Customer Reviews

Fortune's Fool (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 3)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

...and some boring ones. Unfortunately, I was bored, more than I was entertained. This is not a terrible book, just a rather bland storyline within the 500 Kingdoms. Better than One Good Knight, inferior to The Fairy Godmother.

Getting to know the characters in Fortune's Fool takes more time than usual, and that is not a plus for the story, because there is not a great deal to know about them. Katya, the Sea King's seventh daughter, is a sort of mermaid with legs but no tail, who can live on land as well as in the sea. She can read, write and speak the language of any entity, animal, fish, human or magical. She works as a spy for her father so he will know what's going in the "drylands". Sasha is the seventh son of the King of Belrus. By The Tradition, he is a wise fortunate fool and a songweaver (he can guide The Tradition toward moderate paths). Both are good, kind, gentle people, temperate in just about everything they say and do.

The villain of this piece is a Jinn, not terribly evil, just... there. Because the last bad guy who owned the castle collected young women, The Tradition has forced him to do the same (don't ask, it's "The Tradition"). Since the Jinn doesn't especially like women, he gives them the run of the castle, then basically leaves them alone to plan their escape and figure out how to put him back in his bottle. For the most part, he lurks, scowls a bit, and asks "what are you doing?" whenever any of the girls use magic. That's pretty much it for his villainy. His one truly unsavory deed is manipulated by the heroine, so he can't even be fully credited with that action.

Characters from The Fairy Godmother and One Good Knight make guest appearances, the other kidnapped girls are fairly interchangeable (you'll forget who's who quickly), trials and tribulations for the hero, a careful comeuppance for the Jinn, and they all live happily ever after.

Milktoast entertainment all around, sugar-sweet but not fulfilling. Enough sexual content to give it a PG-13 rating.

I have been disappointed by some of Lackey's recent works, and this seems to follow an unfortunate declining trend. While the story is moderately interesting and covers some intriguing fantasy ground, the characterization and plot development feel underpowered as compared to works in her earlier series. The first book in this series, The Fairy Godmother, was truly engaging and I was eager to learn more about the 500 Kingdoms. One Good Knight, which followed, was difficult to get into at first, but rewarding overall. Fortunate Fool spends too much time rationalizing its own world to be really engaging as a fantasy exploration. If you'd like to explore Russian mythos via Lackey's hand, I'd recommend trying The Firebird.

I was also disappointed by the poor editing done on this novel, several noticeable inconsistencies arose within pages of each other, and obvious spelling and grammar errors knocked me out of the storyline. The book itself is printed in a very large, almost double-spaced font, which gave it a feeling of a 9th-grade English assignment. (If you don't understand this reference, you were a much better student than I)

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I might not be encouraged to read more by Mercedes Lackey if this were my first experience with her books, rather than my 300th (or so!). A definite buy for existing fans, new readers should try one of her other series first.

Disappointing. I really loved her first book in this series, "The Fairy Godmother." The second one was enjoyable, but not great. This one was tough to get through. I'll give future books by this author a try, but wouldn't purchase another hardcover.

'Fortune's Fool', the third installment in Mercedes Lackey's 'Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms' is a colorful romp through Russian folklore. Her interpretation of the 'Fortunate Fool' character is clever and plausible. The relationship between the foolish prince and the Sea King's daughter is interesting and the two characters could have done much more than they actually do.

My main reasons for only 3 stars: 1) I wish that the entire book would have kept to the Russian folklore theme. Drawing in a "prologue" set in China and a villain from the 'Arabian Nights' genre was un-necessary and rather convoluted in execution. 2) Yet another pull the rabbit out of the hat ending. It is almost as Ms. Lackey revels in the intricate logistics of the folklore elements and then just winds the book up to be done with it.

I love the whole premise of the Five Hundred Kingdoms and would very much like to see more stories from this author about them. By all means to a tale from Chinese literature, do one with a basis in the Middle East....do Native American, Hungarian, Nordic, etc....bring 'em on, just keep the quality up to the standards of 'The Fairy Godmother'.

One personal favor I ask: after three books the unicorn joke is stale now. Unicorns in the Five Hundred Kingdoms universe are idiots....we get it...the horse is well and truly dead now, let it lay.

After reading and absolutely loving Fairy Godmother, the first installment in M. Lackey's Five Hundred Kingdoms series, I've waited for sequels with bated breath. One Good Knight was good, though not quite as much fun as its predecessor. Fortune's Fool was... uninspired. I feel like the wonderful Ms. Lackey wrote this book with her mind elsewhere. It lacks the fun of earlier installments and the tight plotting and characterization of her other series. Most of the charm of the Five Hundred Kingdoms is the tension of the Tradition acting on people's lives with them all unawares or with only a few characters (such as Elena, our Fairy Godmother protagonist of the first book) able to see the effects of its force in order to counteract them. In Fortune's Fool, most of our characters are well aware of the Tradition they live with and already know how to combat it... it's like she wrote this book as quickly as possible and with half an effort. I still love her and I'll probably still buy the next one on its release date at full price, but in the hopes that it will far outshine this book rather than emulate it.

I've been an avid reader of Mercedes Lackey's books for over ten years now. Though I recognize that her writing isn't necessarily the stuff classic literature is made of, it's always entertained me, and her stories have always "spoke" to me.

