"Perhaps that was all that freedom really was, in the end, the knowledge that you had nothing and were nothing, and thus had nothing to lose or gain."

Heading another series that take well-known fairy tales and retells them (the first one being the "Elemental Masters" series), Mercedes Lackey starts her "Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms" with her own--thoroughly contemporary and highly feminist--version of Cinderella.

Made into a slave by her stepmother and stepsisters, 21-year-old Elena "Ella Cinders" Klovis's woes are further exasperated when the three, in the wake of Elena's father's death, decide to leave town to hide from debt collectors. "Keep the house tidy" were her last instructions and with that Elena is left alone. Seeing the abandonment as an opportunity for freedom, she runs away to sell her services as a maid.

Like the the original Cinderella, she is unexpectantly saved by an eccentrically dressed Godmother; unlike the original tale, Elena becomes Godmother Bella's apprentice, under the fact that her prince to-be is still a child, a sign that The Tradition--a force that guides the peoples of the Five Hundred Kingdoms into fairy tale stories wheather the like it or not--is not always perfect. And it with a later induction into the life of a Godmother that Elena comes to effectively fight against The Tradition.

While the novel is a romance, under the Harlequin imprint of Luna, Lackey focuses on magic rather than love and lust. In fact, while there are themes of love and lust, it is scattered and perhaps unskillfully added--for example, a chapter that quickly becomes a sex scene. However, Lackey also manages to write a very contemporary, very feminist story in which the characters metaphorically and literally break The Tradition (of gender roles): on the way, we meet feminine princes, a knight turned into a donkey for being a pig, and above all--very strong women. Added to this are humorous moments, magical fun, and an intelligent heroine to make a 400+ book into light reading that is ultimately about freedom and our ability to rewrite our stories for freedom.

Readers of her previous works might be taken by surprise and may even dislike this particular series; romance readers will find something new to try out; and her fans will enjoy this mediocre fantasy-romance that while different from her previous works, it can likely fit onto their shelves. ( )

I started this with high hopes. I love alternate and contemporary retellings of the classic fairy tales. I love books that spell out and then play with traditional storytelling conventions. So I was hooked when I heard the premise of this series, which depicts a world ruled by The Tradition. The more that your situation in life resembles a fairy-tale, the more magic gathers around you, trying to force you down a path that will fulfil the Tradition.

So what would have happened to Cinderella if her prince was too old, or too young, or her Fairy Godmother never got there in time? This book plays with these ideas and more, but the execution wasn’t quite what I was hoping for, and the romance was predictable and did very little for me. ( )

This book was a new take-off on fairy tales. As we follow a fairy godmother, we learn that the tradition of fairy tales in the 500 kingdoms produces a magic of its own. This magic compels this same tradition to be followed again and again, and fairy godmothers use their own magic to help the tradition follow good paths, or hinder its bad ones. Elena is determined to do her best to control the paths the tradition follows- and alter them to help others. The path she is on is the path she most wishes to alter, but that is the one she fears altering the most. ( )

Without a doubt, this is the best book I have read in a very long time. Elena is twenty one and many years ago now she should have been "Cinderella", happily married to a prince and being an ornament at his side. But somewhere along the line the "tradition" got messed up and the only prince in the kingdom is eleven years old! So, when her evil stepmother and stepsisters leave town temporarily to seek for a new weathly man to con, Elena runs off and finds herself meeting her fairy Godmother. Not only does Elena have a fairy godmother, but this Godmother wants to train Elena to take over her position. This puts into play an amazing tale spanning Elena's "apprenticeship" and then her days in charge or the kingdom's Godmother duties. Along the way, we hear many different tales, that sound familiar but are changed around. We get a chance to see that sometimes fairy tales don't end up with happy endings. The entire story was a delightful thrill from start to finish. Gripping, and extremely difficult to put down. I was happy with the romantic storyline when it finely came into play and thought the ending was splendidly well done. From what I understand this is published by a Harlequin division and I must say that this is far from any traditional romance that I have read. I found this book to be a fabulous change of pace from my normal readings. I admit that since this unlike anything I've read in a long time, maybe that is why I was so taken with it. I have never read a book by Mercedes Lackey before, but I can guarentee this won't be the last. ( )

I found this book at the library, it looked interesting, so I checked it out. I was quickly dismayed that this book is not just fantasy, but also Romance, although romance with a higher quality writing. I was not happy. I wouldn't have checked the book out if I had known. There a few scenes in this book that I skipped, simply because it was gratuitous sex that added nothing to the plot, and was a bit too graphic for my taste. I suspect I would have enjoyed the book much more if it was labeled as Romance/Fantasy. But I read it thinking it was going to be light fiction, and its not. ( )