Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill have, between them, released close to one hundred books. Together, they are responsible for five in Lackey’s dark urban fantasy series Bedlam’s Bard, collaborations that all came off pretty much seamlessly, Edghill folding herself easily into Lackey’s alternate, SERRAted Edge-ish world. I love, love, love Mercedes Lackey, and while I am not equally as enamored of Edghill -- which is not to say I don’t like her; I am equally as enamored of very few other authors -- I think they work well in partnership, and I have enjoyed Edghill’s own worlds, as well.

The pair now turn their collective attention to the lucrative Young Adult paranormal market with the first book in their Shadow Grail series, Legacies, and… hmmm. It’s… hmmm.

Spirit White (and don’t think she doesn’t complain about being stuck with that name a lot; could this be a woman named Mercedes exorcising some past demons?) awakens in hospital to learn that she is the only survivor of a car wreck that claimed the lives of her parents and her sister. She also learns that she is to be given unto the care of an orphanage called Oakhurst Academy, though this is no rundown charnel house in the slovenly care of a latter-day Miss Hannigan. It’s more like when Annie moves in with Daddy Warbucks, all shiny luxury cars and private aircraft and new outfits.

But there is a darker side to all this elegance. For Oakhurst Academy is a school of magic (yes, Hogwarts is referenced more than once), and its students -- legacies -- are the orphaned or otherwise abandoned spawn of former students, all of whom possess inborn magical talent. (It takes Spirit a long time to put together that this means at least one of her neo-hippy parents was a magic-user of some kind. I’m afraid Spirit’s just not too bright.)

Their Mage Gifts (oh, hello, Valdemar!) come in four different styles, or Elemental Schools: Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. And within those four broader areas are an array of specialized flavors and strengths. And, of course, Spirit, alone of all one hundred students at this Power-infused school, manifests no Gift at all.

DUM DUM!

However, the other students all have Gifts of varying degrees and coolness, and Spirit soon makes some friends, despite the evident desire of Oakhurst to set everyone at odds. The atmosphere is competitive and adversarial -- think Battle School, but with bi-monthly dances -- and there is Something Strange Going On Here, especially with the Staff and their split-personality head honcho, Dr. Ambrosius. (Oooh, is that a Bond villain name or what?)

Soon, students are disappearing, and it is up to Spirit and her newly-acquired gang to make sense of it all and out a stop to it all by themselves. And they, unsurprisingly, do -- Teen Power! Adults Suck! -- and are thanked and rewarded for their diligence and care of the school. But menace still lurks and sinister forces are still at play and what was that dungeon set-up all about, and what’s with the thing that killed Spirit’s family? Tune in next time to find out!

So far, so paranormal YA. And that’s exactly what this book is, the first in your fairly typical Young Adult series. It’s got all the usual suspects (the outsider who commands loyalty among a disparate group of individuals, the blossoming romance with the Hot Guy, the mortal danger that Only You Can Stop), and while it puts a gentle spin on the formula, and is by no means ill-done -- Lackey and Edghill don’t know how to do things badly -- it never quite rises out of expected YA cliché.

And one aspect of the book that does feel a little off is the Young People Talk. The kids IM each other at night from their rooms, and there’s a lot of chtspk that feels very forced. On the one hand, none of the kids make a “Boogie Wonderland” reference when they discuss their Earth, Wind and Fire Gifts, so they’re not terminally uncool, but on the other, frequent use is made of the word “emo” and the phrase “fries short of a Happy Meal”, which seem more than a little outdated. Admittedly, it’s tough keeping up with the teens and their fleeting linguistic fashions at the best of times, and with Lackey and Edghill both of an age where Spirit could conceivably be their granddaughter, it’s certainly a valiant effort that only just misses the mark.

In the final analysis, Legacies is exactly what you might think it would be, no more but certainly no less, and it a fast and fun read, if not always an entirely satisfying one. Clearly the set up for a continuing series, there are many questions left unanswered, and there is no denying that I would like the answers to those questions, so I will most assuredly be returning for Shadow Grail, Part 2. And who knows where the kids’ vocabulary will have progressed to by then! Maybe they’ll be saying things are “all good” and advising each other to “talk to the hand.”

Shyeah. Whatevs.

P.S. Note to Lackey and Edghill: the movie A Knight’s Tale has nothing to do with Arthurian legend. Just sayin’.

  -- Rachel Hyland

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