Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook409 pages6 hours
A Scandal in Battersea
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
The twelfth novel in Mercedes Lackey's magical Elemental Masters series reimagines Sherlock Holmes in a richly-detailed alternate 20th-century England
Christmas is a very special time of year. It is special for Psychic Nan Killian and Medium Sarah Lyon-White and their ward Suki, who are determined to celebrate it properly. It is special for their friends, Doctor John Watson, and his wife Mary, both Elemental Masters, who have found great delight in the season seeing it through young Suki’s eyes.
It is also special to others...for very different reasons.
For Christmas Eve is also hallowed to dark forces, powers older than mankind, powers that come awake on this long, cold night. Powers best left alone. Powers that could shake the foundations of London and beyond.
It begins slowly. Women disappearing in the dark of night, women only missed by those of their own kind. The whispers only begin when they start to reappear—because when they do, they are no longer sane. And when Nan and Sarah and the Watsons are called on to examine these victims, they discover that it was no ordinary horror of the streets that drove them mad.
But then, the shadows reach for other victims—girls of good, even exalted families, who vanish from concerts, lectures, and evening balls. And it will take the combined forces of Magic, Psychic Powers, and the world's greatest detective to stop the darkness before it can conquer all.
Christmas is a very special time of year. It is special for Psychic Nan Killian and Medium Sarah Lyon-White and their ward Suki, who are determined to celebrate it properly. It is special for their friends, Doctor John Watson, and his wife Mary, both Elemental Masters, who have found great delight in the season seeing it through young Suki’s eyes.
It is also special to others...for very different reasons.
For Christmas Eve is also hallowed to dark forces, powers older than mankind, powers that come awake on this long, cold night. Powers best left alone. Powers that could shake the foundations of London and beyond.
It begins slowly. Women disappearing in the dark of night, women only missed by those of their own kind. The whispers only begin when they start to reappear—because when they do, they are no longer sane. And when Nan and Sarah and the Watsons are called on to examine these victims, they discover that it was no ordinary horror of the streets that drove them mad.
But then, the shadows reach for other victims—girls of good, even exalted families, who vanish from concerts, lectures, and evening balls. And it will take the combined forces of Magic, Psychic Powers, and the world's greatest detective to stop the darkness before it can conquer all.
Unavailable
Author
Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes Lackey has a degree in biology from Purdue University. Like many writers she has worked at a variety of jobs, including short stints as a waitress, security guard and artist’s model. She lives outside Tulsa, Oklahoma with her husband and collaborator, artist Larry Dixon, their several birds and two dogs.
Read more from Mercedes Lackey
Sacred Ground: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Echo One: Stories from the Secret World Chronicles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirebird: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arcanum 101 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Tangled Web Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rediscovery: Darkover Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess, the Dragon, and the Frog Prince Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Scandal in Battersea
Related ebooks
The Zankiwank and The Bletherwitch An Original Fantastic Fairy Extravaganza Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of the Amulet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A RUSSIAN GRANDMOTHER’S WONDER TALES - 50 Children's Bedtime Stories: More folklore from Mother Russia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCross Purposes and The Shadows (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHomespun Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Avonlea Album Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Forgotten Garden: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rainbow Book: Tales of Fun & Fancy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Biography of a Silver-Fox; or, Domino Reynard of Goldur Town Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoman Fever: Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Huntingtower Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Soldier of the Legion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevelation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForest Friends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEast of the Sun and West of the Moon - Old Tales from the North - Illustrated by Kay Nielsen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Irish Fairy Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Glass Virgin: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whilomville Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Homespun Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStanford Stories Tales of a Young University Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWelcome to Carson Springs: Introducing the Delarosa Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Snow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winds of L’Acadie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beauty and the Beast and Other Classic Fairy Tales (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Janitor's Boy, and Other Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYarrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shadows and Spies: Six Victorian Tales Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Something Childish and other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Fantasy For You
