Most helpful customer reviews
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1.0 out of 5 stars
Moral irresponsibility, whee!, Jan 31 2004
By A Customer
The basic plot is, child prostitute who's seriously into unicorns meets nice wizard (in a bar); wizard gives her money, says "make your own magic," and stresses constantly that magic can't fix your problems; child prostitute is angst-ridden, shot at, and kidnapped for two-hundred-fifty pages; child prostitute is touched by her unicorn and suddenly her abusive parents are saints and everything's quite all right.At once point, child prostitute's internal monologue explains that escapism is a myth and she reads fantasy to find *solutions*. Hopefully child prostitute never reads this book. (Oh, and there's also some stuff where evil elves make porn films by kidnapping other child prostitutes and taping monsters raping/eating them, if you're into that. We even get to sit in on a brainstorming session. And good elves playing with racecars, as usual.)
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but could have been better., April 9 2003
So far, this is my least favorite of the SERRAted Edge novels. The things that really carried the book were Sam, Tannim, and Keighvin: old cranky Irishman, modern mage, elf. Cranky Irishman, modern mages, and elves just about ALWAYS make a book good--and the ywork for this one. Definitely worth the read, if just to stare at elves, even if it's just in the imagination.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad, but not for kids, May 11 2001
I've always enjoyed Lackey's novels, but this one turned me off. The problem for me was the use of child (s)exploitation and snuff to establish the bad guys. While the "action" was not described explicitely, and no characters were actually mistreated in such a manner, Lackey didn't hesitate to describe what WOULD happen, including how it would be done (without being too explicit of course). The use of snuff and child exploitation as a plot device definately left me cold. Perhaps that was the intention. I felt it was out of place. Instead of making me agry at the antagonist, it made me angry at the author. It's one thing if it's social allegory. It's totally another when it's in a novel written for entertainment value, one that will probably be read by young teens (There's a nice letter to runaway children in the back suggesting places to go for help, but it still left me cold). If you think it won't bother you, go for it. It's not a bad story, and the bad guys get punished (for the most part). But be warned.
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