Receive Your Copy The Rivers Gift Penned By Mercedes Lackey Issued As Publication
A nice little fairytale novella, with an ending that was bit more like Grimm than modern stories, The River's Gift Kindle Edition
by Mercedes Lackey
For Creative Edge Publicity
A similar nature to the old world mythos, and fairy tales, this is a beautiful story.
Mercedes Lackey is exceptional at bringing fairy tales to the modern world, I was entranced by the the story of love, healing and acceptance, The idea that women were not allowed to inherent and property rights is so fundamentally brought the reader that the feminist's conceptions, It was so lovingly done, that the reader see the problem, and hope for a resolution, Enchanting
Sweet short story, Vivid characters and world. Typical Mercedes Lackey fantasy work, One of my favorite authors, Would recommend this fairy tale, Too short
Just as I come to like the characters,the story ends, That is just a tease and frustrating for me Have to say this was much lighter on plot than I remembered I guess it makes sense, given how short it is, but it was still a sweet fairytale story, so I enjoyed rereading it.
Great Novella
Loved it, even thought the end was abrupt, but I will live to read another Lackey book another day, Short, but worth the read
As usual, Mercedes paints a picture of words that draws you into the story, The only dissatisfaction was the end, it came too soon, It reads like a fairy tale, which it seems to be, While it starts interestingly with a little character growth and other colorful characters, there is a turning point in the story, A major event happens not going to spoil it by saying what it is and the story changes dramatically,
Not in a good way unfortunately, While the first part had promise, the second part becomes highly predictable and the character change is so rapidly that it leaves the reader feeling a little cheated with the characters previous self.
Overall, a worthy read, but not a grand one, It makes sense to give it a read if youre a fan of Mercedes Lackey or just a fan of the fantasy genre, It makes sense to read given it is a good story, just not what I was hoping for,
A girl is saved from a terrible fate
A healer of animals and humans meets a magical river horse creature, who becomes a friend after she heals him.
She finds herself needing to be saved after her father's death turns her life around and puts her in the hands of a cousin,
I loved how comfortable this story started, a young woman going into the forest to heal,
A great short story that had a comfy fantasy vibe even when danger appeared, Cute story, but I do get annoyed by female protagonists who don't save themselves, but wait for someone else to save them, This felt especially true when she started so strong and defied castle expectations and the will of her chaperone to heal people and animals of the area, What an amazing Fairytale. Mom What do think.
What do I think That I am in complete agreement, The way the fairytale was told brought me back to my childhood when I would go over to my Grammy house and read fairytales, The dicription was just perfect, It makes me want to read another Mercedes Lackey,
I agree! Well I guess you know what mom and I think, To start with the characters were simplistic yet held depth, The idea of being drugged was frustrating, yet made the story very real though I dont know if her grief would be quiet so consuming the that she would not go and see her Kelpie friend, but over all the story was well told and had a Princess Bride feel to it.
I definitely agree with mom that we would love to read more Mercedes Lackey books, The River's Gift starts as a strong story with an interesting protagonist with the gift of healing both magically and with medicine, however it has a very abrupt resolution, I feel this premise would have made a very nice full length novel, which would have given the characters more chance to develop and really dive into themselves to solve the main hurdle of the story.
This story is, without a doubt, one of Lackeys shortest works ever and yet Lackey easily manages to captivate her audience with it, The Rivers Gift is a short story contained within one hundred twentytwo pages in a bounded hardback book that is reminiscent of a childs storybook, Now while the font style and even the concepts are easy enough for a child to grasp it would be a grave miscalculation to consider this a childs book,
The story follows fifteen year old Ariella who is gifted with the healing touch, She spends her days caring for creatures of the forests which surround her fathers castle, Her acts of kindness keep the land peaceful which benefits the magical beings who inhabit the forest and entices them to make their presence known to her, including a kelpie by the name of Merod.
With her fathers death however Ariellas world is catapulted into chaos as she is ripped from her home and Merod must find a way to save her,
Although the story seems unbearably short much manages to unfold within the limited amount of pages without feeling rushed in the least, That alone is an impressive feat, but add to that the fully developed characters, an enchanting world, and a storyline the reels you in and never lets you go and it becomes no surprise why Lackey is one of the top fantasy writers.
If you have only a few moments to spare and dont wish to get involved in a larger read The Rivers Gift makes an excellent choice, although the characters and their world will still be fully alive in your mind and your heart long after youve turned the last page.
