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Arrows of the Queen
Arrows of the Queen
Arrows of the Queen
Audiobook9 hours

Arrows of the Queen

Written by Mercedes Lackey

Narrated by Christa Lewis

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

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.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 30, 2018
ISBN9781977378026
Arrows of the Queen
Author

Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey is the author of the bestselling Valdemar series, the Obsidian Trilogy (The Outstretched Shadow, To Light a Candle, and When Darkness Falls), the Enduring Flame trilogy (The Phoenix Unchained, The Phoenix Engendered, and The Phoenix Transformed), and The Phoenix Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. She has written many other books, including Trio of Sorcery, Phoenix and Ashes, Sacred Ground, The Firebird, The Fairy Godmother, and Alta. Lackey is the co-author, with Andre Norton, of the Halfblood Chronicles, including Elvenborn. Mercedes Lackey was born in Chicago and graduated from Purdue University. She has worked as an artist’s model, a computer programmer, and for American Airlines, and has written lyrics and recorded more than fifty songs. She lives in Oklahoma.

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Reviews for Arrows of the Queen

Rating: 4.0656250089285715 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,120 ratings44 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first-written of the Valdemar books, introducing us to Companions and their Heralds, and how they are Chosen.Talia is pulled out of her Hold in the borderlands, where the living is hard and frugal and females are not valued, to be transported to the capital of Valdemar by the horse-like Companion, Rolan. She (and perforce, the reader) isn't told anything until they arrive, when she finds out whether she will get into trouble for riding a Herald's Companion without permission, or whether she can achieve her life's ambition and become a Herald herself.As Talia's story unfolds, we get to see the workings of the Heraldic Collegium, and something of the royal palace, too, since the Heralds serve the Queen.Although I have read other stories of Valdemar, I had missed this one. I was expecting this to be the original and best of the Valdemar books, but it proceeded at a slow and gentle pace, as it builds the world of Valdemar for us. This is a good book to start the Valdemar story with, if you haven't read any of the books in this universe before, if a bit sentimental at times.4****
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fantastic Read, can't wait to finish the series. The Narrator was also excellent.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    All of it. It takes me somewhere else. Thank you.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Different and interesting. sort of a mix between Anne McCaffery's Harper series Harry Potter
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Slow start but great story! Love the depth and the love and emotions!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is one of my all time favorite books. Lackey creates characters that you care about.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great story with a terrible playback. The story line was piecemeal mixed all up in order. Disappointing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Talia is one of my favorite characters in the series and this is my favorite book of her trilogy. A good introduction into the world of Valdemar
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A young, underappreciated and abused girl suddenly finds herself living out her best daydreams when she's chosen to become a Herald to the queen.Written in the 80s, this is clearly an early-days entry in the Strong Young Female Heroine Who Is Super-Talented in Various Ways but Has Trouble Believing in Herself genre and I assume it's probably one that broke ground in that particular area. It does some things really well - it doesn't feel the need to give her a love interest, and it also introduces a couple of LGBTQ characters in a way that's NBD - so I was happy about that and grateful for the groundbreaking bits, but otherwise it didn't grab my interest enough to make me want to continue with the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the first Valdemar book. I must have read it first more than twenty years ago and began to read it again with some trepidation, wondering if it could be as emotionally engaging as it was when I first read it. If anything, it was even better this time.Talia is a thirteen-year-old girl who was raised in a very restrictive sect on the border of Valdemar. Her life was bound and restricted. Reading was discouraged and any disobedience was harshly punished. When she is told on her thirteenth birthday that it was time for her to marry a man chosen for her by her father, she runs away but really doesn't know where she might be going. She is picked up by Rolan who was the Companion of the previous Queen's Own Herald. Talia doesn't know what is going on. She's certain that she'll be punished for stealing the Companion. When she arrives at the Palace and the Collegium, she finds herself in a life she couldn't possibly have imagined. Now, she is in training to become a Herald and the Queen's Own to Queen Selenay. One of her first tasks is to befriend the Queen's Heir who has become thoroughly spoiled and is in danger of never being Chosen by a Companion of her own.But the spoiled Heir is just one thread of a bigger conspiracy that caused the murder of the previous Queen's Own and the death of a number of other Heralds. Talia is also in danger of being a victim of that conspiracy and would have except for the friendships she's made among the other Heralds and Trainees at the Collegium.I enjoyed the seamless way the world building was built into the story in the form of stories told Talia whose past upbringing made her ignorant of the world she is now living in. I liked Talia's common sense and compassion. I could understand her fear of trusting which has her keeping secrets from those who would be able to help her if only she could open up to them.There is an engaging cast of characters who surround Talia and make the story even richer. I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy again to watch Talia grow into the Herald she becomes.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This first book in the Arrows trilogy, set in Lackey's Valdemar, was mostly enjoyable. It's pretty episodic, which I don't love, but I liked Talia and the whole set up here enough to carry on. Since I first read the Magic's Whatsit" trilogy in my early twenties, I've been wanting to return to this world, and I'm glad I did. I mean to continue on with this trilogy soonish, and I hope that the next book will be a little more plotty.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was impressed by how much of daily mundane material sustained my interest. There was only one jarring moment when Talia lied to Selenay to get Skif out of trouble. She is supposedly unable to lie to the queen. It must have bothered Lackey as well, as she later made up an excuse - a poor one. And the horse Companions is a weak story device, IMHO.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Magic horses, guys.

