Valdemar Anthologies Batch 6

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.

Valdemar Anthologies Batch 5

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 Lackey

My 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.

Valdemar Anthologies Batch 4

Tempest edited by Mercedes Lackey

My review is broken into pieces following each individual story in the order I read them in. I read 6 stories from this anthology.

“The Apprentice and the Stable Master” by Brenda Cooper: So, might be because I’m reading the Rhiannon and Dionne stories all at once, but… it really seems like Cooper’s fond of putting her female characters in situations with brutal men to instantly incur sympathy. We’re pretty instantly ingratiated to Marala and Kris due to Lord Daving’s habit of having his servants beaten. It’s really not a bad little story, just, ya know, I’m noticing a trend.

“Unimagined Consequences” by Elizabeth A. Vaughan: A semi-cute continuation of Lady Cera’s adventures at Stonebriar.

“Dawn of a New Age” by Dylan Birtolo: This was alright. Bassyl isn’t at all in the center of things, so we don’t actually get to see Vkandis choose Solaris, but yeah. Just alright.

“Harmless as Serpents” by Rosemary Edghill and Rebecca Fox: Interesting to get a story from a Companion’s POV. So… other than that, I guess that was interesting. I’m not entirely sure how they all ended up in Iftel, of all places, but okay. Literally looked at the map and was like “What? How? How? Hokay.”

“Feathers in Flight” by Jennifer Brozek: Kinda cute. Hadara and Kitha getting used to each other and their abilities together.

“A Tangle of Truths” by Angela Penrose: Interesting little tale of intrigue.
 

 

Crucible edited by Mercedes Lackey

My review is broken into pieces following each individual story in the order I read them in. I read four stories from this anthology.

“Vexed Vixen” by Mercedes Lackey: Pretty enjoyable. Vixen is really clever with the use of her abilities.

“Unresolved Consequences” by Elizabeth A. Vaughan: Basically Lady Cera’s still working through getting her lands all in order and has a triggering experience.

“Feathers in Need” by Jennifer Brozek: I think I like Hadara and Kitha. This beginning of their story was good, at least.

“Ghosts of the Past” by Angela Penrose: This one was neat. Love me some supernatural stuff.