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Upon the death of her father, Eleanor Robinson falls victim to her stepmother, a cruel Elemental Master of Earth, until heroic pilot Reginald Fenyx returns home, and together these two lost souls must find the courage to overcome evil.Tags
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Ash by Malinda Lo
FFortuna Both Cinderella reimaginings with similar atmospheres, although Ash is more fairy-ish and Phoenix and Ashes is about magicians and WWI.
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Member Reviews
This retelling of Cinderella is set in an alternate England with magic and with World War I raging. Eleanor Robinson was the daughter of a factory owner who was determined to go to Oxford even though women were not granted degrees. However, when her father remarries a woman with two daughters and then enlists in the army, things change.
Eleanor's new stepmother is an Earth Master who has chosen the dark path. She resents that she couldn't convince Eleanor's father to change his will before he enlisted. She is determined to use Eleanor's fortune and puts a spell on Eleanor which prevents her from leaving the house and also makes the people in the small town forget about her. To cast the spell, she chops off the smallest finger of her left show more hand and buries it under the hearth stone. Eleanor becomes an unpaid, over-worked drudge for her stepmother and stepsisters.
Reggie Fenyx is the son of the local gentry. He and Eleanor met when they were younger because she was as intrigued with flying as Reggie was. Reggie also enlisted in the new flying corps. But a plane crash and being buried alive while being tormented by Earth Elementals has caused severe shell shock. He also had many physical injuries including a very bad knee. He's been sent home to recover but is depressed and suicidal.
When Eleanor, who is a nascent Fire Master, manages to tweak the spell binding her enough to venture to the field where Reggie used to keep his airplane, the two meet again. Reggie is one of the few who recognize her as Eleanor Robinson. The two rekindle their friendship and Eleanor's good sense helps him deal with some of his injuries.
Meanwhile, Eleanor's stepmother is determined to get Reggie to marry one or the other of her odious daughters and is willing to use her dark magic to accomplish her goals. It will take both Reggie and Eleanor to defeat her plans.
I loved the lyrical style of the writing, the details about the privations suffered both on the battlefield and at home during World War I, and the wonderful and richly drawn characters in this story. The narrator did an excellent job with the various characters. show less
Eleanor's new stepmother is an Earth Master who has chosen the dark path. She resents that she couldn't convince Eleanor's father to change his will before he enlisted. She is determined to use Eleanor's fortune and puts a spell on Eleanor which prevents her from leaving the house and also makes the people in the small town forget about her. To cast the spell, she chops off the smallest finger of her left show more hand and buries it under the hearth stone. Eleanor becomes an unpaid, over-worked drudge for her stepmother and stepsisters.
Reggie Fenyx is the son of the local gentry. He and Eleanor met when they were younger because she was as intrigued with flying as Reggie was. Reggie also enlisted in the new flying corps. But a plane crash and being buried alive while being tormented by Earth Elementals has caused severe shell shock. He also had many physical injuries including a very bad knee. He's been sent home to recover but is depressed and suicidal.
When Eleanor, who is a nascent Fire Master, manages to tweak the spell binding her enough to venture to the field where Reggie used to keep his airplane, the two meet again. Reggie is one of the few who recognize her as Eleanor Robinson. The two rekindle their friendship and Eleanor's good sense helps him deal with some of his injuries.
Meanwhile, Eleanor's stepmother is determined to get Reggie to marry one or the other of her odious daughters and is willing to use her dark magic to accomplish her goals. It will take both Reggie and Eleanor to defeat her plans.
I loved the lyrical style of the writing, the details about the privations suffered both on the battlefield and at home during World War I, and the wonderful and richly drawn characters in this story. The narrator did an excellent job with the various characters. show less
Classic Mercedes Lackey
What a joy to read another Mercedes Lackey tale. Her piercing wit, detailed knowledge of all things Arcane and such a wonderful take on an old faerie tale make Phoenix and Ashes a scrumptious read.
Set against the horrors of WWI, no punches are pulled in describing the devastation that England is facing against the Juggernaut of the German army.
I found it emotionally rough to experience the loss of all males between the age of 15 to 57 countrywide, and to hear the despair of the people left behind. But I found it important to understanding the context of the novel.
In Lackey's usual impeccable style, her characters are as varied as a vegetable garden. I love her upper crust peerage family, the Fenyx's, so show more delightfully quirky. And the villagers are just as fascinating.
Phoenix and Ashes will keep you guessing until the very end, after leading you through traps and trickery, mazes and mayhem. Yet another 5/5 star book. show less
What a joy to read another Mercedes Lackey tale. Her piercing wit, detailed knowledge of all things Arcane and such a wonderful take on an old faerie tale make Phoenix and Ashes a scrumptious read.
Set against the horrors of WWI, no punches are pulled in describing the devastation that England is facing against the Juggernaut of the German army.
