Storm Warning by Mercedes Lackey

Reviewed by Holly White

Storm Warning, the first of the Mage Storms Trilogy, immediately follows Winds of Fury (the third & final book of the Mage Winds Trilogy) in the Valdemar chronology.  Although a link to the introduction to Valdemar is included in each of my reviews, I am going to include an excerpt here because this story brings it to bear quite powerfully:

“Long ago, a good man named Baron Valdemar lived in a land with a tyrant for a king.  For a time, Baron Valdemar was content to use his magic (for he had some powers) to merely protect his people from the tyrant, but the day finally came when nothing would protect them unless it was a revolution.  Baron Valdemar knew, however, that he and his people could not hold out long in an actual revolution, so he took his followers and settled in a new land far away, which he named after himself.”

Storm Warning opened up on the heels of Valdemar’s defeat of Hardorn. Hardorn lay in waste in the wake of their King Ancar’s reckless use of magics.  During the war, Valdemarian assassins had killed Ancar and his mage ally Hulda, the spirit of Mornelithe Falconsbane, and Ancar’s envoy from a land to the east of Hardorn, simply known as the Empire.  That envoy’s death caused the Valdemarians great concern.  The Empire’s envoy had been in the process of creating a mage gate to go back to his homeland, when he had been struck with a knife whose hilt bore the Heraldic seal of Valdemar.  As he died, he fell through the mage gate, taking the knife back with his dead body, into the throne room of his master, King Charliss.  Now Valdemar had come to the attention of the ruthless ruler of the Empire.

After the war was over, Valdemarian historians pored over old documents to learn what they could about the Empire, only to discover to their horror that the Empire was none other than the land from which Baron Valdemar had originally come.  As soon as the Empire recognized the insignia on the knife, and came to the same conclusion, they would be out for blood.  War was inevitable; it was only a matter of time.

Karse, a country which was Valdemar’s old enemy, had joined forces with the Valdemarians during the war against their mutual enemy Ancar.  Now that the war had ended, Karse sent an envoy named Ulrich, and his secretary, Karal, to Valdemar to try to turn that temporary alliance into a permanent treaty.  Ulrich and Karal had to overcome years of prejudice to learn to accept the Valdemarians.  This attempt at mutual understanding was further complicated by the fact that there was a spy for the Empire in the palace.  The spy attempted, in an effort to eliminate any help Valdemar might have, to assassinate all the envoys from all of Valdemar’s allies, including those from Karse.

An’desha, a good mage formerly possessed by the evil Mornelithe Falconsbane, struggled painfully with not only that evil man’s memories and inclinations, but also the memories and inclinations of all the men whose bodies Falconsbane formerly possessed.  Karal and Ulrich tried to use their powers to help An’desha deal with and learn to control his own mind and powers.  But An’desha was continually plagued with a feeling of unnamed dread, like something terrible was about to happen, something worse than even war with the Empire. 

Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse, an attack came on all of them alike: Valdemar, the Empire, Karse, Hardorn, and all the surrounding countries.  No one knew who or what had caused it.  All anyone knew was that it wiped out everything magic in its wake.  They were going to have to find a way to stop this thing before it destroyed the whole world.  And the secret to defeating it lay in the most inaccessible of places- in the evil memories held in the mind of An’desha, a man whose spirit was far too fragile, to delve into them.

Storm Warning is the first in the Mage Storms Trilogy, followed by Storm Rising and Storm Breaking.  This book is one of Mercedes Lackey’s finest.  Her characters are so well written they seem like real people, like my friends.  And when her characters go through hard times, they make me cry.  They make me unable to put the book down.  They also make me laugh, or think, or worry, or get mad, or shake my head indulgently.  But to me, a character that is written so well that he/she makes me cry, that is when the character is no longer fictional, but comes alive, and makes the reader really care.  Mercedes Lackey has accomplished that in this book.  I highly recommend this book to any adult who loves fantasy and good vs. evil stories.   I will see you all next time–right now I have to go put Storm Warning on my “Favorites” shelf!

Winds of Fury by Merecedes Lackey

Reviewed by Holly White

Winds of Fury is the third and final book in Mercedes Lackey’s Mage Winds Trilogy, coming after Winds of Fate and Winds of Change.  It is but one of many in her books about Valdemar, which I am reviewing in order of publication date.

