Unnatural Issue
core novel 2011 The Elemental Masters
Record
| First published | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.87 (5,337 ratings, collected 2026-09-12) |
| Page count | 361 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780756405755 |
| Internal chronology | 7 |
Synopsis
A reimagining of the Donkeyskin fairy tale set in Victorian England, Unnatural Issue follows Susanne Whitestone, an Earth Master trained in secret by a mysterious fae guardian after the early death of her mother. When Susanne's reclusive, grief-stricken father becomes obsessed with forbidden magic aimed at resurrecting his dead wife, his research leads him toward a horrifying fixation on Susanne herself as the means to that end. Forced to flee her own home, Susanne must rely on her Earth magic and the allies she can gather to escape her father's growing derangement and stop the dangerous ritual he is pursuing before it can be completed, while confronting how far a parent's grief has twisted him against his own child.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Elemental Masters
- Series: The Elemental Masters core; position 7 of 21 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Mercedes Lackey
Notes
- From the series record (The Elemental Masters): Loosely connected fairy-tale retellings unified by a shared elemental-magic system rather than a continuous cast.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Elemental Masters: position 7 of 21: previous Reserved For the Cat (2007) · next Home from the Sea (2012)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Lackey
- https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/298352/unnatural-issue-by-mercedes-lackey/
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