Customer Reviews

Reserved for the Cat (Elemental Masters, Book 5)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This time, however, there's quite a bit of a twist to the tale of someone being born with magical talents. What if you were born into a magical family, but didn't have any magic of your own? That is precisely the problem that Ninette Dupond finds herself in. That is, if she doesn't starve to death first.

She's an aspiring young dancer at the Paris Opera when the story opens, hoping that some rich old man will be smitten with her, and turn her into a mistress, complete with her own apartment, money and security for the future. It's a cold-blooded way to look at romance, but Ninette has seen life as a child being raised on the uglier side of Paris. When a leading ballerina is upstaged by Ninette and Ninette suddenly finds herself out of a job, and no where to go.

That is, until Thomas shows up. Thomas is a somewhat bedraggled cat -- that speaks -- and he says that he's been 'watching' over Ninette for years. He assures her that all she has to do is trust him and let him guide her, and he will see to it that she will not just prosper but more...

Which means England. Ninette tries to impersonate an Russian dancer in the town of Blackpool, but she doesn't speak the language, and she knows no one there at all. Then she is taken in hand by two music hall composers, Nigel -- an Air Master, and Arthur, who is no mean magician himself, and their talking Grey African parrot, Wolf. The trio have been putting out shows in the music halls of England, and they need something new -- and the _new_ is Ninette. When they 'rescue' Ninette, her story provides just what they need to create a smash. And it also allows Ninette to meed Jonathan, a dashing Fire Master who may be love of her life -- if she can trust him that far.

But not everything is rosy, especially when the _real_ Nina Tchereslavsky shows up and evil of a particularly nasty sort is about to be unleashed...

I have to say that I was very much influenced by the title -- after all, my passion for felines is such that I'll watch or read nearly anything that involves a cat in it. Thomas is the essence of cat-dom. He's slightly aloof, tends to be a know-it-all, but in his own way is valiant, and a close confidant. The relationships between him and the other characters ring very true, and if he has somewhat shaky morals, well, he's just being a cat -- famous for their own self-interest when it is convenient.

The other characters are not quite as well-rounded, especially Nigel and Arthur, and Jonathan is very much a hero, but also fits into the stereotype of 'dashing-mysterious-hero,' without giving any hint of why he's attracted to Ninette. Of all the characters, the most interesting is Wolf, the parrot, which for fans of classical music, there is a surprise in store.

To balance all of that, there is Lackey's use of modern and classical dance, the world of the music hall, the peculiarities of cats and parrots, and the use of known pieces of ballet and classical music. That's where I started to have fun with the novel, picking out the little jokes and snippets that made the background right, and so the novel much more believable. It's the little touches like this that help to move this up and out of the standard transcribed fairy tale that is a common device for fantasy writers.

Four stars. Recommended.

I've been a fan of the Elemental Masters series since The Serpent's Shadow. I've always thought Ms. Lackey does a good job of blending the fairy tale elements cleverly with her own world-building. Unfortunately, she seems to be slipping of late. Her villains are invariably older women, cruel and cold, and the troll in this book is no different. In fact, if you were to transplant any one of the villains from the other books into this one you would probably not even notice. The stories which started off so fresh and clever are starting to feel redundant and stilted.

The backstage bits in this one are the best part, and there are too few of them. Ninette's ballet performance is enjoyable but is over far too quickly, and the reader does not get anymore. Jonathon's magic show is likewise a tantalizing tease and a clever idea(a real master making his living as a stage illusionist!) that never comes to fruition or takes center stage. This story feels underdevelopped and poorly executed.

There were also numerous typos and plot holes throughout the work that left me wondering if Mercedes Lackey is too famous now to even have a copy-editor make sure she hasn't missed some typos. The consistency of her elemental masters world is also compromised, systems, modes and laws that have been established in previous books seem to have magically changed between the other books and this one.

The romance in the book is such a non-event it barely needs a mention, and several plot threads that she takes pages and pages to set-up never go any further, leaving the reader wondering: why is this part in the book at all?