Truth be told my only real complaint is that the story wasnt long enough for me, I would have loved to see what new adventures awaited Merod and Ariella,
but at the same time I couldnt imagine the story going further without it ruining the flavor and feel of it.
At the very least though I would have liked to learn what happened to some of the characters, such as Ariellas lady, Ive never been truly happy with stories that end in a “they lived happily ever after” or “rode off into the sunset” ending, While I like to leave some bits to my imagination there are some aspects I would always like to see closure to,
In all honesty though, my complaint is a minor and trivial one, The Rivers Gift makes an excellent short read for sitelinkfantasy lovers of all ages and walks of life and I highly recommend that you pick up a copy.
This is one book that definately should be in every Lackey fans collection, Oddly enough however, its been my experiance that few have heard of this book and it is a little difficult to find as well, In all likelihood youll have to request it at your local bookstore, but it is well worth the effort,
You can find more reviews from me at my book blog: sitelinkThe Symposium Ariella lives in a medieval setting, She is sixteen and has a healing gift she uses on the animals of the forest, which is how she meets the good kelpie black water stallion, Merod, In the end, he changes into a mortal to rescue her from her cold iron cousin who drugs her to marry her, They both change into swanpeople,
I really enjoyed the novella, I thought it was a little quick to end I was left wondering, . . would she continue to be a healer where would they live what his relationship with her mother The ending is HEA, but really, that's it You build up this relationship between the land, the humans, and the fae folk, and you just have them fly off into the sunset like her birthright wasn't stolen from her, her people displaced and now most likely ruled by a tyrannical hand Really wonderful story
Mercedes Lackey has a beautiful sense of telling a tale a just the right pace.
She weaves the tale all around you and you cannot help but see her creation in your minds eye, Well worth the read once again, I read and really liked this in high school and I decided to reread my copy, age, to see if it was still worth hanging onto, Predictably I did not love it as much as before but I'll probably still be keeping it, It's a cute little fairy taleish novella, It was ok
The beginning of the story was difficult to get into, Once past the initial few chapters, it was good, The author did a great job creating pictures through imagery, Unfortunately, there was a lot of build up to a lackluster finish, Just dammit! I really loved where this was going and then it was over! Too short! Minus one star for leaving us hanging, Shes a healer, she is the steward of her land, she has a whole meaning in life and then poof, they fly off leaving everything to go to hell without her
What about the dark lord chasing her What about the land and the people who live there What about her dreams and desires for her future Nah, its just over.
This is a great book by Mercedes Lackey that shows how she can write a short narrative and still have you entirely enthralled with the characters, The characters had great original ideas consistent with Lackey's imagination of Magic, Lackey has a way of setting the scene, and describing the forest and manor in a way that makes everything come alive, It would have been nice to incorporate some of that beginning insight into Ariella's magic into the ending, maybe then it wouldn't have been such a damsel in distress type story.
But still, great to see the characters being true to who they were written to be, The River's Gift
Awesome story! Mercedes Lackey is a talented "Weaver of Tales! She has such a talent for taking old, beloved fairy tales and turning them into exciting new ones.
I always seem to finish the stories too soon and want it to last much longer! Fans of Mercedes Lackey will be enchanted with Arielle, a young healer discovering her ability to help animals and faerie folk in the forests surrounding her father's holdings.
Her confidence bolstered by an unlikely friend, Arielle offers help to the local peasant villagers, and learns from them that she is following in the footsteps of her mother, Arielle's growing connection to her powers and the manor she is to inherit is suddenly cut shorthow will she escape from her chauvinistic suitor, and the wedding he is forcing her into Mercedes entered this world on June,, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in.
During the lates she worked as an artists model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma, In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.
Im a storyteller thats what I see as my job, My stories come out of my characters how those characters would react to the given situation, Maybe thats why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty odd, One of the reasons I write song lyrics Mercedes entered this world on June,, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in, During the late's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma, In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.
"I'm a storyteller that's what I see as 'my job', My stories come out of my characters how those characters would react to the given situation, Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty odd, One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time.
I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say.
Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other world semi medieval atmosphere, Music is very important to medieval peoples bards are the chief newsbringers, When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not, "I began writing out of boredom I continue out of addiction, I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high tech' science fiction writer.
I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL 'There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein to magic, for instance in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one.
I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians.
And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something than flat stereotypes, Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes, "I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:"There's no such thing as 'one, true way' the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself leave the world better than you found it.
Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race.
" Also writes as sitelink Misty Lackey sitelink Author's website sitelink,