Category Archives: Book Reviews

Review: Mercedes Lackey – Winds of Fate

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Winds of Fate
Mercedes Lackey
Elspeth must find a way to bring magery back to Valdemar. Instead of following the convenient plan set out for her, she chooses to ride a different path – much to the consternation of her traveling companions.
Honestly, I found Darkwind’s sections boring, and often found myself skipping through them impatiently. The best part of those were the griffins!
I don’t see the same character faults in Elspeth that she sees in herself. Nevermind. I’m not sure if it’s a character inconsistency or something else wrong with the writing.
There were some inconsistencies with Skif’s characters. Elspeth says that Skif’s uncle was a thief, and Skif followed in his footsteps, but if you’ve read ‘Take a Thief’, you’ll know this isn’t the case. Also, the ending, I felt that what he might be planning to do would be outside what was required of him as a herald.
This is a great refresher on magic in Valdemar if you’ve forgotten all about it since Vanyel’s time. Lots of useful history and other good things.
I’m positive there are some redeeming factors for this book – I’ve certainly read them more than once. But I’m hardly ever attracted to them when they sit on my shelf ready to read, so that must say something as well.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Winds of Change

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Winds of Change
Mercedes Lackey

“The last Herald-Mage gave his life to protect his kingdom from destruction by dark sorceries. But now the protective barrier set so long ago over Valdemar is crumbling, and with the realm imperiled by the dark magic of Ancar of Hardorn, Princess Elspeth, Herald and heir to the throne, has gone on a desperate quest in search of a mentor who can teach her to wield her fledgling mage-powers and help her to defend her threatened kingdom.”

This novel details Elspeth’s learning of magic, and Skif’s finding of his cat girl. It’s quite slowly paced, but fills in a bunch of interesting details. Elspeth and Darkwind both mature in this novel. Elspeth is pretty awesome anyway, if I do say so myself, but it’s cute to see the romance happening.

This history covered in this novel is of the Vanyel and  Brightly Burning variety. Ah, my favourite! I can’t say I liked Firesong much, but I did respect him. His character is explored more in the Mage Storm books and again in the Owl Knight trilogy.

It’s interesting that this Ma’ar has been able to survive. You wonder whether Urtho might have done something similar. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you need to read the Gryphon series that details those points in time.

I left this novel before reviewing it. Oops. Naughty me. I’ve reread this novel less than most of the others in this series, and I have to say I probably have a reason for that – I just didn’t like it as much as others.

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Review: Tamora Pierce – Terrier

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Terrier
Tamora Pierce
Beka is a lower city Dog, a lawkeeper. With interesting informants, or Birdies, she must solve a number of unknown crimes in an area that noone else seems to care about.
I love Beka. She’s a heroine with faults, which makes her ever so much more likeable. And she is aware of most of those, which endears the reader to her even more.
When I read this novel for the first time, I hated the journal format, longing for the more familiar third person prose of Pierce’s other books. I settled into it though, and now I really appreciate that the action is compacted.
The dust spinners and pigeons add a bit of light heartedness to the novel. Who ever hear of the dead and voices speaking through those? Pounce too adds a little humour. There’s little to laugh about most of the time, Beka is so serious about her job.
The ending of this novel comes as a bit of a surprise, or at least some parts of it do, so that makes it way more exciting. A good, solid teenage read that I’d recommend to any teenager who loves fantasy and strong female heroines.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – The White Gryphon

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The White Gryphon
Mercedes Lackey
The city of the Black Gryphon has been in operation for 10 years after the collapse of Urtho’s empire. Now threatened by the black skinned owners of their land, Skan and Amberdrake are threatened as never before.
Skan returns – but he’s fat and bored with life. The novel here sees him getting back into shape, but also being saved only by the smidgen of luck. The same goes for Amberdrake. Sometimes it feels like they’ll use up all their luck just being alive!
I would have liked to see more of the regular life at the settlement, and more of the black people’s lands. But I guess you can’t fit everything into one novel.
The action isn’t bad, even if there isn’t really much suspense, because the reader already knows who and what is happening. You feel sure that they are going to triumph. You don’t even like the people who are murdered!
Something I disliked about this novel were how the partners of the men were basically ignored as sideeffects and weren’t really given much of their own say. This was particularly true of Zaneel.
Although I was intending on reading all of this trilogy in a row, this novel put me off reading them for a bit. For me, these novels are some of the weaker ones in the series.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – A Cast of Corbies

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A Cast of Corbies
Mercedes Lackey
Raven has been made unofficial leader of the Free Bards. Little does he know that things aren’t going to be the same at the faire – and that they might need to work harder than ever to make their livings.
Raven’s a neat guy character. He’s got that element of being rakeish that appeals to me, yet he’s really an understanding bloke at heart. Magpie on the other hand, I don’t feel much sympathy for her insecurities and wish she’d just get over it!
To some extent, this novel is not very interesting. There’s no real antagonistic figure other than the Church and the Guild, and that’s been the case in all the other novels of this series. The beginnings of the love interest between Raven and Magpie is ok, as is Jaysen and Linnet’s, but again, it’s nothing remarkable.
There’s some really neat one liners and coincidences that make the novel for me. Plus, I really like the play, and the way the music would have fit in with it. I only wish I could have seen a performance of it.
I managed to knock this novel over in around 3 hours, which I think is typical for me, even though I have read it before. It wasn’t a waste of 3 hours, and it made a nice change from the other Valdemar novels I have been reading recently.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Exile’s Honor

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Exile’s Honor
Mercedes Lackey

Alberich has been rescued from almost certain death by the fires of Karse. But did he really want to be rescued? Drowning in a new culture, there is little he can do to save himself.

