Book Review – Elemental Magic

Author: Sharon Shinn, Rebecca York, Carol Berg, Jean Johnson
Cover Artist: Dan Craig
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: November 6, 2007

Bargain With the Wind, by Sharon Shinn, is the story of Lady Charis and the life that she makes for herself in Grey Moraine. She has come out of no where and stolen the hearts of every man she comes in contact with. It is Duncan Baler that Lady Charis has her eye on and it is Duncan Baler that she marries.

Sharon Shinn does a great job of building up this fantasy story. Readers will rally for the character that becomes Lady Charis but they will wonder about the choices that she makes along the way. She becomes wife to the richest man around and still doesn’t seem to be satisfied. Duncan is a means to and end who turns out to be much more. Nettie, a servant woman, is the most interesting character of all and by the end of the story you will be wondering more about what makes her the way she is. The end of this story left a listless place in my heart wondering what could have been…

Jean Johnson has come up with a whole new twist of dueling twins in Birthright. She creates tough women in Kalasa and Arasa who are twins. Neither knows who is the true firstborn because they were pulled from their mother’s stomach and raised by their father. The girls each go on a pilgrimage to decide their fate. With no weapons or shoes they walk through the desert looking for answers. After a great deal of time the two meet back up, both with a man. Will the ultimate answer to who the firstborn is help or destroy the royal family?

This is an interesting quest that these twins have been set upon. Throw the son of a neighboring king and a poor mage in and things get even more exciting.

Unmasking by Carol Berg is fantasy at its best. A whole world is created for the student of Dai and a tenyddar. The relationship between the two characters is the main point of the story. When a man called Haine comes to test their way of life they are supposed to trick him to save the kingdom. When it comes right down to it can they really save all or do they need to focus on saving themselves? It turns out that a simple tenyddar like Gareth might have more faith in the goddesses’ path than the student called Joelle. What the two learn from one another is more than wonderful.

Huntress Moon by Rebecca York starts out with Scanlon interrogating Zarah. He is responsible for having her father killed. Her mother is now sick and she is the only one who can save her. Can she actually make the transition from daughter of the elite spokesman to a slave girl for the enemy? She will have to if she wishes to save her sick mother. She must hide her powers until it is necessary to use them and then she must give up secrets about the man she is married to. The secret is a shock to her and the role she will play in her new husband’s wife is apalling to him as well. Will Zarah do what is asked of her? Or chose a life more different than any other she’s ever known?
This was an interesting story that brought in different types of characters but the bottom line is romance. People can, and will, do all kinds of things for love.

I encourage readers of fantasy and magic to give this anthology a try. If you like a little romance it will tweak your fancy all the more…

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