2010
Mercedes Lackey has written over fifty books in the last twenty years. Having written only one, very mediocre book in ten years I can appreciate that this is a significant amount of work that she has accomplished. She has co-authored a large number of those books and has a large fan base of people who find her books charming and wonderful.
I had a slightly less grand experience. The story, in itself was good enough. What I think bothered me most was the lack of editing that went into the book. There were multiple typos on every page � sometimes entire words were missing. This could be the fault of the publisher for sloppy typesetting or any number of things and I could have overlooked them if there weren’t so many other things that could have also been fixed by a few attentive edits.
The word ‘indeed� was used so often that it started to sound funny and there were a lot of over-written sentences that could have used a generous helping of editorial chopping. In particular was the exhaustive use of narrative exposition. Usually out of nowhere the history of a street or person who had never been mentioned before would have a three or four page background given in the middle of a conversation. Detail and exposition are tricky things. They have to be woven into stories so that the reader either doesn’t know that it’s there or doesn’t mind. Miss Lackey just pulls it out like the worst of movie narrators and throws down a boring background story. Characters thoughts are described painstakingly so that when they finally act it will make sense to the reader. Unfortunately by the time they do something the brain is so numb it’s hard to tell if anything even happened. The narrative voice is sometimes colloquial and speaking to the reader as if being spoken by a storyteller and sometimes it’s got a tight omniscient point of view in somebody’s head and other times it jumps around to characters mid paragraph.
The magic is the kind that I hate in fantasy, magic that does magical things that make the plot go where it’s supposed to and doesn’t do magical things in order to keep the plot where it’s going. There doesn’t seem to be any discernable reasoning behind why magic can and can’t do certain things � though the author tries to cover it up by supplying tidbits that hint that there is some logic behind it all. (I know, it’s magic. But even magic in a fantasy world has to have logic behind it.)
This book felt to me a lot like Terry Brooks does. It fills me with an intense apathy. I didn’t care what happened. The bad guy did horrible things that didn’t really even sound all that horrible. The good guys get attacked and fight bad guys and it never feels like there is any danger.
The characters are well imagined. I never got any of them confused. Miss Lackey seems to be well read on history and literature of the time period in which the book is set.
In all I would suggest you only read this book if you are a Lackey lackey or a Terry Brooks fan. If you are not a fan of her books, certainly don’t start with this one.
I had a slightly less grand experience. The story, in itself was good enough. What I think bothered me most was the lack of editing that went into the book. There were multiple typos on every page � sometimes entire words were missing. This could be the fault of the publisher for sloppy typesetting or any number of things and I could have overlooked them if there weren’t so many other things that could have also been fixed by a few attentive edits.
The word ‘indeed� was used so often that it started to sound funny and there were a lot of over-written sentences that could have used a generous helping of editorial chopping. In particular was the exhaustive use of narrative exposition. Usually out of nowhere the history of a street or person who had never been mentioned before would have a three or four page background given in the middle of a conversation. Detail and exposition are tricky things. They have to be woven into stories so that the reader either doesn’t know that it’s there or doesn’t mind. Miss Lackey just pulls it out like the worst of movie narrators and throws down a boring background story. Characters thoughts are described painstakingly so that when they finally act it will make sense to the reader. Unfortunately by the time they do something the brain is so numb it’s hard to tell if anything even happened. The narrative voice is sometimes colloquial and speaking to the reader as if being spoken by a storyteller and sometimes it’s got a tight omniscient point of view in somebody’s head and other times it jumps around to characters mid paragraph.
The magic is the kind that I hate in fantasy, magic that does magical things that make the plot go where it’s supposed to and doesn’t do magical things in order to keep the plot where it’s going. There doesn’t seem to be any discernable reasoning behind why magic can and can’t do certain things � though the author tries to cover it up by supplying tidbits that hint that there is some logic behind it all. (I know, it’s magic. But even magic in a fantasy world has to have logic behind it.)
This book felt to me a lot like Terry Brooks does. It fills me with an intense apathy. I didn’t care what happened. The bad guy did horrible things that didn’t really even sound all that horrible. The good guys get attacked and fight bad guys and it never feels like there is any danger.
The characters are well imagined. I never got any of them confused. Miss Lackey seems to be well read on history and literature of the time period in which the book is set.
In all I would suggest you only read this book if you are a Lackey lackey or a Terry Brooks fan. If you are not a fan of her books, certainly don’t start with this one.
