Elvenbane, by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey, is a thrilling fantasy novel that explores themes of identity, freedom, and the power of friendship.

The novel follows the story of Shana, a half-human, half-elf girl adopted by dragons. Shana was orphaned after her mother was killed in the wilderness. Most dragons tolerate the girl, but others are loath to have her around, finding her 'useless'.

Exiled from among the only home she's ever known, Shana also finds herself on the run from the cruel elven lords who seek to capture and execute her for being a halfblood. Thankfully her adopted dragon brother, Keman, comes after her. Shana decides to try and find the legendary wizards, other half-bloods, and defeat the elven lords once and for all so no others will be enslaved.

Lackey and Norton create a richly detailed world that is both beautiful and dangerous, filled with wondrous creatures and captivating lore. The characters are well-developed and their relationships are nuanced and complex. Shana is a strong and capable protagonist who learns to trust her own abilities and the friendships she makes along the way.

Overall, Elvenbane was an enjoyable story likely to appeal to fans of fantasy and adventure novels. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to escape into a magical world.

***Purchased and read for my own enjoyment. ( )

Started off slow and picked up but something just wasn't tip top on this one. ( )

The first part of this book has quite a messagey tone to it, which, with the familiarity I have of the two authors, have largely come from Mercedes Lackey. This made it rather hard going this time through but as soon as we got past the moralisation and into the action proper it gets much better. It's just a pity that this only happened in the last third or so of the book.

Shana, born of the illegal union of Elf and human, finds herself in the Lair of a Dragon clan during her teen years and finds herself facing constant criticism for being a two-leg, not that she thinks of herself as a two-leg, but as a dragon stuck in two-leg form. Finally pushing the dragons into exiling her, Shana suddenly finds herself in the hands of real two-legs (human) who had taken her prisoner until they think she's a half-wit and sell her off as a slave. At this point, she helped to escape this fate and she's introduces to a group of half-elven wizards though she find herself hemmed in by more rules designed to maintain the status quo so when Shana and other younger members of the Citadel decide to help a band of children with power escape an Elven estate, they find themselves at odds with the powers to be and Shana is joined by an escaping elven heir and his half-elven cousin and her foster brother who all end up having a number of adventures as they try to escape those on their trail. ( )

Best of the 3. ( )

A story of elves, dragons, mages and half elves/humans.

I really enjoyed this. While a bit shallow, I never felt like rolling my eyes or putting the book down.

I found it quite interesting to see dragons as tricksters and elves as the bad guys. ( )