This book is a retelling of Donkeyskin, set against the opening of WWI. When Robin McKinley wrote it as Deerskin it was a very dark and disturbing book, but Lackey manages to keep the subject matter (a man who wants to put the soul of his dead wife into his daughter so he can be with her again) relatively light. Id still place it as PG-13, but certainly not as descriptive or awful as it could have been. As part of the Elemental Masters series, it reads just like the rest of them strong female character without the right parental figures needing to be taught her craft, and ending up with the right guy in the end. It can be read out of sequence; although many characters from past novels are involved, we are not really reminded of their backstories. The author presumes weve either read the rest in order and know who everyone is, or it doesnt matter who they are, just read the book as a stand-alone. If you liked the others youll like this one just as well. If youre new to the series, youll probably like this one, but Id start with one of the earlier books retelling one of the better-known fairy tales.

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