I found them so over the top that as a result the characters never quite felt genuine to me. It was especially bad when it came to descriptions of the character’s emotions. It was, for the most part, too overdone, leaving absolutely no room for subtlety. Unfortunately, the writing itself kept me from loving it. This is a gripping novel, and I enjoyed it. It’s about the young woman’s discovery of who she truly is, about her escape from the clutches of a manipulative father, and about her conquest of her own independence. This novel is much more her story than Odette’s. I was glad that the story focused on her so much, because she is a character that always intrigued me.

A great deal of the story is told from her perspective-she is the Black Swan of the title-with a few chapters from Siegfried and the Queen’s perspectives. She is a cold, calculating woman who spends her days scheming ways to keep her son from taking the throne away from her when he turns eighteen.īut the greatest of the changes is in Odile. Lackey also introduces a new character: Queen Clothilde, Siegfried’s mother, who is the epitome of an evil Queen. He’s immature and a womaniser for most of the book, but he does become more sympathetic as the story unfolds. Prince Siegfried is also quite different in this version.

Of course, his definition of deviousness and unfaithfulness is rather different when it comes to men, most particularly to himself. He is a self-righteous man whose goal is to punish devious and unfaithful women-or rather, women that he perceives as such. In Mercedes Lackey’s version, the Baron has a concrete reason for having cursed Odette and all the other members of the flock of Swan Maidens.

Like most fairy tale retellings, this one changes the story to some extent, and it especially changes the character’s motivations. The Baron tells Odette that she will be released for her curse if her lover remains faithful to her, and then, with the help of his daughter Odile, comes up with a scheme to trick the prince into betraying Odette. Prince Siegfried sees the Swan Maiden and falls in love with her. So this story is one I’ve always had a soft spot for, and I was thrilled to find a novel-length retelling of it.Īs most of you probably know, Swan Lake is the story of Odette, a princess who was cursed by a powerful sorcerer, the Baron Von Rothbart, and condemned to spend her days as a swan, only returning to her human form by moonlight. I’ve never actually seen the ballet, but the Tchaikovsky piece is among my favourite pieces of classical music, and I grew up more or less obsessed with the 1981 Japanese animated movie version. The Black Swan is a retelling of the story of Swan Lake.

The black swan by mercedes lackey