Rating: 
Summary: Lackey's story is the only good one here....
Review: I did enjoy Lackey's attention to detail and her story was very good, with a nice surprising twist tucked away. "Drusilla's Gift" irritated me - too much shifting around, although I did like both main characters. I was also never really clear on what was going on. I normally enjoy Catherine Asaro's writing, but found this story totally predictable and Iris' dialect more than a bit annoying. Another annoyance goes to the publisher - please make sure that the names are RIGHT on the book jacket - that is an apprentice editor's mistake!Three stars for the interesting Mercedes Lackey, with some credit given to interesting world-building from Catherine Asaro.
Rating:
Summary: Damned with Faint Praise
Review: I have to say that I liked the stories, but I've read far better by all of the authors. Counting Crows was indeed grim and the plot points were a bit too rough--I often found myself wondering about the backstory. I found myself skipping over most of the Rachel Lee story--the ending was very predictable. Of the three I liked the Catherine Asano story the best, and I would like to see more stories in this universe.
Rating: 
Summary: Three Distinct Styles
Review: I really liked this book, despite the fact that I normally can't stand anthologies. All three stories were well fleshed-out, and I found the world-building enthralling. Counting Crows: I actually bought the book for this story, since Lackey is the only author I knew. If you're reading it for the romance, it fails. On the other hand, the character development is wonderful (aside from the interaction in the "romance"), and the surroundings are vivid and compelling. Overall, I loved it. Drusilla's Dream: This is the only one that I disliked. Most of that is probably personal. I found it a bit too silly, and cliched (which it made fun of itself for). I also found it choppy, and it was occasionally hard to tell whether the characters were in the "real" world or in Drusilla's fantasy. Moonglow: I adored this story. Despite how short it was, I felt I really got to know the characters, even the secondary ones. The world building was very intricate, with great attention to detail. I found it occasionally frustrating when things were hinted-at, but never elaborated, but the world and the character's circumstances did a great job of backing up the romance. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Damned with Faint Praise
Review: I'm a real Mercedes Lackey fan, but I was really disappointed in her medieval-like short story here. What I hated the most was that the heroine was continually abused/raped/submitted to her disgusting husband's attentions, for a long time, before deciding to fix the problem with magic. For a romance, having your heroine sleeping with/being raped/abused by her boor of a husband, over and over again, while the hero lives in the same castle, is terrible. Catherine Asaro's story is interesting, especially since the prince is so powerful that he's right off the rainbow chart. However, I'm a bit disappointed by the simplicity of the magic system, which is based on shapes and colours. The characters focus their magic by using 3D shapes. The more sides on the shape, the more advanced the magic. So spheres, with their infinite sides are the most advanced. The colours are based on the rainbow, with the darker colours for more advanced magic levels. The magic system just seemed too much like a kid's book of shapes and colours to be mysterious or complicated. I hear she's releasing the sequel to this story, "The Charmed Sphere" next month through Harlequin's new fanatasy line, LUNA. Rachel Lee's story was rather boring. An office worker is sucked into a fantasy world, where a co-worker is also using. The way it was written was too confusing, trying to keep track of where they were in each reality, and which reality they were interacting in. Also, the heroine was pretty silly. I won't be keeping this book. I'll be selling it to the used book store instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I'm a real Mercedes Lackey fan, but I was really disappointed in her medieval-like short story here. What I hated the most was that the heroine was continually abused/raped/submitted to her disgusting husband's attentions, for a long time, before deciding to fix the problem with magic. For a romance, having your heroine sleeping with/being raped/abused by her boor of a husband, over and over again, while the hero lives in the same castle, is terrible. Catherine Asaro's story is interesting, especially since the prince is so powerful that he's right off the rainbow chart. However, I'm a bit disappointed by the simplicity of the magic system, which is based on shapes and colours. The characters focus their magic by using 3D shapes. The more sides on the shape, the more advanced the magic. So spheres, with their infinite sides are the most advanced. The colours are based on the rainbow, with the darker colours for more advanced magic levels. The magic system just seemed too much like a kid's book of shapes and colours to be mysterious or complicated. I hear she's releasing the sequel to this story, "The Charmed Sphere" next month through Harlequin's new fanatasy line, LUNA. Rachel Lee's story was rather boring. An office worker is sucked into a fantasy world, where a co-worker is also using. The way it was written was too confusing, trying to keep track of where they were in each reality, and which reality they were interacting in. Also, the heroine was pretty silly. I won't be keeping this book. I'll be selling it to the used book store instead.
Rating:
Summary: Solid intro to new romantic fantasy line...