The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tress of the Emerald Sea: Secret Projects, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray (The Original 1890 Uncensored Edition + The Expanded and Revised 1891 Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Pirate Lord: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Talisman: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Empire: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Desert: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote: [Complete & Illustrated] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Immortal Longings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wizard's First Rule Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Underworld: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Groan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for A Scandal in Battersea
Rating: 3.622222166666667 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
45 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A quite decent Elemental Masters book - like many recent ones, though, it's about mixing forms of magic more than about the Elementals themselves. Puck and a couple Hobs are the most visible Elementals...and they're not the usual sorts of creatures. The enemy is one whoopie warlock - a dabbler in magic who wants power and is willing to sacrifice - others, of course, not himself - to get it; and what he manages to call up. It's a very nasty situation - less nasty for the readers than for Nan and Sarah and the rest, because we know what's going on. They're groping in the dark, and that always makes things worse. It is Nan, and Sarah, and Sherlock, and Watson and his wife, and Sahib and M'sahib, and Alderscroft...and eventually, Mycroft, a good many of the White Lodge, and a royal battalion trained and experienced in dealing with...weird stuff. Plus Puck and who/what he can call up. There's actually rather little to the story; it's gradually growing creepiness, and (from the point of view of the characters) a deep mystery. From the point of view of the readers, it's a series of very dark events, but there's no mystery, and even the horror...isn't very horrific. Nasty, yes, but there's no point at which the good guys truly feel helpless, or at least not for long. Not bad, not a favorite in the series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This novel started slowly, with far too many allusions to prior books. The author seems to have lost her knack for bringing a new reader into her universe; instead, this appears to have been written for those already familiar with the series. There were far too many allusions to past events, and I felt like i was expected to care about the characters already, as if this book's chapter 1 was chapter 10 of some larger book.She's also using the literary technique of giving some chapters from the viewpoint of the heroes, and others from the villains, or at least their agents. So the only mystery was how the author would weave all the strands together. And a wee little bit about exactly what the major non-human villain was actually going to do. That said, by the end I was riveted, and sorry to put it down. Perhaps I just like battle scenes, especially when narrated from the viewpoint of a female warrior. I'm rating it 4 only because of the second half. The first half rated maybe 3. For those not familiar with the series, it's set in the Victorian era, with various types of magicians and psychics as heroes, facing all kinds of evils. In this case, a completely amoral young magician attempts to serve his own advantage by allying with a creature from another dimension, bent on conquering our world. And our heroes predictably solve the mystery and slay the monster, while the magician comes to a bad end.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This was a fast read for me, due in part to the fact that it was such a predictable novel I found myself skimming bits of it. I find that really sad, because I used to love this series and now it's all cookie-cutter perfect. Spoiler-not-spoiler alert: the good guys win, the bad guys get what's coming to them, and no one is even majorly hurt. I have lost interest in this series, and no longer care what happens in them, because I am convinced that nothing even remotely bad can happen to the main characters. (For the record, that wasn't always the case. In the first few books of this series, there was a definite threat that something bad would happen. Even though these are fairy tale re-tellings, I believed that they were in danger. And sometimes they had to sacrifice something in order to get their Happily Ever After.)
Also, the probably MOST ANNOYING THING EVER in this series (and most of Lackey's other work past a certain point) is the use of written accents so thick I have to translate them. I mean, really? Is this actually necessary? Part of Lackey's charm has always been her ability to draw the readers in and keep them wrapped up in the story. If we're stopping every few paragraphs to unravel a bit of dialogue, we ARE NO LONGER WRAPPED UP IN THE STORY. It was very jarring, and very annoying.
