Re-read 2018I've been re-reading some of the short stories based on the books of one of my favorite authors as a break in the more serious reading I've been doing for college classes. I've always loved the Tales of Valdemar. Mercedes Lackey gives other writers a chance to play in the world that she created and most of the stories are spot on with what I would expect from a Valdemar book. This is one of the books in the series where I loved every short story included. I especially enjoyed reading...

Anthologies, for me, always have a "hit or miss" quality, especially those containing more than six or seven stories. It's also harder to read them straight through, as the urge to skip a particularly boring contribution is strong. Mercedes Lackey's own contribution, Sun In Glory, is a definite hit. Well put together and a satisfying step forward for any fan of Valdemar.Sure-fire hits include: The Cat Who Came to Dinner, Rebirth, Brock, and Rosemary Edghill's Icebreaker.The first story in the an...

I really liked Sun in Glory, Mercedes Lackey's contribution to the anthology. It was beautiful and filled a gap in the series that I had previously wondered about.Unfortunately, it was also the only story in this anthology that I really enjoyed. Once again, most of these stories occupy some weird space where they don't actually seem to understand how the world they inhabit works. Many of them are either lore-breaking or so generic they could occupy any fantasy world rather than feeling like they...

Not overly fond of short story anthologies but this one holds up well. Most of the stories have Misty's voice down pretty well and different authors do offer different shadings that can improve the overall development of a fantasy worls such as Valdemar. However the strongest story was Misty's own "Sun in Glory" Having read all of Misty's full length Valdemar books I've wondered where Talia's investiture story disappeared to. Now I know.

This is a mixed bag. It started off slow... the first couple of stories made me think I wasn't really interested in continuing. But I'm glad I did. There were several great stories in there, and I enjoyed Lackey's novella. I would recommend this to fans of Valdemar, but if you haven't tried the series, start with that first.

I actually loved this anthology, mainly because it was my first introduction to the Karsite Firecats. They are such fascinating felines, and I wish one would find me!!Otherwise, the other tales were much fun, although as always, ML's written ones are always the best!

Sun in Glory is much more even than the earlier collection - there are still some duds, most notably the opening story (good Gods, I know it's neat that a twelve-year-old wrote a fairly literate story, but that doesn't mean I want to read it,) but for the most part the quality is consistent. The eponymous story is actually a critical part of the "modern" Valdemar story arc and well worth reading even if you skip everything else - most of the rest are decent but sort of iffy, canon-wise. (Except

A nice anthology set in the world of Valdemar and its Heralds, 'Sun in Glory' has a higher percentage of stories I would re-read than the ones I'll skip in the future. There are tales with unique twists. I particularly enjoyed the story by Mercedes Lackey, set during the formation of the peace between Valdemar and Karse.

Unlike with other collections, I enjoyed every single one of the included stories! Some concentrated on the Companions, some on the Heralds, and some on others who came into contact with them. One of the sweetest stories told of a "Moonling" named Brock who believed he was a Herald. It concluded with the sentence that "Brock wore his whites on the inside." Would that we all would .

Technically I guess you could call it fan fiction, because of the 13 stories only one is written by Ms. Lackey but they were all really great stories, and it was interesting to see the varied points of view.

I really like the final story "Sun in Glory" and wished it had been longer

For fans of Valdemar and those familiar with the books.

Loved each short story. Very good work everyone

As with the Sword of Ice anthology, this second one is full of other writers' imaginative ideas about things happening in Valdemar, and its neighbouring countries.Each story was unique in its own way, and very entertaining to read - in fact, there were a few that I would have loved to see as full novels!But my favourite of all of them was Mercedes' own story, Sun in Glory! This was a story that I'd wanted to know about from the series - how Talia had became a Sun-Priest! What made it even better...

