Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey in fifteen minutes

[rachelmanija]

Before I begin ragging on this book, I should note that although I cannot call it good, it's pretty entertaining. I would not hesitate to recommend it for salon reading, as long as you can either call up your inner twelve-year-old at will or else enjoy a good inner snark-fest

Comments

[telophase]

I think rachelmanija is definitely in need of books 2 and 3.

(Even with all its many, many flaws, there is something about this trilogy and her first trilogy that pull me along to the end. Her other books are more of a slogging contest, if I can finish them at all. I think she stopped being edited somewhere along the way.)

[fresne]

I read Vanyel when sick as well. I would feel guilty, but there's something oddly comforting/cracktatic about all that misery when you're miserable.

re: Dixon. That's interesting. Certainly explains the shift from crack-tainment to whatever.

However, I will say my best non-ill Lackey experience in recent years was reading one of her one-offs with a group of friends... out loud... selecting sections at random... in bad accents... or in foreign languages if the reader could translate on the fly. Any words we couldn't translate were pineapple.

I'm not quite sure what was going on in the plot, but what's really important was that Show Tunes Lackey was quite jocular, French Lackey was either about true love or dinner, and I think Swedish Chef Lackey was making a pineapple salad.

[helen_keeble]

I am deeply convinced that Starwind and Moondance are utterly evil psycho elf-twins from Hell. The whole coming-to-resemble-your-lover was so horribly creepy I was expecting them to turn out to be working for the Bad Guy. I kept waiting for the scene when Vanyel wakes up to discover his limbs curiously immobile and - ye kami, I just realised their initials are S&M.

Evil. Definitely evil.

[seajules]

Oh, it would have been brilliant if she'd gone that direction. Which is why, of course, she couldn't.

[mroctober]

An utterly brilliant and spot-on recap of the book.

[sartorias]

*sprlorf*

But totally spot on about twelve year olds. I have these on my shelves for school, and they hit those girl readers right in the chitlins. (So far, the boys--even the ones who like fantasy--can't stand them as they all to a reader hate Vanyel)

[buymeaclue]

I distinctly remember my dad giving me my first Lackey book (Arrow's whatsit) in his office at the library.

It was the same visit where I was playing with some (admittedly awesome) Sesame Street colorforms.

[ellen_fremedon]

I really wish I hadn't missed my window on Lackey. I would have eaten those books with a spoon when I was twelve.

[veejane]

Heh. I found Lackey when I was about 15, and read exactly one (there were no gay boys, although violet eyes and telepathic horsies were in evidence), and 15 was just barely too old to be able to swallow the shtick. Barely! (Also I found the covers embarrassing.)

> Agony! Much more painful than yours!

Boy knows his Broadway catalogue. He will go far.

[mroctober]

:laughs: Just not got the Broadway link.

[branna]

Aiee! Vanyel, the Musical. That works---entirely too well.