A moment of startling repuganance to me comes at the end where Ninette, after rescuing herself, pretends to be a weak and defenseless female so she can eventually "get the guy". Are we back in the 1950s now? I had much rather a heroine be her own courageous and clever self and have the guy love and respect her for who she is- rather than have her pretend to be something else so he won't feel threatened. Are men such frail creatures as all that they can't take a strong woman? I think not. Not the ones worth having anyway.

The book is a light read, by turns enjoyable and irritating. If you haven't read any of the other Elemental Masters series don't start with this one! Try Serpent's Shadow as it is a far superior book and a better read.

I agree with the previous reviewer that Lackey's lost her touch in recent books. I LOVED reading her work years ago, especially my favorite, The Black Swan, but I quit reading her newer books several years ago because they was becoming tedious to read, and that is never a good sign for fantasy novels. I was in the library last week, craving something reliably in the realm of fantasy to read, so I decided to give her latest book a try because it was about cats and ballet (two things I am fond of). Of course, I found myself disappointed, par the course for Lackey's current writing.

The comments about the cardboard villain are spot on. I actually found myself skipping paragraphs and paragraphs whenever the villainess Nina was in the narrative because she was SO blah, so predictable, so cliche. I've seen the same woman in so many of Lackey's other books I literally no longer have to read to know what they'll do. Sad. Lackey could have done more with her, being a rare specimen of her magical type.

As opposed to the other books in the Elemental series, the British magical community now does not seem to have much organization- Lackey limps around and around the search for an earth master, and finally brings in an intended deus ex machina of an air master to find the Villainess near the end that turns out to be a limp red herring, whom we hear nothing of afterwards. Poor kid. Oh, and Arthur! He disappears for chapters and chapters and was never developed past "orchestral prodigy and elemental mage." Pooh.

The only redeeming things about Reserved for the Cat were: Wolfgang Amadeus the Parrot, Ailse the Maid, Thomas the Cat, Johnathon the Illusionist, and the narratives of Ninette's flight to England and interactions with Ailse, Johnathon, and the destruction of the Villainess- which was well done, thank goodness... (though unfortunately Ninette decided to hide the fact she was the real destroyer to avoid wounding male pride... )

This book reads like a rough draft, complete with several glaring typos, plotholes, and inconsistent character description. It is sloppy, and feels woefully under-edited. While the book is full of interesting ideas and images, it feels underdeveloped. Lackey ignores and alters the rules of magic as described in her previous books, and makes reference to the White Lodge, then bemoans the lack of any organization in London's magical community. She describes one character as an Earth Master, and later refers to Earth as the same character's opposing element.
Lackey's villainess is all too familiar, and is essentially identical in voice and action to the stepmother in "Phoenix and Ashes", the wicked Aunt in Seprent's Shadow, and the witch in "Gates of Sleep." I think its high time that Lackey found a new villain stereotype to flog.

I have enjoyed many of Lackey's works including "The Black Swan" and "The Five Hundred Kingdoms" series. Thus, I had high hopes for this book that blends fairy tales, ballet and magic for what *should* be an entertaining book. But alas, it is not.

The heroine is barely likeable. The other characters are half finished sketches that leave gaping plot holes, with one introduced late in the book, ending up as absolutely nothing. There is a threadbare romance (mostly some glares from the male side of the coin, and some remarks and thoughts from other characters "anticipating" some kind of flying sparks) but that's left hanging before it even begins. The ending is just slapped on. After a hundred pages or so of build up, its just dashed together from a completely different direction. Those who really should know the identity of Thomas are completely left in the dark. There are too many dead ends and cardboard characters.

And its a shame, because the basic outline of the story is a good one, the setting is a rich, interesting and an unconventional one (for fantasy anyway) that holds a multitude of promises, all which are dashed and broken by the quickly wrapped up ending.

