The Elemental Masters is one of Mercedes Lackey signature series, similar in scope and heft to the Valdemar sequence. Most of the Elemental Masters stories are expansions of fairy tales, or retellings of a children's book. For example, Steadfast is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"; Phoenix and Ashes is the Cinderella story relocated to WWI era England, and features a character based on Lord Peter Whimsey from the detective fiction of Dorothy Sayers; Unnatural Issue is based on a Cinderella variant called by many names, including Many Furs, Cattikin, or Donkey Skin; The Wizard of London is a retelling of The Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Some of these novels are light-hearted and well-suited for younger readers; others, like their fairy tales of origin, include very, very dark elements. The Cyprian is one of these; not only is the villainess a murderous sorceress, she is also a courtesan who attempts to groom the young heroine into her sordid profession.

There are actually two fairy tale motifs that form the warp and woof of The Cyprian. The first is that of the magical shape-changer: the selkie, or fox spirit, or snake spirit; usually a woman. If a man finds the skin of her animal form while she is in human form, she is unable to transform and must go with him to become his wife. If ever she recovers her animal skin, she will return to the wild or the water, leaving behind her children. (The Secret of Roan Inish is an Irish depiction of this legend.)  The second goes by many names: "The Twelve Brothers", "The Seven Ravens", "The Seven Swans". All involve brothers transformed into birds, such as swans, who can only be restored to human form if their young sister does not speak for a long duration of time, and fashions shirts for them out of some dreadfully unsuitable material, like nettles. In the most horrific variant, a king marries her while she is unable to speak, they have several sons, and the jealous mother-in-law makes it look like the young queen has murdered the babies. The day that the sister is sentenced to death turns out to be the day the enchantment can be broken, and her brothers fly to her. But she has not completed all seven shirts, so one brother is stuck with a bird's wing instead of one arm. (Look up the Talis Kimberley song "Queen of Spindles" for a lovely version of this tale.)

The Cyprian takes place in Regency England, with a few allusions to "Prinny", the crown prince, who was a notorious ladies' man, to help establish the setting. Baron Whitstone has seven sons and one daughter, four sets of twins, all of whom resemble their mother more than their father in several ways, the most important of which is they can all perceive air elementals. Their mother is a Swan maiden, and terribly unhappy to be trapped in human form. When Ben, one of the older sons, attempts to comfort his mother by revealing to her a secret hiding place where a mysterious cloak of feathers is concealed, she transforms into a swan and flies away… leaving all eight children behind. One of the really wonderful passages of the book is the description of how Ben comes to terms with their mother's disappearance.

Their father eventually remarries, and when he brings his new wife home to the estate, the siblings gradually realize that their step-mother Seraphina has enchanted their father. It also becomes apparent that she is an elemental master, and the air elementals fear her so much that they refuse to manifest if she is anywhere nearby.  All too soon her motives become clear: she wants absolute control of the estate and Baron Whitstone's fortune, and she will kill to obtain what she wants. Mortals are so easy to kill.  Sons of magical creatures… less so. When Seraphina's attempt to drown all seven sons fails, she casts a spell on them instead, and twists it to trap their sister as well. 

But Seraphina is unfamiliar with British laws of inheritance. Imagine her surprise, rage, and frustration when she finds out she is barred from inheriting an entailed estate! She inherits enough wealth, however, to move to Bath, change her identity, and live well. Saddled with the legal responsibility for little Elena Whitstone, she disguises the girl as a servant boy, to prevent anyone from recognizing her. But when Elena begins to mature, Seraphina and her Ducal patron-lover concoct a plan to launch a luxurious house of prostitution, and auction off Elena to the highest bidder.

That's when Elena resolves to flee, daring the dangers of an unknown city and the magical spies of her step-mother. Once she escapes the sorceress' radius of power, the air elementals at long last are able to seek her out and offer guidance. They bring her to a place of safety, where another elemental mage deciphers the step-mother's curse, and a way to undo it. Whereas previously Elena endured sufferings imposed upon her by careless and selfish adults, now she undertakes deliberate suffering in order to win freedom for her beloved brothers. 

As with all the books in this series, the real magic is how Mercedes Lackey takes the starting material and deftly reconfigures the elements, blending in modern personas, historical contexts, and her signature perspectives. All these stories are like the spell in the Magician's book that Lucy reads, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,  "for the refreshment of the spirit".

In The Cyprian, Lackey even incorporates a romance reminiscent of the sister's marriage to a king, without going down the horror-road of the Grimm's fairy tale. And her resolution of the quandary of a brother with a swan's wing instead of an arm is perfectly in keeping with the themes she has developed throughout the story

Mercedes Lackey put a lot of thought and effort into spinning this tale - and, at a guess, a lot of pain. Any reader who has endured cruelty, loss, abandonment, betrayal, or the loss of hope, is likely to hear a crie du coeur that they can recognize. And as always, Lackey depicts a way forward, a way through and past the danger and pain, to a better state: a way of being based on integrity and good relationships. - Chris R. Wozney

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