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Elemental Masters #12
A Scandal in Battersea
The twelfth novel in Mercedes Lackey's magical Elemental Masters series reimagines Sherlock Holmes in a richly-detailed alternate 20th-century England
Christmas is a very special time of year. It is special for Psychic Nan Killian and Medium Sarah Lyon-White and their ward Suki, who are determined to celebrate it properly. It is special for their friends, Doctor John Watson, and his wife Mary, both Elemental Masters, who have found great delight in the season seeing it through young Suki’s eyes.
It is also special to others...for very different reasons.
For Christmas Eve is also hallowed to dark forces, powers older than mankind, powers that come awake on this, the Longest Night. Powers best left alone. Powers that could shake the foundations of London and beyond.
It begins slowly. Women disappearing in the dark of night, women only missed by those of their own kind. The whispers only begin when they start to reappear—because when they do, they are no longer sane. And when Nan and Sarah and the Watsons are called on to examine these victims, they discover that it was no ordinary horror of the streets that drove them mad.
But then, the shadows reach for other victims—girls of good, even exalted families, who vanish from concerts, lectures, and evening balls. And it will take the combined forces of Magic, Psychic Powers, and the worlds greatest detective to stop the darkness before it can conquer all.
Christmas is a very special time of year. It is special for Psychic Nan Killian and Medium Sarah Lyon-White and their ward Suki, who are determined to celebrate it properly. It is special for their friends, Doctor John Watson, and his wife Mary, both Elemental Masters, who have found great delight in the season seeing it through young Suki’s eyes.
It is also special to others...for very different reasons.
For Christmas Eve is also hallowed to dark forces, powers older than mankind, powers that come awake on this, the Longest Night. Powers best left alone. Powers that could shake the foundations of London and beyond.
It begins slowly. Women disappearing in the dark of night, women only missed by those of their own kind. The whispers only begin when they start to reappear—because when they do, they are no longer sane. And when Nan and Sarah and the Watsons are called on to examine these victims, they discover that it was no ordinary horror of the streets that drove them mad.
But then, the shadows reach for other victims—girls of good, even exalted families, who vanish from concerts, lectures, and evening balls. And it will take the combined forces of Magic, Psychic Powers, and the worlds greatest detective to stop the darkness before it can conquer all.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 10, 2017
269 people are currently reading
1561 people want to read
About the author
Mercedes Lackey
441 books9,527 followersMercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.
"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.
"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.
"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:
"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."
Also writes as Misty Lackey
Author's website
"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.
"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.
"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:
"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."
Also writes as Misty Lackey
Author's website
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 203 reviews
December 23, 2017
Well, Lackey has broken away from the fairy-tale themes of the previous books in the series. This book, while a direct sequel to A Study in Sable and featuring the Even Further Adventures of Sarah and Nan,the Best Psychics in London, is not a fairy tale retold. This is Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu with the serial numbers rubbed off. And it's not great, and Nan and Sarah have not grown at all as characters, and roughly half the book is given over to the perspective of the villain and his only-talks-in-a-heavy-accent henchman, and Daw's copyeditors really need to get back on the ball (arrant nonsense, not errant. Poring over a text, not pouring. ARGH).
Either I'm getting old, or Mercedes Lackey is. Maybe both.
Either I'm getting old, or Mercedes Lackey is. Maybe both.
July 31, 2019
***2019 The Summer of Sherlock***
Well, I called A Study in Sable a weird tribute to Sherlock Holmes. This book is even weirder. Not only does it continue to represent John & Mary Watson as magical practitioners, it joins them, Nan & Sarah, and Sherlock Holmes himself to battle eldritch horrors out of H.P. Lovecraft!
The mash-up doesn’t work for me, but it may work for folks who are more into Lovecraft than Mr. Holmes. Both books, to my way of thinking, are far outside of the detective’s wheelhouse and his presence really isn’t appropriate.
The evil magician who starts the whole situation going isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and the tentacle monster has pretty banal requests of him. Said evil magician is so pitiful at covering his tracks that it’s amazing that he wasn’t apprehended almost immediately!
If you are a dyed-in-the-wool Mercedes Lackey fan, you will probably enjoy this. To my way of thinking, Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft fans are better off avoiding it. What it may accomplish is sending inexperienced readers to Doyle and Lovecraft if they fancy this novel and haven’t read those two authors.
Well, I called A Study in Sable a weird tribute to Sherlock Holmes. This book is even weirder. Not only does it continue to represent John & Mary Watson as magical practitioners, it joins them, Nan & Sarah, and Sherlock Holmes himself to battle eldritch horrors out of H.P. Lovecraft!
The mash-up doesn’t work for me, but it may work for folks who are more into Lovecraft than Mr. Holmes. Both books, to my way of thinking, are far outside of the detective’s wheelhouse and his presence really isn’t appropriate.
The evil magician who starts the whole situation going isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and the tentacle monster has pretty banal requests of him. Said evil magician is so pitiful at covering his tracks that it’s amazing that he wasn’t apprehended almost immediately!
If you are a dyed-in-the-wool Mercedes Lackey fan, you will probably enjoy this. To my way of thinking, Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft fans are better off avoiding it. What it may accomplish is sending inexperienced readers to Doyle and Lovecraft if they fancy this novel and haven’t read those two authors.
July 2, 2020
I really used to love the stories about Sarah Jane and Nan, their birds Grey and Neville, and the sort-of fairytale stories in this Elemental Masters series. Pulling Sherlock Holmes, Dr John Watson and his wife Mary into it was a real stretch in A Study in Sable. I wanted to enjoy this newest book, but I found I was having to skip every other chapter, the ones about the Evil Guy and The Book.
Not going to try to finish.
Not going to try to finish.
Read
March 1, 2021This was a fast read for me, due in part to the fact that it was such a predictable novel I found myself skimming bits of it. I find that really sad, because I used to love this series and now it's all cookie-cutter perfect. Spoiler-not-spoiler alert: the good guys win, the bad guys get what's coming to them, and no one is even majorly hurt. I have lost interest in this series, and no longer care what happens in them, because I am convinced that nothing even remotely bad can happen to the main characters. (For the record, that wasn't always the case. In the first few books of this series, there was a definite threat that something bad would happen. Even though these are fairy tale re-tellings, I believed that they were in danger. And sometimes they had to sacrifice something in order to get their Happily Ever After.)
Also, the probably MOST ANNOYING THING EVER in this series (and most of Lackey's other work past a certain point) is the use of written accents so thick I have to translate them. I mean, really? Is this actually necessary? Part of Lackey's charm has always been her ability to draw the readers in and keep them wrapped up in the story. If we're stopping every few paragraphs to unravel a bit of dialogue, we ARE NO LONGER WRAPPED UP IN THE STORY. It was very jarring, and very annoying.
In short, I enjoyed this book as a library skim-read, but will not be buying it. I will also be removing all the remaining books in this series from my TBR list, and will not be wasting my time on them. If I want to read a good story from this series, I'll stick with #0-3, with the occasional inclusion of 6 & 7.
Also, the probably MOST ANNOYING THING EVER in this series (and most of Lackey's other work past a certain point) is the use of written accents so thick I have to translate them. I mean, really? Is this actually necessary? Part of Lackey's charm has always been her ability to draw the readers in and keep them wrapped up in the story. If we're stopping every few paragraphs to unravel a bit of dialogue, we ARE NO LONGER WRAPPED UP IN THE STORY. It was very jarring, and very annoying.
In short, I enjoyed this book as a library skim-read, but will not be buying it. I will also be removing all the remaining books in this series from my TBR list, and will not be wasting my time on them. If I want to read a good story from this series, I'll stick with #0-3, with the occasional inclusion of 6 & 7.
