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The Serpent's Shadow (Elemental Masters, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Mercedes Lackey
Publisher: DAW
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 208212
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 6.5 x 2
ISBN: 0756400619
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780756400613
ASIN: 0756400619
Publication Date: March 1, 2002
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Condition: Standard used condition.
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Amazon.com Review
Mercedes Lackey returns to form in The Serpent's Shadow, the fourth in her sequence of reimagined fairy tales. This story takes place in the London of 1909, and is based on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Lackey creates echoes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, pays affectionate homage to Dorothy Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey (who plays an important role under a thin disguise), and turns the dwarves into seven animal avatars who masquerade as pets of her Eurasian heroine, Maya. Some of Maya's challenges come from the fact that she is not "snow white," and she has fled India for her father's English homeland after the suspicious deaths of her parents. Establishing her household in London, she returns to her profession as a physician, working among the poor. Her "pets" and loyal servants stand guard, and Maya herself uses what bits of magic she managed to pick up in childhood to weave otherworldly defenses as well. But the implacable enemy who killed her parents has come to London to search for her; if Maya can be enslaved, her enormous potential powers can be used to the enemy's ends. Fortunately, English magicians of the White Lodge have also noted a new, powerful presence in their midst, though they're having trouble locating her, too. They send Peter Scott, a Water Master, to track her down. He finds Maya beautiful and benign, and is determined to teach her to use the Western magic she is heir to, before her enemy discovers her. Some will find the author's Kiplingesque descriptions of India and Hindustani culture offensive. Lackey describes Maya's enemy as a powerful devotee of the goddess Kali-Durga, though she carefully shows that the avatars of the other deities will not attack her, and has Kali-Durga repudiate her servant in the climactic confrontation. And, though the story is layered, its surface is as glossy and brightly colored as an action comic. But readers who enjoy late Victorian London, Sayers, Sherlock Holmes stories, and a page-turning tale will want to take this one home. --Nona Vero
Product Description
From the magical mysteries of India to the gaslit streets of Victorian London, Mercedes Lackey's unique departure from her Valdemar series follows a young woman doctor as she searches for the secret behind the sorcery in her blood.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 52 more reviews...
 A Good Effort, But Not the Best in the Series January 12, 2008
In British-controlled India, an English doctor and a high-caste Brahmin woman fell in love and defied both cultures to get married. Their daughter, Maya Witherspoon, grew up happily and practiced medicine alongside her father. Maya's world comes crashing down when her mother is struck down by cholera and her father is bitten by a deadly snake. Sensing that her parents' deaths are more than just tragic accidents, she flees her homeland to live in hiding in London. Despite the double prejudice of her gender and her Indian blood she manages to establish herself as a doctor. Although an excellent doctor in her own right, her medical knowledge is aided by her ability to use Earth magic to help heal her patients. However, unable to get proper training, her rudimentary knowledge of magic is not enough to fend off whatever dark force killed her parents and is now hunting her. Meanwhile, the appearance of a new source of magic in London attracts the attention of the Council of Elemental Masters which sends Peter Scott, a powerful Water Master, to investigate. When Peter finds Maya he is instantly drawn to her and decides to help her learn more about her magic in the hope that she can protect herself against whatever she tried to leave behind in India.
The first in the Elemental Masters series (though each stands alone and can be read in any order), SERPENT'S SHADOW is a retelling of Snow White set in Victorian England. Although the bare outlines of the Snow White story are visible, they are very, very faint. The villain is not a wicked stepmother, but a wicked aunt. The seven dwarves are in fact seven animal companions. And Snow White (Maya) is not poisoned by an apple, but instead an old woman with a syringe (although, to be fair, the old woman was posing as an apple seller at the time).
Lackey's amazing ability to bring Victorian London alive is evident and she makes a good point about the unequal treatment of women, minorities and the poor. But then she won't stop preaching about how very badly these groups were treated as well as how superior Maya is because she uses hygienic medical practices while some doctors still don't appreciate the benefits of a clean environment. If Lackey had spent less time lecturing, she could have done a better job moving the plot forward and creating a more interesting romance between Peter and Maya. It's love at first sight between the two of them and there are no real obstacles to them getting together beyond Peter's shyness. There was none of the spark between Peter and Maya that I felt when reading about the leads of FIRE ROSE and PHOENIX AND ASHES. As an interesting side note, Reggie Fenyx (the hero of PHOENIX AND ASHES) makes a (very brief) cameo. He only speaks two sentences, but it was fun to see him.
It's a shame that this book isn't as good as it could have been, as the character of Maya and her efforts to be a doctor in the male-dominated medical world are interesting. But it is bogged down by too much lecturing on the chauvinism of the time, irrelevant characters (Gupta's family does nothing and are entirely irrelevant to the plot), a weak romance, a one-note villainess, and a sadly dull climax (I skimmed through it).
Almost there April 22, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Based on the fairy-tale "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (although I personally wouldn't make that reference because it makes you expect something that it's not) this story is in the time of the Suffragettes, in the heart of the movement, London. Maya Witherspoon enters England following the shocking death of her parents, an English doctor and Hindu mage, to establish herself as a physician. Inherited from her mother, Maya knows a bit of magic, which she uses to defend herself (she lives in the poorer side of town) and for small healings.
The English Masters of the White Lodge are not ignorant; they sense the magic and its foreign scent. They send Water Master Peter Scott to inspect the disturbance, and he is shocked to find a beautiful woman.