February 9, 2016
Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters series has another worthy addition to its ranks. This story, a variation of Puss in Boots, involves Ninette, a poor young ballerina trying to make her way in the world by attempting to attract a patron rich enough to ensure her elevation from poverty. When Ninette's successful solo debut earns her the enmity of a prominent ballerina who fears the loss of her patron to her younger rival, her cat reveals itself to be a magical creature who helps her leave Paris for Blackpool, England, where he brings her to the attention of a couple of Elemental Mages who run a theater. Unfortunately her success here causes a dangerous Earth Elemental magician to attempt to destroy her, and Ninette's mage friends must try to discover her enemy before she is killed. As always, Lackey's strength is in the depth and complexity of her characters, and the spunky Ninette, the intriguing mages, the amusing parrot who is actually Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the intrepid cat Thomas all make for an entertaining story.
December 1, 2010
This was an amazing author writing an o.k. book. It was readable, and I enjoyed it for the most part - but I'm not going to re-read it, and I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a "must-read". Parts of the plot never got resolved (is the cat ever going to tell the main character who he really is?) and I felt the author did not delve into the world she created far enough to entrance me. There was so much left unexplored that I was more curious about the world around the characters than the plot itself! Although I enjoyed aspects (the ballet stuff was nice), this story had no meat for me to get into. Although I realized it is part of a series about the Elemental Masters, I feel each book should inspire me to pick up the entire series immediately. Maybe I'm spoiled by Harry Potter and The Dragonriders of Pern. Even the Xanth novels had more going on. I give it a solid 3 stars for moderate entertainment value.
November 13, 2007
The Elemental Masters isn't exactly a series, more some vaguely inter-related books. Characters don't (or very rarely) carry over from book to book.
The series is interesting from its use of fairytale motifs as each is (sometimes very loosely) based on traditional tales. Unless I'm totally confused, this would be 'Puss in Boots'.
Ninette is an impoverished ballerina who is fired from her position and is encouraged by a talking cat to follow his instructions. These lead her to across France and the Channel to Blackpool. There she impersonates Nina, a famous Russian ballerina. However the 'real' Nina discovers finds out and arrives to seek revenge. The 'real' Nina has been possessed by an Earth Elemental with the ability to absorb humans and thereafter take their shape.
The series is interesting from its use of fairytale motifs as each is (sometimes very loosely) based on traditional tales. Unless I'm totally confused, this would be 'Puss in Boots'.
Ninette is an impoverished ballerina who is fired from her position and is encouraged by a talking cat to follow his instructions. These lead her to across France and the Channel to Blackpool. There she impersonates Nina, a famous Russian ballerina. However the 'real' Nina discovers finds out and arrives to seek revenge. The 'real' Nina has been possessed by an Earth Elemental with the ability to absorb humans and thereafter take their shape.
October 11, 2013
I thoroughly enjoyed this title in the Elemental Masters series. Someone under the guidance of a cat who is actually someone else is impersonating someone who is being impersonated. Did you follow that? If you did, I'm impressed. It actually makes a lot of sense but I'm not going to explain it. The main character is a really nice young lady who's had a lot of bad luck except for her cat who seems to rescue her financially and otherwise throughout her life. When she gets fired through no fault of her, the cat steps in with quite a plan. Will it work? How can this ever work out? Read this book and see! I'd like to reread it but have too many books on the shelf to do so at this time.It is definitely worth your time!
September 19, 2015
I always love stories about cats and this magical cat was very appealing. Having read a number of these tales, there does seem to be a similar theme running through them of an innocent threatened by an evil magic user. Still one could say that is the theme of many fantasy novels and fairy tales. I did not feel this was one of the stronger in the series though I still enjoyed it.
This was a dual read/listen and I felt that Mirabai Galashan did a wonderful job of voicing the characters including Thomas. During the summer afternoons I listened to this in the garden with my own cat and read the accompanying pages on my Kindle later on.
This was a dual read/listen and I felt that Mirabai Galashan did a wonderful job of voicing the characters including Thomas. During the summer afternoons I listened to this in the garden with my own cat and read the accompanying pages on my Kindle later on.
August 19, 2015
I slogged through about 50 pages before giving up entirely. There is just nothing special about this book. It is plain and boring and not well written. I give books a fair shot, but 50 pages in and I just don't care about Ninette or the cat. Ninette's most desperate desire is to be a kept whore, which we learn in the first few pages. Other than this single desire, she has NO substance - she is a cardboard cut-out of a girl. I can't even remember what she's supposed to look like. This was for a book club... Not even for discussion purposes will I read further. Blegh!
