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Title: Exile's Valor: A Novel of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey ISBN: 0-7564-0206-9 Publisher: DAW Books Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Not Lackey's Best
Comment: Although Valdemar defeated the Tedrel invaders, the nation is still troubled, providing plenty of work for weapons master and spymaster Alberich. Selenay, the young queen, misses her father and dreams of romance--to the point where she is unwilling to listen to reason. Not that anyone bothers trying to reason with her. She is the Queen, after all, and the country needs an heir.
EXILE'S VALOR follows shortly after the events described in EXILE'S HONOR. VALOR is a smaller story--one of court intrigue, spies, and attempts to gain political advantage through love. For me, the plot seemed to barely get off the ground for the first two hundred pages. Excruciating detail of Selenay's unhappiness might seem necessary to justify her rash decision to fall in love with the first handsome man to pay attention to her, but it is still excruciating for the reader. Similarly, details of Alberich's shopping trip for new disguises are the type of information that could only appeal to the most avid Valdemar fan.
In EXILE'S HONOR, author Mercedes Lackey dug deep into character goals and motivation. In VALOR, she focusses more on the surface. For me, the result was not up to Lackey's usual teriffic example. Fans will want to read this one and stay current, but it isn't Lackey's best.
Rating: 3
Summary: Pretty good but.....
Comment: This was a good story and filled in some holes in the life of Selaney and Alberich. The editing really needed work though. At one point, she couldnt decide what character was a bard or a trainee. Another point, the timeline regarding the death of the King of Rethwellen doesnt match with the one in "By the Sword" (by quite a bit).
Otherwise, I really enjoyed it and I look forward to more Valdemar books!
Rating: 4
Summary: Hindered By the Mary Sue Element
Comment: I should start out by saying that I may have given this book more stars than it deserved, and was highly tempted to give it only three--the reason I didn't is that three seemed too low, just as four seems too high. This is a difficult book to rate, because I believe how well a reader will enjoy it depends quite a bit on just how familiar they are with the world of Valdemar and with Mercedes Lackey fandom in general.
Like several recent Valdemar books (and its own prequel, _Exile's Honor_), this one is set in a space of history which was alluded to in the early novels; now we have a chance to see just how the events unfolded, and get to know some characters--Selenay, Alberich, and Talamir, among others--in greater depth than ever before. This can be a fun experience for the Valdemar fan. I enjoyed seeing Selenay as a young Queen, and Talamir as he is after the tragedy he suffered in _Exile's Honor_; the glimpse of Karathanelan and exploration of Selenay's doomed marriage were also worthwhile. Alberich remains a colorful and interesting character. I did think more space was spent on the game of Hurlee than it needed or deserved, which could have been better spent on plot... but then, I'm not a sports fan.
These are the good aspects, and if you concentrate on those the book deserves four stars. I should also mention that this wouldn't be a bad book for those new to the Valdemar series (though I'd suggest reading _Exile's Honor_ first if nothing else): it's a light, engaging romp, and a decent introduction to Valdemaran governance--and if you haven't read many of the other books, you're less likely to be bothered by the many and myriad consistency errors here.
This was one of my two main quibbles with _Exile's Valor_. It appears that Lackey really, *really* skimped on her homework, and that no editor made any effort to clean up the mess. As far as external consistency goes: what happened to Karathanelan's nickname (previously 'Thanel,' not 'Karath') and eye color (Elspeth, whose eyes are brown, was previously said to have her father's eyes)? And how exactly are two blue-eyed parents supposed to have produced a brown-eyed daughter anyway? My erstwhile Genetics professor would probably have something interesting to say about that. Also, _By the Sword_ clearly states that Karathanelan's father died *after* his son's antics in Valdemar and subsequent death--in fact, Thanel's hijinks were what caused his father's collapse. So it's rather confusing to see Megrarthon kicking the bucket months in advance of the entire episode here. Internal consistency doesn't fare much better; Lackey can't seem to make up her mind which of a pair of troublemaking students is a Herald-Trainee and which a Bard, and switches their roles twice! First Mical was the Herald, then Adain, and then Mical again. Shouldn't some editor have caught that? Having so many errors makes the book look sloppy (IMHO) and causes some points of confusion where it openly conflicts with other volumes.
The second quibble is another one which may be less apt to bother those who aren't so familiar with Lackey fandom: the existence and predominance of the character Myste. As other reviewers have mentioned and as Lackey has herself confirmed in the short story "After Midnight" (which appears in a DAW anniversary anthology), Myste is Misty Lackey herself. She appears to go so far as to share not only the author's name, but also her physical build and possibly her general personality. In fanfic this would be called a 'Mary Sue,' and probably looked down upon as self-indulgent. I find it, if anything, even more self-indulgent here. At least in _Exile's Honor_ and _Take a Thief_, Myste wasn't always at the forefront--but in _Exile's Valor_, she has the solution for *everything*! Everyone relies on Myste to solve all their problems! She's one of the heroes of the entire Karathanelan affair, never mind that this makes the lack of any mention of her up until the preface of _Winds of Change_ awfully hard to explain! And she gets the male lead as her love interest! Good gods, but that gets old. I firmly believe this book would have been much, *much* better if Myste had not been in it, or at the very least if her role had been seriously downplayed. Come on, ML--Selenay has a lot of scholars and Collegium Heralds at her disposal. I found it hard to swallow that she or anyone else would really think to themselves that *only Myste* could possibly be able to untangle any of the knotty intellectual problems facing Our Heroes. Jeeze.
In short, this isn't the strongest Valdemar novel, and is unfortunately plagued by a host of minor problems. However, it may be a fun read despite that--it depends on what the reader is looking for, and how much the errors bug him or her. They bugged me a *lot* (obviously ;) but I still liked the novel enough that I look forward to rereading it in time. My advice: get this one in paperback or from the library if you like the sound of its story, but don't expect it to be either the best or the worst work that Lackey's ever done. And if you decide to make this your first Valdemar novel, you may want to give the series another try by reading an earlier book (I would recommend the Last Herald-Mage trilogy) should you find this one not to your taste.
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Title: Sun In Glory (A Valdemar Anthology) by Mercedes Lackey ISBN: 0756401666 Publisher: DAW Books Pub. Date: 02 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Outstretched Shadow (The Obsidian Trilogy, Book 1) by Mercedes Lackey, James Mallory ISBN: 0765302195 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 08 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Dragon's Kin by Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey ISBN: 0345461983 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 25 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey ISBN: 0373802021 Publisher: Luna Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Charmed Destinies: 3 Novels in 1 by Mercedes Lackey, Rachel Lee, Catherine Asaro ISBN: 0373218338 Publisher: Silhouette Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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