November 17, 2017
Nan and Sarah and their birds, Neville and Grey, have to join forces with pretty much everyone including Sherlock Holmes, the Watsons, MemSahib and others at the school, a witch, Brownies, Hobs, and even Robin Goodfellow, often known as Puck and the Oldest Old Thing in England, to try to defeat the malevolent entity from another world who wants to invade England. The evil human who works with the entity expects a reward for his efforts in advancing evil. I enjoyed this but due to my own inability to keep up with books, I had to read this extremely quickly to get it returned to the library without a fine. In fact, I need to go do that right this minute. The book was enjoyable but I think the author is falling into a trap writers often fall for. If they keep raising the stakes in each book, what on earth do they do in the next book in the series? I suppose I"ll keep reading but I'm not sure it is holding my interest the way it used to. I want to give a quick mention of the jacket which is pretty attractive and enticing.
November 17, 2017
Really did not enjoy this one. I've already given up on her Valdemar series and it may be time to stop reading this one.
November 15, 2017
I am at a bit of a loss with this installment to the Elemental Masters. Not because I didn't enjoy it, but because I can't figure out what possessed Mercedes Lackey to write about Sherlock Holmes fighting Cthulu. Literally.
Generally Mercedes Lackey has been formulaic in her writing for years. And this book did follow the same basic formula. The heroes engaged in good, wholesome practicality and learned the value of mixing hard work with fun (while describing their hearty food), and the villain proves his prurient interests throughout the course of the book until his own hubris is his undoing.
However, it is also true that for years Mercedes Lackey has been doing parodies or "homages" to other famous works. "The Collegium Chronicles" were the Valdemar version of Harry Potter, "Closer to the Heart" was her take on Romeo and Juliet, and there was a short story in one of her collections that was an honest-to-God pastiche of Scooby-Do set in Valdemar.
This book was... not an homage.
While Cthulu was never clearly named, the villain of this story was a tentacle-monster from another dimension that ate souls and wanted to unleash darkness upon mankind. And the depiction of the monster at each chapter heading was clearly good ol' Tentacle Face. So, yeah. And Sherlock Holmes was around this book because he and Watson were introduced in the last book, so, why the Hell not?
I am pleased to read a Mercedes Lackey book with some more serious stakes. People really did die, there really was the possibility of an Apocalypse, and none of this was following the script of any other particular story. So if you hadn't known that Mercedes Lackey books always have happy endings, you might actually have been worried about the world ending.
If anything, I am shocked that there was almost NO recap at the beginning of this book about who the Hell Nan and Sarah were, or how long they have been at this, or much of anything about the prior books. The author just launched into this story assuming the reader would know who all the characters were. And, I do know them, but it was unsettling all the same to have no recap.
One of the better Elemental Masters books in a while. Curious where she is going to next from here. Personally, I'm hoping for some clarification on how Nan and Sarah are going about the society set as seemingly a pair of lesbians without anyone being scandalized. (No, they are not ACTUALLY lesbians, but they are a pair of unmarried women traveling everywhere together and living/working together all day every day, so it would be everyone's assumption.) And what happened to Nan's selkie potential love interest? I was really looking forward to that going somewhere. Nan could use a little more straight-forward magic in her life.
If either Nan or Sarah finally settle down with a guy, will that bust up their semi-Sapphic partnership?
Edited the following day:
I also must note that this installment of the Elemental Masters does continue to have some of the same problems as previous books. In "Reserved for the Cat" the final showdown between our heroes and the villain was anti-climactic to the say the least. The heroes got a gun. And then... yeah. That villain was made short work of.
In this novel, while I am pleased to say there was a BIT more suspense leading up to the final showdown, the climax was still somewhat anticlimactic. And while I will not give a complete spoiler as to how the heroes defeat the villain, suffice it to say, the means used is something of a deus ex machina. Mercedes Lackey gave almost no explanation for how this method would even be an OPTION in the entire novel leading up to the climax. Just... climax.
And that is setting aside the fact that in general, Mercedes Lackey plots have been too thin for too long. I feel like she really started phoning it in after the "Wind" trilogy in Valdemar. Since then her plots have been as substantial as popcorn. I don't feel like she is following rules so much as she is following a script. As Flannery O'Connor said, (and I shall only paraphrase rather than quote), a good ending should be both unexpected and inevitable. And the way to really do that is to use elements previously established earlier in the book in unexpected ways. Lackey does not do this. She is fine with bringing in a completely new element to solve the conflict in one fell swoop, wrapped up in a little bow, and everything leading up to this deux ex machina can just be shrugged off as an enjoyable little journey for the Hell of it.
What this book needed was a subplot providing more conflict. Maybe if Sarah were haunted by a dark spirit who whispered in her ear that she can't trust Nan. Or if the Celtic warrior Nan channels began to turn on her, so that Nan felt like she was possessed or at war in her own mind. Something. Maybe a subplot where one of the girls gets pregnant and worries that the unborn fetus is infected with Cthulu's darkness, and Sherlock Holmes is the only one to deduce that she is pregnant and becomes her confidante?
Just spitballing here. But you get my drift. The plot is currently paper thin, and there were lots of fun ways Lackey could have added more depth and conflict. And maybe, if she had invested a little more time and effort into deepening the plot with subplots, then we could have developed a more nuanced way to resolve the conflict. The pregnant girl could sacrifice her unborn fetus with dark blood magic to close Cthulu's portal, setting up the next book where we are concerned Nan or Sarah is corrupted by dark magic, when in truth she is just grieving over her decision. Or, the dark spirits that had been haunting Sarah could be imprisoned in the soulless bodies that our main characters had been finding throughout the course of this book.
Something.
I think it would actually be really fun to co-author a book with Mercedes Lackey. She would chug out a book like this in just a few months (She really does produce a lot of books per year), and then I would go through an add sub-plots. It would rock.
Alas...
Generally Mercedes Lackey has been formulaic in her writing for years. And this book did follow the same basic formula. The heroes engaged in good, wholesome practicality and learned the value of mixing hard work with fun (while describing their hearty food), and the villain proves his prurient interests throughout the course of the book until his own hubris is his undoing.
However, it is also true that for years Mercedes Lackey has been doing parodies or "homages" to other famous works. "The Collegium Chronicles" were the Valdemar version of Harry Potter, "Closer to the Heart" was her take on Romeo and Juliet, and there was a short story in one of her collections that was an honest-to-God pastiche of Scooby-Do set in Valdemar.
This book was... not an homage.
While Cthulu was never clearly named, the villain of this story was a tentacle-monster from another dimension that ate souls and wanted to unleash darkness upon mankind. And the depiction of the monster at each chapter heading was clearly good ol' Tentacle Face. So, yeah. And Sherlock Holmes was around this book because he and Watson were introduced in the last book, so, why the Hell not?
I am pleased to read a Mercedes Lackey book with some more serious stakes. People really did die, there really was the possibility of an Apocalypse, and none of this was following the script of any other particular story. So if you hadn't known that Mercedes Lackey books always have happy endings, you might actually have been worried about the world ending.
If anything, I am shocked that there was almost NO recap at the beginning of this book about who the Hell Nan and Sarah were, or how long they have been at this, or much of anything about the prior books. The author just launched into this story assuming the reader would know who all the characters were. And, I do know them, but it was unsettling all the same to have no recap.
One of the better Elemental Masters books in a while. Curious where she is going to next from here. Personally, I'm hoping for some clarification on how Nan and Sarah are going about the society set as seemingly a pair of lesbians without anyone being scandalized. (No, they are not ACTUALLY lesbians, but they are a pair of unmarried women traveling everywhere together and living/working together all day every day, so it would be everyone's assumption.) And what happened to Nan's selkie potential love interest? I was really looking forward to that going somewhere. Nan could use a little more straight-forward magic in her life.
