Setting/World Building: 4/5. Main Character: 4/5Other Characters: 3/5. Kind of disappointed by the lack of depth to the villains.Plot: 2/5Writing: 2/5Triggering/Issues: 2/5. Character death, but even worse, rape followed by torture (of the sexual sadist variety). Also triggering is the way the aftermath is handled (or rather, the way it isn't really handled at all). AVERAGED TOTAL: 3.1 out of 5, rounded to 3. 2.8 out of 5, rounded down to 2, after a few days had passed and I was still mad.Oh,...

Talia is back from her one and a half years of internship. She now can start on her duty as the Queen's adviser (actually, her title in the book is different, but the job description is exactly the same). It turns out the court's intrigues are way more deadly than the patrolling of borderlands. Her love live is also kind of bad, and there is also a matter of extremely grim prophesy about her future. For better or worse, this trilogy in general and this book in particular are built around the cha...

3.5 starsI keep finding myself wondering what I would've thought of these books when they were first published in the late 80s/early 90s. Those would've been my Babysitters' Club days and I no doubt would've loved these books too. Talking (sort of) magical horses? Adventures and intrigue? Yep, I would've eaten these up. Now though? I am liking them, sometimes even enjoying them, but the flaws are evident and keep me from really loving them, at least so far. They are a product of their time, for

I really didn't like this book. Everyone got inexplicably mad at each other and people fell in love at first sight (fine) and then got married without hardly spending any time together (what not fine!!). And then one character was like "oh yeah they raped me but whatever they hurt my body, that one lady 'raped your soul'". Are you kidding me? She was awful and broke his heart and cruel but comparing that to gang rape and torture is a disgusting equivalency that really papers over some shoddy plo...

And so the disappointing Arrows of the Queen trilogy ends. This book is actually the best of the three as far as being an actual fantasy novel - we have a real mage-war, lifebonding, near-death experiences, use of Gifts, and some political intrigue. Unfortunately, all this excitement literally happens in the final third of the book. The latter two-thirds are AGAIN plagued with the what-if-she-thinks, what-if-he-thinks of the second book. People, you are GROWN ADULTS, some of you with TELEPATHIC

Later update: I read this book several years ago and it ruined the series for me. I would not recommend this book to anyone. There is very heavy content (which IMO is unnecessary and used as a plot device) that is very poorly handled. Many of my friends have rated it highly, but I can't get over these points, and I'm not willing to read the book again to see if I'd change my mind. (probably no) (TW) (view spoiler)[ I will never be okay with the way this author used rape and torture as a plot dev...

** 8th re-read in Jan 2017This series is mature young adult. Love it! Long series done in trilogies. Each trilogy follows the same protagonist for the tree books. The next three will follow someone new but familiar. There's a huge amount of peripheral characters and a couple one-off books to give you backstory on specific individuals.This first trilogy (Arrows) follows Talia, a young and shy girl from a rough area that isn't known for treating women well. Italia gets "chosen" by one of the magic...

Review to Come

Rereading this book is just so painful. The whole time you can't help but tell Talia to just no, stop, don't go, DON'T DO IT. sob. These books are flawed, but gosh they're so very heartbreaking and comforting in the same breath.

All right, I need to get this review over with. I've been going over this in my head, wondering if I should change the star rating. I'd say this is a solid 3.5 and in my own personal files which uses a different scale I did give this one a lesser rating than the first, but a better one than the second. Ok, so third book in the series, I can skip over all the good stuff that has remained solid: great world building, great characters (though perhaps too much focus on the main and not enough develo...

This is the book that truly changed everything for me in the world of Valdemar. The other two books clearly show how hard and trying the life a Herald is. They emphasize how every Herald from 11-90 is ready to die for their country. Lackey isn't afraid to kill off characters through the course of Arrows of the Queen and Arrow's Flight, but this one drives the knife home.Talia is just coming back from her circuit run and will be joining the court as the official Queen's Own with her own vote and

***some spoilers ahead!***I never thought this series took off. It all felt like a big build up to nothing. The entire series, even this finale, felt like the main character encountered a problem then solved it, then encounters a new one, and solves it. There's no cohesion, no building up. In this book, the main bad guy is defeated rather handily, without much fan fair, actually. The secondary bad guy who might have held some depth besides just being evil, turns out to just be evil after all, an...

This is the strongest book in the trilogy, I think - the stakes are raised significantly, and there is some resolution to the major plot threads. The writing is again better than before. It's still flawed, though. The not-talking-to-each-other problem takes up the first third of the book, and is tedious in the extreme. The rape and torture in the middle third feels a bit... not gratuitous, exactly, but cheap, like Lackey couldn't think of a non-obvious way to heighten the tension. And the pacing...

Being home sick gives you lots of time to read books about magical horses. This one isn't as strong as the previous, but in my stuffed-up state it was entertaining enough.(view spoiler)[A lot of the rape stuff rubbed me the wrong way. I wished a little more time had been dedicated to Talia's recovery at the end, when she discovered that she couldn't be touched without picturing her rapists, but instead it was just like "just go away for a few weeks, and when you come back she'll be fine!" And sh...

You know nostalgia be damned I think I have to knock this one down. I should spoiler but I’d want to know before reading: some very brutal rape, which is not at all dealt with, and then made equivalent with someone essentially being verbally cruel. All abuse is not rape, wow. In addition kind of boring and unresolved. This trilogy is important to me but I when I do rereads in the future I’ll likely skip this one.