In Winds of Fury, Elspeth and Darkwind arrive in Valdemar, intending to help Valdemar in the war with Ancar, the ruler of the neighboring country of Hardorn.  Elspeth, a Herald who was also the Heir to the throne of Valdemar, had traveled far and long to find allies for their fight- mage-trained allies who can not only fight for Valdemar themselves, but who can also detect latent mage gift in Valdemarians, and help train them to use it in the fight as well.

Unfortunately, the mage gate they used to get to Valdemar did not land them where they intended to be. They met a mysterious stranger, and they could not tell if he is friend or foe.  They also learned that Ancar had formed an alliance with their old enemy, Mornelithe Falconsbane.  But then, they received unexpected help to get to where they intended to be in the first place.  They arrived, along with their entourage of people and creatures so varied that the locals were terrorized at first.  It took no small amount of effort to convince the good people of Valdemar that these were all allies and not enemies. 

As it turned out, their unexpected journey was a bit of good luck in disguise. Apparently Elspeth had been believed to be dead, and her trip from the gate back had allowed her to be seen by the villagers of all the towns they had passed, thereby dispelling rumors of her demise.  But when she arrived at Haven, she did something so unexpected, that it left both the Council members and the Queen reeling from the shock of it.  However, after having time to think about it, the Queen and Council agreed it was indeed the best decision Elspeth could have made.  That left only strategy to plan.  The Valdemarians needed to find a way to defeat Ancar and his mage allies, Hulda and Falconsbane. 

Then they learned of a further complication.  They found a new friend and ally, An'desha.  He was a good man whose body the evil Falconsbane had taken over years ago, and whose consciousness still remained alive, if subdued, inside the body,   An'desha agreed to help by probing the mind of Falconsbane for his plans and motivations, even knowing that if it came down to it, he might die if they killed Falconsbane.  Elspeth and the others agreed that if at all possible, they must find a way to get rid of Falconsbane once and for all, while keeping An'desha’s body intact, so that An'desha would not die as well.

Will the Valdemarians and their newfound allies find a way to defeat Ancar and his two powerful mage allies?  Will the mages find and train new Valdermarian mages in time to be of any help during the upcoming battles?  Will Elspeth and the others find a way to kill Falconsbane without killing An'desha?  Find out by reading Winds of Fury.

Winds of Fury is a great book, holds my interest well, and I recommend it for any adult who loves fantasy, magic, or good vs. evil stories.  My next review will be Storm Warning, book one of the Mage Storms trilogy (which also includes Storm Rising and Storm Breaking), also by Mercedes Lackey, also set in Valdemar.

Winds of Change, by Mercedes Lackey

Reviewed by Holly White

Winds of Change is the second book in Mercedes Lackey’s Mage Winds trilogy set in her Valdemar universe.  In the first book, Winds of Fate, the great mage-gifted Ancar was threatening the kingdom and Valdemar needed mages of its own in order to stand against him. Unfortunately, they no longer knew who to identify and train their own Gifted, so Elspeth, the Heir to the throne of Valdemar, traveled on a quest with her best friend Skif, another of the Heralds. Together they sought out the Hawkbrothers, mage-gifted men and women who bonded with birds instead of the horse Companions, and who could help Valdemar regain their mages.

In Winds of Change, Elspeth began her training under a Hawkbrother named Darkwind, and the two of them, unbeknownst to the other, began to have feelings (undeclared) for one another.  Meanwhile, Skif teamed up with Darkwind’s brother, Wintermoon, to leave the Vale, the home of the Hawkbrothers, on another quest to try and seek out Nyara, a changechild who was Skif’s true love who had been taken by the evil Mornelithe Falconsbane.  Nyara was undergoing training with the enchanted sword called Need, which was also protecting her from Falconsbane’s schemes.

Then before they were ready, Elspeth and Darkwind found they were going to have to face Mornelithe Falconsbane, who had declared a personal vendetta against Nyara, against the Gryphons (powerful allies of Darkwind who had repeatedly helped defeat Falconsbane in the past), and against everyone in the Vale.  They called in outside help, but would their help come in time?  Would their alliance be powerful enough to defeat Falconsbane once and for all?  Would their ideas and strategies be enough?  And what would be the terrible price if they did succeed?

I really enjoyed Winds of Change, and I think it is a great read for any adult who loves fantasy, magery, and good vs. evil battles.  My next review will be on the third book in the trilogy, Winds of Fury, in which I’m told that some of the Hawkbrothers, the Gryphons, and the Heralds, will have to unite against a powerful alliance of evil.