Just before Lent begins, I am having a Mardi Gras for my brain and gorging on my old fantasy favorites. Right now, I’m reading Mercedes Lackey’s novels of the SERRAted Edge, the first of which is Born To Run. Now, I don’t think anyone would accuse Ms. Lackey of being a “Great Author,” but for a plain-ole-fun fantasy novel that draws you into the story and lets you forget the world around you, you really can’t beat her. You won’t find heavy themes here (although the story does have darker elements about teen runaways, prostitution and child abuse) but you find… elves. Ms. Lackey writes several series dealing with elves, and in each one the race is different. In the SERRAted Edge novels, they are among the good guys as well as the bad guys. They can’t create things on their own, they are allergic to caffeine, and they race. As in car racing. In Georgia. And, oh yeah, the good elves (and their human friends) fight explosive mage battles with the bad elves.

Obviously, the series is light. I frequently burst out laughing (or at least a good deal of snickering) as I am reading, and anyone around me is treated to a reading of the section. The story follows a human mage (Tannim) who, if you were reading very carefully, you met in Jinx High as a friend of one of the protagonists. He’s an adult now, and in the very first scene of the book he rescues a redneck ghost haunting a stretch of highway. His day job is as a “Test Mechanic/ Driver” for Fairgrove Industries, a front company for the car-racing elves. Add a 65-year-young Irish engineer, an elven lord raised by humans, and a teen runaway in a heap of trouble. Season with evil elves waging an ancient blood feud against Fairgrove. Mix liberally with Celtic myth and modern Georgia, and you have something that is simply fun to read.

Genre: Urban Fantasy.
Why I read it: It’s a Mercedes Lackey novel, and I haven’t read one of her books yet that I haven’t enjoyed. Good battle scenes, teen coming-of-age, magic, usually humorous or at least with light moments. Kind of like a serious reader’s cotton candy… sweet, fun, not very heavy and definitely to be enjoyed.
Who should read it: Fantasy lovers, teens, young adults and adults who are young at heart. Fantasy lovers who can also laugh at the genre.