Changing the World edited by Mercedes Lackey
My review is broken into pieces following each individual story in the order I read them in. I read 7 stories in this anthology.
“For Want of a Nail” by Rosemary Edghill and Denise McCune: Okay, so first, Mercedes Lackey has retconned details concerning Kordas and his sons and what actually happened during the flight from the Iron Throne in Beyond and Into the West. That’s fine, this story was written before those were and details can be fuzzy through retellings so… yep.
And there’s the Companions I was wondering about… and maybe we don’t need a third Kordas book, thanks to this story. I would have liked to see the first Companions Choosing through Kordas, but getting this Navar story was good.
Navar is interesting. Got a war of hope and experience going on where the experience takes over.
“Softly Fallen Snow” by Elizabeth A. Vaughn: Kind of adorable. Nice little overview of Elspeth the Peacemaker’s personality.
“The Last Part of the Way” by Brenda Cooper: A maudlin tale of grief. Made me tear up.
“The One Left Behind” by Mercedes Lackey: Pretty long tale of a weaver who got taken advantage of by a fake Herald and basically her revenge on him. Also a tale of a renewal of faith in Heralds and a finding of herself. Liked it well enough.
“Midwinter Gifts” by Stephanie D. Shaver: Kinda fun getting a little Leila/Wil doing a detective-thing together. Enjoyed it well enough.
“Be Careful What You Wish For” by Nancy Asire: Ehhh… not super fond of this. Mostly just back-and-forths between characters and not super interesting.
“Defending the Heart” by Kate Paulk: Was alright. The Empire seems to be breaking off into littler pieces now that magic’s all wonky.
“Matters of the Heart” by Sarah A. Hoyt: Oh yay, Garrad’s son has returned and has many issues with Ree, not least of which that Ree and Jem might be a couple. Gag me with a spoon.
Of course it all worked out in the end, and yay for representation.
Finding the Way and Other Tales of Valdemar edited by Mercedes Lackey
My review is broken into pieces following each individual story in the order I read them in. I read 5 stories from this anthology.
“Songs of a Certain Sort” by Brenda Cooper: Rhiannon rescues a group of women while suffering little herself. Nice to know Valdemar’s got some real-world problems like women trafficking to deal with - and I am being sarcastic here.
“Unintened Consequences” by Elizabeth A. Vaughan: I’m very amused at the assumption that Alberich’s an executioner. This one was short and sweet.
“Otherwise Engaged” by Stephanie Shaver: Was honestly a tad confused by this one.
“Heart’s Choice” by Kate Paulk: Originally thought that was going somewhere COMPLETELY different. But hey, now we got a little queer family of humans and hobgoblins.
“Heart’s Own” by Sarah A. Hoyt: I’m enjoying the continuation of Jem and Ree’s story. Completely understand the complications of raising a little boy who’s only part human.
In Other News
I finished an OviPets project! This one is Babydmon, a Digimon based project. This one took me exactly 5 months to complete.