Another rather dull synopsis from GoodReads, and something of a misleading one. Selenay isn't so much struggling to bring about an alliance with Karse as she already has one, as evidenced by the envoy, Ulrich, and his secretary, Karal, staying at the palace. Better to say that the story actually revolves around the Karsite envoy's secretary for the most part, while everybody tries to figure out what to do about Hardorn now that Ancar is dead and the Eastern Empire seems to be making a move toward them all.Oh yes, and let's not forget that there are now catastrophic waves of magic circling the world, distorting the land and warping animals into rabid carnivorous monsters. Can't forget that.This book was actually released about half a year after The Black Gryphon, which ties in well with this book, since while The Black Gryphon deals with the events leading up to the destruction of Ma'ar (we all remember him, don't we?) and the magical cataclysm that reshaped the world, Storm Warning deals with the temporal echoes of that cataclysm, the waves of magic coming back and doing ever-increasing damage. The key to discovering all this, and a way to help keep some of the damage to a minimum, is hidden in An'desha's memories of Falconsbane and his previous incarnations, and understandably, delving into those memories is no easy task for someone who's terrified that merely having the memories at all is a sign that Falconsbane is still lurking in his mind. While An'desha does spend a good chunk of the book being rather whiny about the whole thing, I think some of that whininess and fear can be forgiven, even if it did make for annoying reading at times.Through Karal, we get an insider's perspective on Karsites and Karsite religion, previous villified in just about all of the Valdemar novels. Mostly we get to see all this through comparisons, as now Solaris is the religious leader of the country and she's made some sweeping reforms. Or it might be more accurate to say "returns", since a lot of what Solaris did was take the religion back to its less terrifying and political roots, making the religion into what it apparently was supposed to have been for generations. It's through the now/then comparisons that we see what happens when power-hungry politicians control religion (and vice versa), an oppressive past regime versus a more lenient current regime.Happily (at least from a reader's standpoint on realism), this didn't mean that everyone now views Karsites and inherently good. Generations of prejudice die hard on both sides of the border. The Valdemar novels are known somewhat for their idealism, but it's good to thrown in some nice sobering reality now and then. Keeps things believable, keeps people acting like people instead of actors in a moral play.We also get to see another cultural perspective from Tremane's point of view as part of the Eastern Empire. The Empire is expansive and hard, but in its way, not really cruel or unjust. It takes over turbulent lands and brings order to them, brings employment and safety and security to the populace. Whether they want it or not. Hardorn's citizens, no matter how much they were beaten down by Ancar's regime, seem bound and determined to fight against the Eastern invasion of their land, to the point where it seems to make no sense to Duke Tremane. Isn't he offering them a chance to rebuild their homes and improve them? Isn't he bringing with them a better justice system that has proved well for other lands? It's a real treat to get to see so many variying cultural standpoints here, which of course thrills the amateur anthropologist in me.Also interesting in this book is the attempt to apply the rules of physics to magic. I have a friend who disdains most fantasy because she says that magic is all too often used as a McGuffin. It can do anything, it has no rules attached to it, and it's entire unbelievable. (I always reply that she must be reading some truly crappy fantasy, because not all fantasy contains magic, and most of the stuff that does has clearly defined rules attached to it...) In Storm Warning, we get to see two opposing viewpoints, one stating that magic is entirely intuitive and its use is limited only by what the caster can imagine, and the other stating that magic must conform to the rules that the entire rest of the world has to go by, like physics. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that magic's real function is a mix of the two sides of the debate, but it was certainly nice to see Lackey lay down some really solid rules about how magic can and cannot work in relation to the more mundane aspects of the world.This book loses a few marks for being very repetitive, however. Fascinating story, and Lackey does have something of a talent for being able to make characters essentially have the same discussion numerous times without it getting too boring, but there were times where it felt like all the recap discussions were little more than padding. Sometimes they brought something new and interesting to the mix, but other times it was entirely for the sake of characters catching up on what had happened, and could have been avoided and shortened by just stating that so-and-so gave a run-down of the situation to another character.Still, a good beginning to what promises to be a very interesting trilogy. Magic and politics all rolled into one fascinating and multi-layered story, pieces of the familiar combined with the strange and new. It's classic Lackey work that explores her world in greater detail than ever before, fleshing out not only characters but an entire planet of people and cultures, that will leave you hungry for the next book. Highly recommended to Valdemar fans, though I recommend if you haven't already read the Mage Winds trilogy, do so before tackling this. Not doing so might leave you pretty confused as to who everyone is and what they're doing there in the first place.
