The Case of the Spellbound Child
⭐⭐⭐
Mercedes Lackey used to be one of my all-time favorite authors. I would religiously scour each used book store for any of her books, often binging my finds later the same day. Unfortunately my standards have shifted over time, and I think she’s lost some of the sparkle her books used to have. The Case of the Spellbound Child is #14 in the Elemental Masters series, and while it was enjoyable I kept having flashbacks to an old Whitest Kids You Know sketch. To be clear, I don’t think the book was bad. I still enjoy the creativity of the world and magic systems Lackey has developed, and the villain for this book was satisfyingly creepy. But the plot felt formulaic, and the addition of Sherlock and Watson feels awkward. This could be because I haven’t read the books in order, so I missed their intro to the series. But it seemed like not enough Sherlock for
fans of his and too much Sherlock for people more interested in the magic.
On the whole, this is a good vacation read if you want something light and stress free that you won’t feel guilty about leaving behind or donating immediately afterwards. A preteen or teenager might like it as a present - that’s about the age I was when Lackey was my favorite. If you’re on the fence though, I can’t really recommend this. You could go with one of her earlier books if you want the peak Mercedes Lackey experience, or if you like fairytale twists grab something by Naomi Novik instead. The Once and Future Witches will give you a magical alternate history book, and Dealing With Dragons or Akata Witch both kickoff great YA series with badass young women as the lead characters. (Dealing With Dragons is at the youngest end of the YA spectrum, but I still reread it as an adult. Akata Witch is on the mid to upper age end of YA due to more complex writing and slightly darker topics.)
I paired this with a pomegranate green tea I used to go absolutely feral over but just… stopped reaching for at some point. It’s still good, but it just isn’t a go-to these days.
