No True Way 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 from this anthology.
“Vixen” by Mercedes Lackey: I quite liked this one. Hadn’t thought Animal Mindspeech might be a totally separate thing from regular Mindspeech, but it makes sense. I liked Healer Vixen, too. She’s very relatable, as one who was bullied in early childhood and sometimes feels like a disappointment. Interesting to have a giant spider critter around and glad this wasn’t illustrated. Lol.
“Written in the Wind” by Jennifer Brozek: Well that was dark. Hella heartbreaking, too.
”A Brand from the Burning” by Rosemary Edghill and Rebecca Fox: Ah, the intrigues around choosing a new Pope. Oh, sorry, Son of the Sun. I knew Solaris was familiar! I remember her from later on… or a snippet from the wiki, more probably. But yay for setup.
“Weavings” by Diana L. Paxson: Joy, giant spider. Another lady who loved a Herald and essentially lost him.
“Beyond the Fires” by Louisa Swann: I liked it. Pretty cool story.
“Consequences Unforseen” by Elizabeth A. Vaughan: Lady Cera settling into her new lands and learning what there is to learn about them. It was alright, if not particularly exciting.
”Spun Magic” by Kristin Schwengel: The way Stardance works magic reminds me a lot of Sandry from Tamora Pierce’s Circle of Magic series. I have the feeling we were supposed to see some kind of attachment formed between Stardance and her father, but there was literally nothing in the text to make me feel any sort of attachment to him or their rekindled? relationship. Honestly, the human relationships here leave much to be desired. The magic, though, is very well detailed and definitely feels like Sandry’s style to me.
Under the Vale and Other Tales of Valdemar edited by Mercedes LackeyMy review is broken into pieces following each individual story in the order I read them in. I read 6 stories from this anthology.
“Slow and Steady” by Brenda Cooper: Kinda cute. Not a whole lot of substance to it, but it’s alright.
“Fog of War” by Ben Ohlander: I feel as foggy as this title, reading this. A good chunk of it is a detailed rehashing of the Tedrel battle. Not gonna lie, I skimmed it. Danilla and Gonwyn are alright as characters. I didn’t really have interest in this story, even the parts that weren’t battle related.
“In an Instant” by Elizabeth A. Vaughn: This is on the list of things I didn’t know I needed. Selenay and Daren are just adorable. I think I like Jasen quite a lot, too.
“A Healer’s Work” by Daniel Shull: Nice little story. Nice to know Gifts have similar ways of channeling into a person.
“Heart’s Peril” by Kate Paulk: Alright little story. Meren’s slowly growing up and figuring out some abilities.
“Heart’s Place” by Sarah A. Hoyt: I’m sorry, Ree randomly knowing about law things that not even Lenar remembers is SOD breaking, even after there’s a backpedal to try to explain why that is. Ugh. Other than that, pretty standard and kinda boring, honestly.
