Book 90, 2020

In Celebration of Lammas Night by Josepha Sherman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



At lunch, I finished reading the book I'd taken to the office. It was In Celebration of Lammas Night, an anthology edited by Josepha Sherman. Each story is based on a song written by Mercedes Lackey, entitled 'Lammas Night', in which a young, traveling mage is persuaded to stay in a small village to replace their wizard, who died under mysterious circumstances. She is given his cottage to live in, and gradually, she realizes she is being haunted by her predecessor. He shows her a spell book with two, virtually identical spells--one to banish a spirit, and the other to return said spirit to life. Now the witch must choose the wizard's fate.

Although the theme of each story was the same, it was interesting to see how the various authors interpreted it. Some had the mage making a clear choice, while others left it to the reader's imagination as to which spell she chose to cast.

Favorite lines:
♦ "You can't make a cow back into a heifer."
♦ Dervish is his name. Hah!

I'm not a big fan of anthologies, but the book was entertaining enough. Giving it 4 stars.