In short, I enjoyed this book as a library skim-read, but will not be buying it. I will also be removing all the remaining books in this series from my TBR list, and will not be wasting my time on them. If I want to read a good story from this series, I'll stick with #0-3, with the occasional inclusion of 6 & 7. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oh my! The Elemental Series, London at Christmastime, Sherlock Holmes, and a frisson of horror -- how could I not like this one? Sherlock isn't as much front and center in this book, but he floats on the edges. The elemental magic isn't as much an element as is the horror. Fortunately for me, the horror is in the lines of Lovecraft with a touch more occult, so it isn't overwhelming. Do be aware that the bad guy is really creepy and nasty with typical dark magic overtones of involving sacrificing virgins. I read this through quickly and was very happy. I'll gladly buy the next book in the series. If you enjoy Victorian era alternate fantasy history, you would probably enjoy the series.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Better than The Wizard of London, this is the closest to Lovecraftian fiction Lackey has written. It is an ensemble piece, with our protagonists living in a comfy fantasy Victorian bubble while the antagonist deals with the vicious underbelly. Among the good guys it pretty much lacks interactions beyond reassuring social niceties, though the bad guys assistant, Alf, has a certain charm as a character, but really is a case of 'assistant able to do what ever the plot requires' rather than a breathing individual.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elemental Masters join forces with Sherlock Holmes again, when an other-dimensional evil threatens Victorian London. Holmes fans will be disappointed that he has only a minor role, with no detection on-screen, although his contacts come in very handy for the denouement. The Watsons, being Mages themselves, play larger roles, as do Nan Killian and Sarah Lyon-White. The villain, however, has the largest part. Fortunately, it's an interesting one.Christmas is a time of wonder, but it is also a time of danger. When the dark of the moon coincides with Christmas Eve, the walls between the worlds grow thin. A rogue magician, who has found a certain mysterious book promising great power, calls on a being from another dimension. This being has certain...demands. Soon young women are going missing, then turning up as mindless automotons. And another young woman is having strange and terrifying dreams.Not the best in the series, but certainly worth reading.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This Elemental Masters book has Nan and Sarah in the lead with John and Mary Watson helping them. When John Watson asks them to check on a girl that may be having visions of a broken London they find out that she is seeing the future and they race to find who and what is trying to bring this about. Even though Sherlock is on the cover of the book he really isn’t in the book much. They never know who is working with the thing from the other world trying to get in but they do defeat the evil that is attacking with the help of Puck and the backup he brings.
There are new characters introduced and I wouldn’t be surprised if the one bad guy that gets away shows up later down the road at some point.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The quality of the writing, plotting, etc is high, and I do love the combination of Nan, Sarah, their birds, the Watsons, and Sherlock Holmes. However, I don’t enjoy the worlds of Lovecraft, Cthulhu, and other eldritch things, so I’ve rated this lower than I otherwise would.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The twelfth Elemental Masters books stars returning characters Nan Killian, Sarah Lyon-White, Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. John and Mary Watson. It is Christmas time and all are determined to make the occasion special for Nan and Sarah's ward Suki. But while they are attending the Panto and window shopping, Alexandre Harcourt is planning on calling on a dark power to get himself power.Alexandre Harcourt hates the Christmas season but this year a new occult book he finds at his favorite bookstore gives him an idea for a way to increase his power and wealth. He is a resentful man who hates that his father left him under the supervision of his lawyers. He learns about an entity who will grant his wishes if he just follows the entity's instructions. The entity instructs him to find victims for him and sends Harcourt and his loyal man Alf out to find pure young people to feed to him. People go missing in London every day, but when a young woman from the prosperous middle class goes missing and is found wandering mindlessly, Sherlock Holmes is called in. Sherlock asks Nan to look at the young woman. Nan discovers that the girl is little more than an automaton. Her soul is missing!When other girls go missing and are found in the same condition, and when a young women the Watsons, Nan and Sarah have rescued from an institution for the insane because of her visions sees a London in ruins, forces are gathered to try to find out what is happening and how the forces for good can stop it.The story is richly detailed and filled with amazing images. It drifted a little bit more to horror than I am usually comfortable with, but the compelling storytelling kept me reading and listening. Gemma Dawson did a great job with the variety of accents and characters and also did an excellent job with the story's pacing.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lots of interesting characters and a plethora of bad spirits and their ilk, the game was on. Certainly, a different world for Sherlock Holmes to be in. However, It never seemed to come together
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I am a fan of Ms Lackey and was really happy to receive this book to review. Having read a lot of her books my expectation were quite high and I wasn't disappointed.
A mix of alternate history, Victorian England where magic is real, fantasy and horror where literary characters like Sherlock Holmes cohexists with legendary one like Robin Goodfellow. On the background the lovercraftian Old Ones.
The plot is definitely exciting, once I started I had to read it to the end.
The book is well written, with interesting characters and enough horror side to keep going without causing to much anxiety (I am not a Lovercraft fan).
I would recommend this book to any fantasy lover.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Daw for giving me the chance to review this book.