Home from the Sea

Mercedes Lackey

Nan and Sarah have been charged with a task now that they have returned from Africa – to find the brand new Water Master who has sprung up on the coast. Little do they know that this Water Master has a bit of a surprise in store for them – definitely not what Lord A was expecting either!

After reading some less than flattering reviews of this novel on Amazon, I wasn’t feeling all too positive about it, and I didn’t pick it up from the library the moment I knew it was out. I’ve had a couple of disappointments with Lackey’s work recently, which is sad.

Since I wasn’t expecting much, I wasn’t disappointed in this one! For the first parts of the novel, it really felt like nothing was happening, and I didn’t get a bigger picture of what could go wrong. Just not that great in my opinion.

Number 8 in the Elemental Masters series and I feel like it’s losing its momentum. There are only so many times that you can redo the theme, and relying heavily on fairytales (such as Mari’s three trials) is getting a bit stale for me, at least from Lackey.

I think Nan and Sarah’s characters were really flat. Completely flat. They had hardly any motivations, and half the time it just seemed like they were picnicking on the surf without a care in the world. Mari was a bit better, but even her insights into her father felt stilted. More could have been done with the seals too.

Some parts of the novel also felt repetitive within the novel, which could be a problem with the editing team, or something else, like them thinking the reader is too dumb to remember somethign that happened at the start of the book. Either way, I want them to expect more from me! I’m not a stupid reader, and I really want to get into a good book, not pick on it.

I didn’t really get a sense of threat from the Constable, and only a brief worry about the Selkie chief. The ending was a bit abrupt too. It’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, and I did find it difficult to put it down in the second half, but I think that may have been because I wanted to know what Mari was going to do next.For adults and teens alike this one. But I wouldn’t start with this novel if you’re a new reader of Lackey’s works. It’s not a good example of her brilliance.