Review Sword of Ice edited by Mercedes Lackey
Title: Sword of Ice
Author: Mercedes Lackey, various
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: C
Reason for Reading: This was 1 on my librarything suggester, and an anthology was pretty much perfect for me during these last few weeks, since I could stop to read a short story when I needed a break.
A couple of years ago, I decided I needed to go on a rereading bender, revisiting the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey. I didn't make it through the series because shiny things distracted me, but I've always had a soft spot for the Valdemar books, since they were perfect for my dreamy teenage self, all full of romance and adventure and empathic animals and life bonds. Unfortunately, time has made me jaded and the gloss has worn off of Valdemar. But it's still very much a place I would like to visit, so I thought reading a collection of Valdemar short stories would be fun.
Since these stories are significantly shorter than, say, the offerings in a romance anthology, I'll keep my summaries to a minimum.
Also, there'll be spoilers for the rest of the Valdemar books interspersed, so you might not want to read this if you're sensitive about that.
"Sunlancer" by Philip M. Austin and Mercedes Lackey opens up the anthology on a compelling note as Clarrin-Mull, one of Karse's sunlancers, listens to some uncomfortable questions. Karse, you may remember, is the nation Valdemar is perpetually at war with, and their priests are corrupt. Clarren emds up doing what he can to end that corruption.
"The Demon's Den" by Tanya Huff tells of a herald who goes into an old, badly constructed mine in order to rescue a mountain cat he hasn't managed to kill. He gets trapped, and must rely on a bitter, blind, crippled mining engineer to pull him out. I liked this one a lot, and particularly thought that Ari, the crippled woman, was handled well. I like that Tanya Huff writes flawed characters, and this definitely inspires me to read more of her books.
"Ironrose" by Larry Dixon and Mel. White takes us to the Hawkbrothers and their Hertasi servants. It's a cute little story about matchmaking servants and two awkward shy people who are desperately in love with each other. Personally, I found the elements of cute a bit more than I could take, and the Hertasi meddling just irritated me.
Josefa Sherman's "The Babysitter", on the other hand, was just lovely. It tells of a grieving merchant who leaves the city to travel around the northern wilderness. After a storm, he spots a dead gryphon and then discovers her child is still alive. Unable to let the baby die, he does the best he can to tend it, and in the meantime begins to heal. As I mentioned, this story worked well for me. Leryn, the merchant, is full of angst, and I felt his pain and was cheering him on as he came to bond with the baby gryphon. Josefa Sherman, who writes historical fantasy, is now on my authors to look out for list.
Richard Lee Byers brings us a fantasy/mystery in "Salamander", which features a fencing instructor-cum-private detective trying to figure out who is setting off magical fires in Rethwellen. This one is good enough that I'd probably read something else by Byers, but I have to confess that the slightly gritty noir setting doesn't mix well with Valdemar, though the notion is interesting.
"A Child's Adventures" by Janni Lee Simner tells of an old woman who is inexplicably chosen by a companion. I liked that yet again we get a mature woman, not an adolescent girl, and I like that it's very clear that the companion made the right choice in choosing her. But I thought the story went on just a shade too long.
"Blood Ties" by Stephaney Shaver is a mess. I could have read a much better story on the Internet. We have a boy, somewhere between Lavan and Vanyel with a bit of Tallia thrown in for good measure, and his family, which is full of dark secrets. There was a lot of angst, and none of it rang especially true, and the writing style grated on my nerves.
Lawrence Schimmel's "Another Successful Experiment" brings things right back to where they ought to be, firmly in the realm of fun. This is a story about a herald trainee who invents Valdemar-style hockey. It was cute, though the cameo of several of Mercedes Lackey's actual characters distracted slightly. Though, on reflection and several days later, it's definitely one of the stories I remember clearly.
