The elves of England are upon us

[bibliogramma]

By Slanderous Tongues, Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gillis

This is the third instalment in Lackey and Gillis’s delightful series about elves in Tudor England. There’s something that just seems so right about the combination of the glorious but all too human courts of the Tudors from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I and the marvels of Faerie – from Spencer’s Faerie Queene to the modern day fantasies of Lackey and Gillis (to say nothing of two other very different takes on the concept by Elizabeth Bear and Marie Brennan that have also taken up residence on my bookshelves this year).

In this instalment, Elizabeth is now 14 and a pawn in both the earthly political machinations of Thomas Seymour and the battle for power between the Seleighe and Unseleighe courts in the realms of Faerie. Dark elves in the household of Princess Mary, seeking to ensure that she becomes queen and Bright elves acting as guardians for the young princess Elizabeth in the household of Dowager Queen Catherine, make for a great deal of magical intrigue on top of the schemes of Seymour to make an alliance with whichever heir to the throne will take him. And, at the same time that Seymour is trying to seduce Elizabeth for his own purposes, the sexually awakening Elizabeth decides that her best chance for romance is with her elven protector Denoriel.

Elves and Tudors – what’s not to like?