Read if you like:
- Mercedes Lackey
- Historical Urban Fantasy
- Female heroes
To say I adore Mercedes Lackey is a rather severe understatement. Her books are excellent, her worlds are gorgeous, and her characters are always a treat. And out of all her series, the Elemental Masters has always been among my favorites. Historical urban fantasy with a hefty dose of fairy lore and clever characters will always make me happy. So, needless to say, when I saw the latest novel on the shelves of my local bookstore, I was quite happy to take it home and give it a read. But does Jolene measure up to all the books that came before?
Oh yeah.
The Good
Jolene is a classic Mercedes Lackey novel, slow paced and wonderfully human. The latest entry in the Elemental Masters takes the series outside of its European roots to Tennessee and a world of coal miners, company debt, and slow but steady rural life. It’s a refreshing change in many ways, taking the setting in an interesting new direction away from the established traditions and societies of spellcasters that appeared in all the previous entries.
The main character of Jolene is Anna May Jones, a sixteen-year-old coal miner’s daughter struggling with cripplingly poor health and uncaring parents. Whisked away from her soot-stained hometown to live with her Aunt Jinny in the hills, Anna soon discovers a world of magic as well as powers she never knew she had. But even as she settles into her new life, and begins to fall in love with a local young man with a talent for carving, the mines and those around them once again start to threaten her future.
Like most of Mercedes Lackey’s books, this is a gentle novel in many ways, filled with characters who display the best of what it means to be human, even in the face of the worst, and whose basic human decency helps shape the world into something wonderful. This is the sort of book you read when you want to feel good about the world because, even when the grim history of coal mining and the abusive practices of the mining companies plays out, Lackey never fails to keep her novel hopeful and kind. Good triumphs not due to great heroes, but instead due to small kindnesses joining together into mighty forces. The characters are well written, from main characters like the ornery but caring Aunt Jinny to minor characters like the variety of kind-hearted people Anna meets on her way to her aunt. Everyone is interesting and believable in their own way.
In addition to the warm-hearted plot, the writing remains exquisite and the world-building excellent. Coal miners and similar rural or small town groups have often gotten the short end of the stick in media, relegated to the status of ‘hillbillies’ and the like, but Jolene paints a very different picture of its setting, one filled with smart, hardworking people making the best out of often hard circumstances. It doesn’t ignore the racist tendencies of the era, and in fact the presence of several strong Cherokee characters and the vocal anti-racist attitudes of the main cast serve to remind readers of the abuse heaped on Indigenous peoples in this period, but it also doesn’t paint the communities depicted in the novel with the singular epitaph of racist.
Finally, the addition of Cherokee characters and magic makes for an interesting change of pace. Old Raven and Young Raven, Aunt Jinny’s friends and neighbors, felt like they were treated respectfully by Lackey’s writing and avoided the trap of ‘magic savages’ while at the same time being powerful magicians in their own right. Part of this has to do with the fact that they, and their tribe, are depicted in a manner that acknowledges the fact that they have their own ways of doing things while at the same time never fetishizing it as especially strange. That said, speaking as a white lad whose family may or may not have been kicked out of every country in Europe at least once (I can never tell if my father is actually joking when he says that) I don’t have the best vantage point to examine their depiction or have any kind of final say on the topic. All I can really say is that it felt like a good addition and I enjoyed their presence in the novel quite a bit.
The Bad
As much as I love Mercedes Lackey’s writing, she is not a flawless writer. The main issue I have with this novel is the same issue I have with a lot of her books. Namely, the pacing is questionable at times. This book is a slow and comfortable stroll through a coming-of-age tale, which in and of itself is no bad thing. But, as if often the case with Lackey’s books, it also attempts to blend in serious stakes in a manner that feels a bit off. The book’s major villain (or arguably villains) are introduced, allowed to lay fallow for most of the books, and then brought to the fore only to be defeated in a matter of a chapter or two. It’s a nice slow-moving story right up until Lackey ratchets up the pace for the last handful of chapters, bringing the book to a finale that feels slightly underdeveloped. There are all the pieces in place for the book’s conclusion, foreshadowing and setup, but it never quite feels like there’s enough of it to properly set the stage for the sudden uptick in tension.
In some ways, this isn’t a big issue. Any fan of Lackey will be more or less used to this sort of thing and the ambling start and middle of the book remain a joy to read even if the finale feels a bit rushed. For that matter the finale remains exciting and tense, so it’s hardly a massive deterrent. But, for anyone just getting into her books for the first time, this might not be the one to start with. I’m not saying a new reader won’t enjoy the book, but there are a number of her novels that are much better structured when it comes to this sort of thing that’ll make for a less jarring start. The Serpent’s Shadow, for instance, is one of my favorite entries in the series and better paced.
The other notable issue I had is with the dialogue. It’s as good as always, but Lackey has taken the time to work the accents of the area and period into her characters’ voices. On one hand, it’s a nice addition to the story making it feel authentic. On the other hand, it can be a bit hard to parse out what the characters are actually saying for the first few chapters. Understanding the accents is a bit of an acquired skill, so if you’re the sort who prefers not having to stop every once in a while to re-read a sentence, this might not be the book for you.
Conclusion
All in all, Jolene is another excellent entry into the Elemental Masters, taking the series into new territory with a fresh locale and all that comes with that change of scenery. While pacing remains an issue, it is a relatively small flaw in an otherwise excellent novel, and for those familiar with Lackey’s writing, that will come as no surprise. A solid four and half stars out of five for a wonderful book I’m more than happy to have on my bookshelf.
Buried Under Books and Cats 