"Choices" by Michelle West features a barmaid who has--get ready for a huge shock--wanted to be a herald. She finally gets to have a bit of an adventure and accepts that, sadly, no companion is forthcoming. Kelsey, our aforementioned barmaid, is not a shining example of a well-drawn character. I found her to be a huge Mary Sue, and the only thing that really saved this story for me was that there were a few genuinely funny lines. Still, it's easily skippable.
"A Song for Valdemar" by Kristin Schwingel is the author's first published story, and it shows. There's a lot of telling instead of showing, and yet again the premise feels pretty fanfic-y. It's about a young healer who wants more than anything to be a bard, and is all about how one should embrace one's talents rather than pining over what one doesn't have and it's all done in a very heavy-handed style that made me roll my eyes and wish, once more, for some free fanfiction from off the Internets.
Elisabeth Waters next brings us "The School up the Hill" which is about yet another young person with extraordinary abilities who has been crapped on by life and is finally given an opportunity to make something of herself, this time by becoming a mage. This is one of the better offerings in this regard, since the author did a good job of showing the results of our protagonist, Leesa's dreadful life. It is, however, still largely forgetable.
"Chance" by Mark Shepherd takes us away from the theme of young deserving children getting what they most want in the world. Unfortunately for it, the story suffers from the fact that I *know* for a fact that I could find a better retelling on the Internet. It tells of Jonne, a guardsman that Vanyel took as a lover somewhere between the events of Magic's Pawn and Magic's Promise. I found the portrayal of Jonne's sexuality a bit simplistic, if not just this side of offensive, so I really couldn't enjoy the story very much. Jonne mentions having slept with a married man, and he makes out with Vanyel after Van's been horribly injured, and I was just disappointed that none of the actual nuances of the relationship were dealt with, nor was the fact that Jonne's past sexual history isn't exactly indicative of the kind of morality I believe in. And he's the protagonist and in no other way portrayed as an antihero.
The epinymous story in this collection, "Sword of Ice" by Mercedes Lackey and John Yezeguielian takes us to another moment in Valdemar history, this time to Vanyel's aunt Savil's first meeting with the Tayledras. I don't really have any comment except to say that this story contains one of the most awkward pickup lines I've ever had occasion to read.
John Heffers next gives us "In the Forest of Sorrows", a rousing action-packed story about a young boy's encounter with Vanyel in the, well, forest of sorrows. The story was interesting enough, but I found it a tad wordy, and the final climactic battle had me confused.
Ben Ohlander brings us "Kandis' Own", which is a story of a battle between Karse and Hardorn and details the beginning of Solaris's rise to power. Unlike some of the other authors, Ohlander's story is polished, but subjectively it didn't really work for me, since I don't tend to enjoy tales of battle.
I really liked Mickey Zucker Reichert's "A Herald's Honor", which starts out with our two heralds discovering they're lifebonded. Problem is, one of them has promised to remain faithful to someone else. They have to solve a dispute about who is the mother of a baby. The tension between the two characters was subtly drawn, and the resolution was satisfying. I think I vastly prefer the stories about heralds on circuit in this anthology to the ones about angsty uberspecial young people.
The penultimate story is "A Song for No One's Mourning" by Gary A. Braunbeck. It's really hard to describe the plot of this story clearly, except to say it's a story about the redemptive power of friendship and pure, unconditional love. The writing style is lovely and lyrical, the imagery evocative, and Braunbeck succeeds in drawing some sympathetic characters.
Phillip M. Austin and mercedes Lackey close out the collection with "The Blue Heart" which is a cute little sentimental story of a herald and a very special little girl and, once more, of the power of love. It ended things on a positive note, though I don't think it was my favorite.
Overall, the anthology was good. There were some clunkers, and some really excellent stories--the Josepha Sherman, Laurence Schimmel and Mickey Zucker Reichert offerings being my favorites. I guess I'd recommend this to fans of Valdemar, but I'm not sure a newbie would get much out of the collection. Then again, I also think you can read better Valdemar fanfic on the Internet without having to leave your house or spend money in doing so.
