I love the story of Swan Lake and hoped for an original and insightful perspective. However, what we get from The Black Swan is a flat narrator who remains on the fringe of the story like an intruder and reveals nothing which the reader can't already guess. It reads like fan fiction more than a full-length novel. The concept is great but the execution not so much. ( )

I really enjoyed this retelling of the swan lake fairy tale from the perspective of an original character. It is a slightly darker look at the reasons and workings of the curse on the swan princesses, and the main character is refreshing in her role as a sympathetic captor.
Odette's struggle between helping her friends and honoring her father's tyrant wishes was very well played out. She is very self-sufficient, surviving with her flock in the forests by relying on her own magic.
The prince was a playboy prat until something goes wrong, and he does redeem himself by expressing true guilt over the incident. Love at first sight still kind of bothers me, but it wasn't fall in love = sex, and Odette's suitor is kinda adorable, so I'll let it go. ( )

I find myself re-reading this book often. The dynamics between the sorcerer, his daughter, and the captives is so well done that they seem like real people. Quite a good retelling of an old favorite. ( )

My first Mercedes Lackey novel, and I can't say I'm impressed. I'm only cursorily familiar with the story of Swan Lake, but this version didn't seem to add much of anything to the base fairy-tale-ish structure. At the beginning, the author appears to be trying to explore the power gap between the genders and the double standards to which they are held (and some of the abuse of power practiced by nobility).

However, the true plot and the drama of the ballet take forever to start (halfway through the book) never fully integrated into this discussion of sexism or any fleshed-out character motivation. Thus, the characters rather mechanically act to serve the ends of the plot and form personal attachments (both romantic and platonic) that feel entirely convenient, rather than understandable, passionate or explained (Odile and Odette's friendship; Odette's and Siegfried's romance).

Odile, the titlular black swan, never emerges as a fully-grown character or protagonist. The prose is rather tepid and robs Swan Lake of its balletic magic. The characters never seem to take *action* in any way that would lead you to root for their 'happily ever after' ending. And the author never answers the ethical/moral questions of social commentary that is raised by fleshing out the motivations of Swan Lake.

Odette has to confess her sin that she ran away from an unwanted arranged marriage, but Siegfried can feel free to leave out that he RAPED a woman (driving her to suicide). If women only have money, magic, and sex (if even the first two) as their only tools in life due to gender inequality- if they are forced into only having seduction as a power source due to a sexist society, how can we condemn usage of that seductive power as 'evil'? ( )

A lacklustre, walk-it-in retelling of Swan Lake. I really disliked this one. ( )