Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsShades of "From A High Tower"
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2022
A Wild West show touring Germany? A female sharpshooter headlining that show? She's an elemental magician? Another female elemental magician joins the show in order to teach her? A Big Bad from her past shows up and she has to confront/overcome him? No, this isn't "From A High Tower"; it's a reworked version called "The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley". If you haven't read the earlier book, this one is just fine. It's sort of High Tower lite; not quite the depth and range, but a perfectly pleasant light reading experience, containing a dash of "Blood Red" for extra spice. The characters are lovely people and I believe I would happily read a book detailing their further adventures...as long as there is an original plot attached!
I have been a fan of Mercedes Lackey since she published Arrows of the Queen in the 80s. I've always been impressed by her abilities and prolific works, her RANGE of stories and her many projects and cowriters. However, in the last 10 years or more, I've read fewer and fewer of her books. Many of the cowritten ones just aren't to my taste and some of the Elemental Magicians books have leaned heavily on exploring the minds of the evil antagonists, which I don't enjoy AT ALL. Silver Bullets at least refrains from that but leans so heavily on those two previous plots that I would find myself asking, "Why didn't she include x, y, and z? Those would make this so much better!" I'm going to
go reread "Blood Red" and "From a High Tower" now. If you haven't read those two, I certainly recommend reading this book first. If you HAVE read them, they will surely be on your mind while you read "The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley"!