    I really love the Valdemar books. They are a little bit fluffy and wish fullfillment-y, but they are a lot of fun and oddly progressive in a lot of ways. Valdemar is kind of the perfect fantasy kingdom in a lot of ways, with a monarchy, but a monarchy run by people who are guaranteed to be good people, at least, even if it doesn't always promise that they will be good rulers.

    Talia is an easy heroine to like. She starts in an awful family situation that does not suit her at all and has no clue what is going on when she appears to be kidnapped by a horse. Her confusion is a great intro to the series as a whole, actually, because we readers learn what is going on as she does and it makes it easier to follow everything with a new universe. She also loves to read, which I love to see in a book heroine and don't feel I see enough.

    There is some political wrangling going on, but as this is the first book in a trilogy the full explanation of what is actually happening is not solved. It does end in a solid place, though, and doesn't feel like a cliffhanger. There are mysteries still to be solved, but things end in a logical place for Talia herself.

    Watching Talia learn how to make friends and come out of her shell and actually trust people is a large chunk of the book. It is a coming-of-age novel, for sure, although clearly set in a fantasy universe. She ends up in some danger and has to learn who to trust, but things end pretty well for her. Valdemar is not Westeros, and although some bad stuff happens, it is always offset by good.

    The side characters don't do a whole lot of coming into their own in this novel, though they get further development later. Jadus and Skif probably get the most "screen time," though that is due to the fact that they end up being the most directly connected to the plots against Talia. They're good friends for her to have, and very different, though most of what I know about them actually comes out in other books.

    The writing feels a bit rough in this one sometimes; there is a lot more telling than showing than there needs to be, though this is not as much of a problem in the rest of the trilogy. I think it was difficult to condense this much time and this many plotlines and this much new worldbuilding into a book of this size, and it suffers from that a bit. Admittedly, I have also always loved the Collegium and wished that more time got spent there watching the training of young Heralds.

