Elspeth comes into her own. With Valdemar threatened by Ancar and whatever barrier to magic the kingdom possessed beginning to fail, Elspeth sets out to find what may be Valdemar's only hope: mages.

As the Heir, a Herald, and a well-trained swordswoman with a mage-possessed blade, she feels she's the best for the task and hopes to have little trouble finding an adept-class mage or two to agree to return to Valdemar with her. Of course, you just know it's not going to be that simple.

Meanwhile, far, far away among the Tayledras, the legendary Hawk Brothers, one young ex-mage turned forest scout is facing his own set of seemingly insurmountable problems.

A good solid story. My only quibble? Skif comes across as slightly whiny and unexpectedly jealous - out of character for the man who championed Talia so valiantly. Both Elspeth and Darkwind are a bit more wooden than I'd have expected given Lackey's usual dab hand with her characters. Still enjoyable, though. ( )

Liked it, not as much as Arrow's of the Queen trilogy. I really enjoy Elspeth and Darkwind's characters. ( )

Plot: The book consists of two plots that only interlink in the last few chapters. The quest plot is predictable and doesn't come with any real highlights or tension-filled moments. Same goes for the second plot that mostly consists of depicting life in a magic-laden environment. The story suffers from very little action in both plots - the final fight isn't set up well and is done in rather anticlimatic ways. Nothing is really resolved at the end of the book.

Characters: Compared to other heroines in the Lackey-verse, Elspeth is suprisingly unperfect. She's still a Mary Sue, but it could have been much worse and she can be likable. Darkwind is trickier since his plot is so determined to be mysterious that a lot of his past is never clear either, so his motivations are not clear and he falls flat as far as characterization goes. The rest of Elspeth's plot's characters are a show of "let's see how so-and-so is doing", with practically no-one new introduced and the known figures not developed any further than they were in previous books. Darkwind gets a few stereotypes to play with, plus an incompetent crazed villain.

Style: Simple writing that is suited to a young adult audience. What is odd are the scene lengths - minor scenes can stretch out over pages, while major scenes are regularly cut short and summed up. Same goes for dialogue, especially when information is imparted that way. The less interesting and important the information, the longer the dialogue.

Plus: As far as Lackey books go, this is a fairly grown-up one with very little fawning over the pretty horsies.

Minus: The plot feels unfinished and makes the story drag. No temporary conclusion at the end.

Summary: A Lackey book with relatively little drama, romance or horse-snogging. Overall an average read. ( )