Reserved for the Cat (Elemental Masters, Book 5) Review

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Reserved for the Cat (Elemental Masters, Book 5) ReviewThis time, however, there's quite a bit of a twist to the tale of someone being born with magical talents. What if you were born into a magical family, but didn't have any magic of your own? That is precisely the problem that Ninette Dupond finds herself in. That is, if she doesn't starve to death first.
She's an aspiring young dancer at the Paris Opera when the story opens, hoping that some rich old man will be smitten with her, and turn her into a mistress, complete with her own apartment, money and security for the future. It's a cold-blooded way to look at romance, but Ninette has seen life as a child being raised on the uglier side of Paris. When a leading ballerina is upstaged by Ninette and Ninette suddenly finds herself out of a job, and no where to go.
That is, until Thomas shows up. Thomas is a somewhat bedraggled cat -- that speaks -- and he says that he's been 'watching' over Ninette for years. He assures her that all she has to do is trust him and let him guide her, and he will see to it that she will not just prosper but more...
Which means England. Ninette tries to impersonate an Russian dancer in the town of Blackpool, but she doesn't speak the language, and she knows no one there at all. Then she is taken in hand by two music hall composers, Nigel -- an Air Master, and Arthur, who is no mean magician himself, and their talking Grey African parrot, Wolf. The trio have been putting out shows in the music halls of England, and they need something new -- and the _new_ is Ninette. When they 'rescue' Ninette, her story provides just what they need to create a smash. And it also allows Ninette to meed Jonathan, a dashing Fire Master who may be love of her life -- if she can trust him that far.
But not everything is rosy, especially when the _real_ Nina Tchereslavsky shows up and evil of a particularly nasty sort is about to be unleashed...
I have to say that I was very much influenced by the title -- after all, my passion for felines is such that I'll watch or read nearly anything that involves a cat in it. Thomas is the essence of cat-dom. He's slightly aloof, tends to be a know-it-all, but in his own way is valiant, and a close confidant. The relationships between him and the other characters ring very true, and if he has somewhat shaky morals, well, he's just being a cat -- famous for their own self-interest when it is convenient.
The other characters are not quite as well-rounded, especially Nigel and Arthur, and Jonathan is very much a hero, but also fits into the stereotype of 'dashing-mysterious-hero,' without giving any hint of why he's attracted to Ninette. Of all the characters, the most interesting is Wolf, the parrot, which for fans of classical music, there is a surprise in store.
To balance all of that, there is Lackey's use of modern and classical dance, the world of the music hall, the peculiarities of cats and parrots, and the use of known pieces of ballet and classical music. That's where I started to have fun with the novel, picking out the little jokes and snippets that made the background right, and so the novel much more believable. It's the little touches like this that help to move this up and out of the standard transcribed fairy tale that is a common device for fantasy writers.
Four stars. Recommended.Reserved for the Cat (Elemental Masters, Book 5) OverviewBased loosely on the tale of Puss in Boots, Reserved for the Cat takes place in 1910 in an alternate London. A young dancer, penniless and desperate, is sure she is going mad when a cat begins talking to her mind-to-mind. But her feline guide, actually an Elemental Earth Spirit, helps her to impersonate a famous Russian ballerina and achieve the success she's been dreaming of. Unfortunately she also attracts the attention of another Elemental Spirit—a far more threatening one—and the young dancer must once again turn to her mysteriously powerful four-legged furry friend.

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