Exile's Valor (Valdemar) (urspr publ 2003; utgåvan 2004)

http://www.literaryfeline.com/2014/06/from-archives-exiles-honor-exiles-valor.ht... ( )

Weaponsmaster Alberich is now part of the background now to most people. To some, though he's still the damned Karsite and to others, like Selenay's new consort, is a roadblock to his deepest desiree; to sit on the throne of Valdemar. But you can't be king in Valdemar without being a Herald and there was no way a Companion would chose the Rethwellian prince. There was the heir, though, and if regent was less prestigious than king, our devious Rethwellian would take what he could. But he'd underestimated the weaponsmaster...

With this book, we're getting into the near past history of the original Valdemaran stories and it's interesting to see how well Lackey has melded the two series together ( )

I don't think this is quite as strong a book as Exile's Honor, but I like it well enough. The primary plot (Selenay being a featherheaded teenager) is eyeroll-inducing at best, but I do like just about everything from Alberich's perspective, and his romance is charming and realistic, which is a nice change from all of the fated and sort of dire pairings we've seen so far.

Two small rants, though:

- Selenay is the Queen, had been raised from birth to rule, in an environment that has been firmly established to teach practical politics very, very well. How the hell is she not aware that a neighboring country has unmarried Princes of more or less relevant ages? They have treaties! Trade agreements! Ambassadors back and forth! The few pages she spends wondering if there are any eligible foreign men about undercut that entire plot for me. There's just no frigging way she's ignorant about such a fundamental detail.

- A lot of people gripe about Herald Myste, Lackey's admitted author-insertion character. I like her, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. The name is a bit over the top, perhaps, but she's a good character who fits a useful role in the story, and has many fewer Mary Sue qualities than, say, Vanyel (who is perfect in every way.) There are damned few middle-aged women who get to do awesome things in fantasy novels, and the more, the better. Especially when they get the guy in the end, too. ( )

Another good visit with the Heralds in Valdemar, and with my favorite character in the entire Herald series: Alberich the Weaponsmaster. It's not as good as the previous "Exile's Honor", but is a nice follow up. ( )

everything a 'good' mercedes lackey could be. magic telepathic white horses, good versus evil, euphemistic sex, cheap sentence structure, unlimited tie-in potential.