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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Swan Lake" Revealed, April 9, 2001
When I first saw "Black Swan" my first thought was, How dare they! I am an ardent ballet fan and dancer, "Swan Lake" is one of my favorite ballets, and the thought of anyone meddling with that story was infuriating. But within ten minutes I had decided I had to read the book--the thought of seeing my beloved characters in real, everyday life was too tempting--and I didn't regret it. I've never read Mercedes Lackey before, and in my opinion this was a FANTASTIC book. The plot of the ballet was wonderfully developed, as were the characters. I had not wanted to like Odile and had not planned to--after all, I have never seen her as anything but the wicked sorceress--but I ended up liking her almost against my will, and any writer who can make me do that is doing a very good job. As guardian of the swan-maidens and eager-to-please daughter to von Rothbart, this enchantress turned out to have a true heart and genuine feelings, and I appreciated this very much. I greatly enjoyed the numerous subplots, which kept the book from becoming too tedious and gave me insight into the other characters, something I appreciated, as I feel I know these characters personally through my long love of ballet and wanted to get to know them better. The Queen Regent's position as a jealous, heartless throne-covetress attempting to "coincidentally" murder her son was extremely well written--you can't like her from the first word you read about her. The only thing about the book I really didn't like was the portrayal of Prince Siegfried as (to put it kindly) a playboy, but I have to admit that this made his oath of fidelity to Odette doubly significant and very, very touching. I might have liked to see Odette a little more developed, but the book was so wonderful as it was that I'm certainly not complaining. I had hoped at first that the book would end as the ballet had ended, but I was extremely pleasantly surprised by the wonderful "happily-ever-after" ending that was close enough to the ballet's ending to please even me--I actually liked it better, because I found it deeply satisfying; no one was left without their due. I am very, very hard to please where my beloved ballet characters are concerned, and Mercedes Lackey has done an admirable job. If you are not familiar with the plot and characters, this book may not be very interesting to you, but I very highly recommend it to all dance fans. "Black Swan" comes dangerously close to being the best book I have ever read.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A dazzling retelling of Swan Lake!, April 25, 2001
I've always loved the story of the beautiful princess who was turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer and permitted to retain her true form only in moonlight. The Black Swan is a wonderful retelling of the Swan Lake fairy tale, with ideas from the animation version, The Swan Princess. Mercedes Lackey produces a detailed and thorough account with insights on the characters - mostly of Odile, the daughter of the evil sorcerer von Rothbart (left out in The Swan Princess), Prince Siegfried, and Queen Clothilde (his mother), the ones that are generally overlooked. Odile is portrayed as an intelligent young woman, neglected by her father, whose only wish is his love and approval. However, von Rothbart cares little for her, especially since she is so clever and seemingly about to exceed himself. She is in charge of the flock of women-turned-swans, and finds friendship in them. Siegfried is a selfish lecher, until his actions come back to haunt him. (I thought that that was a shocking and revolting stage and I was really relieved when he changed his ways, though the transformation was a bit odd and sudden, and he didn't give up all of his bad habits.) Clothilde adds excitement to the story, a factor new to the whole Swan Lake plot. The scheming queen will do anything to ensure that the throne is hers alone. Though I appreciated the elucidation of the characters surrounding the story, I was kinda bummed that Odette was pushed to the very back and we are given almost no details on her character, except in a rare occasion through Odile. I wanted to know a bit more on her past and her development - she is after all, the "main attraction", the center of the story. Nevertheless, The Black Swan is a really satisfying retelling of Swan Lake. I'm glad that it still followed the main story line and wasn't too much of a heavy fantasy (I can never make out the weird names, kingdoms, and magical aspects). This is a great book for mature readers (I say this because the content is a bit dirty at times), especially fans of fairy tales and fantasies!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mountains above a plain fairy tale, August 31, 2006
Black Swan was my first Mercedes Lackey book. I can safely say that it made me a fan for life while I kept on buying more of her books before I was even finished with this one. Her tale of fantasy- like Swan Lake was as a mouth watering sugar coated piece of candy. An extraordinary form of writing so magical and harmonious yet easy to read, excellent to the last detail, from the gleam of the pearl, the shine of the suede shoes magicians wore and the scent of cinnamon of the great halls, musk of the feathered capes and rosemary of the cleaning spells. All that Lackey described and wrote was pious and delightful; it's truly a gem of a book, something that I will be thankful for years I discovered.
I usually read horror and mysteries and some sci fi, yet this tale was so mesmerizing, so luscious and captivating that I wished it was a thousand pages long! I must admit the reason I got this book was because of the breathtaking cover art by Jody A. Lee and the curious synopsis on the back, it proven itself tenfold to be a great choice and a wonderful end of summer read. The main story is about a flock of swans under a powerful curse that binds them to remain a swan during the day and a maiden at night. They were all captured by an evil and cold hearted sorcerer, Baron von Rothbar. With the help of his daughter Odile, he kept them enchanted because he hated women and because they all did something to betray a man in their lives, as he forced them to repent forever. Enter a venom spirited queen Clothide who resided many miles away in her lovely kingdom with her son Siegfried, a bachelor with an appetite for women and wine and you have a wonderful mixture of fantasy and romance, of betrayal, lust, corruption and some fantastic magic. I loved how Rothbar changed into a huge owl, his trademark transformation, while Odile was the black swan, together the soared heavens with no one to fear and with constant success with their magic spells that created whatever they pleased. As Siegfried's 18th birthday approached, Queen Clothide grew restless and had some dark thoughts about her dear son due to his approaching birthday, the wedding he had to get and his coronation as the King. Prince had to court many different women as the descriptions of them and their talents made me laugh a few times, as they tried to darn hard to impress the prince while he only had eyes for one special girl.
My favorite character had to be Odile, as she was witty and tried her best to have her father love her, as she practiced spells and tricks, watched over the swans and kept his castle clean along with his invisible servants. The more she tried to have him open up the less warmth she got, as she connected that something funny was going on with her father and the swans. As she realized some things that she always believed to be true were lies, she started to change sides but all she had was the magic he has taught her for self defense. Against him she was just a girl who was studying the magic arts, and she had no choice but to obey her father therefore she started to battle inside her head for true justice and end of corruption.
This was a long story with many intricate characters, and it really made me happy not to be living in those medieval times, where women were not acceptable unless they had dowry, and with men who spend many nights talking about the fat ugly wives they would have to marry but consoled themselves while thinking about their mistresses. There were many unnerving and unfair remarks done towards women, but the ladies held on tight and displayed their courage and strength in this heroic tale.
He interesting part was waiting for all the characters to meet! I knew that the evil Baron has some secret plans for his swans that involved the queen and her son, and Odile who gave great displays of her magic and a remarkable change of character. I had a wonderful time solving the clues and putting the story together in my head trying to figure out whom was plotting against who and why the Queen was consoling in Uwe, her lover/advisor who seems to be loyal to her. The ending was spectacular and it really gave me a high opinion of Lackey's skills. I almost cried at one part, I know how silly, but it touched me and I relished the story until the last page, as I would have loved it if it continued. Apparently this is the first book in the Fairy Tales series and I cannot wait for more! I really enjoyed Lackey's warm writing, with the luscious descriptions of the forest, the castle, medieval life and ethics, from the clothes to the food and etiquette, it was a real trip in time and I would love to do it again.
- Kasia S.
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