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 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.

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. 

Winds of Fate by Mercedes Lackey

Reviewed by Holly White

The next novel written in the Valdemar series, Winds of Fate, centers around a woman named Elspeth, Herald and Heir to the throne of Valdemar (daughter of Queen Selenay).  We first met Elspeth as a young girl.  Series readers will know Elspeth’s early background from the first Valdemar trilogy  (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow’s Flight, and Arrow’s Fall) which centered on Talia, the Queen’s Own Herald, who served as confidant, advisor, and protector to the Queen and to her daughter.  In Winds of Fate, Elspeth is the adult Heir to the throne.

In this installment of the series, an all-out mage war threatened the kingdom.  Valdemar had had no mages, adept or otherwise, since the death of Vanyel, the last Herald-Mage, long before Elspeth’s time.  Now the mage war loomed; their enemies had mage power, and Valdemar did not.  Nevertheless, Elspeth believed that the mage ability had not left the people of Valdemar; it was simply that no one currently had the power to recognize it in its latent state.  Moreover, even if they were to find someone with mage potential, there was no one to train them. To Elspeth, the best course of action would be to send an emissary to other trusted nations (and potiental allies in the conflict) to ask for someone to seek out and train mages in Valdemar. This emissary would have to be someone with the authority of the throne—either Elspeth or the Queen. Since the Queen could not be spared, Elspeth was the logical choice.

Elspeth’s idea was opposed by the Queen and Council.  Elspeth felt they still thought of her as a little child, and no amount of training or maturity would ever change their minds.  However, Elspeth’s plan received the unexpected support of her plan from a group of allies whose advice the Queen and Council were forced to respect.  Queen and Council reluctantly agreed, on condition that Elspeth take along one other Herald for advice and added protection.  The Queen and Council chose Herald Skif to accompany her.  Elspeth was glad that if she had to bring someone along, it was Skif, for he had always been like a big brother to her.

Skif and Elspeth set out on their journey, alone except for their Companions, horse-like creatures who share a mental bond with their Chosen human. Then the complications really began.  Disagreements between Skif and Elspeth constantly arose: when to go in disguise and when to wear their Herald Whites, when to spend money and on what, and most importantly, whom to trust with the truth of their identities and their mission.  To make matters worse, Skif began to have feelings for Elspeth that were anything but brotherly, but Elspeth did not reciprocate.  This heightened the tension between them.  Before long, Skif began to challenge Elspeth’s every decision with critical disdain at best and outright argument at worst.  On top of all that, they had to change destinations and plans mid-journey.

They finally reach the Hawkbrothers, humans with a magical connections to birds, who might be able to help.  Unfortuanately, they found the Hawkbrothers on the eve of battle with an adept mage named Mornelithe Falconsbane, a man  both powerful and evil beyond imagination.  Exhausted from the journey and from attacks along the way, Elspeth, Skif, and their Companions were then forced to prove they could both be trusted to help and also that they could be of some use in the upcoming battle.  They finally joined forces with the Hawkbrothers to fight Mornelithe Falconsbane.  Would their strategies be enough to defeat him?  If so, would the Hawkbrothers be convinced to help them with recognition and training of mage ability for Valdemar?  Moreover, what would happen in the relationship between Skif and Elspeth?  Find out by reading Winds of Fate, the first in The Mage Winds Trilogy of Valdemar.

I found this book hard to read in places, but that may just be the fact that I do not like to read about the antagonist and his motivations and/or actions.  There were whole sections written form the point of view of Mornelithe Falconsbane, and I found it difficult and unpleasant to get into his mind even for a short time.  However, there were also whole sections written from the point of view of Darkwind, one of the Hawkbrothers, which I also found difficult to read in places.  Perhaps that was difficult for me because Mercedes Lackey, the author, is personally involved in the conservation of American falcons, hawks, and other birds, and I felt she included far more technical bird information than I wanted to know.  It seemed to me to slow the story down some.  However, with all of that, it is still and good and interesting story, and there were places where I could not put it down.  I would not recommend it for children, though, due to the intense journeys into Mornelithe Falconsbane’s twisted mind and activities.  However, any adult who loves fantasy, stories about mages and magic, or even someone who loves birds and the conservation thereof, will probably enjoy this book. 

