An imaginative revision of the Cinderella tale -- I enjoy it because Eleanor here has much more to say about her own destiny than most Cinderella-types do. The Elemental Magic is also fascinating -- Lackey has created a system of magic with the appropriate balance of whimsy and regulations. ( )

This is one of Lackey's Elemental Master series, a set of (currently) 6 books that all take place in the early twentieth century and involve magical people who have the power over one of the elements. She's really fleshed their subculture out well throughout the series and given it a fascinating amount of detail.

Each book loosely retells a different fairy tale, this one being Cinderella. Lackey's writing tends to be too wordy at points, but at least I wouldn't call it purple prose (a definite turn off for me). She also tends towards too much exposition, especially when it comes to the structure of her world building. This book has too much on the Tarot and dark magic, etc, which made me antsy to get back to the narrative.

All in all, a fun book and a great addition to the series. Recommended for anyone who likes fantasy, fairy tales, and is looking for something lighthearted to read. ( )

Enjoying the twist on the old fairy tales. Enjoyable series ( )

I think this is the strongest of the series, the heroine, based on Cinderella, isn't passive, she works to free herself, and the hero is a shell shocked flying ace. The evil stepmother doesn't quite give off enough of an evil aura, beyond the first shocking scene where she binds her step daughter by cutting off her little finger, probably because she's trying to hide her nature to rise in society. It's definitely a grim view on WWI, and I liked it for that aspect as well. ( )

I had been looking forward to this, but in the end I abandoned it about 2/3 of the way through.

The writing is overly wordy, and by the time I'd finished I'd moved on from "wordy" to "stodgy" and I just couldn't take any more. The action is minimal and there's a lot of overly detailed description that could have been trimmed into something more readable, but hasn't been.

The copy editing is apalling - spelling mistakes, missed words, extra words and totally inappropriate words - and it could have done with some more general editing as well.

While I liked the main characters, I didn't feel I ever really got to know them well, and if I didn't feel particularly invested in their fates 2/3 through, I figured I wasn't likely to become so.

All in all, a disappointment, as the setting and concept were all good but Lackey failed to pull it all together for me. ( )