    It is awkward to write a review for a book you have not only read several times, but you have read the entire series to which it belongs. Separating your feelings for the characters and the writing becomes an exercise in futility. If you are interested in starting the Valdemar series, this is not a bad place to begin, and as long as you are content with a fun romp through a fantasy universe centered on magical horses and coming-of-age stories, you'll probably quite enjoy it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Re-read 2017Poor Talia, she's a holderkin girl who wants to be something other than a wife or mother. When she escapes into books she dreams of being a Herald of Valdemar and doing great things like Lavan Firestorm and Herald-Mage Vanyel. Unfortunately, that isn't something proper girls do in her society. After running away from her hold to avoid a marriage at 13 she is found by a Companion, and her adventures both good and bad start from there.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed Arrows of the Queen. I love how it features a strong female protagonist instead of the typical white male hero. The prose is nothing special. Arrows is a short and easy read. I'd recommend it for younger readers, though it should be noted that there are a few rather sensual scenes in the book. It's a lot less than you'd get on any TV show though. I would have rated it a five if the writing were a bit more polished and the story more engaging.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    ARROWS OF THE QUEEN is set in the country of Valdemar, which is protected by the noble Heralds and their horse-like Companions. Talia is a young girl from a remote homesteading culture that is selected by a Companion and taken to become a Herald – something she has dreamed of all her life, but never actually dreamed would happen. Her task is to be the advisor to the Queen, which means she has to learn a lot in very little time.There is not much of a plot to this book; it focuses mainly on Talia settling in and feeling at home with her destiny to be a Herald and training in the Collegium. She solves some problems, learns to cope with bullying, loss and rejection, and grows up. The Heralds are all ridiculously honourable, which makes for little conflict, and the few conflicts that occur are usually resolved off-screen. The characters all have their own distinct personality, but Lackey does a lot of telling, not showing – I don’t know if that was just a stylistic choice or because it was her first book.Despite the simplicity of the story, the book never felt boring – the character interactions were charming, the events flew by quickly, and Talia dealt with some pretty complex issues. I expected the narrative style to grate on me after a while, but it never did.I’m looking forward to reading about the rest of Talia’s adventures and more Valdemar tales afterwards!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    My only regret is reading this one before finishing the Last Herald-Mage series. I enjoy this world, the characters, the stories and development.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Arrows of the Queens is centered around a young teenage girl named Talia. She lives in a very insular community that tends toward misogyny, polygamy, and child brides, and Talia is dreading being married off. She finds a white horse that she recognizes as a Companion, or a partner of one of the magical lawbringers of the land, called Heralds. She decides to take it back to the nation’s capital, and eventually realizes that the Companion wasn’t lost at all - it was looking for her, and it has Chosen her to be one of the most powerful Heralds in the land, second only to the queen.Arrows of the Queen is the first book of the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy as well as the first of the many books Lackey has written about Valdemar. There are a lot of great things about the series as a whole, but you can tell this is the first book; there are certain things about the mythology that aren’t quite as well thought-out as they might be, and the writing is a bit choppy. Additionally, Talia herself is a little too perfect as a character - there aren’t really any flaws that make her easy to empathize with. While the Valdemar series overall has a lot of strong books, this isn’t one of them.