My next review will be about the sequel to Winds of Fate, called Winds of Change, and the one following that will be the final book in the trilogy, Winds of Fury.  For an overview of the Valdemarian universe, please visit this link:  Valdemar..

By the Sword by Mercedes Lackey

Reviewed by Holly White

I previously reviewed Mercedes Lackey's “Vows of Honor” series (Oathbound, Oathbreakers, and Oathblood) about the mage Kethry and the warrior Tarma, blood sisters who partnered to fight as mercenaries, then later established a training academy to teach their skills to the next generation. 

In By the Sword, we meet Kerowyn, or Kero, the granddaughter of mage Kethry.   Kero goes to her grandmother for warrior training because fighting is all Kero feels she can do well; she plans to “sell her sword,” working as a mercenary like Tarma and Kethry had done.  Tarma takes her on as a student, training her in strategy and tactics as well as hand fighting and archery.  But Kero did not realize Tarma had also agreed to train a spoiled son of the King as well.  They couldn’t stand each other.  Kero was a better fighter; Prince Daren was only going to slow her down.  Daren, third son of the King of their country of Rethwellan, was obstinate; he couldn’t believe he was going to have to train with a mere female.  To complete their training, they had to learn to work together. 

Kero goes on to fulfill her dream, becoming a mercenary traveling with a mercenary company, a group of fighters who became to her like family.  During one battle, she got separated from her company behind enemy lines.  In trying to rescue herself, she also rescued a Valdemarian Herald named Eldan.  As they traveled together, they each learned about the other one’s beliefs and lives, but they disagreed on even the most basic motives for how they lived.  She journeyed with Eldan as far as the Valdemar border, but then left him to rejoin her company.  But when she returned, she found the company’s losses had been heavy, and even their captain had perished.  The incompetent new captain often recklessly endangered the lives of men and horses with no thought to strategy and tactics.  Kero invoked her right to break her contract with the company, but that decision came with consequences.  Before long, she found herself alone and friendless, working as a bar bouncer for only her keep.

The company had not forgotten her, however.  Indeed they had been trying to find Kero to inform her that she had been voted in as the new captain.  Before long, she was back with her company, but this time she was planning the battles instead of helping to enact them.  Before long, Prince Daren, who was now in charge of the king’s armies, had hired her company to help him fight, as allies with Valdemar, against their common enemy.  This war brought her into contact with Herald Eldan once more, and placed them all in a battle against hitherto unknown forces against unbeatable odds.

By the Sword is one of Mercedes Lackey’s best that I have read.  It keeps you guessing, and is filled with twists and surprises right up until the end.  If you love fantasy, medieval battles, and good vs. evil stories, then please read this book; you’ll be delighted that you did!

I had read By the Sword before I had ever read the “Blood and Vows” trilogy, and enjoyed it.  But when I went back and read it again afterwards, I got so much more out of it because it refers heavily to events in the past from the other three books.  I strongly recommend you read those first, because although By the Sword is designed to stand alone, it will increase your enjoyment if you have read the first three.  This book also makes references to characters I’ve grown to know and love from Arrows of the Queen, Arrow’s Flight, and Arrow’s Fall, so I would also recommend having read them first.  I promise you, By the Sword will delight you all the more for having done so.

Magic's Promise by Mercedes Lackey

Reviewed by Holly White

Magic’s Promise is the sequel to Magic’s Pawn, in which we were introduced to Vanyel. As the book opens, we find Vanyel, one of Valdemar’s few Herald-Mages, returning from war, with a weary body and depleted magic.   He needs rest and time to rebuild his stores of power so he heads home to visit his family.  He returns to the entirely different world of familial problems: a mother who smothered him, brothers who looked down on him, women who wanted to seduce him and trap him into marriage, a weaponsmaster who resents him, and a father who despises him.  These things he expected; but in addition he faces an unprecedented temptation. 

He meets Medren, a young boy who reminds him so much of his own self at that age that he fears that the boy will meet the same fate as he himself once did at the hands of his father and the weaponsmaster.  Vanyel feels he must find a way to protect the child from these powerful men who want to train him to be warriors like themselves.  Soon, however, Vanyel discovers that Medren is also Gifted with the Bardic Gift Vanyel once coveted, which causes him to redouble his efforts to keep the men from breaking Medren’s lyre-playing fingers … or from breaking the boy’s spirit.

