Fairy Tale Connection

Friday is for Fairytales is a meme hosted by Irena at This Miss Loves to Read. Every Friday, you can choose a fairytale you love, or simply find interesting or haunting, and review it or simply say why you like it so much, or why it has captured your attention. Instead of a fairytale, you can choose a favourite fairytale character and describe him/her and tell us why you like them, or you can simply share an experience connected to a fairytale. Fairytales can be old and modern, written by a known author or anonymous, written down or passed on orally, short or in novel form (like re-writings of fairytales), international or typical for your country alone. In this case, present your country’s fairytale and we can all become acquainted with a new fairytale. So, make a post every Friday that is connected to the world of fairytales, be it a review, a character description or your own fairytale experience. Let’s celebrate fairytales and share our love for them.

Today I am writing about my favorite Cinderella re-telling. I've read a lot and I think this one is awesome for several reasons.

-The magic is super cool and interesting. Basically there most people have an equal amount of the elements (fire, wind, water, and earth) but some people have more of one and thus power of differing degrees over it. The Cinderella character here has fire while her love interest has wind, complementary powers. The explanations about the magic are fascinating and I love reading more about how they work.

-The villain is of course her stepmother and she is quite awful. The stepsisters, while mean, are also victims of their mother's ambition.

-The history of WWI is somewhat incorporated. Love Interest is part of the RAF-the fledgling British Air Force and suffers from PTSD and the stepmother conjures up evil spirits that inflict the influenza outbreak of 1918.

-The love story isn't the largest part (it's more about Cinderella coming in to her powers and fighting for her freedom) but it's really cute.

To sum up, this is my favorite version of the Cinderella tale and my favorite Mercedes Lackey book. I highly recommend it!