Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey

I really, really enjoyed Valdemar. It was a fitting end (at least I’m pretty sure it’s the end) to The Founding of Valdemar trilogy. It hit all the points it needed to, but didn’t feel tedious in doing so. There were even some things that got cleared up satisfactorily that I didn’t even think were going to be fixed in a good way.

Lythe and Rothas are an interesting addition. I honestly thought they were just going to end up as a sort of side-quest thing. Turns out, they were really helpful and actually quite fun as characters.

The first Companions seem angelic, in their true form. Especially with the “fear not” thing Ardatha talks about. I do like that they and Kordas came up with how the Heralds would function. Glad to know it wasn’t just Companions appearing and dictating to their Chosen how it was going to work.

The first Herald/Companion rescue mission had me tearing up. I am a sucker for that sort of coming together thing… as I’ve stated multiple times in my reviews. The generosity of the Valdemaran also made me tear up, even if their surplus of stuff to kit out the Heralds was super convenient. Not a bad kind of convenient, as it makes sense in terms of what’s been laid out so far.

I’m very happy to have an explanation as to what an Adept is. That’s been a tad fuzzy, in my estimation. Lackey actually goes a lot more into the details of magic here, where she hasn’t exactly gotten that technical about it (at least as far as I’ve currently read in the Valdemar series. Jonaton and Kordas go very in depth with the coronation thingy, like, waaay more than I was expecting, just for example. Honestly, my brain is somewhat boggled at the sheer amount of magical detail we get throughout the book.

The big battle at the end made me long for more magic in the rest of the series. I’m kind of glad Valdemar came out in the middle of my reread, or else I might have been much more salty about the lack of magic in the rest of the series, even knowing The Founding of Valdemar is a prequel. Jonaton is just super inventive with his uses of magic here.

I feel like there was an inordinate amount of attention paid to the death of Sydney-You-Asshole. Don’t get me wrong, I’m also kind of sad the cat finally died, but I’m not super fond of the overly long farewell he got after everyone realized he was gone. I’ve also never thought about or even realized that Haven had a crest or a flag or whatever, so having an explanation as to why there’s a black cat on it was just like… huh. Okay then. Sydney will be missed, I guess, just not exactly by me.

But yeah, Valdemar was a fun addition to the series. I think it did a really good job doing what it needed to do as a prequel and being entertaining in its own right.

Favorite Lines

The way you remember things is not always accurate to what it actually was, but you know the way it felt. - Kordas

Celery. The vegetable of depression. - Restil 

“I have a Companion with a somewhat sarcastic vein.” 

     :It’s not a vein. It’s an entire mine. Nice of you to notice.: - Restil & Darshay

Magic is all about playing the odds and hoping you stay lucky! - Koto