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Summary: ya know, this is a great book!
Review: Two of fantasy's best authors have teamed up and created this wonderfully imaginitive and exciting book. I simply COULD NOT stop reading it!! A MUST for any true fantasy lover
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Summary: This is not fiction!
Review: I don't think this is fiction. Dragons must live like this. This book is so wonderful and believable. I think the authors have dragon friends. I've always loved Andre Norton and I'm learning to love Mercedes Lackey. I'm not easily entertained by fantasy; however, a friend recommended this book. I read it only because I've read Norton's children's books. What a great story!!
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Summary: Exciting!
Review: This book was very well written and exciting. Took my imagination to new arenas. One of the few series that I have re-read. I'd recommend it for anyone that enjoys intellectual stimulation with their fantasy.
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Summary: Tolkein's Adventures Through the Looking Glass - Darkly
Review: The Elvenbane is the first novel in the Halfblood Chronicles. The Elves are aliens from elsewhere. They are long-lived and have great magics and, long ago, they conquered Earth. Now the humans wear slave collars and take orders from Elven overseers. The Elves and humans can interbreed; the resulting child usually has Elven magic and the mind powers of the humans. These halfblood Wizards are reluctant to obey the Elven Lords and eventually rebelled in the Wizard's War. Ever since, it has been a killing offense for a human to become pregnant by an Elf.The Elves and humans unknowingly share the planet with the dragons, who came during the Wizard's War. Dragons are shapeshifters and their shamans have the power of mind speaking and reading the thoughts of others. They can also play with the lightning and create gates between worlds. The dragons despise the Elven Lords and cause confusion and anger whenever they can. One of their favorite ploys is to spread the prophecy of the Elvenbane, a halfblood who will free the human from Elven tyranny. In this novel, Alamarana is a shaman and pregnant. She is traveling across the world, shifting her shape and becoming one with the planet. For a while, she impersonates an Elven maid and leads an Elven Lord into a marriage agreement just before she vanishes from his manor. Then, as she is meditating in a body of stone, a human slave, also pregnant, literally stumbles across her. Serina Daeth had been the chief concubine of Lord Dyran, but another concubine managed to make Serina fertile with the Elven Lord and so now she is fleeing for her life. Alara almost abandons Serina in the desert, but decides to help deliver the child. When the mother bleeds to death, Alara takes the girl child home with her. Seeing the baby, all the dragons of her lair start to argue and complain. The infant is too noisy, she is too smelly, and she is ugly, but Alara is determined to keep the child. Moments later, she goes into contractions herself. Alara's son, Keman, thinks the infant is kind of cute. He is the type of dragon child who brings pets home with him and the human baby looks to be another pet, yet so small and feeble. When his mother goes into labor, Keman takes the child home and puts her in the pen with Hoppy, his three-legged two-horn, who soon includes the human in her nursing brood. Keman names the baby Lashana, which is "orphan" in Elvish, but since she is so little, he shortens the name to Shana. Since his mother is very busy with his baby sister, Keman takes over the care of this little human. He makes her a shift of his own shed skin to protect her tender skin. He starts teaching her to talk, refusing to just speak mind-to-mind. He soon learns how hard work there is in being a mother. This novel is about family, fate, and freedom. As with most of both authors' stories, this tales features characters who persevere in their struggle against hardship and injustice. Moreover, it contains alien characters who defy there own kind to help win the struggle. Recommended for Norton and Lackey fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of strange powers, friendly dragons and righteous conflict.
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Summary: Great Read!
Review: This is the best out of all the five Andre Norton books I've read.Thank God Norton wasn't influenced by Lackey's poor writing style.
Many new ideas were introduced in this book ,such as dragon's shedding and shapeshifting, and elves being thouroughly evil.Cultural development was also included,for both dragons and elves,and many new creatures were introduced,such as grels,one-horns,two-horns,three-horns ,and loupers.Anyone who likes detailed stuff,is sure to like this.
Evil characters were realistically portraited.They did terrible things ,such as beating slaves to death,owning concubines,and immediatly making a halfbreed a slave.They were very easy to hate.
Serina Daeth,the concubine of the elvenlord Dyran,escapes from the keep,pregnant with a halfbreed child.She is found by the dragon Kin,who adopt her child(Serina died of childbirth)and name her Shana.As she grows to a woman,she finds that she has magical powers .Then her life is changed forever.
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