July 14, 2017
This hovered between a three and a four. While the story was interesting, some of the main elements of it were easily guessed. Knew who heroine would fall for, figured out who the cat was in the first chapters and found the ease with which everything happened for Nina a bit too deus ex machina. The reason Nina gives for having the cat take credit for something she did at the end of the novel was a bit disturbing and, I think, sold the hero short.
Overall a good read, if not a perfect one.
Overall a good read, if not a perfect one.
June 13, 2008
Pretty much the same as other books by Mercedes Lackey. Minimal plot action, same themes, political points, and character personalities as her other books in this series. Nothing new or surprising going on.
April 16, 2016
A poor young dancer is visited by a cat who is an Elemental Earth Spirit who can talk telepathically. The cat's advice is to impersonate a famous ballerina with success. As the real ballerina has been possessed by a troll who kills her patrons to strengthen his powers. Go Kitty Power!!!
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August 31, 2018DNF
Lost Interest
Lost Interest
January 11, 2019
Look I'm just loving this series. Its fun and quick and complex and the women and men actually have interesting power dynamics.
November 14, 2018
This is the 5th book in Lackey's Elemental Masters series. I've read #2: The Gates of Sleep - a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and also The Fire Rose - a Beauty & the Beast story - which is not listed in the series, but is in the Elemental Masters Universe nonetheless. I enjoyed these two very much and hope to read all the books in this series eventually.
This book is not based on a fairy tale as far as I can see, but it's about the next best thing, ballet and the theater. This backdrop makes the story, which might be a bit ordinary otherwise, full of interest and excitement for me.
Ninette is a poor dancer who assumes the identity of a more accomplished Russian ballerina and travels from Paris to Blackpool, England to start a new life after she is unfairly let go from her job at the Paris Opera House. She is able to do this with the help of a cat - a cat that she has known around her apartment complex but who suddenly begins talking to her. The cat, Thomas, has been watching over Ninette all her life but now feels he needs to intervene to save her from being a prostitute as a means of survival. Ninette is stunned to have this cat communicating with her - he speaks into her mind - but with nothing to lose, follows what he tells her to do.
Thomas helps Ninette assume the identity of Nina Tchereslavsky and leads her to an Air Master who is also the owner of a music hall. With Ninette as Nina added to playbill the music hall becomes extremely popular and Nigel begins to plan for a new kind of musical show - one that that will bring steady work and income to the theater and the performers. A show that will feature Nina as it's star dancer. He also hires Jonathan, a Fire Master that performs a commonplace magic act. All seems to be going well for the group that also includes the Air Master's apprentice, Arthur, and their talking parrot, Wolf.
But the "real" Nina soon learns that she is being impersonated and travels to Blackpool to exact her revenge. Except the "real" Nina is not really the REAL Nina. It seems an Earth Elemental has broke free from it's inept master and taken on a life of it's own. This creature's true form is that of a troll, but it can take on the form of anyone it has "absorbed" - and most recently has been living as the Russian dancer.
So the group must track down this threat to Ninette, and this is not easy because the troll is much smarter than it would normally be since it has absorbed the intelligence of all it's victims. It has become something of an unprecedented evil anomaly.
Lackey has a tendency to spend long segments of the book on how incredibly evil and or worthless her villains are and that has worn on me a bit, they are very black & white -- but overall her writing is good. I found the bird character a bit annoying at times, but I really liked the cat character. He proves to be interesting and very crucial to the story. I also liked Ninette's maid, Alise who is not a mage but is sensitive to the magic going on around her.
Overall, this is a good story and I would recommend it to fans of fantasy, magic, theater/ballet and, of course, cats!
This book is not based on a fairy tale as far as I can see, but it's about the next best thing, ballet and the theater. This backdrop makes the story, which might be a bit ordinary otherwise, full of interest and excitement for me.
Ninette is a poor dancer who assumes the identity of a more accomplished Russian ballerina and travels from Paris to Blackpool, England to start a new life after she is unfairly let go from her job at the Paris Opera House. She is able to do this with the help of a cat - a cat that she has known around her apartment complex but who suddenly begins talking to her. The cat, Thomas, has been watching over Ninette all her life but now feels he needs to intervene to save her from being a prostitute as a means of survival. Ninette is stunned to have this cat communicating with her - he speaks into her mind - but with nothing to lose, follows what he tells her to do.
Thomas helps Ninette assume the identity of Nina Tchereslavsky and leads her to an Air Master who is also the owner of a music hall. With Ninette as Nina added to playbill the music hall becomes extremely popular and Nigel begins to plan for a new kind of musical show - one that that will bring steady work and income to the theater and the performers. A show that will feature Nina as it's star dancer. He also hires Jonathan, a Fire Master that performs a commonplace magic act. All seems to be going well for the group that also includes the Air Master's apprentice, Arthur, and their talking parrot, Wolf.