Author: Mercedes Lackey, various
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: C
Reason for Reading: This was 1 on my librarything suggester, and an anthology was pretty much perfect for me during these last few weeks, since I could stop to read a short story when I needed a break.
A couple of years ago, I decided I needed to go on a rereading bender, revisiting the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey. I didn't make it through the series because shiny things distracted me, but I've always had a soft spot for the Valdemar books, since they were perfect for my dreamy teenage self, all full of romance and adventure and empathic animals and life bonds. Unfortunately, time has made me jaded and the gloss has worn off of Valdemar. But it's still very much a place I would like to visit, so I thought reading a collection of Valdemar short stories would be fun.
Since these stories are significantly shorter than, say, the offerings in a romance anthology, I'll keep my summaries to a minimum.
Also, there'll be spoilers for the rest of the Valdemar books interspersed, so you might not want to read this if you're sensitive about that.
"Sunlancer" by Philip M. Austin and Mercedes Lackey opens up the anthology on a compelling note as Clarrin-Mull, one of Karse's sunlancers, listens to some uncomfortable questions. Karse, you may remember, is the nation Valdemar is perpetually at war with, and their priests are corrupt. Clarren emds up doing what he can to end that corruption.
"The Demon's Den" by Tanya Huff tells of a herald who goes into an old, badly constructed mine in order to rescue a mountain cat he hasn't managed to kill. He gets trapped, and must rely on a bitter, blind, crippled mining engineer to pull him out. I liked this one a lot, and particularly thought that Ari, the crippled woman, was handled well. I like that Tanya Huff writes flawed characters, and this definitely inspires me to read more of her books.
"Ironrose" by Larry Dixon and Mel. White takes us to the Hawkbrothers and their Hertasi servants. It's a cute little story about matchmaking servants and two awkward shy people who are desperately in love with each other. Personally, I found the elements of cute a bit more than I could take, and the Hertasi meddling just irritated me.
Josefa Sherman's "The Babysitter", on the other hand, was just lovely. It tells of a grieving merchant who leaves the city to travel around the northern wilderness. After a storm, he spots a dead gryphon and then discovers her child is still alive. Unable to let the baby die, he does the best he can to tend it, and in the meantime begins to heal. As I mentioned, this story worked well for me. Leryn, the merchant, is full of angst, and I felt his pain and was cheering him on as he came to bond with the baby gryphon. Josefa Sherman, who writes historical fantasy, is now on my authors to look out for list.
Richard Lee Byers brings us a fantasy/mystery in "Salamander", which features a fencing instructor-cum-private detective trying to figure out who is setting off magical fires in Rethwellen. This one is good enough that I'd probably read something else by Byers, but I have to confess that the slightly gritty noir setting doesn't mix well with Valdemar, though the notion is interesting.
"A Child's Adventures" by Janni Lee Simner tells of an old woman who is inexplicably chosen by a companion. I liked that yet again we get a mature woman, not an adolescent girl, and I like that it's very clear that the companion made the right choice in choosing her. But I thought the story went on just a shade too long.
"Blood Ties" by Stephaney Shaver is a mess. I could have read a much better story on the Internet. We have a boy, somewhere between Lavan and Vanyel with a bit of Tallia thrown in for good measure, and his family, which is full of dark secrets. There was a lot of angst, and none of it rang especially true, and the writing style grated on my nerves.
Lawrence Schimmel's "Another Successful Experiment" brings things right back to where they ought to be, firmly in the realm of fun. This is a story about a herald trainee who invents Valdemar-style hockey. It was cute, though the cameo of several of Mercedes Lackey's actual characters distracted slightly. Though, on reflection and several days later, it's definitely one of the stories I remember clearly.