I found it emotionally rough to experience the loss of all males between the age of 15 to 57 countrywide, and to hear the despair of the people left behind. But I found it important to understanding the context of the novel.
In Lackey's usual impeccable style, her characters are as varied as a vegetable garden. I love her upper crust peerage family, the Fenyx's, so show more delightfully quirky. And the villagers are just as fascinating.
Phoenix and Ashes will keep you guessing until the very end, after leading you through traps and trickery, mazes and mayhem. Yet another 5/5 star book. show less
A steampunk Cinderella who has to rely on her own determination, hard work and magic instead of on singing mice and sewing birds manages to triumph over a wicked magician who just happens to be her stepmother. This is my favorite of the Elemental Masters series. I enjoy the historically accurate detail of WWI England, and I applaud the author's return to the roots of the Cinderella story, where the heroine is far from passive. There's a bit of gore, a lot of darkness, and a Prince Charming who has his own obstacles to overcome.
The only reason this gets four stars instead of five is that having an auxiliary evil magician named Warrick Locke is just too cutesy for me to stomach. Otherwise, it's a superb book.
The only reason this gets four stars instead of five is that having an auxiliary evil magician named Warrick Locke is just too cutesy for me to stomach. Otherwise, it's a superb book.
What's amazing is that not much actually happened throughout the whole thing. Over half of it was magical theory and Eleanor dreaming her way through Tarot cards. And yet, it was still brilliant.
I've never been a huge Cinderella fan, but this novel did a fabulous job retelling the original fairy tale, along with some history and magic. I really liked Eleanor and Reggie as well as the supporting cast, and Alison and company were very satisfying villains.
Perhaps my only real complaint was that the ending seemed a bit rushed. They finally won, and then there were just a few pages summing up what happened after. Considering the fact that SO much time was spent building up to everything, I would've liked a bit more time for it all to settle show more down as well.
Despite that, I really loved it all the way through. Highly recommend. show less
I've never been a huge Cinderella fan, but this novel did a fabulous job retelling the original fairy tale, along with some history and magic. I really liked Eleanor and Reggie as well as the supporting cast, and Alison and company were very satisfying villains.
Perhaps my only real complaint was that the ending seemed a bit rushed. They finally won, and then there were just a few pages summing up what happened after. Considering the fact that SO much time was spent building up to everything, I would've liked a bit more time for it all to settle show more down as well.
Despite that, I really loved it all the way through. Highly recommend. show less
I waffled about how to rate this one because I've been reading some other things simultaneously that were more challenging. I run into this problem from time to time. Do you rate a book more highly if it attempts to do something quite ambitious and doesn't quite succeed, or if it has more modest ambitions and fulfills them admirably?
This falls into the more modest ambitions/ considerable success category. In the end I decided to give it four stars because as long as you know what you are getting into from the outset it is going to give you just about exactly what you are hoping for. And with more than 100 books to her credit, if you don't know what you are getting into with Mercedes Lackey at this point, you just aren't paying show more attention.
So. This is a book to curl up with when you want a little adventure, a little romance, a little magic, a hero and heroine to root for, some villains to hiss at, and a happy ending to round it all out. Its a probably not going to shock and amaze you unless you are very very innocent, and yes the characters can be a little one dimensional, but its a solidly crafted entertainment.
It reminds me a little bit of the ghost stories I loved to read when I was a kid. They needed to be scary but not too scary, and there needed to be somebody I could identify with, and some friendly folks, and a baaad person, a few mild jokes and preferably a nice horse. Okay this lacks the nice horse... show less
This falls into the more modest ambitions/ considerable success category. In the end I decided to give it four stars because as long as you know what you are getting into from the outset it is going to give you just about exactly what you are hoping for. And with more than 100 books to her credit, if you don't know what you are getting into with Mercedes Lackey at this point, you just aren't paying show more attention.
So. This is a book to curl up with when you want a little adventure, a little romance, a little magic, a hero and heroine to root for, some villains to hiss at, and a happy ending to round it all out. Its a probably not going to shock and amaze you unless you are very very innocent, and yes the characters can be a little one dimensional, but its a solidly crafted entertainment.
It reminds me a little bit of the ghost stories I loved to read when I was a kid. They needed to be scary but not too scary, and there needed to be somebody I could identify with, and some friendly folks, and a baaad person, a few mild jokes and preferably a nice horse. Okay this lacks the nice horse... show less
Quite good. I like the way it's nearly perfectly the Cinderella story, but it actually makes sense, rather than being fairy-tale style where things happen and no one ever questions or thinks about them. Here the 'wicked stepmother' making a servant of Eleanor actually makes sense in context, as does the ball, Eleanor's dress and having to run... lots of things. Also, I really like Eleanor and Reggie, and it's fun to see Maya and hear of Andrew Pike and others. One odd thing - I remembered her studying from the Tarot, and was beginning to wonder if I was remembering the wrong book before it showed up. It doesn't appear until very late in the story, and then fades away relatively quickly for something that made such an impression on my show more memory of the book. Overall - pretty darn good.
