The Fire Rose, Mercedes Lackey

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Title: The Fire Rose
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Publisher: Bael
Format: Paperback
Pages: 448
Times Read: 1
Rank:

Summary: Lackey's story of a young turn of the century female who is brought to the wilds of San Francisco to read books for a reclusive alchemist recreates the fable of the monster who wins the heart of a young woman yet forbids her to view him. For the monster here is a magician caught in a werewolf spell, and the young girl is a destitute young woman with no other choices. ~ Midwest Book Review


Plot, What Plot?

These three letters – PWP – often have the ability to send fangirls into a hormonal squee-fest, because they generally refer to stories that are filled with porn and little (or no) plot at all. In this case, however, Plot, What Plot? was not nearly so enjoyable.

The Fire Rose, by Mercedes Lackey, was a huge disappointment. This was a somewhat modern re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, and as we all know, one has to do a *very* good job to make me dislike any version of this fairytale. I mean, you practically have to work at it. The first half of the book I truly enjoyed. I loved Rosalind (Beauty) and Jason Cameron (the Beast). It takes place in the early 20^th Century, where Rose was the daughter of a wealthy family and went to school to learn classical languages and history. Following her father’s death and loss of fortune, she accepts a post as a governess with a remote railroad baron near San Francisco. This turns out to be Cameron, an alchemist, who accidentally transformed himself into a half-wolf when one of his experiments went awry. He needs Rose’s knowledge of ancient languages to translate old manuscripts, which might have clues toward undoing the spell. The dynamic between the two is very real and believable, and Rose herself is a strong, independent woman who prides herself on being well-read and, quite frankly, smarter than most of the men she knows.

Such is the first half of the book, which focuses mainly on character development. I was a little surprised at the lack of action, but I enjoyed the characters so much that I didn’t mind so much. Once I reached the second half, I could tell things were building up a little. The antagonists were making more appearances, Rose was going out more (thus putting herself in the way of danger) and I figured now the action would start.

Not. So. Much.

Rose’s first attempted abduction by The Bad Guys didn’t even succeed in getting her off the manor property.  She cleverly outwitted the second. And as for the third…the so-called climax of the story…it just didn’t even happen. The final fight was no fight at all, and in the end, absolutely nothing was resolved. It wasn’t even a cliffhanger. It ended happily ever after…but with nothing actually changing. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything so anti-climactic in my life. It seriously felt like Lackey had a page limit or something, realized she had 20 pages to end things, and just threw in some random text. She gets a solid A for her two main characters, but an F for plot.