Oathblood by Mercedes Lackey

My review of Oathblood is broken into small reviews of each story in the order I read them in.

“Sword Sworn”
      Another tick in the “female protagonist has been raped” column. Despite that, I did enjoy this one. Getting to see some Shin’a’in culture was fun as was getting to see Tarma and Kethry’s first meeting. Hardly a meet cute, but well done. I’m also weirdly glad it was in short-story form because I imagine the slow planning of taking down Tarma’s bandits would have been hell to read. And actually (having forgotten pretty much all of this series) I’m glad to have read this because it makes the info dump at the beginning of The Oathbound much more palatable.

“The Talisman”
      Takes place in the middle of The Oathbound after the whole Wethes thing. Slightly amusing and slightly sad. It would be a very stuck-in-her-own-beliefs person who somehow managed to figure out how to shapeshift.

“Friendly Fire”
      Kind of funny. Murphy’s Law indeed.

“A Tale of Heroes”
      Sounds like the “wheelbound” have an interesting belief system. Balancing your good and evil… kind of like a carbon footprint kind of a thing… except with gods. Glad Landric and Fallon were suited to each other.

" 'That was then, this is now,' " her hawk-visaged partner quoted. " 'The moment is never the same twice.' " - Tarma

“Keys”
      This was actually included in The Oathbound and just furthers my opinion of it being a bunch of short stories strung together. It’s alright as a stand-alone story, too.

“Turnabout”
      Another story that was included in The Oathbound. Now I’m kind of pissed. “Can I recycle or what?” Lackey asks in the preface to this one. Yes, yes you can, but this is annoying, especially as Oathblood came out a decade after The Oathbound. Boy and I glad I got this as part of a Humble Bundle.

“The Making of a Legend”
      Alright, as these things go. Not super interested in the minstrel/Bard who embellishes on Tarma and Kethry’s adventures. Not super interested in what actually went down, but it was alright.

“A Woman’s Weapon”
      Kind of fun, though quick.

“Wings of Fire”
      Keyjon reminds me of The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Wings of Fire was an enjoyable little adventure. It’s always nice to run into the Tayledras.

"It is not power and wealth that corrupt, my lady, but the lust for power and wealth. When that lust takes precedence over the needs of others, corruption becomes true evil." - Stormwing K'Sheyna

“Spring Plowing at Forst Reach”
      So, my entire life I’ve been told my dad had the “female” spelling of the name “Lauren.” It’s nice to see another dude with the same name.
Sucks about the horses attitudes, but it was kind of fun “watching” Tarma, Jodi, and Beaker work them.

“Oathblood”
      Includes a very long, seriously boring lecture on long-term revenge that show-cases Tarma’s teaching skills outside of combat. I honestly felt like this tale of kidnapping and rescue went on a little long, or maybe I was just very done with this series while I was reading. No idea, but… yeah. It was alright. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I’d been in a better overall mood.

In Other News

I finished another OviPets project a few days ago and forgot to post about it.

Anyway, my Draconis variant of Monodramon is finished! Monodramon took me approximately 10 months to complete. They're part of my Child Digimon project.

Oathbreakers by Mercedes Lackey

A Spoiler Free Review

Oathbreakers is, by far, the best of the three Vows and Honor series. It follows one story from beginning to end and does that very well. It was the most fun I’ve had reading a Valdemar book in a while.

Sometimes I’m glad I decided to read the short stories that accompany a series. This is one of those times. Essentially knowing who the dead man Tarma, Kethry, and Jadrek came across is and what that sword is… makes it a bit more fun. Just being like “ah, so they are getting it back.”

I am absolutely fucking pissed about Kethry being able to work magic in Valdemar. No vrondi appear to pester her. Everyone around her can still talk about magic perfectly fine. It’s like the rules surrounding Vanyel’s lovely anti-magic spell thing suddenly just don’t matter and it doesn’t exist. What. The Actual. Fuck. Lackey. I probably wouldn’t be so mad if I hadn’t read these in chronological order and hadn’t had it hammered home through three back-to-back series about how vrondi swarm magic users in Valdemar and magic can’t be talked about very easily within Valdemaran borders. As it is, I’m pissed.