But the "real" Nina soon learns that she is being impersonated and travels to Blackpool to exact her revenge. Except the "real" Nina is not really the REAL Nina. It seems an Earth Elemental has broke free from it's inept master and taken on a life of it's own. This creature's true form is that of a troll, but it can take on the form of anyone it has "absorbed" - and most recently has been living as the Russian dancer.
So the group must track down this threat to Ninette, and this is not easy because the troll is much smarter than it would normally be since it has absorbed the intelligence of all it's victims. It has become something of an unprecedented evil anomaly.
Lackey has a tendency to spend long segments of the book on how incredibly evil and or worthless her villains are and that has worn on me a bit, they are very black & white -- but overall her writing is good. I found the bird character a bit annoying at times, but I really liked the cat character. He proves to be interesting and very crucial to the story. I also liked Ninette's maid, Alise who is not a mage but is sensitive to the magic going on around her.
Overall, this is a good story and I would recommend it to fans of fantasy, magic, theater/ballet and, of course, cats!
November 5, 2021
This is the fifth book in the Elemental Masters series and veers away from the upper class Elemental Masters of the earlier books. It stars a young French ballet dancer named Ninette Dupond who had been raised by her washerwoman/artists' model mother after her English father disappeared. Ninette's mother didn't see any future for her pretty, talented daughter except to attract the attention of a wealthy man who would keep her.
Ninette thought that finding said wealthy man would be her future until she filled in for the star one matinee and danced too well. Her fine reviews made the star jealous and led to Ninette losing her job. With only days left before the rent came due on her apartment and no other job offers, Ninette is disposed to listen when a cat comes to her window and speaks into her mind.
The cat has a plan to get Ninette to Blackpool, England, where she could work in the theater owned by an Elemental Master. The plan requires that she pretend to be the Russian survivor of a shipwreck named Nina Tchereslavsky which will give her an edge up both with the impresario and with the public in Blackpool.
Unfortunately, the real Nina Tchereslavsky who is actually an evil Earth elemental hears about Ninette and is determined to have her revenge on the girl who has stolen her name. It will be up to her cat, her new friends from the theater, and her own strength and courage to win the day.
This was an engaging story with just enough magic to add luster. The setting of Blackpool in 1910 was well-developed. Ninette was an engaging character whose strong work ethic and kindness made her a favorite of all who met her. The narration by Mirabai Galashan was also excellent.
Ninette thought that finding said wealthy man would be her future until she filled in for the star one matinee and danced too well. Her fine reviews made the star jealous and led to Ninette losing her job. With only days left before the rent came due on her apartment and no other job offers, Ninette is disposed to listen when a cat comes to her window and speaks into her mind.
The cat has a plan to get Ninette to Blackpool, England, where she could work in the theater owned by an Elemental Master. The plan requires that she pretend to be the Russian survivor of a shipwreck named Nina Tchereslavsky which will give her an edge up both with the impresario and with the public in Blackpool.
Unfortunately, the real Nina Tchereslavsky who is actually an evil Earth elemental hears about Ninette and is determined to have her revenge on the girl who has stolen her name. It will be up to her cat, her new friends from the theater, and her own strength and courage to win the day.
This was an engaging story with just enough magic to add luster. The setting of Blackpool in 1910 was well-developed. Ninette was an engaging character whose strong work ethic and kindness made her a favorite of all who met her. The narration by Mirabai Galashan was also excellent.
May 23, 2023
I'm sorry, but I didn't care at all about any of the male POVs. They were interchangeable and bland and for being the only characters capable of performing magic, they were decidedly uninteresting. Could've been a four-star book without them, but between that and the sometimes plodding pace, I just can't give it any higher.
January 25, 2020
Puss-in-Boots!
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February 7, 2022It seems I'm going to read through the entire Elemental Masters series--an in the main delightful but occasionally bumpy expedition. This is another gaslamp showbiz setting, and I probably shouldn't have read it right after , bec both books dwell in detail on dancers and magicians who could in their performance styles almost be interchanged. In this case, it's the cat and parrot who keep the story fresh. I don't as a rule seek out talking animal stories, but I liked Thomas and Wolfgang a lot.
July 15, 2012
A fairy godfather with fur...