Immediately attracted, he begins to teach her what he knows about magic. Together, they soon suspect the presence of another outlander in London. An unwanted other.
With her seven pets to protect her, Maya sets about revisiting the past and discovering the truth of her parents' death, ultimately endangering herself. She soon finds she is in over her head, until all the mysteries are solved and she realizes what she needs to do to survive. What she needs to do to fight.
Eh. It was good, and it moved pretty fast, but I feel like there needed to be something more. It seemed like Maya's character was a little shallow, but Shivani's is the worst. She's so stereotypical and probably even a little offensive to the Hindu culture. I just wished for a more innovative character. Then I would've given it 4 stars!
But beyond that there's all the historical blabber. I know it sets the setting (ha), but I didn't like the Suffragette thing. It was all just too much.
All in all, it didn't bomb. Sure, there were some things that irked me, but it's still an enjoyable story. It's not much of a retelling, but more like its own original plot. For any Mercedes Lackey fans, you know what to expect, and you'll like it. I just didn't love it.
 A Lovely Read March 28, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is pleasantly creepy. The spookiness of gaslit London and the romance of mystic India combine to make an atmospheric adventure. Nice details create a sense of being there. How I'd love a place like Maya's conservatory, complete with tropical plants and magical animals! The story isn't too fairy-taleish until the apple seller appears near the end. All in all the story is a fun read.
Begining the Elemental Masters series with this one. March 7, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Back in those long ago days when I was a teen, I came across the work of Mercedes Lackey and her tales of young teenagers coming of age in a land of magic. But after a time, I became rather bored with her stories, seeing them as mostly the same tale being told over and over again, with very little change in the characters, and most of them being badly abused by their families -- a topic that had absolutely no interest for me. So I didn't bother with picking up her novels, until recently, when I read one of her adaptations of traditional fairy tales revised into tales of sorcery in Edwardian England -- a place and time that I am very fond of reading about.
And I was hooked. The settings and history, while sometimes skewed about a little from what I had known, were well detailed and full of colour, the characters were well drawn, and while some of Lackey's earlier flaws peeked through, the stories were enough to entertain me for an evening or two.
The first book that was published was The Serpent's Shadow. Set in London, in 1909, it's an England that is somewhat close to our own, but with a few vital twists. For one, Magic works, based around the idea of the four elements -- Earth, Air, Fire and Water -- and being able to draw on these forces, along with coaxing or commanding the help of the paranormal creatures that inhabit them. Into this world comes Maya Witherspoon, a young doctor from Delhi, India who is determined to not just practice medicine but to do everything that she can be able to.
But Maya isn't just a budding feminist, but also a magician. Accompanied by an assortment of pets -- an owl, a haruman monkey, a peacock and a pair of mongoose amoung them -- she has settled into one of the poorer parts of London, and woven spells of protection around her home. And Maya more to worry about than just coping with the male chauvinists in her profession -- for a family secret is literally haunting her, seeking to punish her for the sins of her parents -- an English doctor and a lovely Hindu woman, who defied society on both sides and married.
But she is not entirely alone, for when her magic attracts the attention of London's White Lodge, a Master of Water is sent to investigate. Peter Scott is a retired sea captain who now runs an antiquities shop and import business, and when he meets Maya there's a mutual attraction between them both.
Finally, there is the wider world outside of the one that Peter and Maya move in -- several other characters from the series make an appearance, from the leader of the White Lodge, Lord Alderscroft, who doesn't think that women have a place in the more formal world of magic; Lord Peter Almsley, Peter Scott's "twin" and fellow Water Master, and several other characters who make a very brief appearance. There are other touches of the 'modern' world, from the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, the intrusion of motorcars, and the Sufferagette movement, albeit not always in the familiar chronological order that we know them in. While the tone does get a bit strident at times, especially when it comes to the oppression of women, the lower classes, the poor, the Indians, and indeed, all minorities, it does lend to the realism of the story, and helped to create the sense of place and time.
The magic is also well done, working in touches of both Eastern and Western occultism, but the story isn't all about combat between rivals, but also has moments of pure colour -- most intriguing for me is the glimpse of the Selkies in Scotland.
While the story is certainly an old classic, and not that hard to figure out, I did like the way that Lackey gave it a twist or two. The biggest problem with the story is that the villains of the piece, the wicked Shivani, is pretty much a bloodthirsty one note throughout, determined to evict the English from India by any means possible, and preferably by sorcery -- unhappily, Lackey tends to do this, and it gives little balance to the story, as evil is so evil that it ends up being very flat. That's a pity, as with some more effort and care, Lackey could easily come up with intricate characters if she so chose to do so.
What I did like about this is that so far, each novel in the series that I've read has been a stand-alone. There is no need to have read the previous works to grasp what is going on, and while characters from the other books do make appearances, it's more of a cameo, rather than a full blown character.
I appriciate that Lackey is taking her time with this series, and trying to get it right, rather than just churning out yet another fantasy novel to meet her contractual obligations with her publishers.
Recommended.
Lovin Every Minute of It January 14, 2007
I LOVE this book! Lackey does it again with taking a familiar tale and adding quite a bit of her own imagination to the mix to create something enchantingly new. After I read about Maya, I had to read about the others in the Elemental Masters series (I started reading this series rather late). Now I own the four that are published (and might have to buy new ones soon if my creases get any deeper) and am most eagerly waiting to see if Lackey will delight us with a fifth!
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