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As I'm a fan of things Irish, I stumbled across Morgan Llywelyn's books some time ago. I hang my head and admit that I haven't read them all. Then again, I'm not sure I've read all of any author's books.

That's beside the point.

I bought The Elementals on the offchance that I'd like it. I'm sort of a nature sort, and I figured anything dealing with the elements could be entertaining. After all, I've toyed with writing them on my own.

And, for the most part, with this book, I wasn't disappointed.

The book consists of four sections for, you guessed it, the four elements: Water, Fire, Earth and Air. To be honest with you, if I'd been the editor in charge of this book, I'd have done things differently. Meaning, I'd have set up the stories differently.

I wasn't the editor.

The book begins with Water, and the tale of what amount to prehistoric peoples fleeing the floodwaters, and finding a new place to live. It's dry, it draws on, and it made me put the book down more than once. Buuuut, I muddled through, and finished it. Not a strong start, in my opinion.

From there on out, the book's a lot more fun, and more entertaining to read. Fire takes place near Atlantis and deals with the Minoans. Earth takes place in the nineteenth century, and deals with Annie, a New England homesteaders wide. And Air, the last installment, deals with George and a unique solution to the global warming and air pollution problems that loom over us all today.

Was the book worth the reading, and worth the money? I'd say yes. Was it a page-turner from start to end? No. If you're like me, and have trouble getting through a book if it starts slowly, skip the first story. The other three will keep you going.

Once A Pirate
Susan Grant
320 pages
ISBN: 0505523647

Dorchester Publishing
February 2000

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Let me begin this review by saying that pirates are not my thing. I seem to say that a lot, about a variety of things, but it's all too true. I remember being forced to endure my father's poor pirate impersonations whenever we went to Long John Silver's, and the Pirates of the Caribbean terrified me on my first visit to Disneyland.

Let me also state that I could be accused of favoritism in reviewing this book. Susan Grant is a member of my local RWA chapter. As a matter of fact, she's last year's president. She has been friendly, and outgoing, and helpful, and I think she's a fantastic person all-round.

But there's that whole pirate thing.

In Susan's first book, Once a Pirate, Pilot Carly Callahan's plane crashes into the ocean as the result of the engines being flooded by a storm. She ejects, and splashes down safely, only to be hauled aboard a boat that, by all accounts, is a pirate vessel.

It becomes clear over time that the boat really is a pirate ship, and it is captained by one Richard Spencer, once a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and now a wanted man. He has wicked blue eyes, dimples to die for, and seems to play a part in the nightmares that haunt Carly. He's mistaken her for the half-witted daughter of his enemy, and he takes her hostage, more or less, to be ransomed to her waiting husband-to-be.

The story doesn't, of course, end up that way. All ends well; it's a romance novel, so we expect these things. There are some tricks to pull in order to get to that happy end, and more than a few hitches along the way.

Richard and Carly make a fantastic couple in the past. I found the resolution and the way they were kept together a little ... too much. A little too convenient. There is also a "false conclusion", meaning that there is a point in the book where it could have ended, and a hundred pages or so stripped out of the book. It's not flawless, but very few books are, and for a first book, this one stands out above many others I've read.

So give it a try. Pirate fan or not, it's an enjoyable read.

Storm Front: Book One of the Dresden Files
Jim Butcher
336 pages
ISBN: 0451457811
NAL
April 2000

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This is not the text version of a Billy Joel album! Wouldn't it be odd if it were? Nor, with a subtitle like Book One of the Dresden Files, is it a serialization of the Rockford Files. All right, now I've dated myself.

Ahem.

Storm Front, quite simply put, is a great deal of fun. It is the first offering by new author Jim Butcher, and the first in what promises to be a trilogy at the very least. Storm Front introduces us to Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, a real honest-to-God wizard. He does not, his door sign reports, do parties or love potions, but he does find lost items, and he does, on occasion, help the police.

When a mafia thug and a female escort are brutally murdered, seemingly by magic, the police call on Harry once more. Of course, things are never as easy or as straight-forward as they seem. Harry's fouled by visits from mafia bosses, the nervous wife of a missing man, a nosy reporter, and various other colorful characters.

The book is written in first person, and as stated before, that normally has me running for the hills. I protested to my writing partner that I couldn't possibly read the book for this reason. After two chapters, my mind had been irrevocably changed. Harry has a very clear voice, the story is entertaining, well-written and engaging, and one heck of a first foray into the publishing world.

And, lest anyone think that a book written by a man about a man with a very male voice wouldn't appeal to a woman, think again. The fact that Jim gets us so thoroughly inside Harry's head just makes the book that much harder to put down. If you like magic and mystery all rolled into one, then this may be a book for you.

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