The Black Swan

by Mercedes Lackey

Book Overview

After his wife's untimely death, a powerful sorcerer dedicates his life to seeking revenge against all womankind. He turns his captives into beautiful swans--who briefly regain human form by the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0886778905
• ISBN13: 9780886778903
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Daw Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great take on the story

A dark take I love the point of view. The characters are great. If you like wicked than this book is for you.

Mountains above a plain fairy tale

Black Swan was my first Mercedes Lackey book. I can safely say that it made me a fan for life while I kept on buying more of her books before I was even finished with this one. Her tale of fantasy- like Swan Lake was as a mouth watering sugar coated piece of candy. An extraordinary form of writing so magical and harmonious yet easy to read, excellent to the last detail, from the gleam of the pearl, the shine of the suede shoes magicians wore and the scent of cinnamon of the great halls, musk of the feathered capes and rosemary of the cleaning spells. All that Lackey described and wrote was pious and delightful; it's truly a gem of a book, something that I will be thankful for years I discovered. I usually read horror and mysteries and some sci fi, yet this tale was so mesmerizing, so luscious and captivating that I wished it was a thousand pages long! I must admit the reason I got this book was because of the breathtaking cover art by Jody A. Lee and the curious synopsis on the back, it proven itself tenfold to be a great choice and a wonderful end of summer read. The main story is about a flock of swans under a powerful curse that binds them to remain a swan during the day and a maiden at night. They were all captured by an evil and cold hearted sorcerer, Baron von Rothbar. With the help of his daughter Odile, he kept them enchanted because he hated women and because they all did something to betray a man in their lives, as he forced them to repent forever. Enter a venom spirited queen Clothide who resided many miles away in her lovely kingdom with her son Siegfried, a bachelor with an appetite for women and wine and you have a wonderful mixture of fantasy and romance, of betrayal, lust, corruption and some fantastic magic. I loved how Rothbar changed into a huge owl, his trademark transformation, while Odile was the black swan, together the soared heavens with no one to fear and with constant success with their magic spells that created whatever they pleased. As Siegfried's 18th birthday approached, Queen Clothide grew restless and had some dark thoughts about her dear son due to his approaching birthday, the wedding he had to get and his coronation as the King. Prince had to court many different women as the descriptions of them and their talents made me laugh a few times, as they tried to darn hard to impress the prince while he only had eyes for one special girl. My favorite character had to be Odile, as she was witty and tried her best to have her father love her, as she practiced spells and tricks, watched over the swans and kept his castle clean along with his invisible servants. The more she tried to have him open up the less warmth she got, as she connected that something funny was going on with her father and the swans. As she realized some things that she always believed to be true were lies, she started to change sides but all she had was the magic he has taught her for self defense. Against him she was just a girl who was studyi

Intriguing Read

Despite a few unanswered questions, The Black Swan portrays human nature well. The young protagonist Odile possesses very realistic qualitites that the I connected to well. Although in some areas the book focused a bit too much on Siegfried's perspectives, the book is fascinating as it expands the story of Swan Lake despite the minor flaws. Odile as the Black Swan appears as somewhat of a tragic hero, even more so than Odette. thus imbuing more pity for Odile than the "Swan Queen", even towards the end of the novel.

The best of Lackey's so far

I'll admit it. I'm not a huge Mercedes Lackey fan. She tends to have stereotypical bad guys with no reason for their actions. Her books often start out very well, but then around the halfway point deteriorate, making it seem as if she lost her inspiration and is just trying to finish up the book. That's what happened with Magic's Pawn and with the first Bardic Voices novel -- with the remaining novels in the series not even starting out well. I had thought I was done with Lackey, until I picked up The Black Swan at the library, and got into it.WOW!This novel is definitely the best I have ever read by her. The plot -- based on the ballet Swan Lake -- is rich and detailed, the characters not completely black or white, even the villains. The evil Queen was still human, and Siegfried, while a 'good guy', had been a rapist in the past, and definitely had bad qualities still in existence. The book, unlike others where I had to work to finish, was captivating and difficult to put down. This was an incredible book. I'd recommend it to anyone, not just my friends who adore Mercedes Lackey.

A dazzling retelling of Swan Lake!

I've always loved the story of the beautiful princess who was turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer and permitted to retain her true form only in moonlight. The Black Swan is a wonderful retelling of the Swan Lake fairy tale, with ideas from the animation version, The Swan Princess. Mercedes Lackey produces a detailed and thorough account with insights on the characters - mostly of Odile, the daughter of the evil sorcerer von Rothbart (left out in The Swan Princess), Prince Siegfried, and Queen Clothilde (his mother), the ones that are generally overlooked. Odile is portrayed as an intelligent young woman, neglected by her father, whose only wish is his love and approval. However, von Rothbart cares little for her, especially since she is so clever and seemingly about to exceed himself. She is in charge of the flock of women-turned-swans, and finds friendship in them. Siegfried is a selfish lecher, until his actions come back to haunt him. (I thought that that was a shocking and revolting stage and I was really relieved when he changed his ways, though the transformation was a bit odd and sudden, and he didn't give up all of his bad habits.) Clothilde adds excitement to the story, a factor new to the whole Swan Lake plot. The scheming queen will do anything to ensure that the throne is hers alone. Though I appreciated the elucidation of the characters surrounding the story, I was kinda bummed that Odette was pushed to the very back and we are given almost no details on her character, except in a rare occasion through Odile. I wanted to know a bit more on her past and her development - she is after all, the "main attraction", the center of the story. Nevertheless, The Black Swan is a really satisfying retelling of Swan Lake. I'm glad that it still followed the main story line and wasn't too much of a heavy fantasy (I can never make out the weird names, kingdoms, and magical aspects). This is a great book for mature readers (I say this because the content is a bit dirty at times), especially fans of fairy tales and fantasies!

Beautiful!

This book is a wonderful web of words and images, woven together to create a world in which everything is tangible. This is a classic story retold in a completely new way, and I found it fascinating. I don't think that any of the characters were flat or undeveloped; on the contrary, I think they showed a great deal of sophistication! This may not be Ms. Lackey's very best book ever, but it is in NO way bad. I would recommend it to anyone who was willing to take the time to get involved in the story, and not simply dismiss the subtlties of the plot because they didn't feel like giving any effort into thinking about it. This is a marvelous book, and I will always love it.