Exile's Honor by Mercedes Lackey

Exile’s Honor is an interesting book. I very much enjoyed it. Looking at Valdemar through both and outsider’s and a very privileged individual’s eyes was interesting. I say Alberich is privileged because he is both Herald and Weaponsmaster’s Second, here, and very quickly becomes so. He didn’t have a super hard time of it in Valdemar, despite the prejudice against him.

The rest of this review will be of the particular parts, as each is a sort of novella encapsulating different events.

Part One

There is a lot of introspection here. Alberich has to grapple with his new country, which he once though evil, and his new place in the world. It all goes rather well, all told, but he spends a lot of time thinking about everything. It’s not uninteresting, just a lot.

I also will find it eternally interesting to get peeks into something other than Valdemaran society. Getting a bit or insight into how Karse is run and how their armies function was definitely interesting.

Part Two

So, Alberich’s inheritance of the “Herald Spy” stuff would probably have been more interesting if the whole Mags and Family storylines hadn’t been inserted into the chronology. At this point, I have had quite enough of the lackluster tales of spy Heralds. This is purely a feeling brought about by reading the Valdemar series in chronological order at this time.

The “memory transfer” stuff is super interesting. I think telepaths are underrated, as far as actually being used for stuff other than glorified messengers.

Part Three

Of course Sendar’s speech made me tear up. Of course it did. How could it not?

Lackey does an amazing job conveying exactly how big a deal this fight with the Tedrels is. Selenay’s thoughts on the matter are enough to make my heart stop. Alberich’s lend a different feel, but no less… well, less. Alberich is more concerned with the fighting skills and the reasons people are fighting than the sheer size of the forces. It definitely feels different from the war in Brightly Burning. The whole thing with making Selenay into a symbol honestly had me teared up the entire time.

I will say, once the Heralds reach the camp, I was very impatient for them to actually get to the battlefield, but that might just be a me thing.

So, something about Lord Orthallen is pulling at my brain pan. I didn’t read this series on my first read-through, so it’s not remembering him from that. I think he or a relative may have appeared later, to try to mess with Elspeth, but I don’t remember. I do have an extreme dislike of him, though.

The last battle was intense. I probably would have been in full-on tears if I hadn’t been at work. Really evocative writing on Lackey’s part. As was Sendar’s funeral and Selenay’s coronation. I definitely teared up a little more during those. 

Favorite Lines

"Honor was never taking the easy way when it was also the wrong one. Never telling a falsehood unless the truth was painful and unnecessary, or a lie was necessary to save others. Never manipulating the truth to serve only yourself. Protecting the weak and helpless; standing fast even when fear made you weak. Keeping your word." - Alberich

"Still, only a fool wishes to stop learning." - Alberich

In Other News

I finished another OviPets project! This one is Spadamon, based on the Digimon of the same name. Spadamon are Lepus and took me 7 months to complete. They are part of my Child Digimon Project.