Reread - Yeah. That is extremely grim for most of its length - Eleanor is not quite helpless (for long, anyway) but it's a thin, hard life she's living. And Reggie is fighting PTSD that's broken his magic and left him with panic attacks at random intervals. Alison is purely nasty, for all she can put on a pretty mask at times, and her daughters are like her except stupider. And far less experienced, of course. So it's one bit of nastiness after another, with brief moments of pleasantness popping up now and then, but not much. Still, both Reggie and to a greater extent Eleanor are working their ways through what imprisons them - and with power and wisdom and intelligence and a dose of luck, the climactic battle ends very well. The epilogue is lovely. It's also nice to see familiar people - Doctor Maya shows up several times, and so do a few others from the White Lodge and similar. Reggie was there in The Serpent's Shadow, which was clearly set before the War - WWI is the setting and the impetus for a good deal of the story. The Cinderella pattern is very obvious and nicely done. Very rich. Next! show less
Reread - Yeah. That is extremely grim for most of its length - Eleanor is not quite helpless (for long, anyway) but it's a thin, hard life she's living. And Reggie is fighting PTSD that's broken his magic and left him with panic attacks at random intervals. Alison is purely nasty, for all she can put on a pretty mask at times, and her daughters are like her except stupider. And far less experienced, of course. So it's one bit of nastiness after another, with brief moments of pleasantness popping up now and then, but not much. Still, both Reggie and to a greater extent Eleanor are working their ways through what imprisons them - and with power and wisdom and intelligence and a dose of luck, the climactic battle ends very well. The epilogue is lovely. It's also nice to see familiar people - Doctor Maya shows up several times, and so do a few others from the White Lodge and similar. Reggie was there in The Serpent's Shadow, which was clearly set before the War - WWI is the setting and the impetus for a good deal of the story. The Cinderella pattern is very obvious and nicely done. Very rich. Next! show less
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 show more 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. show less
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 show more 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. show less
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Author Information
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Fantasy fiction author Mercedes Richie Lackey was born in Chicago on June 24, 1950, and she received a B.S. from Purdue University in 1972. She is also a professional lyricist and has rehabilitated raptors. Lackey started writing her own short stories when her favorite science fiction and fantasy authors weren't producing new books fast enough for show more her. She began writing professionally with the encouragement of author C. J. Cherryh, whom Lackey had met at a science fiction convention. Many of Lackey's books, including the Queen's Own trilogy, the Vows and Honor series, Valdemar: family Spies, and the Last Herald-Mage and Mage Winds trilogies, take place in the imaginary world of Valdemar. She has authored numerous series, including the Bardic Voices series and a series of occult mysteries featuring Diana Tregarde, a modern-day witch. Lackey enjoys collaborating and has co-written books with authors such as C.J. Cherryh, Anne McCaffrey, Piers Anthony, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mark Shepherd, and Ru Emerson. Her title Redoubt made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Is a retelling of
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Phoenix and Ashes
- Original publication date
- 2004-10
- People/Characters
- Eleanor Robinson; Reginald Fenyx; David Alderscroft, Lord Alderscroft; Peter Almsley; Peter Budd (chauffeur); Sarah Chase (district midwife, nurse, and witch | Eleanor's godmother) (show all 18); Lady Virginia de Marce; Lady Devlin; Warrick Locke; Melanie Lynn, called Smith (Lady Virginia's lady's maid, chauffeur, and arcane assistant); Brigadier Mann; Lee McGregor (estate manager); Alison Robinson (formerly Alison Danbridge); Carolyn Danbridge; Lauralee Danbridge; Mad Ross; April, Lady Williams; Maya Witherspoon, Doctor
- Important places
- the Arrows, Broom, Warwickshire, England, UK; Broom, Warwickshire, England, UK; England, UK; the Exeter Club, London, England, UK; London, England, UK; Longacre Park, Broom, Warwickshire, England, UK (show all 7); Warwickshire, England, UK
- Important events
- World War I; World War I, British Home Front
- Dedication
- To Janis Ian; amazing grace
Acknowledgements
When I needed to populate the village of Broom and Longacre Park, the denizens of the Dixon's Vixen bulletin board sprang to my aid by volunteering to be scullery maids, war-heroes, or villains as I ch... (show all)ose. So if the names of the inhabitants are not consistent with the conventions of 1917, that is why.
And
Thanks to Richard and Marion van der Voort (www.atthesignofthedragon.co.uk), who vetted my historical and colloquial accuracy.
And
To Melanie Dymond Harper, who, when I lost my map and pictures of Broom, went out into wretched weather to recreate them for me. - First words
- December 18, 1914
Broom, Warwickshire
Her eyes were so sore and swollen from weeping that she thought by right she should have no tears left at all. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Eleanor burst into laughter that she could not stop until her irritated neighbor knocked on the wall to make her quiet down.
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