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It has been a long time since I last re-read this book, so it was fresh. First: it needs a tissue warning. I cared about the characters and I did cry at parts. Talia's struggles during her trainee days resonated with me.People have dinged the book because it isn't action-packed, gritty fantasy. The book is a gentle fantasy, focused on characters who are mostly likable. The Heralds are mostly good; their Companions (white, blue-eyed "horses" with at least human intelligence) wouldn't choose them to be Heralds if they weren't.This is the original introduction to Valdemar and has aged gracefully. (It was published in 1987.) I'll be continuing the trilogy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the first book in the original series featuring Lackey's Heralds of Vademar. Talia is a Holderkin teenage girl, looking forward to marriage as a third, second or maybe even first wife to some Holderkin man. Not with any enthusiasm, mind. With downright dread, to be honest. Talia liked to read and dream of adventure - neither likely to happen in her life - until the day things become too unbearable and she runs from her hold and is found by a white horse.This is the story of Talia's time as a Trainee Herald, and Queen's Own all in one go and given the suspicions around the death of her predecessor she wasn't going to find her new role uncontended.I don't know how many books or stories Lackey had written before this book but it's quite accomplished and despite the later books, she's managed to maintain the series continuity leading into this series fairly well, though there are a few wobblers - Rolan, Talia's Companion was said to have been her predecessor's Companion ever since her predecessor had been a Herald (not actually the case in the later books).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Oh, this is just like Alanna but with added magical ponies! Not Great Literature, but warming and page turning and a quick and enjoyable read. The hero, Talia, is a young girl, miserable and squashed at home (she wants to read and have adventures, her family think she should do chores and be married off). Then a magical horse selects her as the only one in the whole kingdom who can solve the problems of the Queen, and she is whisked away to live in court, and be liked and admired by everyone (or at least all the Good People). I've had enough interesting debates around the problems with the term 'Mary Sue' to want in general to try to avoid it, but oh, she's the best rider, the one chosen to be not just a Herald, but the Queen's Super Special Herald, she is so empathic, she learns to sing and two weeks later has all the servants enthralled in a concert, she's the only one who can get through to the spoiled princess... If that's going to annoy you, don't read this book. But if you want escapism and fun and a rollicking tale, read it. It's great.Interesting slant on relationships that I wasn't expecting and that is different from current YA - her best friend fancies her, she likes him in a gentle way, so they decide that yes, they should have some hot fun sex together, and this is all OK, within the social norms, and presented positively. Except then every time they try one or both of them (magically??) falls asleep, and eventually they decide that's a strong hint, and they go back to being best friends / brotherly. Still not sure what the point of that story is.[If I was inclined to over analyse, from a sensitized internet feminist point of view, the start of the plot is really kind of worrying. Talia is poor and abused, and 13, and knows nothing about the world. A horse looks her in the eyes, and immediately forms a bond with her, so that she is willing to work hard and in all kinds of peril, because whenever she is with him she feels joy and loved and safe. If we replace 'horse' with 'man or 'prince', and have a story of a vulnerable child whisked off to the palace to groom him and tend on him and risk her life for him... well, it might be an excellent kinky novel, but it would be a bit risque. Luckily the get out of gaol free card is that the horses are Impossibly Good By Definition, because Magic, so that sidesteps some of the more disturbing ideas.]It is the first one in a trilogy, and I don't have the rest yet, and I've ordered them from Amazon but it'll take weeks for them to come from America. Pout.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fun, easy read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was not my first Mercedes Lackey book, but Talia has been incorporated into later books so I went back and read this series (like I would have left some Lackey books unread!). I get just as caught up in this now as I did when I was a teenager. Love, hate, revenge, death, true love, no giants, but there is magic and talking (sort of) horses. Although the main character is a young girl when this book begin, she never gets the whiny teenage voice some authors like to use, but instead remains interesting and compelling throughout. Quite a good book, and the sequel is quite good as well.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Oh, dear. Arrows of the Queen is such an adolescent novel. Not a Young Adult novel - I'm not talking about category, here. I'm talking about the maturity level of the work compared to the rest of the Valdemar canon. Even the Vanyel books are light-years ahead of this charming but dreadfully slight exercise in wish-fulfillment.