Alberich is one of my favourite male protagonists in the Valdemar series. He’s always thinking hard, and his honor is the most important thing about him. I could read about him all day, and wish that this was a trilogy.

Nothing about this novel is boring. It’s cut into three sections to make the action move faster, and it really works. The war is as dangerous and action filled as you would desire.

The Herald chronicler, Myste, adds a nice counterpoint to Alberich’s unapologetic masculinity. I only wish there was more on her. It’s funny to imagine her, because the descriptions are all from Alberich’s fit point of view.

I could have sworn that I had read and reviewed this novel already, so I paid less attention to taking notes on what I enjoyed about it as I went along. Oops!

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Arrows of the Queen

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Arrows of the Queen
Mercedes Lackey
Talia has been freshly Chosen, but she doesn’t understand what that means. Thrown into the dangerous world of the court of Queen Selenay, she must find her feet quickly or drown in the doing so.
Talia is one of the strong female heroines that makes Lackey’s writing so powerful for me. Her shaky beginnings only make her better in my eyes, and her love of music is a minor note that makes me happy too.
It amazes me every time the skill with which this first novel in Valdemar was written. There’s bits that tie in with the other novels she has written in the series, and also tight links into the other books in the series.
Amazingly, some parts of the book made me want to cry! I’ve reread it a bunch of times, and it always surprises me the way it pulls my heartstrings.
It’s nice to see a stable lesbian relationship portrayed in a positive light, and that gives the book some additional thumbs up from me.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – By the Sword

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By the Sword
Mercedes Lackey
Kerowyn’s Ride. Should say it all, right? Left the only able bodied person after an attack on her family, Kerowyn must avenge it. Little does she know that she’s going to be changed forever.

Kerowyn will attach herself to your heart as a strong female hero right from the word go. She’s convincing, consistent, everything I could want in one of Lackey’s characters.

There’s not much in the way of consistent secondary character, the focus is mainly on Kero. That being said, Daren creates a good counter for a little while in the first book. Then there’s the man Kero meets while she’s lost. All to the good!
The book being separated into various sections of years is great. It means no time is wasted on pointless stuff, and it makes the book more action packed. The only frustrating thing is that there could have been more about Valdemar.
I’ve been reading these completely out of order, so I’m getting a bit confused as to who should in the in stories or not. Elspeth appears in this one, but her level of maturity had me a bit wonky for a bit.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – The Oathbound

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The Oathbound
Mercedes Lackey
Tarma and Kethry are unlikely companions, mage and warrior. Bound together to go against bandits, they’ve stuck together to get Tarma home to the plains to claim her birthright. There’s plenty in the way before the can fulfill that though.
176797It would have been nice to have a little more backstory from both Tarma and Kethry. Nevertheless, the bit you get about Tarma isn’t bad. If there’s a deficit, it’s that the magic that Kethry practices is nothing like what you see in other novels, and more of that would have been good too!
Most of the story seems to be told from the perspective of Tarma, which suits me just fine, just haven’t read a bunch about Kerowyn (Kethry’s granddaughter). Tarma is a sexless warrior, absolutely skilled in the blade. She’s not cold though, she cares about her people and Kethry.
This is the first outing of the sword, Need. Need plays an important role in ‘By the Sword’ and also the novels with Elspeth and Darkwind (the Winds trilogy).
I made the mistake of reading this, and then reading the second book straight afterwards. Now I can’t remember what I really liked about this novel! I did like it though.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – The Black Gryphon

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The Black Gryphon
Mercedes Lackey
Skan is a powerful gryphon, a creation of the mage Urtho. Fearless and brave, little does he know he’s going to fall for a cull gryphon. With the help of his friend Amberdrake, they will have to overcome the final treachery.
There’s so many tiny storylines in this novel that you hardly get a sense of the overall war. However, it’s clear that there is a war going on, and that most of this would not have happened if not for the selfish ways of Ma’ar.
In some ways, this novel sets up the Winds trilogy with Elspeth. Ma’ar also appears in those novels, and the reason why is shown at the very end of this novel. I still don’t understand exactly why he hates gryphons, but he does with a passion.
I’m happy that Amberdrake is able to find someone to keep him company, even though it’s not what you would expect! There’s no real antagonistic figure except Conn, and you don’t know how important he is going to be until the end.
Normally changing perspectives would drive me nuts. Here though they serve well, because I’d get bored of Skan’s hissing speech and Amberdrake’s superior attitude pretty quickly.
I didn’t get a sense of terrain. This novel was about the people and animals. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I’m pointing it out nonetheless.

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