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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I read one of her books every so often , sort of like a mental break in a different world, I loved the whole story and it just took me away. I recommend reading all of the elemental masters series or the fairy tales retold. (  ) averitasm | Aug 26, 2009 |  I am enjoying this new series by this author. I got burned out on the Valademer series and stopped reading her for a few years. I am glad I picked this one up ( ) gerleliz | Dec 21, 2008 | Maya Witherspoon is Lackey's main character in her new series of books known as the Elemental Masters. With an Indian Sorceress for a mother and a British doctor for a father, Maya is considered a special child. Due to Maya's mother, she has magic in her veins, but her mother refused to teach her saying that her magic was "the magic of her father's blood". Before her mother can explain it, an illness takes her life. Then shortly after, her father dies of a mysterious snake bite. Shortly thereafter, Maya fled to the land of her father. Along with her magic, her father's gift to her was the science of medicine, and so she picks up work as a doctor. While she was in her self-imposed exile she tried to hide, but the "shadow of the serpent" followed her across the water. In order to save herself, she must learn her own magic: the magic of her father. A new twist for Lackey's worlds, this was a delightful addition to her many worlds that enthralls immediately. Maya is a truly dynamic character who is plagued by the life of the real world. While Maya is a believable character, the whole of the story is a little stiff at first and then it blossomed and I wound up not being able to put it down. This should be an enjoyable read to any who pick it up. Archivus | Aug 25, 2008 | I had to be told that this one was Snow White, but on rereading I saw the pattern. Good story, interesting characters - the not-Peter-Wimsey is fun! I know and like the British Raj as an era - but I'd never seen much of what England was like in that time. Kipling has a very different perspective. The story would have been good without the magic - with it, it's excellent. ( ) jjmcgaffey | May 16, 2008 | This re-telling of Snow White is unique and is one of my favorite fairy tale books by lackey. I love that this book has a strong female character, though there is not much growth of character in the book. ( ) vrsteffen | Nov 19, 2007 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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Some of Maya's challenges come from the fact that she is not "snow white," and she has fled India for her father's English homeland after the suspicious deaths of her parents. Establishing her household in London, she returns to her profession as a physician, working among the poor. Her "pets" and loyal servants stand guard, and Maya herself uses what bits of magic she managed to pick up in childhood to weave otherworldly defenses as well. But the implacable enemy who killed her parents has come to London to search for her; if Maya can be enslaved, her enormous potential powers can be used to the enemy's ends. Fortunately, English magicians of the White Lodge have also noted a new, powerful presence in their midst, though they're having trouble locating her, too. They send Peter Scott, a Water Master, to track her down. He finds Maya beautiful and benign, and is determined to teach her to use the Western magic she is heir to, before her enemy discovers her.
Some will find the author's Kiplingesque descriptions of India and Hindustani culture offensive. Lackey describes Maya's enemy as a powerful devotee of the goddess Kali-Durga, though she carefully shows that the avatars of the other deities will not attack her, and has Kali-Durga repudiate her servant in the climactic confrontation. And, though the story is layered, its surface is as glossy and brightly colored as an action comic. But readers who enjoy late Victorian London, Sayers, Sherlock Holmes stories, and a page-turning tale will want to take this one home. --Nona Vero
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:10 -0400)
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