Pretty Good OverallAs with any short story collection, there were some stories I liked more than others, but these were - on a whole - pretty good. My favorites were "Brock," "True Colors," and "Icebreaker"; I liked getting to see and visit with characters around the Heralds who were not Heralds themselves. However, I also liked being able to visit with Alberich again for "Sun in Glory," especially since the short story was written more in the style of Exile's Honor than Exile's Valor, which is

I don't usually like short stories. Just as I'm really getting into the story and characters... it's done. But these are stories about Valdemar, so I already quickly understand the setting and how this story fits into the overall story arc. Some give a little background on how existing characters had their start, others are new little vignettes. All but one of these stories were NOT written by Mercedes Lackey, but were edited by her so are "approved" additions to the Valdemar world.

I bought this book just to learn how Talia became a Vkandis Sun Priest. It was underwhelming. Some stories were "meh" and some were downright terrible, failing to follow Valdemar precedent, such as the story in which a Companion tests a boy, lying that his Chosen is in trouble and needs the boy's help. Turns out, ta-da, this Companion has actually Chosen the determined boy. Um, Companions never lie, and they don't test people before they're Chosen.

I like the books Mercedes Lackey writes, she is good at creating a believable world and people to populate it. While her writing is not the strongest I do find it engaging ang and enjoyable. I like a series I can live inside of and her books are ones that have characters I feel invested in and a world I believe could exist.

A more rocky collection than the others, but the better stories outweigh the worse by a considerable amount. Also contains a tale by Mercedes Lackey herself which should delight any fan of Herald Alberich and/or Solaris.

The title story is pretty wonderful.

This has the story of how Talia became a Sun Priestess. It's a bit odd for people who met her in Valdemar, but it made sense to the Karsites.

As usual for anthologies, there is a lot of variety here. I especially liked Mercedes Lackey's story at the end.

I originally reviewed this book on my blog - The Cosy Dragon. For more recent reviews by me, please hop over there.Another collection of short stories set in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar universe. There are 12 new stories, as well as a novella by Lackey. Another good collection of tales, the majority were enjoyable to read.'Errold's Journey' by Catherine S. McMullen wasn't a great short story to start this lot off. The dialogue and style seemed awkward and I wasn't engaged at all. Too passive, too...

Mixed bag, as anthologies tend to be.The first story was written when the author was twelve, and while that showed, a bit, it was still better than some stuff that inexplicably manages to get professionally published.

3.75 *I typically enjoy a good collection of short stories. As always, there are going to be some stories you enjoy and hopefully a minimal amount of stories that you don't care for. In this collection, I really enjoyed most of them, the unfortunate thing was that the ones I liked the least were the first and last story in the book. I'm sure some people will really enjoy the last story, just wasn't my cup of tea. The thing I love about the Valdemar books is all of the characters that are a part

This collection was a little less fun than the others--more serious "fantasy" stories and fewer stories that could be set in other genres but just happen to be in a fantasy world (romances, coming of age stories, mysteries, etc.) Most of the stories were well-written, though I thought the first one sounded as if it had been written by one of our 8th graders and I'm not sure how it made the cut. The others were all by well-known authors and reflected their talents.

This is a world where different authors can play within established rules, like fairy tales or Bordertown. Gentler than Bordertown, I think, and not a place (so far) where mere mortals can escape except for by reading. I like that there are tales of being selected as a Herald, but also tales of NOT being selected - of discovering one's special-ness, that your place in the world isn't what you thought or dreamed about but is as amazing once you accept it.

Anthologies are great to read when you only have a short time to get through the story (i.e. sitting in doctor's office waiting room). And I'm a lover of anything remotely related to Valdemar so this book was a hit!

I was really impressed with this book. So many different writers, writing in the same universe, and all of them really good. During several stories my heart pounded the entire time. I rarely give above a 3-star rating to a fantasy book, but this really deserved it.

Gems include The Cat Who Came to Dinner, and Sun in Glory (I LOVE Firecats!).In the Eye of the Beholder, Trance Tower, Brock, True Colors, and Icebreaker weren't bad.Rebirth was interesting just because of the insight into where Companions come from.