It was pretty much the same with Fortune's Fool, though I had a faint sense of disppointment when I finished the book. I attributed it to the fact that I recognized several elements recycled from her previous books. I know well that before Ms. Lackey started the Five Hundred Kingdoms series, she had written several books that are retellings of different fairy tales/folk stories (and they're among my favorites), so a sense of literary deja vu is not unexpected.

However, when I recognize that much of Sasha's story, and many elements of the story as a whole, could be cribbed from The Firebird; and Wolf and Wolf-girl remind me too much of Warrl, I feel uneasy.

This won't deter me in any way from enjoying any of Ms. Lackey's future works, but I feel like others should know not to expect too much from this one.

Fortune's Fool (2007) is the third fantasy novel in the Five Hundred Kingdoms series, following One Good Knight. In the previous volume, the evil Queen Cassiopeia and her lover Solon had a fatal falling out. Godmother Elena performed some transformative magic and then conducted a double wedding. The dragon couple flew off to Glass Mountain to become the first dragon Champions and the human couple remained behind to become the Queen and Prince-Consort of Acadia.

In this novel, Princess Ekaterina is the seventh daughter of Sea King Vladislav. Katya is the only one of his children who can operate equally well on land or under water. Thus, she has become Vladislav's agent -- i.e., spy -- on the land. Today she is tasked with finding out why the neighboring Kingdom of Led Belarus has been peaceful for so long.

Prince Sasha Feliks Pavel Pietervich is the seventh son of King Pieter Ivan Alexandrovitch of Led Belarus. Due to his birth position, Sasha is fortune's fool, a personage of luck and mischief under the local Tradition. Although the nobility and common folk think that he is just a minor nuisance, the royal family knows that he is performing an essential role within the kingdom.

Sasha makes rounds of the kingdom on a random basis to weed out major problems, yet leaves some minor troubles to keep the people of the kingdom more alert. He is also a songweaver, composing songs to bend the Tradition in the proper direction. And he attends weddings to bring luck to the young couples.

Katya meets Sasha by the seashore and soon learns why Led Belarus has been so peaceful. They both find themselves with extra time on their hands and they fall in love. They agree to marry, but then they are each summoned by their fathers and have to separate.

In this story, Katya is sent to find a missing swan maiden and is soon abducted by a Jinn. Sasha becomes worried and sets out to find her. But her father finds him first and briefs him on the situation. Sasha makes contact with Katya and they start working to rebottle the Jinn.

This story includes a pair of dragon Champions -- Adamant and Gina -- last seen flying off in the previous novel. Glass Mountain has provided some professional assistance to Sasha and Katya.

The story is drawn mostly from Russian folk tales. It includes Baba Yaga and her chicken-legged hut, a Rusalka and her pool, and the swan maidens. Yet the story also includes elements of Japanese folklore and, of course, the Jinni of Araby.

Highly recommended for Lackey fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of an overpowering Tradition with magical clout, clever usage of the Traditional ways, and a greatly modified Traditional romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Yet another fun book in what's turning out to be a favorite series of mine. In Fortune's Fool, the story of a Songweaver, the Seventh Son and Fortune's Fool is told - along with the story of the 14th daughter of The Sea King.

It's fun seeing the different cultures being explored - this was easily identified as Russia and there were some fantastic creatures introduced. And once again, my favorites.. the Unicorns. Oh, they make me laugh so much.

While I didn't like this book as much as I liked the first two, it still is a solid story - I think there was just a little too much mooning going on (the wooing kind, not the drop your pants kind). Mercedes Lackey introduces a few more mythical creatures and they are a blast to see develop and, of course.. the Unicorns.

Fun, fun books!

Katya is the 7th daughter of the Sea King and acts as his eyes, ears and troubleshooter. Like her father she can live on land as well as the Ocean but unlike him she loves the "drylands" because of the fancy clothes, food etc.

Sasha is the 7th son of the King of Led Belarus. So he is naturally fortunate as is Katya but he is also a songsmith; that is someone who can convince the Tradition (a force which makes things come out what it considers right), change with gentle persuasion. No big changes but small simple ones that keep the kingdom prosperous and the people happy.

When Sasha and Katya meet they are well established and compelling characters which helps the narrative flow.

Some very good humor as when Sasha is negating with an opponent and some female unicorns but in to rescue him followed by a male set on rescuing his opponent. And what happens to Baba Yaga is pretty good as well.

Couple minor editorial bobbles early on. Is Katya's brother Mischa the Crown Prince or the Commander of the Armies? When Sasha is first introduced there are his farther and 5 brothers but he is the 7th son?

Highly recommended but you should read at least One Good Knight (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 2) as it has the necessary background material and is a good read.

The plots are Ok but overall pretty lenear.

Fortune's Fool is an adventure tale with a little sex, a little whimsy and a good heart. It's just not as engrossing as 'The Godmother' or the books in Ms. Lackey's Elemental series. Indeed, the 'Firebird' is a more adult tale despite its' lack of descriptive sex.
Fortune's Fool is pleasant enough to read on a crisp spring afternoon but it is not the type of book that will keep me turning the pages until the wee hours of the morning.
(Although I am hoping to see more of the shogun and the kitsune.)