I picked this up at a Friends of the Library book sale.
I really like the world building here. Mercedes Lackey goes DEEP into the elemental magic. It's a lot more than just "learn how to cause magic stuff". It's a lifestyle. Rosa's parents had to move from an urban industrial city to a rural farm town because the city was literally making her sick. Earth magic makes her sensitive to the earth, and the combination of pollution and terraforming was too hard on her. All earth mages are like this. And this is kept up throughout the novel. It's very consistent.
The pacing of this story makes me think of a D&D campaign. No, seriously. What you read about in blurb doesn't get started for over one hundred pages.
The first thing after the prologue is basically the end of one adventure. Rosa and a member of her lodge are in the final stages of hunting a werewolf and a vampire. They do that, they are celebrated by grateful townsfolk, and Rosa's partner decides to stay in that town to help the local chapter of hunters to rebuild. It's like a player had to leave the campaign and this is how he is written out of the story.
What follows can be seen as downtime for the single remaining player, Rosa's player. She travels, she enjoys first class on a train, and is introduced to a new patron and quest giver, and there's some roleplay and low-stakes games before another player shows up. These two new players and their player characters are introduced by way of the next main quest.
Oh yes, there is an antagonist who has nothing to do with either of the slay-the-werewolf adventures. He just shows up out of nowhere, Rosa takes care of him like a pragmatic player who rolls a critical hit on her first attack, and he is of little overall narrative significance.
The Gondor Calls For Aid thing near the end is pretty cool, but disappointing. For as much build-up and pomp that goes into it, the effect is pretty minor. A wide-ranging yet fragile sleep spell and some charm magic assistance, along with a mental map of a dungeon. That's totally what a Game Master would do with powerful NPCs: enable the players to succeed on their own when they normally couldn't.
Trickster Novels gives "Elemental Masters novel - Blood Red" an A+
Click here for my next book review: Deltora Quest - book 1 - Forest of Silence
Click here for my previous book review: The Last Dragonlord
Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
New book up! Catalyst for Glorious Change!
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