    I don't think it's *bad*, mind you. Talia is adorable (except when she's thinking things like "Well I know this trustworthy adult said they'd help but I don't want to be a bother so I am never going to say anything about my problems.") I very much appreciated the nonchalant appearance of lesbian secondary and tertiary characters (even if one of them has to die - hey, the book came out on the 80s, it was the law.) And there are any number of charming scenes that begin to set up Valdemar as a fantasy world I'd be perfectly happy to live in.

    It'd just obviously a very early work. The character-building is crude, the dialog ranges from stiff to atrocious, and it's awfully choppy - there's an emotional throughline but not much of a plot. If I'd read it when I was 12 I would have loved it with the heat of a thousand fiery suns, but since I picked it up at 21 instead, I find it tolerable at best.

    (It in no way resolves the Tedrel War timing issue that I was griping about in my last review, either - Elspeth was clearly born between two and five years after a war that was thirty years ago, and therefore is now seven years old.)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first book in what is probably my most favorite trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love most of Lackey's Valdemar books. My favorites are the three about Vanyel published after the three books begun with this novel. However, this novel is what started the series and makes a good introduction to Lackey, whose novels often fall into this pattern: unappreciated teen leaves home to find their destiny among comrades who become her true family--think McCaffrey's Harper Hall novels. Talia is an appealing heroine and I like how she grows in confidence in these novels. I loved this book as a teen, and in a fit of nostalgia reread them recently, and found they still hold up. Also like those novels of McCaffrey, the Valdemar novels revolved around a strong bond between a human and magical creature--in this case seeming horses that are full partners. The series continues in Arrows Flight and concludes in Arrows Fall.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I should start out by mentioning that I’ve been enamored by the Heralds of Valdemar Series since I was 10. I’ve loved these books so much that I re-read them every summer, without fail!This time around was just as enjoyable as every other time I’ve read my very worn-out copy. The country of Valdemar is unique compared to other worlds I’ve been introduced to in fantasy. Each area has a set of customs and a general persona surrounding it; the Holderkin folk are more reserved, and frown upon unseemly behavior, while the fisherfolk in Lake Evendim are more rowdy.The main character, Talia, originally hailed from the Holderkin folk. Due to this, she’s a very reclusive, shy, and fearful creature being thrust into a world of Heralds. Heralds are those who are chosen by Companions (can be likened to a horse) and form an intense bond with them. What I loved most about Talia is that she isn’t your average “Mary-Sue” character: she’s been described as not pretty and has her fair share of flaws to balance her strengths. There were a lot of times where she was average at best, and was humble enough to recede “winning” to her other classmates. Throughout the entire novel, you could visibly (well, okay, not visibly, but you get what I mean!) see her transform from this tiny, mouse-like thirteen-year-old into a reasonably sure, confident woman of sixteen years who knew where her place was.I was always a bit put-off with where Talia started at: the Hold. The idea of a woman’s inferiority was like a slap in the face, since I’m very much for equality between genders. I know it probably didn’t reflect Lackey’s personal beliefs, but I had to shake my head in disgust every time I read the beginning of the book and see how broken Talia had become because of the males’ superiority complexes in the Hold. She lost so much spirit that we heard of her fear of men on a recurring basis. It lifted a bit towards the end, but I felt for Talia on such a profound level. Poor thing.There were four major storylines in this novel: Talia’s encounter with the Heraldic world and being accustomed to the Collegium, her misfortunes with the Blues, reforming “The Brat” into “Elspeth”, and lastly, honing her abilities of her gift. There was a noticeable shift between them – you’d be reading about the Blues, then all of a sudden we’re thrust into Talia’s new roles with The Brat – yet it was discreet enough to not realize we were venturing into another “plot” in the book until later.Interactions with characters were... pleasant, for lack of a better word. Being a Herald entitles the fact that you can’t be evil or else your Companion would repudiate you, so everyone was pretty friendly with each other. However, I felt that a lot of the characters personalities meshed together. I could never distinguish between Teren’s or Kyril’s “voices”, and almost everyone spoke similarly. I suppose I shouldn’t be nit-picky about that, because Heralds are inherently personality “readers”, but it put me off a little bit. The only characters that stood out, really, were Skif and Elspeth.My favorite characters HAD to be Jadusand Skif. I loved the emotional stability they gave to Talia. It was hard not to like Skif: he was a trouble-maker that knew how to put a smile on my face. With Jadus, though, I mostly sympathized for him. If I were in Talia’s position, I know I would have quickly befriended him, as well. There’s something about elderly folk that just screams at my heart-strings, and Jadus certainly needed a friend in his lonely days.I loved the plot, especially the bondings with Companions. It was slightly reminiscent of Impressing a dragon in The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. I’ve always been fascinated in having a bond with another being that transcended all boundaries, and the Companions were no different! The pacing of the novel wasn’t too shabby, although I did get a little sidetracked after the Elspeth arc (but that was due to personal issues). Tragedies and fast-paced events littered the pages of Arrows of the Queen, but I liked it that way. In a world of fantasy, I expect to be thrown every which way without getting a full impact until after it’s over, so I like a “busy” plotline.