The Wizard of London

Elemental Masters

By: Mercedes Lackey

Narrated by: Michelle Ford

This latest latest Elemental Masters novel is set in Victorian England and is based on the fairy tale "The Snow Queen".

Isabelle Benson has learned that an Elemental Master is behind the attempts on her students' lives - and the would-be murderer is someone very close to her former flame, the "Wizard of London".

Enchanted? Listen to more titles in the Elemental Masters Series.©2008 Mercedes Lackey (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Interestingly drawn characters hold our attention to the end, even if the good ones are very, very good, and the bad are full-blown villains." ( Booklist)

wonderful!

The Elemental Masters have been fantastic companions during my (rather boring) house cleaning exercises. If only I could get a brownie to help me😊!

Pleasant but....

Much as I love these tales, this is the weakest of the Elemental Masters novels. Most of the story involves Sarah and Nan, young, magically-talented girls who come to live at the Harton School in London, run by the also-talented Isabelle Harton and her husband. Sarah has been sent home to England "for her health" from her parents' hospital in Africa, along with her remarkably wise and capable African Gray parrot, simply called Gray. Nan is taken in from the streets, where she has been living a tenuous life with her drunken and drug-addicted mother, and she becomes a valued friend to Sarah and an asset to the School, even as she begins to learn how to manage her ordinary and extra-ordinary talents.


Also living in London is Lord Alderscroft, the so-called Wizard of London and a Fire Master, head of the Elemental Masters group. However, Alderscroft has come under the influence of Cordelia, a secretive and powerful Master. She has gradually cut him off from all of his ordinary enjoyment of life and his friends and surrounded him with a crowd of the politically influential, since she hopes to accompany Alderscroft as he rises to political power and influence. And then she begins to crave even more power, power beyond the usual reach of women in this Edwardian era.

This is a weak adaptation of the Ice Queen tale, with Alderscroft as the stricken boy, and while the adventures of Sarah and Nan are interesting, the story really hasn't got the weight of Ms Lackey's usual plots. The narrator does a creditable job with slightly different voices and reads at a reasonable pace.

A time to Denver Ingo

For a long rain day, and time to remember that what is most important in
your life and love s

Young adolescent literature

This is a perfectly pleasant fantasy book for bright twelve-year-olds. I would happily read it to a niece or a nephew, but as an adult read it is a good deal short of satisfying. The narration is competent but a trifle cloying, perhaps even for twelve-year-old ears. I have enjoyed several of Lackey's books, but I probably should have investigated a little more deeply before I snapped this one up when I saw it on sale.

For those looking for whimsy and a Victorian London setting in a fantasy tale, I would strongly recommend "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, a book which will delight young people and adults alike.

love this book

loved it...the book. the narrator and the storyline. if Ms Lackey could just write faster...lol I know this is impossible but still, she is one of my favorite authors!