If either Nan or Sarah finally settle down with a guy, will that bust up their semi-Sapphic partnership?
Edited the following day:
I also must note that this installment of the Elemental Masters does continue to have some of the same problems as previous books. In "Reserved for the Cat" the final showdown between our heroes and the villain was anti-climactic to the say the least. The heroes got a gun. And then... yeah. That villain was made short work of.
In this novel, while I am pleased to say there was a BIT more suspense leading up to the final showdown, the climax was still somewhat anticlimactic. And while I will not give a complete spoiler as to how the heroes defeat the villain, suffice it to say, the means used is something of a deus ex machina. Mercedes Lackey gave almost no explanation for how this method would even be an OPTION in the entire novel leading up to the climax. Just... climax.
And that is setting aside the fact that in general, Mercedes Lackey plots have been too thin for too long. I feel like she really started phoning it in after the "Wind" trilogy in Valdemar. Since then her plots have been as substantial as popcorn. I don't feel like she is following rules so much as she is following a script. As Flannery O'Connor said, (and I shall only paraphrase rather than quote), a good ending should be both unexpected and inevitable. And the way to really do that is to use elements previously established earlier in the book in unexpected ways. Lackey does not do this. She is fine with bringing in a completely new element to solve the conflict in one fell swoop, wrapped up in a little bow, and everything leading up to this deux ex machina can just be shrugged off as an enjoyable little journey for the Hell of it.
What this book needed was a subplot providing more conflict. Maybe if Sarah were haunted by a dark spirit who whispered in her ear that she can't trust Nan. Or if the Celtic warrior Nan channels began to turn on her, so that Nan felt like she was possessed or at war in her own mind. Something. Maybe a subplot where one of the girls gets pregnant and worries that the unborn fetus is infected with Cthulu's darkness, and Sherlock Holmes is the only one to deduce that she is pregnant and becomes her confidante?
Just spitballing here. But you get my drift. The plot is currently paper thin, and there were lots of fun ways Lackey could have added more depth and conflict. And maybe, if she had invested a little more time and effort into deepening the plot with subplots, then we could have developed a more nuanced way to resolve the conflict. The pregnant girl could sacrifice her unborn fetus with dark blood magic to close Cthulu's portal, setting up the next book where we are concerned Nan or Sarah is corrupted by dark magic, when in truth she is just grieving over her decision. Or, the dark spirits that had been haunting Sarah could be imprisoned in the soulless bodies that our main characters had been finding throughout the course of this book.
Something.
I think it would actually be really fun to co-author a book with Mercedes Lackey. She would chug out a book like this in just a few months (She really does produce a lot of books per year), and then I would go through an add sub-plots. It would rock.
Alas...
December 10, 2017
Much better than the last one I read. Review to come.
October 26, 2018
This one went too slow and the bad guy creeped me out so much I didn't enjoy the story. I guess I'd consider it closer to horror which I do not like, than straight up fantasy. Probably fine for most readers, just not those who don't like horror.
November 30, 2025
These things never end well, the voice whispered. These things always end in the sorcerer screaming, and blood spattered all over the ceiling, and neighbors saying afterward, “But he was so quiet and well-mannered . . .”
This is horror. Christmas horror. An evil entity makes a play for London and England—the world, for that matter—coincident with Christmas. Lackey’s skill as an author is notwithstanding, this story has a creepiness which will repel some readers. And presumably attract others. That said, it’s well done.
“In Battersea? I would be hard put to think of an area less inclined to the supernatural. The banal, the mundane, certainly, but not the supernatural.” “Evil can be anywhere.”
The story, and the horror, develop slowly at first as Nhan and Sarah stumble into a sinister plot to subvert this universe from an adjacent one. Far into this extended series, this installation continues their collaboration with the famous sleuth of Baker Street and the Watsons, who are also magicians, which began in the previous story, A Study in Sable. Celtic folklore figures are enlisted in the apocalyptic horror.
“It’s my experience that there are very few coincidences when it comes to the supernatural.”
Young London women and children disappear and even more disturbing reappear, much altered. That the perpetrator of these kidnappings and his motive is included in the story increases the horror and outrage. In contrast to the Study, the reader is let in on the plot, which makes the story more linear despite shifting points of view.
“As our young friend has said, they shall not have our island. And there’s the end to it.”
This is horror. Christmas horror. An evil entity makes a play for London and England—the world, for that matter—coincident with Christmas. Lackey’s skill as an author is notwithstanding, this story has a creepiness which will repel some readers. And presumably attract others. That said, it’s well done.
“In Battersea? I would be hard put to think of an area less inclined to the supernatural. The banal, the mundane, certainly, but not the supernatural.” “Evil can be anywhere.”
The story, and the horror, develop slowly at first as Nhan and Sarah stumble into a sinister plot to subvert this universe from an adjacent one. Far into this extended series, this installation continues their collaboration with the famous sleuth of Baker Street and the Watsons, who are also magicians, which began in the previous story, A Study in Sable. Celtic folklore figures are enlisted in the apocalyptic horror.
“It’s my experience that there are very few coincidences when it comes to the supernatural.”
Young London women and children disappear and even more disturbing reappear, much altered. That the perpetrator of these kidnappings and his motive is included in the story increases the horror and outrage. In contrast to the Study, the reader is let in on the plot, which makes the story more linear despite shifting points of view.
“As our young friend has said, they shall not have our island. And there’s the end to it.”
January 18, 2021
The villains in this series are getting progressively more ridiculously, outlandishly evil but I put up with it because I love Nan so much 😭
November 30, 2017
Originally published at Reading Reality
A Scandal in Battersea is the 12th book in Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental Masters series. I read the earliest books in the series long ago, probably when they were published in the mid-1990s. It doesn’t seem as if one needs to have read the whole series to get into this particular entry in it, although now that I’m diving back into the whole thing, it looks like A Study in Sable is more of a direct prequel to A Scandal in Battersea than any of the other books.
The original premise of the Elemental Masters series was to re-tell well-known fairy tales in a late Victorian/early-20th century alternate universe where magic works and is divided into at least four main branches representing the classic “elements” of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. But other forms of “magic” were introduced in later stories, notably telepathy and other ESPer powers, and the mediumistic power to communicate with spirits.
Over time, the series morphed into a single world, with some semi-continuing characters, including many of the protagonists in A Scandal in Bohemia – notably our main characters. John Watson (yes, that John Watson) is a Water Master, his wife Mary is an Air Master, while Nan Killian is a Psychic and Sarah Lyon-White is a medium.
It takes all of their combined powers, plus the rational mind of Sherlock Holmes, to solve this case. It all begins with a young woman having visions of a ruined London where a tentacled monster sucks people into itself, never to be seen again. While traditional medicine believes that the poor girl is mad, Dr. John Watson is all too aware that she might be sane – and psychic, warning of evil on the horizon.
And so it proves. Someone, some idiot, is calling up a power that he does not understand, in the belief that it will give him earthly power and vast wealth. And power. Lots and lots of power. All he has to do is sacrifice a few virgins to its ever-growing hunger.
Of course it all goes wrong. Bargains with demons, devils and otherworldly creatures of shadow never go well, at least not for the human bargainer. Plus, (or minus, depending on on your perspective) sometimes the monster gets out.
In order to keep this monster from getting out, every person and creature that our heroes can find on the side of the light, or even just on the side of keeping our world for us, wades into the fray.
And it might not be enough.
