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.After thoroughly enjoying the second book in the Vows & Honor trilogy, Oathbreakers, this is a bit of a disappointment in that it isn’t an actual novel. It’s a book of short stories (at least it is more straightforward about it than the first book in the series!). It is still a pretty fun read, but it feels very short as many of the chapters from The Oathbound are re-printed as their original short stories here. That disappointment aside, it’s still an entertaining read, and the collection does contain some new stories which add a lot to the overall story arc of Tarma and Kethry. It is a relief to see more into their lives. Each short story has a special introduction by Mercedes Lackey which definitely adds a sort of “behind-the-scenes” feel to the collection. It’s an entertaining group of stories, surrounding a lot of strong characters - I just wish that there hadn’t been any overlap between the first book in the trilogy and this one!
There are some ups and downs to this book. On the up-side, this book is a bunch of short stories and doesn't pretend to be anything but that, no half-hearted attempts to string them all together into something resembling a coherent and continuing plot. It was nice to see a few interesting adventures that Tarma and Kethry have suffered through, particularly the one inspired by Murphy's Law.Also, I finally got to read the story in which the two main characters met in the first place.The down side is that about half the book consisted of stories that had been seen in other places, most notably the first book of the Vows and Honor trilogy. This would be fine if it was a standalone book unconnected to another series, but as it was, I'd already read some of what was being presented to me, with few to no changed in the presentation between the original short story and the time it made it to the first book of the trilogy. Rather disappointing, I think, to read what I'd already read, especially when I was expecting new things.What was interesting, though, was to see the obvious progression of the author's writing talents. From the earlier stories to the later ones, it's easy to see Lackey's style become more solid, more confident as she grows into it. Her sense of humour is evident throughout, though; some things just never change.Overall, I'm glad I can say that I've finally read this trilogy, which I think means I've read all the Valdemar novels except for one (and that one's in the mail as we speak). I'm equally glad, though, to say that I don't have to read it again; this was definitely my least favourite trilogy in the series. Decent, but not the best.
What do You think about Oathblood (1998)?
i hate to give lackey 2 stars. her writing is solid enough. but i really just didn't enjoy this collection. i wasn't digging the mishmash of short stories & novella. i didn't like that 2 stories are ones that ended up in oathbound (why reprint them at all?). and the novella had a flimsy veneer of story covering as an excuse to revisit beloved characters. as much as i like living in the T&K universe, i want to be there for a reason and i want to feel fully immersed. especially as a follow up to oathbreakers, which is highly enjoyable, this doesn't work well for me.
—h
I great read if you've read the prior two novels in the series. This is unapologetically a collection of short stories, in which Lackey fills in some of the gaps in the history of Tarma and Keth. It includes their first meeting and an adventure that happens after the end of Oathbreakers, many years after Tarma and Keth have achieved their lifelong dream of establishing a school; it's two old vets back in action.Great stories, well plotted, fun to read--I go really "gripped" by the last one in particular. But you really have to have read the first two to enjoy the third; it's, as I said, unapologetic ally for people who are already Tarma and Keth fans.
—Chuck
This is a collection of stories about two certain characters. There are strong, female characters (there's really a lot on this theme, although she does it more strongly than some authors). There are horses. I remember I learned something about how swindlers would feed horses arsenic to get them looking and acting younger for a while—but they'd feel the poison after they stopped eating the arsenic (after they were sold) and things would go downhill from there. There's a lot about a sword, too.The writing isn't the most exciting, but it's not bad. I know the same author writes more interestingly (by my definition) in other books, although I can't speak for the earlier books in the series as I haven't read them. I didn't really look at this as belonging to a series, though—it doesn't, really. It just relates to the other books; it's not like the other books continued, per se.
—Mark Dewey
