Owlknight by Mercedes Lackey

Reviewed by Holly White

Owlknight is the sequel to Owlflight and Owlsight, and the conclusion of the Darian's Tale Trilogy, part of Mercedes Lackey's ongoing series about the land of Valdemar. 

 At the beginning of Owlknight, Darian has fulfilled his dream of establishing a Valdemaran "Vale," a place similar to where the Hawkbrothers live, but in Valdemar near his home village.  Although the Valdemaran Vale was still a work in progress, it was already beginning to serve its intended purpose of allowing Valdemaran, Hawkbrother, and people of all cultures to meet to discuss disputes, trade, defense against mutual enemies, or anything of mutual interest.

In addition to the establishment of his Vale, Darian has passed his test to become a Master Mage and has been knighted.  While he had diffidently accepted these honors, doubts plagued him. He loved Keisha completely, but her insecurities made her fear that he would find someone else. She held herself aloof from him to protect herself from potential hurt.

Darian longed to search for his parents who were lost during the Mage Storms back when he was a child.  Then he lacked the maturity, the experience, and the autonomy to go looking for them.  Even though it seemed unlikely that they had survived, he wouldn’t be able to rest until he looked for them himself.

One problem was that there were no clues as to what happened to Darian's parents.  The ensuing years had only served to obscure any clues that might have explained what happened.  Darian had concluded that if they were alive, they must have gotten caught in one of the Change-Circles that occurred all over the world during the Mage Storms.  A Change Circle was a circle of ground a few yards in diameter that would get magically whisked off to another land, often far away, usually with completely different flora and fauna.  And the circle where one landed was simultaneously moved to yet another land.  The circles had always rearranged themselves with no rhyme or reason, so there was no way to examine one and determine what had happened with another.

As Darian’s search began, he found only bones.  But then by purest chance, he encountered a clue that not only gave him hope again, but sent him, Keisha, and a party of friends on a journey they would never forget.  They faced foes both natural and unnatural, against whom they were unsure if they could stand.

Will Darian and his party of travelers be able to defeat the incredible odds against them?  Will Darian find his parents, and will they both be living? Will Keisha learn to accept Darian's love and return her own freely?  Find out by reading Owlknight.

I have truly enjoyed this book, and I think you will, too, especially if you love fantasy, good vs. evil stories, or tales of magic.  I will be writing my next review on Brightly Burning, a stand-alone book in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, about a young man with a talent for fire-starting.

Storm Breaking by Mercedes Lackey

 Reviewed by Holly White

Storm Breaking  is the third book in Mercedes Lackey’s Mage Storms Trilogy, part of her ongoing series about the country of Valdemar.  It follows the books Storm Warning, in which a mage storm, something unprecedented in anyone’s memories, attacked Valdemar and all the surrounding lands, and its sequel Storm Rising, in which they discovered that, after another series of smaller mage storms, yet another cataclysmic mage storm was coming, much worse this time.  Storm Breaking  opened with Karal in recovery from his first experience at being used as a mage channel, a channel through which mage energy and power to flow.  Although Karal and the mages he helped were successful, they are now exhausted and weak, and still have not found or implemented a permanent solution. 

Elspeth and Darkwind went to visit Tremane, in order to further cement the alliance with him.  Tremane, who was already being called “king,” by some of the Hardorneans, was about to take the title officially, and with the full support of the people of Hardorn.  But there was a condition.  He would have to take the “earth-binding” oath, an ancient tradition that had not been invoked in centuries, by which he would pledge himself to the land of Hardorn, to protect it and not to do it harm.  The earth-binding further ensured that he would be under a permanent “truth-spell,” unable to lie.  The beleaguered Hardorneans were dubious about trusting a newcomer after everything they had been through under Ancar’s rule.  They distrusted any newcomer, but especially someone from a conquering land such as The Empire.  But with the earth-binding, they would accept as king this man who looked already out for their good.

Meanwhile, in The Empire, Emperor Charliss, who had named a new successor, Melles, was dying, and blamed Valdemar for not only the fact that he was dying, but also for the mage storms themselves.  Melles sought only to build his own power while undermining Charliss.  Melles used every devious means he could think of to steal the loyalty of the people from their dying Emperor, and get that loyalty for himself.  But Charliss had an insidious plan that he had revealed to no one.

