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A review by thecaledonianrose
Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey
4.0
Note: Contains some spoilers.
From the first 'unofficial' Elemental Masters book that Mercedes Lackey wrote, I've been hooked on this sub-series and have been slowly making my way through the books in order.
This most recent one, Steadfast, resonates with me in a way I hadn't expected. Lackey started this series as a way of revamping old tales into the Victorian/Edwardian era, turning them almost steampunk. There's always been conflict injected into the story, always a necessity for a complete tale, but typically, the conflict stems from the magical side of the story.
Steadfast's conflict does not. In this novel, the conflict addresses the all too real issue of domestic violence and the inherent difficulties for a woman to escape an abusive situation in Victorian/Edwardian times. This is the era in which Women's Suffrage began in earnest, where the struggle for basic rights for men and women alike took shape simply because women had so few rights. As in the feudal era, women were still considered chattel - a man's property, to do with what he liked with minimal fear of consequence, especially among the more disenfranchised. It was all too often the man's word against the woman's, and the man was typically given the upper hand as the husband, the owner of property, and the 'head of household.'
I could go on and on about the unfairness and lack of justice of this time. The point is, I was glad to see that in Steadfast, Lackey didn't rely on a magical source for her conflict, nor did she shy away from the grim situation thrust upon her main character as a woman and a victim of spousal abuse. The victim's reluctance to believe in magic, that she herself possessed magic was portrayed believably, as did her increasing confidence as she came to accept what she held. She did not conduct herself like a pendulum, going to the far extreme in the opposite direction by becoming arrogant or overly confident, fortunately. That would have been a grave disappointment in Lackey as a storyteller; instead, Lackey restricts the character to what is reasonable and plausible, while also addressing how a victim reacts if they are discovered by the abusive spouse.
My sole difficulty with the novel is how swiftly Lackey brought it to an end. It was both too quickly done, and frankly, too convenient for me. I can see how it came about, can even accept that it would have happened that way, but to do it within fewer than 20 pages for both the climax and denouement. Doing so not only suggests the author didn't know how to wrap up her story adequately, that the editor felt the story was in significant danger of extending past a 'reasonable' amount of pages (highly unlikely in my opinion in this day and age of e-Readers and books regularly numbering 450+ pages), and deprives the reader of a satisfactory ending where the loose ends aren't burnt together but tied up in a relatively pretty bow.
Most of the time thus far, the EM novels do convey a sense of 'happily ever after,' and I didn't feel as if Steadfast received that treatment. It felt rushed, like Lackey could have spent at least a few more pages tying up those loose ends but was suddenly sick of writing and just dashed off the ending. Disappointing to me, really, but that is my only complaint. The rest of the book held my attention and I enjoyed it.
From the first 'unofficial' Elemental Masters book that Mercedes Lackey wrote, I've been hooked on this sub-series and have been slowly making my way through the books in order.
This most recent one, Steadfast, resonates with me in a way I hadn't expected. Lackey started this series as a way of revamping old tales into the Victorian/Edwardian era, turning them almost steampunk. There's always been conflict injected into the story, always a necessity for a complete tale, but typically, the conflict stems from the magical side of the story.
Steadfast's conflict does not. In this novel, the conflict addresses the all too real issue of domestic violence and the inherent difficulties for a woman to escape an abusive situation in Victorian/Edwardian times. This is the era in which Women's Suffrage began in earnest, where the struggle for basic rights for men and women alike took shape simply because women had so few rights. As in the feudal era, women were still considered chattel - a man's property, to do with what he liked with minimal fear of consequence, especially among the more disenfranchised. It was all too often the man's word against the woman's, and the man was typically given the upper hand as the husband, the owner of property, and the 'head of household.'
I could go on and on about the unfairness and lack of justice of this time. The point is, I was glad to see that in Steadfast, Lackey didn't rely on a magical source for her conflict, nor did she shy away from the grim situation thrust upon her main character as a woman and a victim of spousal abuse. The victim's reluctance to believe in magic, that she herself possessed magic was portrayed believably, as did her increasing confidence as she came to accept what she held. She did not conduct herself like a pendulum, going to the far extreme in the opposite direction by becoming arrogant or overly confident, fortunately. That would have been a grave disappointment in Lackey as a storyteller; instead, Lackey restricts the character to what is reasonable and plausible, while also addressing how a victim reacts if they are discovered by the abusive spouse.
My sole difficulty with the novel is how swiftly Lackey brought it to an end. It was both too quickly done, and frankly, too convenient for me. I can see how it came about, can even accept that it would have happened that way, but to do it within fewer than 20 pages for both the climax and denouement. Doing so not only suggests the author didn't know how to wrap up her story adequately, that the editor felt the story was in significant danger of extending past a 'reasonable' amount of pages (highly unlikely in my opinion in this day and age of e-Readers and books regularly numbering 450+ pages), and deprives the reader of a satisfactory ending where the loose ends aren't burnt together but tied up in a relatively pretty bow.
Most of the time thus far, the EM novels do convey a sense of 'happily ever after,' and I didn't feel as if Steadfast received that treatment. It felt rushed, like Lackey could have spent at least a few more pages tying up those loose ends but was suddenly sick of writing and just dashed off the ending. Disappointing to me, really, but that is my only complaint. The rest of the book held my attention and I enjoyed it.