Escape Rating A-: For a book with Sherlock Holmes on the cover, where the title is a direct reference to one of the canonical stories, there just isn’t enough Holmes in this book. In the end, I had an absolutely marvelous time with this book and with this world, to the point where I ran out and picked up as many of the previous entries in the series as I could borrow from libraries, but there’s not enough Holmes to justify its description as, or to satisfy my yen for, yet another version of the logical, rational Holmes finding his way in a magic-working world.
But if you are looking for a version of Victorian London where magic works and where the cast of characters is both diverse and endlessly fascinating, you’ll love A Scandal in Battersea. That the main characters are a pair of independent young women and their intelligent birds just adds to the fun.
If you like this concept of a magical, or at least slightly alternate, Victorian London, the setting of A Scandal in Battersea reminded me quite favorably of Cindy Spencer Pape’s Gaslight Chronicles. And since I loved that series and it seems to have ended, it is very nice to find something that reminds me of it quite so strongly.
And if the monster in A Scandal in Battersea gives you the shivers as much as it did me, take a look at A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman (included in his collection Fragile Things, which is a pastiche where Sherlock Holmes’ London intersects with the Cthulhu Mythos, with predictably creepy results. I include this reference because the descriptions of the monster that they have to fight struck me as Cthulhu’s cousin. A reference that left me appropriately creeped out.
As much as I missed Holmes until his appearance at the ¾ mark, I had a great time with this book and could not put it down. I enjoyed this world so much that I immediately picked up an earlier book in the series, A Study in Sable, which introduces readers to Holmes, Watson and Mary Watson in what looks to be a kind of prequel to A Scandal in Battersea.
I’m charmed and enchanted all over again.
A Scandal in Battersea is the 12th book in Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental Masters series. I read the earliest books in the series long ago, probably when they were published in the mid-1990s. It doesn’t seem as if one needs to have read the whole series to get into this particular entry in it, although now that I’m diving back into the whole thing, it looks like A Study in Sable is more of a direct prequel to A Scandal in Battersea than any of the other books.
The original premise of the Elemental Masters series was to re-tell well-known fairy tales in a late Victorian/early-20th century alternate universe where magic works and is divided into at least four main branches representing the classic “elements” of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. But other forms of “magic” were introduced in later stories, notably telepathy and other ESPer powers, and the mediumistic power to communicate with spirits.
Over time, the series morphed into a single world, with some semi-continuing characters, including many of the protagonists in A Scandal in Bohemia – notably our main characters. John Watson (yes, that John Watson) is a Water Master, his wife Mary is an Air Master, while Nan Killian is a Psychic and Sarah Lyon-White is a medium.
It takes all of their combined powers, plus the rational mind of Sherlock Holmes, to solve this case. It all begins with a young woman having visions of a ruined London where a tentacled monster sucks people into itself, never to be seen again. While traditional medicine believes that the poor girl is mad, Dr. John Watson is all too aware that she might be sane – and psychic, warning of evil on the horizon.
And so it proves. Someone, some idiot, is calling up a power that he does not understand, in the belief that it will give him earthly power and vast wealth. And power. Lots and lots of power. All he has to do is sacrifice a few virgins to its ever-growing hunger.
Of course it all goes wrong. Bargains with demons, devils and otherworldly creatures of shadow never go well, at least not for the human bargainer. Plus, (or minus, depending on on your perspective) sometimes the monster gets out.
In order to keep this monster from getting out, every person and creature that our heroes can find on the side of the light, or even just on the side of keeping our world for us, wades into the fray.
And it might not be enough.
Escape Rating A-: For a book with Sherlock Holmes on the cover, where the title is a direct reference to one of the canonical stories, there just isn’t enough Holmes in this book. In the end, I had an absolutely marvelous time with this book and with this world, to the point where I ran out and picked up as many of the previous entries in the series as I could borrow from libraries, but there’s not enough Holmes to justify its description as, or to satisfy my yen for, yet another version of the logical, rational Holmes finding his way in a magic-working world.
But if you are looking for a version of Victorian London where magic works and where the cast of characters is both diverse and endlessly fascinating, you’ll love A Scandal in Battersea. That the main characters are a pair of independent young women and their intelligent birds just adds to the fun.
If you like this concept of a magical, or at least slightly alternate, Victorian London, the setting of A Scandal in Battersea reminded me quite favorably of Cindy Spencer Pape’s Gaslight Chronicles. And since I loved that series and it seems to have ended, it is very nice to find something that reminds me of it quite so strongly.
And if the monster in A Scandal in Battersea gives you the shivers as much as it did me, take a look at A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman (included in his collection Fragile Things, which is a pastiche where Sherlock Holmes’ London intersects with the Cthulhu Mythos, with predictably creepy results. I include this reference because the descriptions of the monster that they have to fight struck me as Cthulhu’s cousin. A reference that left me appropriately creeped out.
As much as I missed Holmes until his appearance at the ¾ mark, I had a great time with this book and could not put it down. I enjoyed this world so much that I immediately picked up an earlier book in the series, A Study in Sable, which introduces readers to Holmes, Watson and Mary Watson in what looks to be a kind of prequel to A Scandal in Battersea.
I’m charmed and enchanted all over again.
March 12, 2018
Closer to 2.5 than 2. A Sherlock Holmes/Elemental Master crossover ought to be riveting, and it just... wasn't. Plus it left a few loose ends at the end, and never explain how a certain group of people survived. There's also a somewhat Lovecraftian feel to the monster (though I admit I've never read Lovecraft), which I didn't care for but should have found scarier than I did. All in all, while I didn't dislike it, A Scandal in Battersea just didn't work for me. (I did like Robin and the hobs, though.)
I'll try to expand on this review when I've had a day or two to think about it.
Read for #TakeControlTBR 2018
I'll try to expand on this review when I've had a day or two to think about it.
Read for #TakeControlTBR 2018
September 26, 2024
Thirteenth in the Elemental Masters alternate history urban fantasy series for young adult readers and revolving around two young women who use their magic for good. It’s set in Victorian England at Christmastime.
My Take
An interesting tale that took a long time to tell. It got rather tedious as Lackey went on and on about the perverse Alexandre. There are a few referrals to his, um, preferences, but nothing that should be negative for ages 16 or 17 and up. I'd say that the younger kids probably already know about this, but…what do I know.
The story reads well and easily even though Lackey uses third-person point-of-view from only Nan’s perspective. Seeing as the girls are joined at the hip, I’d’ve thought a dual POV using both Nan and Sarah would have been practical. No matter, though.
There’s really nothing new about the core characters — except for Lord Alderscroft. I did enjoy his letting go at the panto.
The theme is the age-old one of good triumphing over evil. I suspect “knowing” the eventual outcome added to the tedium. Don’t get me wrong. It was an interesting story, and it does progress the series arc a touch. I did appreciate the goodness of the core characters, so in that respect, it does set a very good example.
The Story
It begins with Lord Alderscroft asking Nan and Sarah to help John and Mary Watson scour the asylums of London, for those who have been declared mad because no one understands their budding magical abilities.
What they haven’t taken into account is that it’s Christmas, and Christmas Eve is also hallowed to dark forces, powers older than mankind, powers that come awake on this, the Longest Night. Powers best left alone. Powers that could shake the foundations of London and beyond.
It begins slowly. Women disappearing in the dark of night, women only missed by those of their own kind. The whispers only begin when they start to reappear — because when they do, they are no longer sane. And when Nan and Sarah and the Watsons are called on to examine these victims, they discover that it was no ordinary horror of the streets that drove them mad.
