Reviews

Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey

mouthoflethe's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

raven_pine's review against another edition

5.0

This book is set during WW1 and in alternate universe with a secret society of magic and is a Cinderella retelling.
It sounds like it has a lot going on which could get confusing but honestly it is so easy to keep track of. The world is small but everything that you need to know is explained as you go along.
I haven’t read any of the other books in this series but was easily able to follow the storyline and enjoyed it sooo much.

jesshale's review against another edition

3.0

An entertaining read with slight pacing problems.

I enjoy the books in the Elemental Masters series, fairytale retellings with elemental magic. This is a Cinderella story set during WWI.

I enjoyed the main characters and the potential for their romance. Both Ella and Reggie have problems and it's satisfying to see them overcome them. I thought there wasn't much development of their connection, though.

The villains were, in typical Lackey fashion, truly villainous. As with other books I could have done with slightly fewer pages devoted to the antagonist's slimy, gloating POV - it gets a bit repetitive. Yes, we get it - she's evil!

The main weakness in this book is the pacing - when Ella finds out about her magic we don't get a lot of the joy of her finding out about it, it's mainly in a conversation that happens "off screen". There's a slow bit in the middle of the book as Ella learns about magic with convoluted tarot symbolism. It wallows a bit: what Ella learns doesn't really affect the climax of the book, and as the Elemental Masters series can be read as largely standalone novels it's not laying foundations for future books in the series.

In addition, as a Cinderella story we know how the story is going to end - there will be a ball etc. After the long middle section, the ending comes quite quickly, and is sadly devoid of a satisfying confrontation between Ella and her evil stepmother. I liked the way Ella and Reggie work together (although I would have liked more of a conversation about their mutual magic etc. - I don't know if he ever understands what she's been going through), but their defeat of evil Allison was very quick. I wanted Ella to have a better victory!

rhodesgiselle's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 Stars. Okay, so I've figured out something about Lackey with this book. Her stories and how she weaves the fairytale elements into them are really good and make the experience great. But in the 3 books I've read in this series so far there has yet to be a flushed out romance. And these were all books with strong romance plots. I never believe the romance. Ever. It may be cute and I may believe that eventually these characters would fall in love but I have yet to believe that they are in love from what I've been given in the story. There's never enough development put into the relationship. So even though the characters and the story may be excellent, the romance always brings down my overall enjoyment of it. Since such a huge part of the story feels completely unbelievable it's something that could never really win my love. But they're still really fun and good!

ambern's review against another edition

3.0

This is one of Lackey's Elemental Master series, a set of 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 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.

aworldshapedbybooks's review against another edition

4.0

I once again started on the third book in a series without knowing that it was the third book. That's okay though, I think that these can easily be read as standalones. Kind of urban fantasy? I'm not entirely sure where to place this, like historical fantasy fiction? It's also a fairy tale retelling, so once again there is a lot going on here.

Eleanor was set to be one of the first females to attend Oxford, though they aren't yet handing out degrees to women. Then her father married an evil woman and World War I happened. Suddenly, her father is dead and her stepmother cuts off her finger to bind her forever to servitude. It's a harsh and hopeless life, she isn't allowed to go against any of her stepmother's commands and works till she collapses of exhaustion for years without end.

Reggie is an Air Master and flew planes against the Germans until another Air Master took him out of the sky and he was captured beneath the earth for days. I'm not really sure what the age difference is between him and Eleanor, I think he's a couple years older but he already attended Oxford for a couple years. He and Eleanor meet again after years without seeing each other and are able to speak clearer than they have with anyone else. It's all about dealing with her super powerful stepmother from there on out.

I really liked it, especially the base story line. There's just something so interesting about fairy tales told with more modern context yet with the same amount of magic. I loved it and I loved the characters. I do wish they had had more face-to-face conversations before they decided they were in love. But I think that was validated with the ending, not too fast for that period or even compared to some of the books that come out today. It's not incredibly original because it keeps so many of the elements of Cinderella, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend for sure.

This review and all my others can be found at: https://aworldshapedbybooks.blogspot.com/

smarkies's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

mcampany's review against another edition

2.0

Lackey is trying way too hard to show off how much research she did for this book. It's not supposed to be obvious, ma'am. It's supposed to be in the background, where we can't notice it. Please get a better editor, especially since I counted at least 3 misspelled words.

emyzig's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

weremallard's review

dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A super easy read and nice retelling of Cinderella.