Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!
Rate this book!
Write a review?
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 est...
I think this book was even better the second time around. I always love noticing stuff I missed the first time around... And sometimes it is the silliest things... for instance this line from the book made me giggle out loud this time through and I did not even remember it the first time through. Last page of Chapter 12 pg 258 in the paperback version. The line is "chattering like a flock of noisy little birds, and he with the look of a man being nibbled to death by ducks". All I can say is Ms.
To my surprise, I never read this book before. I thought I read all the Valdemar novels long ago. Obviously not. As many stories later in this series, it’s kind of a mystery. Something strange is going on in the capital of Valdemar, and Herald Alberich, the kingdom’s Weaponsmaster, is investigating. Along the way, he is doing the other part of his duties, teaching weapons and fighting techniques to the students of the three Collegiums: the Bards, the Healers, and the Heralds.Alberich is one of t...
I do love Lackey's Valdemar and picked up the earlier books eagerly. For me they're the equivalent of bookly comfort food. But I was disappointed in the earlier book centered on Alberich, Exile's Honor, and I'm afraid this sequel to it is no improvement. It's a common criticism of Lackey that she's very black and white in her worldview and characterizations. That doesn't suit in fleshing out the supposedly intimidating Alberich, who hails from Valdemar's traditional enemy, Karse. It also doesn't...
Second in the Exile Duology subseries and seventh in the Heralds of Valdemar subseries all in the Valdemar universe, in 1376 AF (After Founding), and revolving around the Heralds of Valdemar. The focus switches back and forth between Queen Selenay and Weaponsmaster Alberich. If you're interested, there is a chronological listing of the Valdemar books on my website.My TakeI like it. You don't need a special building or a religieux to honor God; it's what in your heart that matters.Lackey uses a t...
In a vacuum, this book would be fine. But it's not. I imagine most people reading it will have read the previous book Exile's Honor or any of the two dozen other books set in the world of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey. It just doesn't quite fit with everything, which is the flaw of a prequel to a book written 15 years after the original book. Things aren't mentioned for a variety of reasons: (view spoiler)[Where are the Tedrel children mentioned outside of the two Alberich books? Why is Hurlee nev...
Exile's Valor was a decent book; entertaining with some poignant parts and I liked getting to spend more time with Alberich. However, it was very much more YA than Exile's Honor, and it seemed like Selenay - who came across as very mature in the prior book - lost most of her brain for the majority of this story. Also, it can't possibly be that difficult to come up with some evidence against the 'patron'. They have at least two of the coded (now decoded) letters that were being passed, and those
It has been less than a year since the death of King Sendar in the Tedrel Wars. His daughter, Selenay, has been crowned but her youth makes her Councilers nervous. There is a plan among them to get her married off and she is determined to thwart them, unless her own heart leads her astray.In the meantime, her Weaponsmaster, Alberich, has found some disturbing signs in his second role as spymaster for the Heralds. He has found someone trying to foment unrest against Selenay and he has also seen s...
I’ve been reading Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar fantasy series for the last two months—all 24 of them. Some of them I like better than others but all of them are entertaining. (though I’d only give five stars to my favorites: the two books about Weaponsmaster Alberich: Exile’s Honor and Exile’s Valor.) Usually Lackey writes a trilogy following the growth and experiences of a character who doesn’t fit in and is suddenly thrust into an unexpected new life where he or she learns about his own abilitie...
This may have been a little... weak? I still loved it and devoured it (as I do with all of Lackey's, because I like her), but the main conflict was ... a bad marriage? I do appreciate the not-so-subtle "think before you marry" moral. The awkward sex scene was awkward though. She really should have skipped that. And really, after book 1, where the main problem was war, this just seemed like a petty followup where nothing really happened. And we never got the Orthallen (my assumption anyway) revea...
I'm very fond of Alberich and feel that the author has done a wonderful job in portraying the complexities of his character. I enjoyed this thoroughly, and even more than its predecessor, Exile's Honor. I wish there were many more Alberich books.
Review to Come
More of Alberich's story, and the background to a bunch of things that happen in the Arrow trilogy.
I really like it.I love Alberich and his way and his look on things. I love how he takes care of people he likes and that he gets the chance to fall in love in this one. Yes, I'm shipping Myste and Alberich so much right now.Also, Alberich, if you ever think that your ForeSight is not longtime? Just think about Hurlee. It's my strong believe that your ForeSight helped invent Hurlee. *nods*My heart was aching for Selenay the whole time. Since we already know what will happen because of "Arrows fo...
Heralds of Valdemar Prequels: 2This is a slooow story. About two thirds of it is setup for the sudden court intrigue that picks up the pace in the rest of the book, but even that's a speed-up-slow-down stutter as opposed to a race to the finish. The writing is full of unbelievable setup that the author tries to justify to the reader with paragraphs of rationalization that don't work. Hey, if you have to explain it, you obviously didn't do it right. If you took the trouble to try to forcefeed the...
