Review: Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

Legacies (Shadow Grail #1)
Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
July 6, 2010
Borrowed from Library
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Grade: C+

Summary (from publisher): Spirit White has survived from a deadly car crash that has killed her mother and father and her sister. She has been discovered by a school with special talents, called magic. A couple of months after staying, people begin to disappear, some vanish to be never seen again, so Spirit and her new friends begin the investigation. But will they find out the truth of what is going on? Or will Spirit and her friends suffer a terrible fate from which they don't know about yet?

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Review: I've been a fan of Mercedes Lackey since I was a quite little girl who wanted a Companion of her own so when I saw this collaboration and 'official' entry into the YA market at my library, I had to immediately pick it up.

I wasn't disappointed by it, but the book also didn't live up to other first books of Lackey series whether that be Arrows of the Queen, Magic's Pawn, or the first Diana Tregarde book. It's only after one finishes the charmingly written story that one starts to wonder about the major plot holes and sketchily characterized people and events. The link to Harry Potter - secret fancy boarding school for the magically gifted - is clear, and I was amused that the characters themselves made the comparisons. However Oakhurst Academy holds more questions than answers (wow, isn't that a cliche way to say something), and the primary method of teaching seems to be to yell at students until they learn in self-defense. Which might work, but it makes the assertion that all these students are there because their parents attended seem weak.

Hints of danger and darkness lurk about from the first encounter with the Headmaster - tales of people 'out there' who want to harm the magically gifted, but the hints fade away as Spirit and her friends start to suspect a traitor inside the Academy. This would be fine (if rather Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) except that the focus changes again to lock in on something rather different. This being the first book in a series grants it a little leeway, but I would have liked some narrative information regarding the changes or possible closure - even if it would be closure that the next book finds false - to make this part of the story feel more standalone and worthwhile.

I'm looking forward to the second book in this series, but I hope it's more consistently written and plotted.