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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful - sensitive, powerful and packs a punch, 10 Sep 2001
By A Customer
I think this sequence of books are simply wonderful. I cried my eyes out over the first one: Vanyel as a young, misunderstood and deeply unhappy boy is so well written that when he has his first chance of happiness snatched away you truly feel for him. His life afterwards, in the next two books, is just as well written, giving you a intimate portrait of a man who loves his people and serves them as best he can and yet constantly berates himself for not giving more. The family and friends are all well drawn and even minor characters are belivable. The homosexuality of the main character is well portrayed, especially in a world that, by and large, rejects those born this way (I'm talking about Valdermar here, but...). Vanyel's struggle to make his family understand this is well drawn and I think Mercedes Lacky writes her (fairly frequent) gay characters very well. the third book is somewhat darker, especially when Van is captured....not entirely sure what purpose that scene served - yes, it makes Van realise what he's doing to himself and his lover, but still......My only couple of criticisms are that, for a 'rare event', life-bonding seems to happen rather a lot: there are more than half-a-dozen life-bonded pairs walking around over the whole three books, which seems a little high. I would also point to a couple of internal inconsistencies: after Van develops his powers, it is clearly stated that he now has the Bardic Gift, yet in Book 2 he tells Medren that he doesn't have this Gift. In the first book, it is made clear than Van not having been fostered out is rare, yet none of his brothers and sisters are either. One also wonders how Lissa could have taken care of Van when she's only two or so years older! My other criticism would be that the books are poorly proof-read: lines are repeated and characters that have just sat down suddenly walk across the room from the door to a chair. Medren also changes from Van's nephew to his cousin at least once. that said, I loved the books: a SLIGHTLY soppy ending, but I think anyone who reads to the end would think that both characters derserve it!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible, 3 April 2002
By A Customer
Truly, if ever there was a hero worth writing about, it is Herald Vanyel. In fantasy I have often found it hard to imagine that the heroes (while great to read about) could ever exist in the real world. I think he could.
This whole series is fast paced, exciting and emotionally involving. It has a strange sense of purity to it. In Valdemar all the high ideals which often get swept under the carpet or ignored in our own world are fought for, and in my view the intensity of this trilogy makes it easily the best in the Valdemar series. Mercedes Lackey seems to have improved on her, already excellent, best to produce it.
Suspend your imagination and live this incredible fantasy.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
no action, 11 Jun 2007
First I freely admit I liked this second book of the serial, despite its many flaws.
Ms lackey is not a great writer, even as far as entertainment is concerned, but she knows enough of her job, she has some interesting ideas and has the skill to put them down.
Vanyel is now an adult, self confident, skilled herald-mage; most of the book is about his balancing his life as a powerful professional with the frailties every human being carries inside: he has quite a lot of them, if truth be told, Ms Lackey has that knack of depicting characters at odds with their life.
This might sound uninteresting to those used to action and epic fantasy, but if you accept the assumption, the (lack of) plot is well developed.
Vanyel is a smart, intelligent, endearing to his friends AND to the readers.
Truth still to be told, in this second episode flaws are more evident: the lack of polish of Ms Lackey prose is quite evident and some very interesting ideas are maimed by a general superficiality.
Furthermore there are some inconsistencies in the plot, which can lessen the pleasure of a very thorough reader such as I am.
This book is not as good as the first but still enjoyable.
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