So… where on the scale of Susan to Renesmee does the name “Megrarthon” rate?

Although I am largely enjoying Oathbreakers, I am finding Kethry and Jadrek pining after each other really gross. Just from a personal standpoint. I don’t enjoy mushiness, especially when the people being mushy just aren’t talking to each other. I am glad they worked themselves out in the end. Getting the back-and-forth that wasn’t really a back-and-forth was annoying. Add to that Jadrek thinking Tarma was unaware of he and Kethry’s relationship… ai yai yai…

I like that Kethry is able to siphon off the energy from all the Hawks being pissed off. Using anger as magical energy is pretty neat when someone thinks to use it.

Favorite Lines

"You can't stop knowledge; you shouldn't try. If you do, half the time it's the wrong people that get it first." - Kethry

"Keth, power brings with it the need to make moral judgments; history proves that." - Jadrek

The Oathbound by Mercedes Lackey

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

Not sure I actually read all of this the first time, though.

The Oathbound definitely reads a lot better after having read the short story “Sword Sworn.” I vaguely remember flailing upon reading the info dumps of the beginning of The Oathbound the first time I read it. Having full context of how Tarma and Kethry met and teamed up really does help. Not that it makes Kethry’s info dump about sorcery any better… my brain hurts trying to parse it all. The Oathbound also very much reads like a series of short stories, strung together by time rather than an overarching storyline.

Both Tarma and Kethry have been raped. Joy. That’s only two of the Valdemar heroines, so far in the chronological order… however, most of the Valdemar books have had male protagonists so far and of those, only Vanyel was raped. So that, ya know, great.

I think Need is an interesting magical item. Made more interesting by a previous-in-the-chronology short story where she helps a trans woman and actually transforms her body. I think Need’s neat.

Was really expecting the thing with Kavin and Wethes to last longer. Highly unsatisfying, to be honest. You’d think a thing Kethry was dreading would have taken more time to get over, but apparently not. Just a hurdle to get over on her path to more power, really. I guess.

The Oathbound is basically a string of short stories about Kethry, Tarma, and Warrl stretched along the timeline from shortly after Tarma and Kethry met. As such, we get descriptions of them over and over. Need gets a side eye from pretty much everyone because apparently sorcerers just don’t bother with blades at all. I personally find all this repetition tiring and honestly, uninteresting. That’s not to say the stories themselves aren’t interesting, just the repetition of the descriptions. Kethry and Tarma’s chosen occupation lends well to short stories.

It’s not entirely great, though, when you get the story from earlier chapters retold by Tarma and Kethry. And the one from a mere two chapters earlier, too. Just… why? This book is arranged in chapters, not actually short stories in their own rights, so why retell the story we already read? Could have been solved by simply relaying that the ladies told the priest they’re talking to the real story. I’m heartily rolling my eyes and skimming this entire section.

Hey guys, did you know that Warrl is as tall as Tarma’s waist? Did you? Did you? — an example of the massive amount of sarcasm I’m having 84% through the book when this fact is reiterated… for at least the forth time.

I honestly feel like The Oathbound is middling, at best. It largely skirts around the action until the last few chapters. There are a few endings that could have been handled better… both Tarma and Kethry need some therapy, especially after what happened at the hands of their demon… Jesus that was a thing and a half. I honestly don’t know how to feel about it. It feels like it’s just being swept under the rug… I don’t know.

The Oathbound is not the best and not the worst.

Valdemar Humble Bundle

As of the posting of this, there is a Humble Bundle of Valdemar eBooks! I just found this out last night and pretty much immediately purchased it.

If you've been enjoying my Valdemar book reviews and/or have an interest in reading the Valdemar books, this is an excellent opportunity. 37 books starting at $18. Proceeds support the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Bundle Includes:

Mage Wars

The Last Herald Mage

Collegium Chronicles

The Herald Spy

Family Spies

Brightly Burning

Owl Mage Trilogy

Vows and Honor

Alberich's Tale

Mage Storms

Mage Winds

Heralds of Valdemar

Seriously, I was so excited to see this was available. Such a good value and an amazing opportunity to not send Amazon all my money. All proceeds go to Humble, DAW, and the National Coalition Against Censorship.

17 days left as of June 7, 2023.