'Beauty Meets Beast in San Francisco. Accepting employment as a governess after hard times hit her family, medieval scholar Rosalind Hawkins is surprised when she learns that her mysterious employer has no children, no wife, and she is not to meet with him face to face. Instead, her duties are to read to him, through a speaking tube, from ancient manuscripts in obscure, nearly-forgotten dialects.
'A requirement for the job was skill in translating medieval French, and she now understands the reason for that requirement, and assumes her unseen employer’s interest in the descriptions of medieval spells and sorcery is that of an eccentric antiquary. What she does not realise is that his interest is anything but academic. He has a terrible secret and is desperately searching for something that can reverse the effects of the misfired spell which created his predicament.'
My first experience with Mercedes Lackey, and her Elemental Masters series, was when I was asked to review the fourteenth book in the series, The Spellbound Child, by Titan books. by any rational means jumping into a series so far in should be a silly decision, and I have to admit that I was only prepared to do so because of the inclusion of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, due in part to my love for Sherlock Holmes fiction. Despite this, I was able to get into the universe quite well, and the book was extremely entertaining.
The Fire Rose is the first in this series, and I thought it would be worth going back and seeing how it all began. I knew that some of the later books in the series continue on from each other, but was aware that many of the older books are more stand alone adventures, and often involved the re-imagining of classic stories. The Fire Rose takes inspiration from Beauty and the Beast, but despite seeing some parallels between the two tales it still very much stand up by itself.
The story begins in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. We're introduced to Rosalind (Rose) Hawkins. She's a young academic whose father has recently passed away, unfortunately for her, his death has resulted in a number of creditors appearing in her life, and caused her to lose almost everything. Facing the prospect of having to find a job as a maid or servant in order to survive Rose is approached by a friend of her fathers, who has received a letter trying to find a woman who would be willing to take on the job of governess for his children. Because of the required knowledge and education laid out in the letter Rose seems to be the perfect candidate. With little choices left Rose agrees to take the job, and moves west to San Francisco.
Once arriving at the palatial home of Jason Cameron she learns that not only does he not have children, but he's not even married. It turns out that Jason was in some kind of accident that has left him disfigured and unable to pursue his research. Rose is told that what Jason really wants is a research assistant, one who will be able to translate ancient texts for him, all whilst he stays locked away in his own private wing. Despite initially being nervous about this sudden change in the arrangement Rose agrees, and begins to assist Jason.
Over the course of the next several chapters Rose is slowly exposed to texts that seem to indicate that magic might be real. Thanks to a number of unusual things happening around the house and her own rational, scientific approach, Rose begins to accept that magic might actually be real.
I wasn't sure how much the book would mirror the narrative of Beauty and the Beast, and have to admit that my knowledge of that story is mainly down to the Disney movie. I didn't know if the house would be filled with enchanted furniture, or if Jason would have been cursed for being a horrible person and was trying to make Rose fall in love with him. I'm glad to say that the book didn't take this approach, especially with the love story.
There was always something about a woman being held against her will in order to fall in love with someone that at with me a problematic, even as a kid, and I'm glad that it's been removed for this story. Rose isn't a prisoner, she's living in the house because that's where she works. She has a job, and she can quit at any time. This also means that when she does start to develop feelings for Jason it feels a lot more natural.
The book takes its time, and lets you get to know the characters well. It spends its time with Rose as she begins to learn more about the world of magic, but also with smaller things like her walks through Jason's estate or her trip to San Francisco. Lackey could easily have skipped some of this as it doesn't add much to the main narrative, but it helps to build Rose and her world so well. You feel like you really get to know her, and I became a lot more invested in her and her story than I thought I would.
Jason is the same, though readers spend much less time with him. At first he's not a very endearing figure, and the fact that he's tricking Rose to begin with and lying to her feels awful; but after a while you begin to see the reasons why he's made certain decisions. Just like Rose, readers get to discover the kind and warmhearted man beneath the wolfish exterior, and come to really like him as a person.
The only real criticism of the book that I have is that because of the slower pace at the start, because of the long scenes where we get to really spend a good deal of time getting to know Rose it does feel like the conclusion happens quite quickly. I would have been happy to have the book continue on for another fifty or a hundred pages more so that the ending had time to breath a bit. Despite this, the conclusion still left me satisfied, and I was happy with how the story wrapped up Rose and Jason's stories.
I'm a little sad that the next book in the series won't be carrying on the stories of these characters, that I won't get to see more of Rose exploring her own magics, or that I won't get to see her life with Jason; but I do understand that sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad. Mercedes Lackey gave enough of this world to leave me intrigued, wanting to read the next book in the series.
A brilliant introduction to The Elemental Masters, and probably one of the better versions of the Beauty and the Beast style narrative that I've experienced.
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