Karal returned to Haven, the capital of Valdemar, again as the envoy of Karse, to help the alliance try to find a way to defeat the mage storms and their unnatural effects.  Just as they settled on a solid plan, Natoli, the girl with whom Karal is in love, was badly injured in an explosion.  And just when their relationship might have been blossoming into something more than friendship, Karal was forced to go far away.  He had to prepare to be used as a mage channel once more.  So he left Natoli lying in the hospital, knowing that she understood that he must do his duty, and traveled to the far-off land of the Shinain people, along with all the mages that could be spared.  There Karal worked with people of all sorts, Hawk Brothers (who bonded with birds), Gryphons, the lizard-like hertasi, horse-like Companions like Florian, and wolf-like historians who were there to write it all down for posterity, in case they succeeded and there WAS a posterity.  They worked together to study the experiments and spells of an ancient mage, Urtho, and found powers that, if wielded, could cause extreme protection or extreme death.  No one knew for sure which way they were intended to work.  Everyone working there, especially the mages, and most especially Karal, faced the fact that even if they succeeded in protecting the land from the last cataclysmic mage storm, they may not live through it themselves.

Will Tremane take the earth-binding oath and become the true king of Hardorn?   Will he find out he has more than one unexpected ally?  Will Melles succeed in overruling Charliss’ Empire before he is even in his grave?  Or will Charliss succeed with his most diabolical plan ever?  Will Karal and the others find a way to protect the world, or will they die trying?  And if they do protect the world, what will it cost them?  And if they do survive, what kind of world will it be, if all magic is stripped away? 

Find out by reading Storm Breaking by Mercedes Lackey.  Any adult who loves good vs. evil stories, magic, and fantasy creatures and lands, will love this book.  It’s well-written, well-characterized, and well-plotted.  I’m looking forward to doing my next Valdemar book review, on Owlflight, the first in the Owl Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.

Storm Rising by Mercedes Lackey

Reviewed by Holly White
 

Storm Rising is the second book in Mercedes Lackey’s Mage Storms Trilogy, part of her ongoing series about the country of Valdemar.  In Storm Warning, a series of unprecedented mage storms struck Valdemar and all the surrounding lands, wiping out all magic-made things in their path and creating suspicion and fear between the countries.  In the first book, Valdemar had combined forces with their mages and non-mage scientists to come up with a method for establishing a breakwater, a temporary measure to protect them from the mage storms long enough to come up with a more permanent plan.

Storm Rising opens on the heels of the establishment of the breakwater, as the exhausted mages and scientists of Valdemar struggle to find some permanent solution to the problem.  Karal, the newly-appointed envoy to Valdemar from Karse, has ideas for solving to some of the alliance’s problems, but few take him seriously because of his youth.  Firestorm, handsome, gifted, and hopelessly in love with An’desha, is tempted to use his mage powers for evil in order to get An’desha to love him back.  A more confident An’desha, oblivious to all this, seeks more ways to use his powers and knowledge to help against the mage storms.  Grand Duke Tremane of the Empire, Valdemar’s long time enemy, is camped in Hardorn, a neighboring land unprotected by Valdemar’s breakwater. Tremane is trying to find ways for his men and the city to last out the winter without magic.

Before long, the Valdemarians decide that they need to ally themselves with Tremane.  They plan to pool resources with Tremane in order to defeat the mage storms once and for all.  While there is evidence that Tremane is fair and honest, he was also responsible for the death of Ulrich, Karal’s beloved mentor and friend. Karal must weigh his personal feelings against the safety of the people, and try to trust in Tremane.

Will the older members of the court accept Karal as a viable envoy with relevant ideas and input?  Will Karal be able to put aside feelings of anger and vengeance, and work side by side with Tremane?  Will Firesong stop wallowing in self-pity and become part of the solution instead of part of the problem?  And will any or all of them finally find a way to end the mage storms before it’s too late?  Read Storm Rising to find out.

If you’re an adult who loves fantasy, good vs. evil stories, and characters so realistic you think you know them personally, then I highly recommend this book to you.  I truly enjoyed this book, and I cannot wait to read the next one in the Mage Storms Trilogy:  Storm Breaking.