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August books have one motto... bringing Valdemar to the finish line.
Mercedes Lackey - To Take A Thief
Great novel centering on the youth of Skif, growing up on the streets of Valdemar. This together with a conspiracy on the highest level in the court that takes centerstage in the Arrows trilogy, makes for a great read. The traitors are not spoiled, so that a reader is able to read the novels in real chronological order and the big reveal in the Arrows trilogy still is the only point where the culprit is brought into the light. The other big point in favor of this novel is the role of Alberich. In the previous novels it was only hinted at, what kind of job Alberich really has. This novel takes his shadowy side and brings it squarely into the spotlight. Grand cinema style. One of the best books in the complete cycle.
Mercedes Lackey - Exile's Honor, Exile's Valor
These two books center completely on two persons. Alberich and young Selenay. It begins with Alberich still in Karse and brings him directly into Valdemar during the first 50 pages. The next third of the book tells of his adjusting to his new position in Valdemar, before it takes a turn for a more serious matter, the Tedrel Wars. It closes with a great battle scene and finishes with an introvertive look at the new queen Selenay, much too young to take over the job.
The second book details Selenay's struggle into the position of ruler in Valdemar and culminates in a great action scene detailling a situation, that was brought up ,in to paragraphs in "By the sword" or "Oathbreakers". I have really longed for a more detailed explanation, about what happened there and why those things have come to pass. Misty gives a great axplanation, emotionally and politically, why those bonds would be tied and how it came to pass. She took a long time though to foreshadow the crisis in order to let everyone play his/her role in this situation, including a buildup to, why a person would be doing a stunt like that. This took an awful long time to get everything into the place it needed to be, to resolve it in a big blowout finish. That's the only blemish on an otherwise great novel detailing a really interesting part of the past of Alberich and Selenay, that was only hinted at.
Mercedes Lackey (Ed.) - Sun in Glory, Crossroads
Two anthologies with stories from Misty herself and lots of other authors, some very notable, some having not too many publications under their belts. I really liked those two books. One story by a newcomer even let me shed a tear about the end. So, if you are a fan of Valdemar and well versed in the myths of this world you gain some new insights into some important situations, that weren't touched upon in the novels or only hinted at.
John Helfers, Denise Little (Ed.) - The Valdemar Companion
A doorstopper of a book containing a new novella in Valdemar set some further years forward. I've read the novella (good stuff, but a bit repetitive, another youngster coming to the Collegium) and the interviews. The maps are really great. The comprehensive ,Compendium is a real piece of work, you can find really everthing there (it takes up more than 200 pages). I don't know if the novella alone is enough of a teaser to let you buy the book, but if you want to have a good look behind the scenes, this is the book you need to have.
This brings my journey through Valdemar (and Karse and Rethwallen) to a (hopefully temporary) close. I am interested in new stories in this world, but I also see, that the time of the BIG crisis is over, and novels detailling the "ever happy after"-period can be a bit dull. The Darian novels were too peaceful to me. Nice on an emotionally scale, but not impotant enough for Valdemar to merit a whole trilogy. I think she needs to take a good look at what Feist has been doing in Midkemia/Kelewan to bring new interest to the lands of Valdemar. In order to bring new interest to new books Valdemar needs to live in interesting times...
Next month:
A long running series in the hands of a new author (and it's not John Gardner)...
A return to the hilarious worlds and words of a German author and the lifes of colourful animal...
(those two books I have read already at this point of time, but you may speculate what books they are)