Review: I've been extremely excited for months about the new "Luna" series being put out by Harlequin Books starting in next year (luna-books.com which will be up January 2004) . Female fronted fantasy crossed with romance! Yes! The three short "romantic fantasy" novels offered here vary widely in tone and story and each has its own appeal: "Counting Crows" by Mercedes Lackey... If you love other fantasy works by this author, you won't be disappointed here. As an avid romance reader, however, this story fell far short for me. The story and characters are wonderfully and beautifully developed but I can't call a story truly romantic when we get to read about the heroine being raped (and passive or not, it's still rape) and beaten throughout the story but we never get any truly romantic scenes between our heroine and the man she loves. The interplay between the heroine and her knight is sweet and gentle but honestly, his passivity left me wanting to wring his neck. There doesn't need to be an overt sexual element for a love story to work but the way their relationship was developed left me feeling that they were quite platonic. Still, despite that it failed for me as a romance, the story is a deftly and intricately created work of fantasy that delivers as a magical medieval tale. "Drusilla's Dream" by Rachel Lee... A decidely humorous and quirky story of two characters who interact in real life and in their dreams. I'm unfamiliar with this author's other works so I don't know how comparable it is --but reading this definetly makes me want to check her out further. A light but very romantic and sweet read that will please romance lovers. "Moonglow" by Catherine Asaro... As a favorite author of mine, I couldn't wait to read this story. This work of fantasy is a change of pace from the more sci-fi flavor of her other books and I didn't know what to expect. But I was very pleased with the story and found it my favorite of three. I only wish it had been longer! The world she creates is vivid and beautiful but she doesn't scrimp on character development or relationship building between our two protagonists. She has always had a certain romance crossover appeal in her sci-fi books and it was nice to see that she could bring romance to the forefront of the story without losing any of the depth in the world she created for them to blossom in. I felt as this story truly exemplified what i believe "romantic fantasy" should be and can't wait to read the full length novel she has written for the Luna line in February 2004.
Rating:
Summary: Asrao shines with "Moonglow"
Review: In this foray into fantasy-romance, I was mostly disappointed. Counting Crows by Mercedes Lackey is marginally good but more a tale of spousal abuse than romance. The second story, "Drusilla's Dream", by Rachel Lee isn't even worth reading. Too convoluted to make any sense and too boring to make you care enough to overlook it.
But the last story by Catherine Asaro (Moonglow) is compelling and captivating. The only detractor is that it felt like it should have been a novel of it's own. I was left feeling the incompleteness. I almost didn't get through Lee's story to get to read Asaro's, but I'm glad I plunged through since the third story definitely makes the book.
Rating:
Summary: Two out of Three ain't bad
Review: Mercedes Lackey wrote a good story with a strong female lead. Although times were tough for the heroine, she prevails in the end (even if the ending seemed a bit rushed).
I had never read anything by Rachel Lee before. The story idea was good, but I really didn't like her writing style...it seemed very simplistic. I found myself laughing out loud at some parts, but not because of the humor...because of the absurdity.
Catherine Asaro's tale was very good. It was a nice, fluffy fantasy with good characters. If you like this tale, read The Charmed Sphere which takes the story even further.
Overall, a good read. I wouldn't spend $20 on the book, but for $5.85 its not a bad deal.
Rating:
Summary: Only one of three is a keeper...