It was like the author had some good ideas, didn't really know what to do with them, and then was rushed to finish the book to meet the deadline. That would explain away the plot holes, inconsistancies and other nagging problems. And finally... the book is just not interesting enough to read. I did finish it personally but have no interest in ever going back to it.

Sometimes, being fired does not mean you are doing a bad job; it might mean that you are so good that you threaten your ranking superiors. Such is the case for Ninette, a talented and lovely young dancer in the Paris Opera House who proves to be more gifted than the prima dona she fills in for when the chance arises. Turned out onto the streets and unable to find work, she believes things can't get worse, then decides they can, she can lose her mind, which she must have done if she can hear a cat talking. However, Thomas is truly talking and is, in fact, somewhat of a guardian angel for Ninette, having watched over her for years. He now has a plan to improve her fortune and change her life. When she agrees to his plan, Ninette finds herself taking on the persona of a famous Russian ballet star and suddenly living a life better than her wildest dreams. Then, the real ballerina whose name she has stolen crosses her path and Ninette discovers that she is in the middle of an epic conflict that goes far beyond dancer's dreams.

**** Though this is the fifth in a series, you need not have read any of the others as it stand on its own well. Though I am not a cat person, I found myself liking Thomas, adding him to the fictional menagerie of talking felines who could change my mind on that subject. Primarily, this is a re-imagining of Puss in Boots, but there were elements, no pun intended, of other stories - Codex Alera, Xanth, or any saga where the primary character is the one person in his or her family lacking magic as well as a touch of Phantom, only this time, instead of merely fuming and fussing, the Carlotta character takes action against her rival. It also contains aspects of many books and movies involving an imposter being confronted with the real person. On their own, each of these facets has always proven to be a winner, combined, they make a well rounded fairy tale for all ages. Then, Mercedes Lackey is not known for writing poor novels, and she has not disappointed her fans yet. ****

Amanda Killgore

As an avid fan of Mercedes Lackey, i have been awaiting her newest release, _Reserved for the Cat_ since i heard it was being released. I picked it up the other day and was fairly disappointed. Ninette, the protagonist, is an up and coming Ballerina who runs afoul of another dancer, meets a cat, and assumes the identity of Nina, a Russian ballerina. When push comes to shove, her real identity is discovered and the real Nina (a Troll) comes out of the woodwork looking for revenge.

The writing of this novel is, as usual, exquisite. The detail is fantastic. The plot and characters? Not so much. A hundred pages into it, i wasn't overly interested in what Ninette had to say or what she was doing. The cat was unique in its own way, but not enough to keep my attention.

I finished the book--the ending is too fast. The cat follows the wrong person, and in Puss in Boots fashion, talks the ogre into turning into all sort of forms. It comes unexpectedly.

For readers of Mercedes Lackey, brace yourself for a lack-luster showing. Fans of the rest of the Elemental Masters series, look back at Gates of Sleep, Wizard of London, etc and hold out for the next novel in the series, because this isn't it.

I really wanted to read a book so I just picked up this book and started reading it. I had never heard of it, but it seemed really good and it turns out it was. It got super interesting after Jonathan the Fire mage showed up. All I can really say is that this book is an AWESOME BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mercedes Lackey writes a lot of books, the elemental masters is a series that I passed on for one reason or another. So I can across "Reserved for the Cat" at the local library and decided to pick it up. I'm so glad I did.

The elemental masters I think will appeal to people who like the victorian era but thrown into the mix are people who can control elementals (One of the 4 elements). But the real treasure is Mercedes Lackey herself. No matter how good or bad a plot, the author's writing style is what draws you in. Ms. Lackey has a very unique ability to create characters that you can bond and identify with.

If you've read any of her other books and enjoyed it, you'll like this book. I really do love this series and have already order the other books in this series from Amazon.

Maintains the high caliber of writing of all of the previous books in the series.

It stands alone, but it does help to have read other stories in the series to have a better understanding of the underlying culture of Elemental Masters.