The Elemental Masters series form Mercedes Lackey is one of my favorite series - I own what I thought was all of them. Little did I realize that this book is actually book 0. So I was pretty excited to take this book on my vacation with me and read it on the beach.
Enter Mercedes elemental world of the early 1900's retelling of Beauty and the Beast - Rosalind is a budding medieval scholar at her wits end. Born into a well to do family she's always had the run to do whatever she wanted. She turned her energies to being the scholarly type - learning medieval dead languages and the like. But when her father passes away (her mother had passed many years previous) and the debt collectors strip everything out from underneath her, she realizes she is in dire straits. What is a woman in her position to do? She has no other family that she can turn to and her particular set of skills doesn't translate into marriage very well.
Jason Cameron, a well off rail baron and firemaster is in a predicament. His arrogance has gotten him into a bind and he is now half wolf half human. Unwilling for the world around him to know his situation he dismisses his servants, leaving only his salamanders to carry on with his needs. But salamanders cannot help him decipher ancient texts to find a way out of his dilemma. And his apprentice is of no help at all, being a lazy arrogant man himself, Jason doesn't trust him. Jason sends out his salamanders to find someone who will assist him with ancient texts and Rosalind is in the perfect situation to respond to Jason's call.
But will Jason's arrogance drive a wedge between their working relationship? Just how much is he willing to show/tell her? And when she arrives how does Jason's apprentice feel about Rosalind?
I was quite happy with this book. It was a nice throw back to the original books in the series that played off fairytales, combining them with her elemental story line and world. Lots of character development and action. Classic telling of the fairytale in a new way. I would def recommend this one. If possible read this one before all the others.
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