But then, the shadows reach for other victims — girls of good, even exalted families, who vanish from concerts, lectures, and performances. And it will take the combined forces of Magic, Psychic Powers, and the world’s greatest detective to stop the darkness before it can conquer all.
The Characters
Nan Killian (she transforms into a Celtic Warrior) and Sarah Lyon-White are best friends and roommates, who happen to have magical powers. Each has an avian companion: Neville, a black raven, is partnered with Nan while Grey, an African parrot who transforms into a large hawk, is partnered with Sarah. The young Suki is their ward, a medium of great potential power. Mrs. Horace is their landlady.
Dr. John and Mary Watson are friends and live above Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street. Billy is one of the Baker Street Irregulars. Mycroft Holmes is Sherlock’s brother and has the ear of the Queen. Sergeant Frederick Black commands the special platoon.
Puck, a.k.a., Robin Goodfellow, is the Oldest Old One in England and their friend who has given the girls a talisman. Durwin and Roan are hobs assigned to the girls by Robin to act as protectors and messengers. The Wild Hunt is led by the Huntsman who determines for himself who is fair prey.
The Harton School is…
…a school for the children of expatriates and those with magical abilities. It’s headed up by Mems’ab Harton (sports a very short Grecian tunic and spear) and her husband, Sahib Harton (who turns into a medieval knight), who has installed a manager for his import business while Sahib takes on instructing. Karamjit, Agansing, Selim, and Gupta — Sikh, Gurkha, Muslim, and Hindu — are protectors and experts in the mythology and magic of their respective regions. Mustafa is one of the servants.
The Hampstead Hospital and Sanitarium is…
…where the wealthy send relatives who act “funny”. Dr. Huntley runs it, without being too conscientious. Amelia isn’t mad, but does experience prescient dreams.
The White Lodge of London Elemental Masters and Magicians is…
…led by Lord Alderscroft, the Wizard of London and Fire Master, who loves indulging Suki’s sartorial love. Graves is his butler. Brendan is his coachman.
Victims include…
…the unfortunate Maisie who objected to his sexual demands. Elizabeth Penwick had been going to fetch fish and chips. Cynthia Denniston, a niece of Lord Denniston, had been visiting the Grosvenor Gallery with a group. Katherine Dalton was attending a performance of Hamlet with a very bad understudy.
Alexandre Harcourt is a selfish, perverted, murdering sociopath who always wants the easy way. He believes he would be a Water Magician. Alf is his extremely obliging, perverted servant. Victor is the brother who would have inherited it all. His father and mother, Emily, never got over their grief.
Arthur Fensworth is a lawyer and had been a friend of Harcourt Senior and is quite dutiful in adhering to his bequest that Alexandre pursue a useful “career”. Young Abernathy is the current head of the law firm, Abernathy, Abernathy, and Owen.
The tentacled entity promises much and demands even more.
The Bohemian crowd of…
…artists and writers of whom Beatrice Leek is one who interacts with Earth Elementals. Caprice “Cappy” is Beatrice’s black cat. Hobson is a brownie who works for Beatrice.
Treadman’s Books specializes in the rare, the occult, the esoteric, the profane, and the obscene. Maudie is an old lady and neighbor of Nan and Sarah’s who’s been ailing for months. Grannie Toscin, a neighbor of Harcourt's, lives with and helps care for her granddaughter Jilly’s babies while Jilly is out housecleaning. Madame Maud holds virgin auctions.
The Cover and Title
The cover appears to be an underwater scene with its blue green drifts of color overlaying the tentacles that writhe around the braking parrot, Grey, on the left of the purple and pink bordered graphic insert of Sherlock Holmes (in his trademark deerstalker hat and checked coat) carrying a long-barreled gun with the raven, Neville, soaring upwards from behind the righthand corner. The author’s name is in an embossed white gothic script at the top while the title is much smaller at the bottom in an embossed white-outlined black. The series information is very tiny just above the right end of the title.
The title refers to the Victorian horror of scandal, for what happens to the girls, for what Alexandre gets up to, for the invasion of England, and it is A Scandal in Battersea.
My Take
An interesting tale that took a long time to tell. It got rather tedious as Lackey went on and on about the perverse Alexandre. There are a few referrals to his, um, preferences, but nothing that should be negative for ages 16 or 17 and up. I'd say that the younger kids probably already know about this, but…what do I know.
The story reads well and easily even though Lackey uses third-person point-of-view from only Nan’s perspective. Seeing as the girls are joined at the hip, I’d’ve thought a dual POV using both Nan and Sarah would have been practical. No matter, though.
There’s really nothing new about the core characters — except for Lord Alderscroft. I did enjoy his letting go at the panto.
The theme is the age-old one of good triumphing over evil. I suspect “knowing” the eventual outcome added to the tedium. Don’t get me wrong. It was an interesting story, and it does progress the series arc a touch. I did appreciate the goodness of the core characters, so in that respect, it does set a very good example.
The Story
It begins with Lord Alderscroft asking Nan and Sarah to help John and Mary Watson scour the asylums of London, for those who have been declared mad because no one understands their budding magical abilities.
What they haven’t taken into account is that it’s Christmas, and Christmas Eve is also hallowed to dark forces, powers older than mankind, powers that come awake on this, the Longest Night. Powers best left alone. Powers that could shake the foundations of London and beyond.
It begins slowly. Women disappearing in the dark of night, women only missed by those of their own kind. The whispers only begin when they start to reappear — because when they do, they are no longer sane. And when Nan and Sarah and the Watsons are called on to examine these victims, they discover that it was no ordinary horror of the streets that drove them mad.
But then, the shadows reach for other victims — girls of good, even exalted families, who vanish from concerts, lectures, and performances. And it will take the combined forces of Magic, Psychic Powers, and the world’s greatest detective to stop the darkness before it can conquer all.
The Characters
Nan Killian (she transforms into a Celtic Warrior) and Sarah Lyon-White are best friends and roommates, who happen to have magical powers. Each has an avian companion: Neville, a black raven, is partnered with Nan while Grey, an African parrot who transforms into a large hawk, is partnered with Sarah. The young Suki is their ward, a medium of great potential power. Mrs. Horace is their landlady.
Dr. John and Mary Watson are friends and live above Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street. Billy is one of the Baker Street Irregulars. Mycroft Holmes is Sherlock’s brother and has the ear of the Queen. Sergeant Frederick Black commands the special platoon.
Puck, a.k.a., Robin Goodfellow, is the Oldest Old One in England and their friend who has given the girls a talisman. Durwin and Roan are hobs assigned to the girls by Robin to act as protectors and messengers. The Wild Hunt is led by the Huntsman who determines for himself who is fair prey.
The Harton School is…
…a school for the children of expatriates and those with magical abilities. It’s headed up by Mems’ab Harton (sports a very short Grecian tunic and spear) and her husband, Sahib Harton (who turns into a medieval knight), who has installed a manager for his import business while Sahib takes on instructing. Karamjit, Agansing, Selim, and Gupta — Sikh, Gurkha, Muslim, and Hindu — are protectors and experts in the mythology and magic of their respective regions. Mustafa is one of the servants.
The Hampstead Hospital and Sanitarium is…
…where the wealthy send relatives who act “funny”. Dr. Huntley runs it, without being too conscientious. Amelia isn’t mad, but does experience prescient dreams.
The White Lodge of London Elemental Masters and Magicians is…
…led by Lord Alderscroft, the Wizard of London and Fire Master, who loves indulging Suki’s sartorial love. Graves is his butler. Brendan is his coachman.
Victims include…
…the unfortunate Maisie who objected to his sexual demands. Elizabeth Penwick had been going to fetch fish and chips. Cynthia Denniston, a niece of Lord Denniston, had been visiting the Grosvenor Gallery with a group. Katherine Dalton was attending a performance of Hamlet with a very bad understudy.
