The Elvenbane

The world that the writing team of Norton and Lackey crafts is quite fascinating in its detail and description. The timeline and history of this world seems to place it sort of after the end of our present world, as a kind of post-apocalypse in which first the dragons found and then the elves, with the latter taking over and enslaving the remaining humans. I found the passage of time to be bothersome at times, since the authors seem to almost skip over the climaxes in favor of just relaying the information through the memories of the characters after the fact. More than once, I wished the writers could have written out this passage of time so that I can actually experience it as it happens.
The characters were all well-developed and show more unique, as the size of the book allowed the writers to spend lots of time focusing on a single character, even if his or her purpose seemed to end rather abruptly with death, such as Shana's mother, Serina Daeth. Normally, I have no trouble picking characters that I favored over the others, but with this book, no character seemed to jump out at me as so much better than the others, even the main character Shana, who seemed to lack in maturity as much as a pre-teen, with how she behaves around some of the other characters.
There were several over-arching themes in the book, such as the need for change, the call for justice, and how every rule has exceptions. Shana especially seemed to find the latter annoying as she continually found that what she was taught about elves, humans, or dragons was not always true. Even though the legend of the Elvenbane is merely a tall tale crafted by the dragons to stir up trouble with the elves and humans, Shana falls into the role by accident simply because of a dragon's kindness. Ironically, her up-bringing gives her the perfect personality for playing that role, as the main goal of this book was to put her in the perfect position to fill this role for the next book in the series, Elvenblood (Halfblood Chronicles). show less

One of the first series I came across where Elves aren't honorable and wise beings - they're the villains who keep humanity enslaved. The ancient race of dragons decide to play with the elves by spreading a legend of a girl who will free the humans, the Elvenbane. Imagine their surprise when their legend becomes reality. Excellent.

Excellent tale from a pair of great storytellers. The story moves quickly with great characters good and bad. And when it finishes you can't wait for the next installment.

The first part of this book has quite a messagey tone to it, which, with the familiarity I have of the two authors, have largely come from Mercedes Lackey. This made it rather hard going this time through but as soon as we got past the moralisation and into the action proper it gets much better. It's just a pity that this only happened in the last third or so of the book.

Shana, born of the illegal union of Elf and human, finds herself in the Lair of a Dragon clan during her teen years and finds herself facing constant criticism for being a two-leg, not that she thinks of herself as a two-leg, but as a dragon stuck in two-leg form. Finally pushing the dragons into exiling her, Shana suddenly finds herself in the hands of real two-legs show more (human) who had taken her prisoner until they think she's a half-wit and sell her off as a slave. At this point, she helped to escape this fate and she's introduces to a group of half-elven wizards though she find herself hemmed in by more rules designed to maintain the status quo so when Shana and other younger members of the Citadel decide to help a band of children with power escape an Elven estate, they find themselves at odds with the powers to be and Shana is joined by an escaping elven heir and his half-elven cousin and her foster brother who all end up having a number of adventures as they try to escape those on their trail. show less

Elvenbane, by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey, is a thrilling fantasy novel that explores themes of identity, freedom, and the power of friendship.

The novel follows the story of Shana, a half-human, half-elf girl adopted by dragons. Shana was orphaned after her mother was killed in the wilderness. Most dragons tolerate the girl, but others are loath to have her around, finding her 'useless'.

Exiled from among the only home she's ever known, Shana also finds herself on the run from the cruel elven lords who seek to capture and execute her for being a halfblood. Thankfully her adopted dragon brother, Keman, comes after her. Shana decides to try and find the legendary wizards, other half-bloods, and defeat the elven lords once and for all show more so no others will be enslaved.

Lackey and Norton create a richly detailed world that is both beautiful and dangerous, filled with wondrous creatures and captivating lore. The characters are well-developed and their relationships are nuanced and complex. Shana is a strong and capable protagonist who learns to trust her own abilities and the friendships she makes along the way.

Overall, Elvenbane was an enjoyable story likely to appeal to fans of fantasy and adventure novels. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to escape into a magical world.

***Purchased and read for my own enjoyment. show less

A story of elves, dragons, mages and half elves/humans.

I really enjoyed this. While a bit shallow, I never felt like rolling my eyes or putting the book down.

I found it quite interesting to see dragons as tricksters and elves as the bad guys.

This book was one of my guilty pleasures of 8th grade. I read half of it in one sitting, and finished the rest during class the next day. Wonderful story with unique twists on elves, dragons, and magic.