In her re-creation of the Puss in Boots fairytale, Mercedes Lackey provides us with a tale of an impoverished ballerina whose main goal is to find a rich suitor to provide her with the lifestyle she desires. However, on the cusp of becoming famous, she is turned out of her ballet company because of the envy of a jealous older dancer. With her small savings diminishing rapidly, Ninette begins to contemplate the worst of possible fates: a future as a prostitute in the district surrounding the Moulin Rouge. Fortunately, she's saved from that disgrace when a very unlikely savior appears: a cat named Thomas who can speak and who directs her to put her future in his paws. Hungry and dazed with nowhere else to turn, Ninette follows his advice and travels to England, where she assumes the identity of a famous Russian dancer and is hired by a theater company in Blackpool after its owners rescue her from an apparent shipwreck (manufactured, of course, by the witty cat.)
There is something very special about the theater company itself: it's directors are a pair of magicians and a talking, composing parrot who claims to be the famous composer Mozart. Impressed not only by Ninette's claim of fame but also by her personality, drive and talent, they quickly begin to build an entire show around her dancing. Things seem to finally be going well for Ninette and she begins to love dancing for the pure joy of its performance rather than for the introductions to possible wealthy patrons that it furnishes. But darkness is hovering on the horizon, for Ninette has aroused the hatred and animosity of an unknown enemy who has sworn to destroy her in the most painful of ways. Will Thomas and her new friends be able to save her from this blood-thirsty foe?
Mercedes Lackey's writing in the Elemental Masters series is highly unpredictable. Several of the books have been stellar, characterized by the amazing talent that she showed in her earlier writing (especially the Valdemar series.) Unfortunately, others are lackluster with forgettable characters and slow-moving plots. This book falls somewhere between those two extremes. Though I enjoyed many of the characters (Thomas and Wolfe especially), I never felt really drawn to Ninette and found that her relationships with the three men were all somewhat flat. I also disliked the very dark passages describing the troll's activities and felt that they were much more appropriate for a young adult horror novel than a novel of adult fantasy fiction. To top it off, the book had an inordinate number of typos and misprints which can be brushed off in excellent books but is made much more irritating when the book is not quite as good as you expected. In summary, though I wouldn't say that this was the worst Elemental Masters book that I've read and wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it, I feel that it could have been much better than it actually is.
In her re-creation of the Puss in Boots fairytale, Mercedes Lackey provides us with a tale of an impoverished ballerina whose main goal is to find a rich suitor to provide her with the lifestyle she desires. However, on the cusp of becoming famous, she is turned out of her ballet company because of the envy of a jealous older dancer. With her small savings diminishing rapidly, Ninette begins to contemplate the worst of possible fates: a future as a prostitute in the district surrounding the Moulin Rouge. Fortunately, she's saved from that disgrace when a very unlikely savior appears: a cat named Thomas who can speak and who directs her to put her future in his paws. Hungry and dazed with nowhere else to turn, Ninette follows his advice and travels to England, where she assumes the identity of a famous Russian dancer and is hired by a theater company in Blackpool after its owners rescue her from an apparent shipwreck (manufactured, of course, by the witty cat.)
There is something very special about the theater company itself: it's directors are a pair of magicians and a talking, composing parrot who claims to be the famous composer Mozart. Impressed not only by Ninette's claim of fame but also by her personality, drive and talent, they quickly begin to build an entire show around her dancing. Things seem to finally be going well for Ninette and she begins to love dancing for the pure joy of its performance rather than for the introductions to possible wealthy patrons that it furnishes. But darkness is hovering on the horizon, for Ninette has aroused the hatred and animosity of an unknown enemy who has sworn to destroy her in the most painful of ways. Will Thomas and her new friends be able to save her from this blood-thirsty foe?
Mercedes Lackey's writing in the Elemental Masters series is highly unpredictable. Several of the books have been stellar, characterized by the amazing talent that she showed in her earlier writing (especially the Valdemar series.) Unfortunately, others are lackluster with forgettable characters and slow-moving plots. This book falls somewhere between those two extremes. Though I enjoyed many of the characters (Thomas and Wolfe especially), I never felt really drawn to Ninette and found that her relationships with the three men were all somewhat flat. I also disliked the very dark passages describing the troll's activities and felt that they were much more appropriate for a young adult horror novel than a novel of adult fantasy fiction. To top it off, the book had an inordinate number of typos and misprints which can be brushed off in excellent books but is made much more irritating when the book is not quite as good as you expected. In summary, though I wouldn't say that this was the worst Elemental Masters book that I've read and wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it, I feel that it could have been much better than it actually is.
June 29, 2017
Another very enjoyable story from Mercedes Lackey. Absorbing and mysterious at times, it certainly kept my attention till another midnight finish!
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