Customer Reviews

Born to Run (Serrated Edge Novel)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The best part of this book is the hero/main character, Tannim; a human mage who has a big heart with a soft spot for kids in tough places. He shares this sentiment with the good elves who race cars to get money becaues you just can't hand over a handful of silver coins to a needy mother these days without something going wrong!(what ever happened to those good old days?) I loved to follow this infectiously lovable and completely human character on his jaunts through the real world and the not so real. His faults are completely believable and make you like the guy all the more (if that is even possible) and makes you hold you breath as he gets into scrapes and hard spots galore! If you don't fall in love with Tannim and wish to hear more and more and more about him, you really need to see a doctor because you head isn't working too well! (No offense!) A great read and worth every penny!

I am part of a scifi/fantasy reading group that gets together once a month to discuss a book that we read the month before, and when this title was selected, I was not very enthusiastic. Very simply, the title, cover art and back cover blurb ("Fast Elves, hot cars and rock'n roll!" or something to that effect)just didnt seem like my particular cup of tea. So, imagine my suprise when I found it to be quite enjoyable. Great characters, brilliant concept (once I got used to the idea) and very well written. I finished it on a plane from Chicago to Los Angeles and the guy sitting next to me was in the Navy, and through our smalltalk discovered that he liked fantasy fiction. When I showed him this book, he stated that he didnt think he would like it, for pretty much the same reasons I assumed I wouldn't. I suggested he give it a try and gave him my copy. I guess I will never know whether he enjoyed it as much as I did, but its kind of interesting to think that my copy of this book is now in the library of a USNavy ship off the coast of Japan.

Mercedes Lackey and larry Dixon have done a wonderful job of outlining some of the dangers that face kids nowadays and what gets them into the situations that they will end up in when they try to leave home to fend for themselves too early, but feel that their homelife is too much to take anymore. The way they are saved is nice to think of but we all know that it woudn't happen. The main characters are easy to identify with for all ages and are well formed, rounded. All in all a romp through modern times with a skew on some truths all for the better.

You want elves, magic, all sorts of craziness?

Try throwing in the 20th Century and you have a fast paced, magic throwing, fun loving novel.

Eat your heart out magic lovers.

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.

I love this story, pitty she never continued the series. Have read it several times and am never disapointed.

One of the best books about the Sidhe (Celtic Elven and Faerie kin) ever created. As a big fan of Celtic myth and legend I loved these books. A must for anyone who loves Lackey or ever wanted to be an elf.

If you've read Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon's "Knight of Ghosts and Shadows," and "Summoned to Tourney," and liked them, here's another book in the same vein. More elves from the same place. Lackey and Dixon do a good job of demonstrating the lives of hookers as well as skimming the surface of the Underground.

The characters are human enough, even the bad guys (sort of) in that ruthless mafia leaders would probably act somewhat the same, not counting the complications of magic. In other words, this book is good reading if you like fantasy and want something that's not as silly as Terry Pratchett's books, but not too serious either.

Did you ever dream of running away as a child? Sure, we all did. But did your dreams include race cars and elves?

Brilliant concept, but Lackey pulls the same trick here that she does in many of her other novels -- lots and LOTS of exposition that ultimately slows down the plot. Pages and pages of descriptions of streets, of trees, of car racing engines, followed by chapter-long discussions between characters in which each quote is half a page long. Who really speaks like this? And who really wants to sit still and read that much overblown dialogue?

But when Lackey gets down to brass tacks, her action and magery sequences are edge-of-your-seat entertaining and absolutely top-notch. I just wish there were more of those and less talk.

If you liked this novel, you'll love "Chrome Circle," which follows Tannim in a life-or-death adventure Underhill. You'll probably also get a kick out of Lackey's Diana Tregarde novels, including "Children of the Night" and "Jinx High."