I have nothing but respect for all the people able to put together coherent thoughts this year. It’s become clear to me that I am not among them, so here I go again, scrambling to write some mini-reviews.
The Heralds of Valdemar Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey
Valdemar somehow never really came across my radar, never heard of them as a teen, which I am very upset about because I would’ve LOVED these, and even since I’ve been on r/fantasy they somehow didn’t seem like something I’d be that into. Never have I been so wrong. I ate the first two trilogies up and I’m only taking a break from them to get back to my bingos.
The great things I’ve seen so far about this series:
Wholesome, fun, and easy to read. I’ve been in a slump all year but I tore through 2 trilogies in 2 weeks
The Companions, magical-horselike-creatures (they are not a horse!) that support, guide and help their well-meaning but sometimes pretty dumb humans
Inclusivity before it was cool, but more on that when I talk about the second trilogy, The Last Herald Mage.
Arrows of the Queen
The blurb
Chosen by the Companion Rolan, a mystical horse-like being with powers beyond imagining, Talia, once a runaway, has now become a trainee Herald, destined to become one of the Queen’s own elite guard. For Talia has certain awakening talents of the mind that only a Companion like Rolan can truly sense.
But as Talia struggles to master her unique abilities, time is running out. For conspiracy is brewing in Valdemar, a deadly treason that could destroy Queen and kingdom. Opposed by unknown enemies capable of both diabolical magic and treacherous assassination, the Queen must turn to Talia and the Heralds for aid in protecting the realm and insuring the future of the Queen’s heir, a child already in danger of becoming bespelled by the Queen’s own foes.
I didn’t really know what to expect, just finally gave in to mod peer pressure and ordered the omnibus with one of the most low-effort covers ever.
The story starts out with Talia, a 13 years old girl faced with the choice of either marrying or going into the church. Her family is the worst (and this seems a recurring theme) and their emotional abuse has left Talia unable to believe in the very idea of kindness and good things happening.
Most of the book is this heartbreaking and heartwarming mix of Talia, having escaped that bad situation, getting more that she could’ve ever dreamt of, and being unable to believe that good things can happen to her, that people can be kind and that she can trust them. It’s also great for the reader that we get brief PoV switches to the people trying to get through to Talia, so we know they mean well while she is stuck in this constant loop of feeling worthless and not trusting anyone. My eyes were stinging half the book. I was also in turmoil because I know you can’t have a book of just good things happening, so I was so worried about when the crash would come, because the build-up had been so strong. When something bad finally happened I was flat-out relieved at the tension release.
This book, and all of Valdemar I’ve read so far, have been so easy to read, engrossing and quick to get through, which is something I hugely appreciate, in our year of the reading slump. The plot moves around merrily, the characters are both easy to root for and far from being perfect or having an easy time.
Bingo: pet H, optimistic, school setting
Arrow’s Flight
The blurb
Set in the medieval fantasy kingdom of Valdemar, this unique and exciting novel continues the story of Talia. Having mastered the powers necessary to a guardian of the kingdom, she faces the final preparation for her initiation as adviser and protector of the Queen.
I loved Arrow’s Flight best of this trilogy. The entire novel is just a journey of personal growth, facing one’s own fears and barriers. There are some small external conflicts here and there, but the internal conflict is the driver of the book, both Talia’s and the person accompanying her. I just found that whole idea pretty unusual, instead of having second book syndrome of just building up for book 3 this really felt like the meat of the story, just a nice huge serving of character development.
Now, a good chunk of this book is just them stuck in the woods in winter, I can see how people might find that slow. But I was so emotionally invested I never really noticed that not much really happened till someone else brought it up.
Bingo: Pet H, cold setting
Arrow’s Fall
The blurb
With Elspeth, the heir to the throne of Valdemar, come of marriageable age, Talia, the Queen’s Own Herald returns to court to find Queen and heir beset by diplomatic intrigue as various forces vie for control of Elspeth’s future.
But just as Talia is about to uncover the traitor behind all these intrigues, she is sent off on a mission to the neighboring kingdom, chosen by the Queen to investigate the worth of a marriage proposal from Prince Ancar.
u/improperly_paranoid kept saying that these books were a mix of hurt and comfort. And I didn’t really understand until this book. The blessing, for me as a reader, was that I read pretty fast, so the really bad parts I got over quickly, to get to the really good parts. But wow, there I was, enjoying my fluffy comfy book when it hit me like a truck. Lackey pulls no punches.
There was also a comeback of my personal worries from book one, the “oh no something bad is going to happen” cemented by the “never in the history of ever has this plan gone well in the final section of a fantasy book”.
Bingo: Pet H, politics
Lirael by Garth Nix
I didn’t realize when I decided to group these books together how much the opposition between them will show. While I couldn’t read Valdemar fast enough, I slowly crawled my way through Lirael over a month.
I really loved Sabriel, you can read my review of it here, but I did not mesh well with Lirael. I just didn’t care for most of the book. Other people love the book, so take this with a grain of salt, a lot of it might just be me being pissed off at the book.
One of my favorite things about Sabriel was the pacing and how things kept going from small scale bad to huge scale terrible. Here the pacing just dragged and it started with the kindgom being under an old and dangerous threat, so there didn’t seem like there’d be much room to grow. I did not care much for Lirael and I did not care at all for Sam, the other PoV character we kept switching to whenever there was a chance of Lirael doing something remotely interesting. Also the dog on the cover, the one interesting character, took so long to show up.
I generally dislike PoV switching before books, and I felt that acutely here. Sabriel, now grown up, seemed to be always far away doing exciting stuff, meanwhile here I was reading about Lirael, moping about not being like the other Clariel and sulking in a library, or Sam, moping about not being everyone’s favorite like his sister.
It did eventually pick up, in the last third it got downright enjoyable, there was less moping and more actually doing things. Things started to move at a noticeable pace. A bit more characters on screen to keep some dialogue going, some imminent danger and oh shit moments.
Bingo: pet H, cold setting, necromancy H, maybe book, there are a couple of books that are a really big deal