This was a great duology. I love Alberich and Cantor, they are perfect examples of Herald and Campanion. I enjoyed watching Alberich develope and settle into his role as Weapons Master. It was also good to follow Celene and discover exactly how she had come to be in the state she was in at the beginning of Arrows of the Queen. I seriously love the Valdemar world, if only I could have a Campanion.
One of the best of the Valdemar series.
Lackey has a slight tendency to be wordier than she needs to be; the plot has one or two holes in it (why did the Valdemar court, which so values intelligence and espionage, have nobody in neighboring Rethwellan asking questions?), and the question left unresolved at the end of the book, presumably to serve as basis for another book, would be resolved in two pages if the main characters acted intelligently. Still, the story has nice plot, with small details achieving new significance later in th...
I think I read this many years ago and liked it better then. This time around I found it slow and boring with the only action at the very end. I did a lot of skipping and skimming, mostly skipping. The first book established Alberich as a character and was worth reading for that alone.I'd say read the first of the series and maybe skip this one?I recommend this book to fans of Mercedes Lackey, fans of Valdemar, people that feel they have to read every Valdemar book, fans of Alberich.
In Valdemar, Alberich has found his place. Weaponsmaster by day, spy by night, ever alert, ever vigilant. The new Queen is having trouble finding her footing, and her Councilors are pushing for a swift marriage. But Alberich senses danger. The only question is, will it come from within or from outside? And will he be ready when it comes?Nice to see the characters develop, and I will be eager to see how this series unfolds.
Great book written about a story that is refurred too in her other novels. It was fun to read even though I knew the eventual outcome. Still, she managed to put some surprising elements that I wasn't expecting at all in it.
Exciting, intrigue, danger, miscommunication, sadness, trickery...unresolved ending, loose threads dangle...
Continuing the story started in Exile’s Honor, the Tedrel Wars are over, and we return to a somewhat subdued Valdemar. The King has been killed and the new Queen Selenay has yet to finish her year of mourning before people start to push potential husbands on her, in the belief that a woman cannot hold the throne alone. And Alberich is slowly working to uncover a plot that threatens Selenay, and perhaps all of Valdemar itself.Whereas a good half of the previous novel featuring Alberich as a main
Here there be spoilers. Do not read if you don't want my rant to ruin the story for you.You have been warned....Does this woman no longer have an editor? I read and re-read it five times and I'll be blunt - the ERRORS in this book make it nearly unreadable. I wrote out a timeline and this book doesn't jive in any way, shape, or form with the timeline of the Arrows of the Queen timeline concerning the ages of important characters. And hey, anybody else notice how in By the Sword the king of Rethw...
Exile's Valor is the story of Selenay's first few years of reigning as Queen of Valdemar. She is crowned at the end of Exile's Honor and is quite young to be assuming the throne. While many reviewers have criticized Lackey's portrayal of Selenay, I find it perfect. She might be Queen but she's still a teenager with no friends in a court that is trying to control her during the prime of her life. She misses her father, companionship, and freedom. Of course she's going to easily fall for the first...
I found Alberich's accent difficult to read when I first encountered these two books, and can't remember finishing this one before, though I remember having borrowed it from the library. I loved it as an audiobook, the narrator does a great job and the accent is way less noticeable when you hear it instead of read it!The various plays Alberich attends are hilarious, as is thinking about a character like him viewing it. I felt like this installment did a great job of humanizing Alberich and Selen...
Eh. It's ok. I grew up reading Lackey's Valdemar books, and the problems woth them become more apparent the older I get. My biggest issues here are how stupid some of the supposed "intelligent" villains are, big errors in timeline & events contradicting what's been established, along with errors that should have been caught by whatever editors checked the manuscript.So, we've got Alberich, the one-man Weaponsmaster & Espionage team, and Selenay (the Overworked Young Monarch Suffering PTSD from t...
Alberich is now the full time weapons master. Selenay has been crowned the queen, but life in the palace isn't all she wants. The councillors want to marry her off but she's fighting them, wanting to at least try to find a love match.From a accident in the salle, Alberich learns about a actor and starts to get a bad feeling that something involving him is going to cause problems, so he gets Myste to get a job where she can watch him. It turns out that he has a rich benefactor who has him involve...
Continuation of Alberich's story covers Selenay's courtship and marriage to a Prince who may not be all he appears to be. Alberich must devise ways to protect her without her knowing, since she will hear nothing against her Prince, despite the fact that he badgers her to make him king, despite the fact that he is not a Herald. Alberich's relationship with Myste is developed further as she helps him with some of his clandestine work in the city. The new game of Hurlee is introduced (a bit of a st...
Oh, I'm really loving these Alberich stories!Learning more about the Weaponsmaster has been fun - but also reading about Selenay, and how she copes with becoming a queen at such a young age, and then has to deal with a husband as false as he was, was well worth the read.I was also pleased that Alberich had found a love of his own, and it didn't surprise me that he went after someone who wasn't the least bit conventional.All I can hope, is that the next book that I'm going to read: Take a Theif,