Needless to say, this keeps Vanyel from getting the rest he needs. Out with his Companion Yfandes,  Vanyel hears a cry of distress from far away, and they race to go to the rescue.  What they find is confusing at best and shocking at worst: a Herald and a small boy who had just been Chosen by a Companion.  And the Herald is beating the Trainee!  The cry they had heard was from the Trainee, a boy named Tashir, who is apparently Gifted in telekinetics.  It appears the child had just killed everyone in the house during a party, including his own entire family.  Vanyel couldn’t understand it.  If a Companion had Chosen Tashir, there was no way the child could be evil, and yet all evidence pointed to the deaths being Tashir’s doing.  The child was so traumatized that he had blocked out most memories of that evening.  What few memories the child could share proved to Vanyel that Tashir’s was a family with as many factions and politics as his own.  On top of that, Vanyel finds himself involved in a family feud that may turn into an all out war.

Not believing Tashir was responsible for all those deaths, or that at worst, he had done so accidentally as a result of not being able to control his Gift, Vanyel has to find a way to protect the boy while he investigates. If someone else is responsible, then Vanyel needs to bring them to justice.  Meanwhile, Vanyel finds himself accused of unsavory intentions which threaten to distract him from finding the truth.

Magic’s Promise started out slowly.  It seemed to me she took too many chapters explaining that Vanyel needed rest and was going home to visit his family even though he dreaded it.  But before it was over, the story was so exciting it was impossible to put down.  I recommend Magic’s Promise to any adult who loves fantasy, adventure, magic, and good vs. evil.

Oathbreakers by Mercedes Lackey

Reviewed by Holly White

Oathbreakers is set in Mercedes Lackey’s world of Valdemar and is the second book in the “Vows and Honor” series, following Oathbound.

Oathbreakers continues the story of Tarma, the warrior woman, Sword-sworn, and Kethry, her blood-sister (like blood-brothers, only female), a White Winds mage.  Their goal now is to retire from being traveling-warrior-and-mage for hire.  Often, they did not even get the “hire” part of it, thanks in large part to Leslac, the minstrel, who had written numerous songs in their praise, which inaccurately portrayed them as being pure altruists, unwilling to accept mere money in return for their aid, only content that justice had been done.  This was proving to be a bit expensive for them.

Tarma and Kethry wanted to start a school where they could teach their skills to the next generation of mages and warriors.  Friends advised them to hire out with a mercenary company: not only would their reputation bring them high fees but it would give them both additional experiences that would be useful in their school.

Tarma and Kethry joined the Sunhawks, the most elite mercenary company around, often hired by the wealthiest nobles, which would also give them connections for the school.  Idra, the Sunhawks’ leader, was also a princess of Rethwellanin, but not in direct line for the throne, in which she was not interested anyway, preferring to fight. Things went well at first, with both Tarma and Kethry establishing themselves as an integral part of the Sunhawks, but then it all started to go south.

Idra had returned to her country after her father’s death to cast her vote as to which brother should be king after him.  One brother was both interested in and qualified for the rule of Rethwellan, and the other was neither.  It seemed a mere formality, but a message from Idra indicated there might be a delay.  After no word from her for months, Tarma and Kethry set out to visit Rethwellan in disguise to see what they could learn.  They found a tyrant on the throne.  Idra and her brother  had disappeared, and the people who were supposed to be their contacts didn’t trust them, and so Tarma and Kethry could not get any information. 

Before it was over with, the two would travel to Valdemar, all the Sunhawks mercenaries would unite in a battle for which they didn’t care if they were paid, Tarma would have to prove herself willing to give up everything she had ever held dear, Kethry would have to call on powers she never had the need to call on before, the minstrel Leslac would be dealt with once and for all, and someone would find love.

I loved this story; it was a bit slow going at the beginning, but by the halfway point, I could not put it down.  I highly recommend this book. You don't have to read Oathbound first, but you will have a richer reading experience if you do because you'll know the characters' backgrounds.

If you love fantasy tales with warriors, battles, mages, disguises, magical beasts that can talk to you in your mind, court intrigues, strategies that involve surprise endings, and the hope of good winning over evil, I think you will love this book as I do.  One more to add to my “Favorites Shelf!”