By: Neil Gaiman,
on 5/1/2008
Chris Riddell's illustrations for the Bloomsbury edition of The Graveyard Book just came in. Here are three of my favourites. One from Chapter Three ("The Hounds of God"), one from Chapter Four ("The Witch's Headstone") and one from Chapter Seven ("Every Man Jack").
By: Kate Hall,
on 1/2/2008
Lackey has crafted a series where the people are Elemental masters (can use magic basically) but the story lines fit into classic fairy tales. She puts an interesting spin on them and does not use all the typical fairy tales you would assume she would. I had read all of them I thought, but then I stumbled upon this book which is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It is an interesting tale of a young woman cursed by her aunt who then goes to live with artist friends of her parents. In this story, however, tragedy strikes the parents first and Marina becomes a ward of her evil aunt Arachne before she reaches her majority. Now it wouldn’t be so bad, but no one ever told Marina why she could not live with her parents. So she has thought there is something wrong wither her and is now in the clutches of the evil that threatens to destroy her. It is a great retelling and the magic that is interwoven makes the story come alive. SO though I have not gotten into any other of Lackey’s series, I really like the Elemental Masters books.
By: Kate Hall,
on 10/25/2007
In her latest Elemental Masters Book, Lackey retells the tale of puss in boots. Of course in this telling there is magic and an evil troll that wants to kill the heroine. Enter Ninette, a Parisian ballet dancer who is summarily fired after she gains the attention of the prima donna’s benefactor. Ninette is at a loss and just when she thinks there is no hope left a cat starts talking to her. It gets her to England and sets her up as a famous Russian ballet star. Soon she is charming audiences and loving dancing like she never has before. Meanwhile her new friends are trying to discover who could be trying to hurt her all the while Ninette is learning about her magical abilities. All in all a delightful tale. What was surprising was that Lackey doesn’t pair Ninette off in an obvious way in this book as she has done in all the others. Brava to her!
Fairy tales retold are always fun, but when you add in magic it makes it utterly enchanting. I look forward to the next one as I have to the others in the series.
