Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series provides one of the cornerstones of my reading history. After discovering her when quite young, I still follow new additions to the series - nearly twenty years later! I read and re-read these books over and over again throughout my youth, but I haven't re-read this series in its entirety in a long time - and never as an adult. There are some new books added to the series since the last time I read them, so this re-reading project is pretty exciting for me since it will include these new volumes, and will be in a new order. These books really just remind me of being young, reading them in the back seat of the car on family road trips... I think I was in 4th or 5th grade when I first started reading them, and they've always been a pleasure to re-read - and I am sure this will continue to be the case! The Valdemar series is broken up into (for the most part) separate trilogies. In my re-reading project, I am going to try to read them chronologically - not by publication date, but by their timeline within the series.And finally in my re-reading project, I have reached a book in the series that I have never read! Alberich is, of course, a familiar character from The Heralds of Valdemar trilogy, but here Lackey has backtracked to provide a fuller view into just how this man from Karse became a Herald. Alberich is a wonderful character - and I really enjoy his role in the later books. Because of this, the overall plot here is rather predictable, but readers discovering him for the first time may be taken by surprise. It’s a fun read - and made all the more so by the way it seems that Mercedes Lackey literally wrote herself into the book! A new character, Myste, is introduced as the Herald-Chronicler (Mercedes Lackey’s nickname is Misti! - and what better way to describe herself than the “Chronicler”??). Myste is a fun character - and it would be interesting to know if Lackey is as near-sighted as her fictional counterpart! I am interested to see where Alberich’s story goes next in the the follow-up volume, Exile's Valor.
Alberich is a great character, and I enjoyed his journey.This is a book that covers over 5 years worth of events, with lots of interesting events going on. But the writing is incredibly cerebral. Something exciting happens! Then Alberich thinks and ruminates for a chapter or so, and decides that something is so. Someone suggests something exciting! Then Alberich thinks and ruminates for a chapter or so, and decides to do it. It's a slow book for that reason.Reading these books from a non 10 year old girl's standpoint makes me realize how much of a problem I have with Valdemar and the perfection that is their world. Especially when thrown into contrast with Karse. Guess that's why it's fantasy.After I read this book the first time, I didn't know what a Mary Sue was until someone mentioned the term about Myste. Now I can't read about her without hating it. The character was seriously annoying. In my opinion, incredibly out of place and jarring with Alberich's whole character. The only thing I can buy about them together is that she speaks Karse and it's a comfort.The second half gets bogged down a bit, but it moves along at a mildly interesting rate the whole time.
What do You think about Exile's Honor (2003)?
I love Lackey's habit of writing the stories of the legends and minor characters who pepper the lives of her "main characters". This is the backstory of a distinctive, idiosyncratic, and beloved character from the "present day" of Valdemar (as I think of it, since I am a Talia fan through-and-through). Not for the new reader - stick to the Arrows of the Queen trilogy as your introduction to this world, or you'll be as confused as the titular exile, Alberich, who never quite finds the free time to untangle the verb order of his newly-learned language, what with continuously saving the Queen's life and all ...
—Cory
This book introduced one of the most fascinating characters I have as of yet had the privilege to meet in a Lackey book. I can't spell his name, but his history is so radically different than any other character. To anyone who has ever known what it means to be an outsider, you will find a kindred spirit in this stoic but uncompromisingly honorable man.Of all the books I have read by Lackey so far, this is the one most concerned with religion, philosophy, spirituality, and most tellingly, morality. It is not preachy in the slightest. If anything, it presents many questions and offers few if any answers for any of it. Oddly enough, I would recommend this book to anyone going through a "crisis of faith" or something in the same vein. The subject is treated incredibly well, although the pluralistic Valdemaran viewpoints presented in the book may discomfit anyone who believes that their religion is the "one true way." That's not meant as criticism, simply a word to those who might be concerned by such things.This book has a sequel called "Exile's Valor," and I am impatiently waiting for my city's interlibrary loan to find that book for me!
—Lexen
This is up there with my very favorite Valdemar books. I started reading Valdemar stuff when I was nineteen or twenty so I very much appreciated the perspective of an adult approaching the Land of Magical Horses and Sunshine with rather more skepticism than most of the series' protagonists.There's the usual epic battle, personal tragedy, and Herald-school hijinks, but the meat of the book is the series of ethical issues Alberich is faced with, and they're approached in a thoughtful way. It's easy to represent Valdemar as a land of ultimate liberal tolerance, but it's much more interesting to see how that works out under a serious challenge. And I was also pleased to see the issue of Companion-bonding examined as something other than a universal good - most empathic-bonded intelligent animal books (and it's totally a subgenre) never really ask questions about consent, which is problematic especially when the subjects are often barely adolescents. The question is resolved in favor of it being a universal good, of course, but at least the question is raised and examined.
—Jeremy Preacher
