Home from the Sea

Elemental Masters, Book 7

By: Mercedes Lackey

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

New in the extraordinary series hailed as “a true frolic into fantasy” (Fantasy Bookspot) by a “Master Magician" (Midwest Book Review).

In Edwardian Britain, magic is real. And Masters of the Elements control Fire, Water, Air, and Earth.... Mari Prothero has lived all her life with her father, Daffyd, in a tiny fishing village on the coast of Wales. Though Daffyd takes his boat out on the sea regardless of weather, Mari has learned not to fear for his safety, for her father is a Water mage, and always comes home safely with a large catch. Mari knows that, in her family, children are expected to marry at 18, to an appropriate stranger. However, Mari is a fledgling Water Master with a rebellious nature. She has no intention of agreeing to any arranged marriage. But Mari has yet to learn the truth of the magical heritage that must be protected by these very marriages. For the Protheros are descended from Selkies - magical beings who are able to change from seals to humans - and to continue her line, she must marry a full-blooded Selkie....

©2012 Mercedes Lackey (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Good

The narration was lovely. A little religion bashing. But it's not in the whole book so can be overlooked. Poor people good rich people bad. So it's typical Lackey.

Long on words...short on action.

What did you like best about Home from the Sea? What did you like least?

I like the idea behind the story, it was just too wordy.

Would you ever listen to anything by Mercedes Lackey again?

Pobably not. I don't think her writing style suits me.

What does Kate Reading bring to the story that you wouldn???t experience if you just read the book?

She was okay for this story. She has a good british accent but the scottish and welsh accents were not as good as other readers.

Do you think Home from the Sea needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. I couldn't wait for the story to end and sequals are rarely better than the first.

Any additional comments?

For all the parents out there. This is a safe book for young adults. If you don't mind the idea of a 18 yr old marrying and having children in a time where girls married young. There are no graphic scenes for adolecents.

My biggest problem with the story was that the author took the reader from one place to another for long periods of time. I didn't want my story split between the primary and secondary characters quite so much. It's a given that there will be background on other characters to set the story up, but there was so much that I got bored and half of my attention was on the story, while the other half was doing something else in hopes of get through the scenes until the good parts.

I chose to start with this book in the series because it had the best rating of all in the series. And it did well as an independent read. However, in my openion the book was okay...so the others I won't even attempt, especially if they are rated overall lower than this one. I wish I would have looked at goodreads before purchasing this one. I'm sure any spoilers would have given me the plot (not a whole lot there) without the time and credit wasted.

Underwhelming

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I have thoroughly enjoyed the early books of the Elemental Master series and looked forward to another installment. I felt that this book dragged on, largely avoided any actual addressing of the magic that Mari was learning and had a lackluster series of antagonists. I just seemed like Mercedes Lackey, who I generally enjoy, called it in.

Long on words...short on action.

What did you like best about Home from the Sea? What did you like least?

I like the idea behind the story, it was just too wordy.

Would you ever listen to anything by Mercedes Lackey again?

Pobably not. I don't think her writing style suits me.

What does Kate Reading bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She was okay for this story. She has a good british accent but the scottish and welsh accents were not as good as other readers.

Do you think Home from the Sea needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. I couldn't wait for the story to end and sequals are rarely better than the first.

Any additional comments?

For all the parents out there. This is a safe book for young adults. If you don't mind the idea of a 18 yr old marrying and having children in a time where girls married young. There are no graphic scenes for adolecents.

My biggest problem with the story was that the author took the reader from one place to another for long periods of time. I didn't want my story split between the primary and secondary characters quite so much. It's a given that there will be background on other characters to set the story up, but there was so much that I got bored and half of my attention was on the story, while the other half was doing something else in hopes of get through the scenes until the good parts.

I chose to start with this book in the series because it had the best rating of all in the series. And it did well as an independent read. However, in my openion the book was okay...so the others I won't even attempt, especially if they are rated overall lower than this one. I wish I would have looked at goodreads before purchasing this one. I'm sure any spoilers would have given me the plot (not a whole lot there) without the time and credit wasted.

Nice addition to the series

The story is not so well woven as some of the others in this series, but it is a good addition since it introduces the water masters. I loved the Selkies and the description of live at the Welsh seashore.
In my opinion, the background stories of the English/Welsh conflict, the coal mining and the constable did more to hinder than bring action to the lovely story about out-witting a generation old bargain .

What I loved especially: that this story again linked into older ones (Wizard of London). It is always fun to meet characters again: Yay Puck!

A letdown

The first 3 books are the best in this series in my opinion, and Reserved for the Cat was good. This book has great narration as do the rest of the series. The antagonist was far too simplistic. No motivation except stupidity and pride. The plucky child characters Nan and Sarah from The Wizard of London have aged up to graduate school. These characters took over the novel. The supposed lead for this book took a back seat for what was described as her story and that was tragic because it started out well and her situation should have inspired enough material to not need to tie it to a previous set of characters. If you enjoy constant mentions of intelligent birds their constant presence won't irritate you. It wasn't necessary to mention the need for newspapers for their mess and to described it plopping. I found these characters and their birds irritating in their own book, and am disappointed it looks like they feature heavily in a few more after this. I love Mercedes Lackey and have read her books for over twenty years since I was a young girl. But she is definitely hit or miss with her more recent work. I have a heart for fairy tales respun and was dipping my feet back into her works in my early thirties. I have listened to the beginning of the series and they held up well. The latter have led me to feel a much younger audience would find them more enjoyable than I have now. The worst in the series was Unnatural Issue in my opinion; the lead there had no redeeming qualities. Fingers crossed the next book is better. I edited my review after finishing these two hours to take off another star. The *good* Puck has an exchange with a female adult ghost and the writer chose to include commentary about the circumstances of the ghost being afraid to move on. the exchange was brief and the female ghost was afraid of crossing over because she had an affair with a married man who left his family and then died at sea. The author has Puck state that the female ghost did ruin the man and his family's life. This blatant, sexist categorization of the female ruining the man she had the affairs life is outdated and inexcusable. It takes two to tango and this statement ruined what was already disappointing book for how short it was. If the author had only had Puck state she wronged the man's wife's life that would have been one thing. She didn't state anything about the man being just as much at fault, or at any fault. I think cheating is inexcusable but not laying the blame with all parties culpable is excusing them. Seriously disappointed. I expected better.