Alexandre Harcourt is a selfish, perverted, murdering sociopath who always wants the easy way. He believes he would be a Water Magician. Alf is his extremely obliging, perverted servant. Victor is the brother who would have inherited it all. His father and mother, Emily, never got over their grief.
Arthur Fensworth is a lawyer and had been a friend of Harcourt Senior and is quite dutiful in adhering to his bequest that Alexandre pursue a useful “career”. Young Abernathy is the current head of the law firm, Abernathy, Abernathy, and Owen.
The tentacled entity promises much and demands even more.
The Bohemian crowd of…
…artists and writers of whom Beatrice Leek is one who interacts with Earth Elementals. Caprice “Cappy” is Beatrice’s black cat. Hobson is a brownie who works for Beatrice.
Treadman’s Books specializes in the rare, the occult, the esoteric, the profane, and the obscene. Maudie is an old lady and neighbor of Nan and Sarah’s who’s been ailing for months. Grannie Toscin, a neighbor of Harcourt's, lives with and helps care for her granddaughter Jilly’s babies while Jilly is out housecleaning. Madame Maud holds virgin auctions.
The Cover and Title
The cover appears to be an underwater scene with its blue green drifts of color overlaying the tentacles that writhe around the braking parrot, Grey, on the left of the purple and pink bordered graphic insert of Sherlock Holmes (in his trademark deerstalker hat and checked coat) carrying a long-barreled gun with the raven, Neville, soaring upwards from behind the righthand corner. The author’s name is in an embossed white gothic script at the top while the title is much smaller at the bottom in an embossed white-outlined black. The series information is very tiny just above the right end of the title.
The title refers to the Victorian horror of scandal, for what happens to the girls, for what Alexandre gets up to, for the invasion of England, and it is A Scandal in Battersea.
September 30, 2021
The twelfth Elemental Masters books stars returning characters Nan Killian, Sarah Lyon-White, Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. John and Mary Watson. It is Christmas time and all are determined to make the occasion special for Nan and Sarah's ward Suki. But while they are attending the Panto and window shopping, Alexandre Harcourt is planning on calling on a dark power to get himself power.
Alexandre Harcourt hates the Christmas season but this year a new occult book he finds at his favorite bookstore gives him an idea for a way to increase his power and wealth. He is a resentful man who hates that his father left him under the supervision of his lawyers. He learns about an entity who will grant his wishes if he just follows the entity's instructions. The entity instructs him to find victims for him and sends Harcourt and his loyal man Alf out to find pure young people to feed to him.
People go missing in London every day, but when a young woman from the prosperous middle class goes missing and is found wandering mindlessly, Sherlock Holmes is called in. Sherlock asks Nan to look at the young woman. Nan discovers that the girl is little more than an automaton. Her soul is missing!
When other girls go missing and are found in the same condition, and when a young women the Watsons, Nan and Sarah have rescued from an institution for the insane because of her visions sees a London in ruins, forces are gathered to try to find out what is happening and how the forces for good can stop it.
The story is richly detailed and filled with amazing images. It drifted a little bit more to horror than I am usually comfortable with, but the compelling storytelling kept me reading and listening. Gemma Dawson did a great job with the variety of accents and characters and also did an excellent job with the story's pacing.
Alexandre Harcourt hates the Christmas season but this year a new occult book he finds at his favorite bookstore gives him an idea for a way to increase his power and wealth. He is a resentful man who hates that his father left him under the supervision of his lawyers. He learns about an entity who will grant his wishes if he just follows the entity's instructions. The entity instructs him to find victims for him and sends Harcourt and his loyal man Alf out to find pure young people to feed to him.
People go missing in London every day, but when a young woman from the prosperous middle class goes missing and is found wandering mindlessly, Sherlock Holmes is called in. Sherlock asks Nan to look at the young woman. Nan discovers that the girl is little more than an automaton. Her soul is missing!
When other girls go missing and are found in the same condition, and when a young women the Watsons, Nan and Sarah have rescued from an institution for the insane because of her visions sees a London in ruins, forces are gathered to try to find out what is happening and how the forces for good can stop it.
The story is richly detailed and filled with amazing images. It drifted a little bit more to horror than I am usually comfortable with, but the compelling storytelling kept me reading and listening. Gemma Dawson did a great job with the variety of accents and characters and also did an excellent job with the story's pacing.
February 18, 2018
This is a direct sequel to "A Study in Sable", in fact the villain of the piece is a character who was mentioned in passing in the first book.
Nan, Sarah, John & Mary Watson, and even Lord Alderscroft are indulging young Suki in all the trappings of Christmas. But along side the joy and the fun, something dark is brewing.
A magician finds hand written book and deliberately sets forth to let an ancient horror loose in this world. The only clues are the mindless young women wandering the streets of London, and a young lass in a private insane asylum who is anything but insane.
As the darkness gathers, Sherlock Holmes must once again join forces with the others to battle something he could not even imagine ever existed.
Absolutely loved this book. My copy was a library one, so now I'm on the hunt for a copy for my collection.
Nan, Sarah, John & Mary Watson, and even Lord Alderscroft are indulging young Suki in all the trappings of Christmas. But along side the joy and the fun, something dark is brewing.
A magician finds hand written book and deliberately sets forth to let an ancient horror loose in this world. The only clues are the mindless young women wandering the streets of London, and a young lass in a private insane asylum who is anything but insane.
As the darkness gathers, Sherlock Holmes must once again join forces with the others to battle something he could not even imagine ever existed.
Absolutely loved this book. My copy was a library one, so now I'm on the hunt for a copy for my collection.
February 13, 2018
It looks like the Elemental Masters books start to build on each other later, so I shouldn't have tried to jump straight to Sherlock Holmes vs Cthulu. Despite that, it was still easy to follow and everything Mercedes Lackey writes is at least good.
Having said that, not my favorite EM book. Kind of a generic version of Sherlock, given the setting, though the part where he's transported to an eldritch hellscape and immediately takes a soil sample for clues was pretty great. Other major complaint is that the villain POVs remove all mystery from the mystery aspect of this, and don't add a lot to make up for it.
Having said that, not my favorite EM book. Kind of a generic version of Sherlock, given the setting, though the part where he's transported to an eldritch hellscape and immediately takes a soil sample for clues was pretty great. Other major complaint is that the villain POVs remove all mystery from the mystery aspect of this, and don't add a lot to make up for it.
January 1, 2021
Just the kind of escapist fluff I need at the moment. I hadn't read any others in the series (or, indeed, of this author in general), but that didn't matter. The plotting was well thought out with good internal logic and strong characterisation. A swift and satisfying read. I intend to read more by this author in the future. My only slight quibble was that, to begin with, her attempts at sounding English rather than American did not quite ring true. After a short while, however, I was so caught up in the story that it ceased to matter.
September 30, 2018
More Nan and Sarah. I think Lackey's tired of the fairy tale conceit that's been underlying the Elemental Masters series. I heard it suggested that this one is related to the Pied Piper, but...really, not. Anyway, while there's nothing groundbreaking here, it's cozy Lackey (with some Cthuloid beasties). My biggest complaint is that she kind of alludes to the fate of the human antagonists but loses interest in it. And I'm tired of the birds getting the last word each time.
August 23, 2020
I like this series, I really do.
But someone *please* tell Ms Lackey (and/or her publisher) that people in England do *not* measure urban distances in terms of "blocks". Every time one of the supposed English characters describes something as "a few blocks away" or something similar, it flings me right out of the story.