A seriously beautiful conclusion to Talias journey. I will be reading more of Mercedes Lackeys stories because the worldbuilding and relationships are beautiful. I loved the conclusion to Talias story. About how everything went with her, Elspeth, Kris, Dirk and more. One I have missed these past two books are Janus. While only natural, he was one that I enjoyed but the glimses we get of him is really worth it.I would say this book is all in all, about finding yourself and finding your true voice...

Teen angst and non-communication. This one made me think of Ron and Hermione through their early non-relationship period. Ugh. Enough happens other than the romance side to at least get it to three stars, but no recommendation here.

This series ended up being something of a haphazard affair, with it ending on a weak note that one should have seen coming after the second book spent an extended period whereby two people ostensibly absolutely not in love kept acting like they were in love and calling one another pet-names to an infuriating extent. I think what’s frustrating about Lackey is how she masquerades, here, as a liberal forward-thinking writer with new and fresh ideological directions (for the 80s) but throws it all a...

The ending scene for this trilogy is perfection. I am so happy 💘💘

I loved this last installment to the Heralds of Valdemar series. That’s pretty much all I have to say – it’s a tie for my favorite book out of all three (the tie being with the first).I think Mercedes Lackey read my previous reviews, because the pacing went up by a considerable amount. There were only a few places in the text where the plot lagged, and even when it did, I could see why it was written that way. Elspeth grew a lot this novel, I think, despite the meager amount that was written abo...

This had pretty much everything I could possibly want. Talia truly and properly comes into her own, facing all sorts of challenges and meeting them all head on. Well, mostly head on. There was, of course, the obligatory early part of the novel where Talia has to navigate various social problems and screws everything up until a crisis point. And, of course, much of this comes from the fact that the characters far too often don't properly communicate with each other. I did like the part with Elspe...

*Mild spoilers for Arrow’s Fall and earlier books in the trilogy.*Going into Arrow’s Fall I was wondering how everything was going to wrap up. Since Talia had only just finished her internship and become a full fledged Herald in the previous book, I was concerned that we would not get enough of Talia as a Herald for the conclusion of the book to feel satisfying.I must admit, I found Dirk & Talia’s romance to be exhausting. For one, it was basically insta-love, which is a pet peeve of mine. They

This is the concluding novel in Talia's story, the trilogy than encompasses the 'Arrows' stories. I would absolutely suggest that it would be wisest to read it after the other two.Talia has returned to court from her internship and dived (or been thrown) straight into the intrigue and the ferment that is the court and circle of Valdemar under Queen Seleny. She is trying to deal with the demands of this life while also trying to come to terms with being life-bonded to Herald Dirk, who has managed...

This takes place almost immediately after Arrow's Flight as Talia returns from her internship and is thrust into the full role required of her as the Queen's Own Herald. We get a good feel for how the the Queen and Council rule the rest of Valdemar, and we even get to visit outside of Valdemar finally! There was some melodrama in this one (centered around (view spoiler)[Talia, Dirk, and Kris (hide spoiler)]) which aggravated me a bit, but the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy has never been my favorit...

Dang, this one was downright boring. I really like Mercedes Lackey's other books and just can't figure out what went wrong for me with this one. The writing seems dumbed down in this series, but it was bearable in the first two volumes.I appreciate that some of the seemingly stand-alone events in book 2 of this trilogy come full circle and the book got good for a few pages towards the last third, but it was very hard to slog through. Characters continue to be one-dimensional and the dialogue got...

Growing up my mom was always reading several books at once, usually biographies / autobiographies or other things that I deemed "serious" reading along with those cheap grocery-store checkout-aisle romance novels with the red covers. She called those her "candy novels"- little substance, quick and enjoyable reads, but they don't quite fill you up intellectually.No offense intended, but Mercedes Lackey provides my "candy novels". The writing, plot line, character development and other literary el...

The last part of Talia’s story. She finally gets back to Haven to serve as Queen’s Own Herald, and try to work her love life out. She’s lifebonded to the homeliest of the Heralds, but he resists because he can’t believe she loves him, especially since she just spent a year with the handsomest Herald. There’s trouble over the border with Hardorn—the prince has sent a marriage proposal for Elspeth, heir to the throne—but the queen is wary because of her own history. She married a younger son of an...

The final book in the first trilogy of Valdemar books. As I was expecting, this book was quite a bit better than the middle book. Having said that, it wasn't exceptionally good. Overall I found the whole plot a little bit to simplistic and obvious from the start. There were a couple of minor twists but most of it played out as I expected. The identity of the bad guy had been hinted at since book 1, and there was really only one possible suspect. Another thing that bothered me was that these book...

Well that was a WILD ride. Pacing? Unnecessary. Consistent tone? That would just be limiting. The ending voyeuristically implies the dead best friend is possibly literally watching Talia's wedding night.I did (mostly) enjoy it. It picked up with the political intrigue and magic horses where book 2 was so lacking in both. I didn't agree with the execution of some of the plot points but I can't say it was boring even if I did roll my eyes a lot at Dirk drinking himself into a stupor over literally...

this whole trilogy underwhelmed me. the writing wasn't fantastic, it was a little simplistic both in plot and in character development. there was a lot of telling, not a lot of showing; there was barely a time when i felt any emotional connection to any of the characters. that said, the plot wasn't awful, the world creation was decent, and i think if the different plot threads had all been woven together instead of brought up and dealt with episodically the entire trilogy would have been much mo...