Review: Of the three authors who contributed to this book, I have only encountered Mercedes Lackey's works before. This book is a sort of experiment where all three authors try their hands at the romantic fantasy genre. Mercedes Lackey's "Counting Crows" is the first story in the book. In it, Gwynn is wedded to a man she has never seen before, in order to ensure the safety of her father's lands. She goes to her husband hoping that he will be a man she can learn to love and finds instead that he is a brutal man who rapes her and beats her. While Gwynn brings order to her new household and decides whether to use her magic against her husband, she falls in love with one of her husband's knights, Sir Atremus. The story was an okay fantasy story, but a miserable romantic fantasy story. Gwynn was the most fleshed out of the characters, but she was too perfect to be truly interesting. I found myself more interested in Robin. Gwynn's husband was Bad, with only the hint of a backstory, not enough to make him more than a cardboard Bad Guy. Atremus was useless, which actually wasn't too bad, since I kept forgetting he existed. Gwynn may have fallen in love with him, but I didn't know enough about him to feel anything for him. Gwynn and Atremus apparently had long conversations that led to deepening feelings for each other, but Lackey just glossed over most of them. Since I know that in Lackey is capable of creating great romantic plots, this story was really disappointing and not good enough to be a keeper no matter what genre it's labeled as. Rachel Lee's "Drusilla's Dream" was the second story in the book. I enjoyed the characters, and this story could have been very good, but the way Lee chose to write it made it, in my opinion, the worst story in the book. Technically, most of the story takes place during Drusilla's night shift job, while she's typing data into her computer. As she types, she's on autopilot, daydreaming about a world where she is a princess on a quest to find the Key of Morgania. Details from her job work her way into her daydream, such as the janitor, who becomes a powerful wizard, and Miles, her supervisor at work and the Behemoth tamer in her dreams. Although reality and dreams get really mixed up, and there's evidence that Miles is aware of Drusilla's dreams, I had a hard time seeing her dreams as evidence that she and Miles were falling in love. Unlike Lackey's story, which didn't feel like a romance, this did, but, unfortunately, it was a badly written one. If the entire story had been set in Drusilla's world, without any hint that there was a real world, it would have been a good, but very odd, story. I don't mind odd, though. Catherine Asaro's "Moonglow" was the best of the three. Jarid is the heir to the throne until his parents are killed in an ambush. The entire kingdom believes he is dead, but he in reality he is still alive, deaf, mute, and blind. Iris, who believes she has no real magic, finds him. It's decided that Iris must marry Jarid, and much of the story covers how Jarid and Iris get to know one another. My explanation sounds ver cheesy, but I'm trying not to reveal too much. It's an excellent fantasy and romance, and I'm looking forward to the first book in this series. Asaro writes better romantic short fiction than many romance authors. I may keep the book just for this story. It's fascinating reading how Iris and Jarid fall in love even though Jarid can barely communicate and can't see or hear anything around him. Overall, it's a weak book, but, if you can get it cheap, I would recommend it just for the last story.
Rating:
Summary: Only one of three is a keeper...
Review: Of the three authors who contributed to this book, I have only encountered Mercedes Lackey's works before. This book is a sort of experiment where all three authors try their hands at the romantic fantasy genre. Mercedes Lackey's "Counting Crows" is the first story in the book. In it, Gwynn is wedded to a man she has never seen before, in order to ensure the safety of her father's lands. She goes to her husband hoping that he will be a man she can learn to love and finds instead that he is a brutal man who rapes her and beats her. While Gwynn brings order to her new household and decides whether to use her magic against her husband, she falls in love with one of her husband's knights, Sir Atremus. The story was an okay fantasy story, but a miserable romantic fantasy story. Gwynn was the most fleshed out of the characters, but she was too perfect to be truly interesting. I found myself more interested in Robin. Gwynn's husband was Bad, with only the hint of a backstory, not enough to make him more than a cardboard Bad Guy. Atremus was useless, which actually wasn't too bad, since I kept forgetting he existed. Gwynn may have fallen in love with him, but I didn't know enough about him to feel anything for him. Gwynn and Atremus apparently had long conversations that led to deepening feelings for each other, but Lackey just glossed over most of them. Since I know that in Lackey is capable of creating great romantic plots, this story was really disappointing and not good enough to be a keeper no matter what genre it's labeled as. Rachel Lee's "Drusilla's Dream" was the second story in the book. I enjoyed the characters, and this story could have been very good, but the way Lee chose to write it made it, in my opinion, the worst story in the book. Technically, most of the story takes place during Drusilla's night shift job, while she's typing data into her computer. As she types, she's on autopilot, daydreaming about a world where she is a princess on a quest to find the Key of Morgania. Details from her job work her way into her daydream, such as the janitor, who becomes a powerful wizard, and Miles, her supervisor at work and the Behemoth tamer in her dreams. Although reality and dreams get really mixed up, and there's evidence that Miles is aware of Drusilla's dreams, I had a hard time seeing her dreams as evidence that she and Miles were falling in love. Unlike Lackey's story, which didn't feel like a romance, this did, but, unfortunately, it was a badly written one. If the entire story had been set in Drusilla's world, without any hint that there was a real world, it would have been a good, but very odd, story. I don't mind odd, though. Catherine Asaro's "Moonglow" was the best of the three. Jarid is the heir to the throne until his parents are killed in an ambush. The entire kingdom believes he is dead, but he in reality he is still alive, deaf, mute, and blind. Iris, who believes she has no real magic, finds him. It's decided that Iris must marry Jarid, and much of the story covers how Jarid and Iris get to know one another. My explanation sounds ver cheesy, but I'm trying not to reveal too much. It's an excellent fantasy and romance, and I'm looking forward to the first book in this series. Asaro writes better romantic short fiction than many romance authors. I may keep the book just for this story. It's fascinating reading how Iris and Jarid fall in love even though Jarid can barely communicate and can't see or hear anything around him. Overall, it's a weak book, but, if you can get it cheap, I would recommend it just for the last story.
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