Nor do we say "On Christmas" . "On Christmas *Day*", yes, otherwise no. This sort of thing ought to be picked up by any competent proofreader, if publishers even use those any more.
But someone *please* tell Ms Lackey (and/or her publisher) that people in England do *not* measure urban distances in terms of "blocks". Every time one of the supposed English characters describes something as "a few blocks away" or something similar, it flings me right out of the story.
Nor do we say "On Christmas" . "On Christmas *Day*", yes, otherwise no. This sort of thing ought to be picked up by any competent proofreader, if publishers even use those any more.
April 3, 2021
I has admitted that I don't care for Mercedes Lackey's writing. Last book that I had read is Blood Red that I recently had read, It's a Little Red Riding Hood and I gave it two stars.
A Scandal In Battersea was on my shelf since Christmas time. I got it couple days before Christmas. It's mainly focused on two girls helps Sherlock and Watson to find the missing,but Sherlock and Watson were side characters (I found it's very disappointing). I found the book was very boring and I hate that main villain(that's a totally a**hole) that got away at the very end.
But I thought that was cool that fairies are facing off Lovecraftian monsters.
I thought the book was okay. I don't think I will read a Mercedes Lackey's books for awhile.
A Scandal In Battersea was on my shelf since Christmas time. I got it couple days before Christmas. It's mainly focused on two girls helps Sherlock and Watson to find the missing,but Sherlock and Watson were side characters (I found it's very disappointing). I found the book was very boring and I hate that main villain(that's a totally a**hole) that got away at the very end.
But I thought that was cool that fairies are facing off Lovecraftian monsters.
I thought the book was okay. I don't think I will read a Mercedes Lackey's books for awhile.
October 21, 2019
I'm enjoying this series. Nice to see Dr. Watson in a new role.
January 5, 2019
I had real problems sticking with this one to the end. I enjoyed the earlier books in the series, but this one spends about half the book from the bad magician's point of view. In fact, at one point I thought the whole book was about him. His actions were so disturbing I came close to putting the book aside permanently. Not up to the standards of the earlier books in the series, but coming close to the battle scenes in the Dresden Files. Not what I expected at all.
January 20, 2021
Good story, poorly edited.
I enjoyed the story, but it took me almost a third of the book to get there. If this wasn't chosen for my book club, I probably would not have kept reading. There were several editing error that made following the story difficult and I had to reread pages. Also, it is 12th book in the series, not having read the first 11, I felt I was missing some vital information about some of the main characters.
I enjoyed the story, but it took me almost a third of the book to get there. If this wasn't chosen for my book club, I probably would not have kept reading. There were several editing error that made following the story difficult and I had to reread pages. Also, it is 12th book in the series, not having read the first 11, I felt I was missing some vital information about some of the main characters.
January 25, 2018
Hardly any elemental masters to be seen.
I started reading the elemental masters series because they were fantastic retellings of old fairy tails that I loved with a unique setting. Now and then when the story was more obscure I would have fun trying to puzzle out which fable was being retold. The masters themselves were unique and each one well thought out and added to the magic of the retelling in a new setting.
The elemental masters series has taken that magic and thrown it out the window with this new story of the bird girls and Sherlock Holmes vs. an octopus bug bringer of doom. The elemental masters are now minor characters in the series leaving Nan and Sarah, two non masters front and center in yet another story.
The Sherlock Holmes addition to the story is also frustrating, in the earlier books he was indeed just a character thought up by his author (Sir author Conan Doyle, even mentioned in one early book) as a work of pure fiction, and yet by the time study in sable came out he was flesh and blood living 'right down the road' as it were.
With as many fantastic characters as she has thought up in this world I find the lack of elemental masters in the elemental masters series off-putting enough to never want to pick up another book again. The whole thing rubbed me the wrong way and it was an actual trial to finish, as Sherlock Holmes now thoroughly exposed to elemental magic by now still bumbles about obtusely only buying into the magic during the last 1/3rd of the story (Again!) and will probably do so in the next story.
I started reading the elemental masters series because they were fantastic retellings of old fairy tails that I loved with a unique setting. Now and then when the story was more obscure I would have fun trying to puzzle out which fable was being retold. The masters themselves were unique and each one well thought out and added to the magic of the retelling in a new setting.
The elemental masters series has taken that magic and thrown it out the window with this new story of the bird girls and Sherlock Holmes vs. an octopus bug bringer of doom. The elemental masters are now minor characters in the series leaving Nan and Sarah, two non masters front and center in yet another story.
The Sherlock Holmes addition to the story is also frustrating, in the earlier books he was indeed just a character thought up by his author (Sir author Conan Doyle, even mentioned in one early book) as a work of pure fiction, and yet by the time study in sable came out he was flesh and blood living 'right down the road' as it were.
With as many fantastic characters as she has thought up in this world I find the lack of elemental masters in the elemental masters series off-putting enough to never want to pick up another book again. The whole thing rubbed me the wrong way and it was an actual trial to finish, as Sherlock Holmes now thoroughly exposed to elemental magic by now still bumbles about obtusely only buying into the magic during the last 1/3rd of the story (Again!) and will probably do so in the next story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2017
I enjoy Mercedes Lackey writing so much. The Elemental Masters are such a wonderful series.
October 28, 2017
Not my favorite from the series, but still a good book.
December 17, 2017
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
This is the 12th book in the Elemental Masters series by Mercedes Lackey from Berkley Publishing.
An ensemble cast including Nan and Sarah, their birds, assorted elementals, Sherlock Holmes, John and Mary Watson plus others from earlier books in the series do battle with, well, 'Cthulu lite' in an alternate-earth in Victorian London.
There are few iconic fictional characters with a more passionate following than Sherlock Holmes. There are numerous serious groups who study the Holmes canon and meet to have dinner and debate the finer points of Conan Doyle's extant oeuvre. For those folks, this book and the one previous (A Study in Sable, #11), would certainly bring on apoplexy.
While I love traditional Holmes and have read them many many times, that hasn't stopped me from enjoying the rich abundance of Holmes pastiches and modern narratives. For those people who are a little stricter in their acceptance of ersatz Holmes, it can be said in defense of this installment that Holmes himself isn't really a central character, more of recurring cameo. I didn't find his presence distracting at all. I don't know that I would have rated him a cover appearance (though the cover art is beautiful), he doesn't appear all that much in the book.
My main problem with the book was that I found myself repeatedly jerked out of the story by the really over the top 'dialect' dialogue. Much of the time I found myself almost having to translate phonetically to see what they were trying to say. That was my biggest grumble with the book and it certainly wasn't insurmountable, just annoying.
This is a Mercedes Lackey book, the good characters are good, the villains are villainous and there isn'tmuch any blending.
I found it comfortably readable, entertaining and distracting. I loved the scene with the panto, and I love little Suki.
Four stars, it was exactly as expected, thank goodness.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.
This is the 12th book in the Elemental Masters series by Mercedes Lackey from Berkley Publishing.
An ensemble cast including Nan and Sarah, their birds, assorted elementals, Sherlock Holmes, John and Mary Watson plus others from earlier books in the series do battle with, well, 'Cthulu lite' in an alternate-earth in Victorian London.
There are few iconic fictional characters with a more passionate following than Sherlock Holmes. There are numerous serious groups who study the Holmes canon and meet to have dinner and debate the finer points of Conan Doyle's extant oeuvre. For those folks, this book and the one previous (A Study in Sable, #11), would certainly bring on apoplexy.
While I love traditional Holmes and have read them many many times, that hasn't stopped me from enjoying the rich abundance of Holmes pastiches and modern narratives. For those people who are a little stricter in their acceptance of ersatz Holmes, it can be said in defense of this installment that Holmes himself isn't really a central character, more of recurring cameo. I didn't find his presence distracting at all. I don't know that I would have rated him a cover appearance (though the cover art is beautiful), he doesn't appear all that much in the book.