"Choices" by Michelle West features a barmaid who has--get ready for a huge shock--wanted to be a herald. She finally gets to have a bit of an adventure and accepts that, sadly, no companion is forthcoming. Kelsey, our aforementioned barmaid, is not a shining example of a well-drawn character. I found her to be a huge Mary Sue, and the only thing that really saved this story for me was that there were a few genuinely funny lines. Still, it's easily skippable.
"A Song for Valdemar" by Kristin Schwingel is the author's first published story, and it shows. There's a lot of telling instead of showing, and yet again the premise feels pretty fanfic-y. It's about a young healer who wants more than anything to be a bard, and is all about how one should embrace one's talents rather than pining over what one doesn't have and it's all done in a very heavy-handed style that made me roll my eyes and wish, once more, for some free fanfiction from off the Internets.
Elisabeth Waters next brings us "The School up the Hill" which is about yet another young person with extraordinary abilities who has been crapped on by life and is finally given an opportunity to make something of herself, this time by becoming a mage. This is one of the better offerings in this regard, since the author did a good job of showing the results of our protagonist, Leesa's dreadful life. It is, however, still largely forgetable.
"Chance" by Mark Shepherd takes us away from the theme of young deserving children getting what they most want in the world. Unfortunately for it, the story suffers from the fact that I *know* for a fact that I could find a better retelling on the Internet. It tells of Jonne, a guardsman that Vanyel took as a lover somewhere between the events of Magic's Pawn and Magic's Promise. I found the portrayal of Jonne's sexuality a bit simplistic, if not just this side of offensive, so I really couldn't enjoy the story very much. Jonne mentions having slept with a married man, and he makes out with Vanyel after Van's been horribly injured, and I was just disappointed that none of the actual nuances of the relationship were dealt with, nor was the fact that Jonne's past sexual history isn't exactly indicative of the kind of morality I believe in. And he's the protagonist and in no other way portrayed as an antihero.
The epinymous story in this collection, "Sword of Ice" by Mercedes Lackey and John Yezeguielian takes us to another moment in Valdemar history, this time to Vanyel's aunt Savil's first meeting with the Tayledras. I don't really have any comment except to say that this story contains one of the most awkward pickup lines I've ever had occasion to read.
John Heffers next gives us "In the Forest of Sorrows", a rousing action-packed story about a young boy's encounter with Vanyel in the, well, forest of sorrows. The story was interesting enough, but I found it a tad wordy, and the final climactic battle had me confused.
Ben Ohlander brings us "Kandis' Own", which is a story of a battle between Karse and Hardorn and details the beginning of Solaris's rise to power. Unlike some of the other authors, Ohlander's story is polished, but subjectively it didn't really work for me, since I don't tend to enjoy tales of battle.
I really liked Mickey Zucker Reichert's "A Herald's Honor", which starts out with our two heralds discovering they're lifebonded. Problem is, one of them has promised to remain faithful to someone else. They have to solve a dispute about who is the mother of a baby. The tension between the two characters was subtly drawn, and the resolution was satisfying. I think I vastly prefer the stories about heralds on circuit in this anthology to the ones about angsty uberspecial young people.
The penultimate story is "A Song for No One's Mourning" by Gary A. Braunbeck. It's really hard to describe the plot of this story clearly, except to say it's a story about the redemptive power of friendship and pure, unconditional love. The writing style is lovely and lyrical, the imagery evocative, and Braunbeck succeeds in drawing some sympathetic characters.
Phillip M. Austin and mercedes Lackey close out the collection with "The Blue Heart" which is a cute little sentimental story of a herald and a very special little girl and, once more, of the power of love. It ended things on a positive note, though I don't think it was my favorite.
Overall, the anthology was good. There were some clunkers, and some really excellent stories--the Josepha Sherman, Laurence Schimmel and Mickey Zucker Reichert offerings being my favorites. I guess I'd recommend this to fans of Valdemar, but I'm not sure a newbie would get much out of the collection. Then again, I also think you can read better Valdemar fanfic on the Internet without having to leave your house or spend money in doing so.