Book 6: Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey
Book 6: Steadfast (Elemental Masters #9).
Author: Mercedes Lackey, 2013.
Genre: Historical Fantasy. Re-told Fairy Tale.
Other Details: ebook. 298 pages. Unabridged Audiobook (11 hrs, 37 mins). Read by Carmela Corbett.
Lionel Hawkins is a magician whose act is only partially sleight of hand. The rest is real magic. He’s an Elemental Magician with the power to persuade the Elementals of Air to help him create amazing illusions. It doesn’t take long before his assistant, acrobat Katie Langford, notices that he’s no ordinary magician-and for Lionel to discover that she’s no ordinary acrobat, but rather an untrained and unawakened Fire Magician. She’s also on the run from her murderous and vengeful brute of a husband. But can she harness her magic in time to stop her husband from achieving his deadly goal? - synopsis from author's website.
I found this to be one of the weaker instalments of the series. Perhaps it was just too similar in setting to Reserved for the Cat, with a music hall and a faux ballerina. The plot seemed rather predictable as well.
While reading I was not aware of a corresponding fairy tale though on reading the author's website it turned out to be loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier. The soldier was another main character named Jack, who now invalided from the army works as a doorman at the theatre and was also a Fire Mage and friend of Lionel.
I decided to take a break from the series as my audiobook-on-the-go.
Cross-posted to 50bookchallenge.