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book introduces the reader to what I consider a sort of proto-Valdemar. It's the author's first book of the series, her first novel entirely if I remember correctly, and after having read some of her later works, I can say that it shows. It's not quite as polished and refined as what she writes later on down the road, but the seeds of an expansive world are sown here and it's interesting to see.It isn't very action-heavy, so those looking to this as a sword-and-sorcery type novel will end up disappointed. Like many of the books in the Valdemar series, it's very character-driven, and can at times appear slow. Even I've thought sometimes that the books could have stood a little more action... until I glance down at the page number and realise that I've spent 100 or more pages being too engrossed in the character development to even think about it until that point.This does serve as good background reading to a lot of the more technical aspects of Valdemar and life as a Herald-trainee. Details only briefly mentioned in other books get a full explanation here, which often are done fairly seamlessly as Talia, the main character, is a sort of blank slate. She's had a very sheltered upbringing and starts off the book knowing only the barest things about what Heralds are and what they do. So other characters get the chance to fill her in and tell her tales and legends and details. Not an uncommon trick in stories, to fill in the reader without resorting to pages and pages of narration and history, though it does get a little bit tedious at time.It is always a bit strange to me, going back and rereading this novel, because so many tiny little things contradict for many larger things that Mercedes Lackey established in later books. The cause of death of the previous King, the timing of the Tedrel wars in relation to Elspeth's birth, possible relations with Karse at the time of this novel (mostly glossed over, I admit, but still somewhat suspect), the implication than Vanyel and Lavan lived and died at roughly the same time in history, and these are just a few I can name. Taken on their own, within the boundaries on this book in this particular trilogy, not a single thing is contradicted, but within the confines of the series as a whole, there are lots of little things that change, and some rather large things.Why yes, I have read this series to the point of near-memorization.Despite this book being the first novel of Valdemar, I wouldn't recommend it to those who have never read anything of the series before. It is too slow at time, and doesn't really pick up pace until very near the end and then continuing into the next novel. I'd recommend starting with the Winds series first, or doing as I did and discovering Valdemar through the Last Herald-Mage series instead. Save this trilogy for a time when your love of Valdemar has been established, because sometimes it can be hard to remember that this book was written decades ago and that the author's style has improved greatly over the years. If I'd started here, I admit I may have been bored away from the series entirely. As it is, I enjoy this book for its backstory, for the expansion on characters I got to know from other novels, and for its simplicity.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Arrows of the Queen is the story of Talia, a young girl who has been Chosen by the Queen's Own Companion. The book follows her through her training to become a Hearld. She must overcome her shyness, attempts on her life, rouge mind magic and reeducate a brat of a princess. The setting is Valdemar, a land filled with mind magic (no "real" magic) and white "horses" called Companions. The book is about triumph against all odds. Talia faces all of her challenges and beats them all, mostly with the help of friends. The book stresses the need for friendship and with friendship you can get through anything. This is one of my favorite books. I recommend it to anyone who likes books about females who win against all odds. It's good for 5th - adult.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've read a lot of fantasy, and I've spent a lot of time looking for fantasy that won't disappoint. When fantasy disappoints you, it usually does so predictably: either the world is poorly-built, the entire story is derivative, it is filled with creepy repressed sexuality, or the Hat Trick.An equestrian friend of mine suggested this series to me: it was one of her favorites. However, her suggestion was somewhat tentative. She had suggested a number of books before, including Eragon and Eye of the World, which are so derivative and poorly-written that they just felt like babelfish translations of Tolkien.However, she had also forced me to read the Potter books (I was recalcitrant due to their popularity) and Pullman's Dark Materials, which were enjoyable enough.Now, I am as disappointed in modern Feminism as your average gender-queer culture-jamming existentialist transhuman chaos magician, so I am slow to suggest that the gender of an author should inform us about their ability to write. However, I will concede that in this culture, the way you are gendered will have long-lasting effects.Apparently, as a man, you end up entirely unable to write sex in a fantasy novel; maybe sex period full stop. Tolkien just kept his romantic leads a few thousand miles apart the whole story. Goodkind creeped us the fuck out with lots of fetishized stabbing. Gor. Now, one might point out that Anne Rice is a female guilty of the same crime (but of a greater degree, since she tries to do it constantly), but I think that has less to do with her gendering than her (less and less) latent Christian repression.The sex in Lackey's work is another breed. It feels human. It feels pleasant. It doesn't make you feel frightened that you might be turned on by it. In short, it blew my fucking mind. In fact, there is almost not much to say about it. It seems the more I think about it, the only thing I can say is that it isn't terrible like all the other fantasy sex I've read.And it's not just the sex. It's all pretty naturalistic and refreshing. Except for the magic. And the psychic horses.The world building is not grade A, but it isn't chicken feet. The magic is pretty touchy-feely, but so is the world, so it works. In fact, the only thing that comes off as a childish fantasy is the psychic horse love-bond. However, I'm not going to look into that too closely: I don't want to find that I've missed Lackey's sexual repression altogether.