The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

Summary from GoodReads:

In the land of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, if you can’t carry out your legendary role, life is no fairy tale….

Elena Klovis was supposed to be her kingdom’s Cinderella — until fate left her with a completely inappropriate prince! Determined not to remain with her stepfamily, Elena set out to get a new job — and ended up becoming the Fairy Godmother for the land. But breaking with “The Tradition” was no easy matter. True, she didn’t have to sleep in the chimney, but she had to deal with arrogant, stuffed-shirt princes who kept trying to rise above their place in the tale. In fact, one of them was so ornery that Elena could do nothing but change him into a donkey.

Still, her practical nature couldn’t let him roam the country, so she brought the donkey — er, the prince! — home to her cottage to teach him some lessons. All the while keeping in mind that breaking with tradition can land everyone into a kettle of fish — sometimes literally!

And so begins a whole new tale…

My Review:

This was my first Mercedes Lackey read … and I loved it. I’m a big fan of fairy-tale retellings and when I saw the cover of this book and then read a little bit about it (just enough to know it was loosely based on Cinderella), I had to read it.

First of all, I’m a huge admirer when a fantasy writer gets a magic system down so well that it’s explained in a way that makes colors explode in my imagination – and that’s what Lackey did in The Fairy Godmother.

Spoilers Ahead!

I’m beyond thrilled that the book takes a twist away from the typical fairy tale into a realm that I never had considered – that of the training of the Godmothers. I was fascinated by every single magical creature, found myself snorting with laughter at the mirror-slave, Randolph, at the love-sick unicorns (I just snorted with laughter again), and at the.. odd turn of events which brought Alexander into Elena’s life.

My only disappointment was the rather.. graphic, erotic turns the book took, but they were much smaller in number then they could have been so don’t pass by this one if you are totally turned off by that sort of thing.

The witty writing, charm of the characters and sheer magic of the world made this book a delightful read, and one I’m glad to own (now.. to get my hands on the rest of them!).

Check out these review(s):

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