Review: A TASTE OF MAGIC by Andre Norton & Jean Rabe

A Taste Of Magic by Andre Norton and Jean Rabe
Book 5 of the Five Senses series

Genre: high fantasy, adult book

About A Taste Of Magic:

"The Green Ones favored me this day."

Thus begins A Taste of Magic, the latest magical world creation by Andre Norton.

Wisteria is magically attuned to the world around her. Her senses relish the tastes of magic that the wonders of nature offer. But the peacefulness of her backwoods existence is shattered when her village is attacked by the raiding force of the bellicose Lord Purvis, who leaves only this twenty-something magic wielder and an adolescent lass as the inadvertent survivors.

Wisteria has pledged herself to a mission. Now she and her young ward must brave the wilds beyond their home in pursuit of the ravager who destroyed everyone near and dear to their hearts.

The woman with the Taste of Magic now has a taste for vengeance, and the blood oath she has pledged must be satisfied with the life of Lord Purvis.

Source: Info in the About A Taste Of Magic was taken from the publisher's site at http://us.macmillan.com/book.aspx?name=atasteofmagic on 17/10/10.

Review:
I like the twisty plot which surprised me again and again.

The story telling quality was not very compelling and I had to force myself to trudge across a couple of patches. But once through it, the paced picked up again.

Although this is book 5 in the Five Senses series, this book can be read on its own. I haven't read the other 4 books in the series, yet, I understood it just fine. There is enough info between the pages that a reader don't get lost. However if you've read the previous books, it would probably give you a better understanding of events and characters.

I didn't like the gory scenes. Although the authors sort of glossed over it, it was still too gory for me. Because of that, this book is not for kids!

I would rate this book as:
Character development = 3.5
World building = 5
Plot = 4.5
Story itself = 3.5
Ending = 3.5
Story telling quality = 3

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries

ELVENBORN

Third book of the Halfblood Chronicles by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey.

Genre: epic fantasy

My Review:
Interesting but not very good.

It took me a long time to read this book. The ending was a bit of an anti-climax. The pleasure is more on the reading of their adventure rather than what happened at the end. The authors are admittedly a good spinner of a tale, but did not quite pull it off in the end, which was rather surprising. This book is almost like a WGC (wild goose chase) that Heroes Adrift by Moira Moore is.

There were a few salient points in the story that the authors completely missed to exploit. They either did this intentionally with an intent of another book to follow or they just completely missed, hence the flat ending. I think they intended to follow this book up in the beginning. But it seems that got cancelled as shown by Mercedes Lackey's website that this series is supposedly to have four books. The fourth book being Elvenbred. But Elvenbred was never published (yet).

Cherry's Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries.

Caption on the book cover sleeve:

In this long-awaited new novel in the Halfblood Chronicles, fantasy greats Norton and lackey tell the enthralling story of the reclusive elvenlord Kyrtian, who emerges as a hero in a world torn by politics and war. When his cousin, Aelmarkin, tries to prove that Kyrtian is unfit to run his estate, the plan backfires, and soon Kyrtian, who doesn't share the venal, greedy nature of his cousin, finds himself with more power than he ever wanted.

Like his father before him, Kyrtian has always treated humans on his estate like servants, instead of enslaving them as other elvenlords do. His father's legacy also leads Kyrtian to learn ancient military skills long since lost to elvenkind through the carelessness of the elvenlords. Kyrtian's re-discovered knowledge piques the interest of the current elvenlords, and soon Kyrtian finds himself appointed the new commander of the army, to the relief of his ruling peers.

For the Young Lords, sons of the most powerful elvenlords, have rebelled against their fathers and are waging war. But by taking advantage of both the privileges of his new command and the help of some unexpected new friends, Kyrtian finally gains the resources to embark on his own, personal quest - resuming his father's search for the Great Portal, the magical doorway through which the original elvenlords entered this world.

As war rages between some sons and fathers, Kyrtian reaches desperately for his own lost father, hoping to uncover not only the mystery of his disappearance, but also the secret behind the origin of elvenkind.

Books in this series in chronological order:
Elvenbane Mercedes Lackey with Andre Norton
Elvenblood Mercedes Lackey with Andre Norton
Elvenborn Mercedes Lackey with Andre Norton
Elvenbred Mercedes Lackey with Andre Norton
Source: http://www.mercedeslackey.com/books/elven2.html on 20/07/2009.

ELVENBLOOD

Elvenblood by Mercedes Lackey

Genre: epic fantasy

Not very riveting but will entertain when there is nothing else around.

Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries.

Info about the book taken from the author's website:

Elvenblood is the second book in the Halfblood Chronicles series.

In the sequel to the best-selling fantasy, The Elvenbane, chaos sweeps through the magical realm after an upstart halfblood known as the Elvenbane challenges the cruel Elvenlords' rule.

Books in this series in chronological order:

Elvenbane Mercedes Lackey with Andre Norton
Elvenblood Mercedes Lackey with Andre Norton
Elvenborn Mercedes Lackey with Andre Norton
Elvenbred Mercedes Lackey with Andre Norton

Source: http://www.mercedeslackey.com/books/elven2.html on 20/07/2009.

ELVENBANE

Elvenbane by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey

Genre: epic fantasy

Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


My Review:
Five out of five for the story-telling quality. Three out of five for the story per sey. The book did hold my interest but I just felt that it wasn't as absorbing as the Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. Still made me buy the second book, The Elvenblood. Waiting patiently for it to arrive in the post. And will most likely read more of M. Lackey and A. Norton offerings again.

Excerpt:

When Serina Daeth, favorite concubine of the Elf-Lord Dyran, conceives a half-blood child by him, she flees his wrath into the desert, where she quickly succumbs. But the child, born in Serina's dying moments, is rescued by a friendly dragon and raised with her own draconic brood. As the child Shana grows, she develops prodigious sorcerous powers--so strong that it seems she might be the fabled Elvenbane, powerful enough to free the enslaved humans from their elven oppressors. The dragons come to fear her unplumbed power, though, and cast her out. With a renegade elf-lord and his half-blood servant, and the aid of her remaining dragon friends, Shana prepares to challenge the elfish supremacy. Though battle is joined, a sequel is plainly on the way. Thoroughly rooted in genre traditions--with elves, dragons, unicorns, and sorcerers--but some variations make it more enjoyable than the average example: theses elves and unicorns, for instance, are cruel and dangerous, where in most fantasies they are shining examples of superhuman purity. Overall, then, despite shallow characters and a lack of real tension (we never doubt that Shana and friends will succeed), an entertaining adventure.

Halfblood Chronicles in chronological order:
Elvenbane by Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton
Elvenblood by Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton
Elvenborn by Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton
Elvenbred by Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton

Excerpt and above info were taken from the author's website at : http://www.mercedeslackey.com/books/elven1.html on 15/06/2009.
Cherry