My main problem with the book was that I found myself repeatedly jerked out of the story by the really over the top 'dialect' dialogue. Much of the time I found myself almost having to translate phonetically to see what they were trying to say. That was my biggest grumble with the book and it certainly wasn't insurmountable, just annoying.
This is a Mercedes Lackey book, the good characters are good, the villains are villainous and there isn't
I found it comfortably readable, entertaining and distracting. I loved the scene with the panto, and I love little Suki.
Four stars, it was exactly as expected, thank goodness.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.
June 5, 2020
So I read this series based on the fact they are retelling of fairy tales. (some better than others) I was a bit leery last time with the introduction of Sherlock into the mix. (because Sherlock being the logical man that he is does not go with whimsy, magic, and fairytales. Unless of course, you happen to be reading the Warlock Holmes series, in which case magic is all over the place. But that's neither here nor there.) I let it go because overall the story was based on a tale I was familiar with. This time however we've left familiar territory and gone off who knows where. But it wasn't really to my liking.
The plot wasn't terrible. but it's not the best either. Sherlock, even though he only shows up in the last third of the book isn't a character who fits into this setting. I get it he's famous and I'm sure some are curious as to what Sherlock would do if he were to ever run across real magic and the like. But if a skeptic was needed why not make a new one up instead of using a firmly established character whose canon makes it extremely difficult for a reader to suspend belief when it comes to events in the story. Seriously this is a fantasy book, but throw Sherlock into it, and everything goes out the proverbial window. Same with Watson and Mary. Lackey is using previously established characters in her universe, if she wanted to introduce a new couple, she can do so through them. Keeping to her own created universe and not bringing in someone else's for no discernable reason.
Speaking of Nan and Sarah. They're not terrible, but they are extremely meh as well. I've found all the books they've featured in, aren't interesting. From the Wizard of London to Home from the Sea to A Study in Sable and now this one. I like the birds, but the girls I'd rather focus on different characters. But in looking ahead we're still stuck with an out of place Sherlock and these two in the next book. Which I am hoping is back to regularly scheduled fairy tales.
So is this book recommended? Eh mostly because this one is a sequel to the last one and more than likely leads directly into the next one.
Buy/Borrow? Borrow
The plot wasn't terrible. but it's not the best either. Sherlock, even though he only shows up in the last third of the book isn't a character who fits into this setting. I get it he's famous and I'm sure some are curious as to what Sherlock would do if he were to ever run across real magic and the like. But if a skeptic was needed why not make a new one up instead of using a firmly established character whose canon makes it extremely difficult for a reader to suspend belief when it comes to events in the story. Seriously this is a fantasy book, but throw Sherlock into it, and everything goes out the proverbial window. Same with Watson and Mary. Lackey is using previously established characters in her universe, if she wanted to introduce a new couple, she can do so through them. Keeping to her own created universe and not bringing in someone else's for no discernable reason.
Speaking of Nan and Sarah. They're not terrible, but they are extremely meh as well. I've found all the books they've featured in, aren't interesting. From the Wizard of London to Home from the Sea to A Study in Sable and now this one. I like the birds, but the girls I'd rather focus on different characters. But in looking ahead we're still stuck with an out of place Sherlock and these two in the next book. Which I am hoping is back to regularly scheduled fairy tales.
So is this book recommended? Eh mostly because this one is a sequel to the last one and more than likely leads directly into the next one.
Buy/Borrow? Borrow
April 29, 2025
WHY DO I KEEP READING THESE AWFUL FANFICS BOOKS
I thought Nan and Sarah couldn't possibly become MORE Mary-Sue-ish after the previous book... I mean, they have unique OP powers even for this universe, are somehow best friends with fucking SHERLOCK HOLMES (well, more with Watson and his wife Mary, but that's just as bad), are also best friends with PUCK (yes from Midsummer Night's Dream/folklore), and also have magic pet birds that talk, and ALSO Nan's a reincarnated Celtic warrior lady because why the fuck not even though it's totally unnecessary.
But no, it somehow got worse! The Sherlock Holmes Mary Sue British Folklore fanfic is now also a Stranger Things and Lovecraft crossover! Kill me.
Most people in these reviews seem to think the book is only referencing Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos stuff with the robed tentacle monster villain, but the description of the alternate London is basically IDENTICAL to the "Upside Down" from Stranger Things, and the dreams that the precognitive girl has as very similar to the dreams/visions people have in the show. The dates align:
- Stranger Things season 1: 2016
- This book: 2017
I'm thinking what happened is Misty saw the first season of Stranger Things and thought "well I'd been wanting to integrate Lovecraft stuff anyhow, and this show is awesome, so I'll also reference it!" which is just... so fangirl. It's hard to even be mad. I don't think she's trying to hide it... if anything, it feels intended that the reader be like "oh I too enjoy that show! teehee!" SIGH.
Why did the monster let them go when it could have murdered literally the entire cast easily? WHO KNOWS. The explanation was complete bullshit. Why did they even go into the Upside Down, and after meeting the old man, why didn't they immediately leave?! Are they all morons, including Sherlock?! And what did Mary summon that helped them out? I have no idea! Terrible. Just a terrible chapter all round. Really bad, even for Ms Lackey.
Then the Wild Hunt reappears for the final showdown and fucking ODIN (she doesn't say it's him, but it's him) is all like "Nan you're pretty cool!" which is just... argh. The Mary Sueness of this book is crushing me. It is without question the most egregiously Mary Sueish book yet by Ms Lackey, and that is saying a LOT.
I thought Nan and Sarah couldn't possibly become MORE Mary-Sue-ish after the previous book... I mean, they have unique OP powers even for this universe, are somehow best friends with fucking SHERLOCK HOLMES (well, more with Watson and his wife Mary, but that's just as bad), are also best friends with PUCK (yes from Midsummer Night's Dream/folklore), and also have magic pet birds that talk, and ALSO Nan's a reincarnated Celtic warrior lady because why the fuck not even though it's totally unnecessary.
But no, it somehow got worse! The Sherlock Holmes Mary Sue British Folklore fanfic is now also a Stranger Things and Lovecraft crossover! Kill me.
Most people in these reviews seem to think the book is only referencing Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos stuff with the robed tentacle monster villain, but the description of the alternate London is basically IDENTICAL to the "Upside Down" from Stranger Things, and the dreams that the precognitive girl has as very similar to the dreams/visions people have in the show. The dates align:
- Stranger Things season 1: 2016
- This book: 2017
I'm thinking what happened is Misty saw the first season of Stranger Things and thought "well I'd been wanting to integrate Lovecraft stuff anyhow, and this show is awesome, so I'll also reference it!" which is just... so fangirl. It's hard to even be mad. I don't think she's trying to hide it... if anything, it feels intended that the reader be like "oh I too enjoy that show! teehee!" SIGH.
Why did the monster let them go when it could have murdered literally the entire cast easily? WHO KNOWS. The explanation was complete bullshit. Why did they even go into the Upside Down, and after meeting the old man, why didn't they immediately leave?! Are they all morons, including Sherlock?! And what did Mary summon that helped them out? I have no idea! Terrible. Just a terrible chapter all round. Really bad, even for Ms Lackey.
Then the Wild Hunt reappears for the final showdown and fucking ODIN (she doesn't say it's him, but it's him) is all like "Nan you're pretty cool!" which is just... argh. The Mary Sueness of this book is crushing me. It is without question the most egregiously Mary Sueish book yet by Ms Lackey, and that is saying a LOT.
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