My rating is more like 2 1/2 stars, halfway between it was okay and I liked it. I certainly didn't enjoy the book as much as I did the "Winds of" series's first book with Elspeth. I liked Karal, at least in the beginning. I related to him, he wasn't one of the "elite" of anything, like Firesong, Elspeth, An'desha. But eventually he got to be too perfect toward the end of the book.It didn't work for me that the Heralds, Valdemars leaders, who in other books were so creative, innovative can't figure things out for themselves, it takes Karal and An'desha. On page 325, "Even those fancy mages, they don't have the training or the organization - they can't look at this problem logically. I don't think they can solve it!" This is said by one of the characters so I understand it's their perspective, but the same sentiment is repeated multiple times and my thought was, "What?!" All the books go out of their way to show that Heralds are rational, very intelligent, often innovative individuals. But they're not logical? "logical" was just a poor choice of words? It would have been better to say that others were not as likely or as practiced in studying things to the highest degree without using magic, by using their minds. Logical might have been the best word, in a sense, but it needed explaining. This whole idea of Heralds, etc. not being logical did not work because it was not explained except in repeating the word. It was really kind of aggravating.Also, after awhile I got tired of the aspects of religion. The author clearly believes all religions are equally good and everyone else should believe that too and if they don't, well they're not very smart. But then that seems to be the attitude of multiple characters about multiple things. The author comes across as very PC. In this book in particular and with all her Valdemar books in particular. It's not super heavy handed but in this book it's a bit too much.Page 334, "Oh, do stop feeling sorry for yourself!" I'm tired of characters telling others to stop being this way or that way, verbal slaps in the face. It's really kind of grating and annoying. And of course whenever a character gets verbal slap in the face they deserved it and accept it as deserved. Yes, thank you for pointing out that I'm being human and putting me in my place. There is a lot of people being put in their place and I really notice after reading several of her books. Page 387, "No longer the retiring little secretary". That's what Firesong says to Karal. I knew Firesong was arrogant, but until then I didn't realize how distastefully arrogant and snobby he was. So, in the books you can be as much of an @$$ as you want as long as you're PC and necessary to the salvation of whomever, whatever. Got it. Yeah, I know I'm probably nitpicking, but this book really got under my skin. On the plus side, I did related better to An'desha and Karal (in the beginning) though I'm sure I'm in the minority because I've read several reviews that found them bland or annoying. I liked hearing about the ways in which the different countries think, are run. I liked viewing Valdemar through the eyes of Karal for whom all of it is new. I really enjoyed viewing things through the eyes of Duke Tremane, his working through problems, his though processes molded by living in such a distinctively different environment from Valdemar.I liked Duke Tremane, a man who I could see doing well in Valdemar had be been born there. I like him, he's a sympathetic and interesting character. Probably the best man in his circle of society, morally speaking. I really would like for him somehow to flee to Valdemar and join them. I think he would have some trouble adjusting, and maybe couldn't (killing your rivals would be frowned on, don't you think?), but if he could... Unfortunately I don't think Tremane ends up doing well, and that's probably the only real and reasonable outcome. Again, unfortunately. I really rooted for him, even after the evil he does. So, I liked it and really didn't like aspects of this book, hence a rating of 2 1/2 stars. I will stick with it and read the other two books in the trilogy but I don't expect it to get better and my guess is that the trilogy with Elspeth will be a clear favorite between the two. At least so far, I intend to read as many of the other trilogies as I can as well as the anthologies.I did read all the collegium series, and I would put them above the Storm series with Karal but below the ones with Elspeth so far, but not something I expect to change.
What do You think about Storm Warning (1995)?
This review is for you if, like me, you look at an author's work on a shelf and don't quite know where to jump in, particularly in the case of someone so prolific and beloved as Mercedes Lackey.I chose this one because the library has all three of the Mage Storms series, so although it's by no means Lackey's first, I expected to be able to pick up and enjoy this trilogy as a starting point for her writing. How wrong I was.The first third (half?) of the book is spent catching up readers on all the backstory from the previous trilogy. To do this, Lackey sets a priest and his young page on a journey by horseback with a taciturn envoy from the neighboring country. And they talk and ride, talk and ride, stay in an inn and talk, talk and ride, stay in an inn and talk through a long storm. To call it dull would be an insult to the merely plodding and mundane. Among other things, it includes a treatise on butt cream (to soothe saddle sores) and the charming decor of a cottage. I think Lackey wrote this while doing book tours. For the little inn where they first stop, substitute the Chicago Airport Marriott. For the inn with the cottage, maybe a nice place on Martha's Vineyard ... you know, the one with the blueberry scones and cream with tea.Regular readers of Lackey's may well just skim through this as it all reads like rehashing, and so not mind it. But as an introduction to the universe Lackey has created, it's an awful failure. Awe-ful. As in, I am in awe just how full of failure it is.Probably not the worst book ever (but in the running); definitely the worst book by a major author I've read since Valhalla Rising.
—Randal
I really enjoyed this book. We suddenly get an outside view of Valdemar, and I love the way it makes you think about how we are indoctrinated into believing propaganda and how hard it is to let go of. Karal is a great medium to show us how difficult this is. He is young enough to not be directly connected to previous events, but old enough that he has heard the lies of the corrupted officials for most of his life. At first, I was really annoyed with Andesha. The only reason I could ignore most of his whining was because...it made sense for his character . He was, mentally, still a young child trying to come to grips with everything that happened. Really, my greatest anger was directed at FireSong. I just wanted to slap him silly. I bet he gets worse in the next book! This book is really does emphasize how the need for fresh eyes and perspective can be essential in solving many problems. Working together is a key to development---for ourselves and society. I really enjoyed that message as well.
—Michelle
As much as I dislike the Mage Winds trilogy, I like the Mage Storms trilogy. Karal is a great viewpoint character - foreign enough to bring some interesting background and insight into the familiar Valdemar court, naive enough to grow and change in satisfying ways, but neither self-pitying nor ineffectual. Not all of the others are quite as successful, but in this book they pretty much don't come into play.Just like Valdemar is an idealized fantasy of liberal politics, the "true" Vkandis faith is an ideal of liberal religion. A character at one point actually pretty much quotes Aslan's "naming of Names" speech from the Last Battle. It meshes well with the rest of the series's worldview, and adds a little more depth to the otherwise militantly agnostic setup.
—Jeremy Preacher
