Customer Reviews

Arrow's Fall (The Heralds of Valdemar, Book 3)

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Talia has just completed her intership in the field and can now begin her career as Queen's Own Herald. Her first major assignment is to investigate a marriage proposal from Prince Ancar of the neighboring kingdom of Hardorn and to make sure that all is order there for the Queen's visit. She teams up with Kris again to complete this task only to discover that Ancar has his own dark plans for them, their Queen and Valdemar...

"Arrow's Fall" is the final book in Mercedes Lackey's The Heralds of Valdemar Trilogy. This has been one of the best trilogies I have ever read, and this was the best book of this trilogy. It had incredible emotional power, and I found myself crying at various moments throughout the last 100 pages or so. The ending was unbelievable and utterly perfect. It made me cry even more than the other parts.

"Arrow's Fall" is a much darker book than its predecessors, so I would not recommend it to young readers. I do feel that the darkness adds depth and credibility to the story, but for mature readers only.

Bottom Line: A GREAT read! What a fabulous trilogy!! I dare you to read it without crying at least once.

If you like fantasy, you'll love this book!

Of all the Valdemar books, this is one of my favorites!

If you have liked any of the Valdemar books, your sure to like this one. Of course, read the first two books (Arrows of the Queen and Arrows Flight) in the Arrows series before this one.

It's about the Herald Talia. When the princess Elspeth is looking for eligible suitors, Talia and her friend Kris are sent to a foreign country to check if a prince is really as kind as he seems. When they arrive, they realize that Ancar (the prince) is going to kill his father, most of the other court members, and them! I won't say anymore because it could spoil the book.

of the entire arrow's series this is definitely the best.I read it in one sitting.

Talia and Kris are supposed to go out and see a foreign pince to decide if he is a good suitor for Elspeth. All seems well at first but behind the grins and merriment of the people there is fear of this prince who revels in death and pain. They arive at court and Talia senses danger with her gift of empathy, and that danger is not only to that kingdom but also their own.

The best part in the book is definitely the battle. I was grinning in exitement when Valdemar pulled out a 'secret weapon' that is quite a strange one. It is spoken of in previous books but instantly forgotten when it seems of no importance.

almost all the loose end are tied up. I say almost because there are few remaining. One of them at least is a very large loose end but ther is one that is less obvious ( I wonder if anyone else noticed). I just hope they will all come together in the next Valdemar books( I also hope there will be new mysteries, after all who wants Mercedes Lackey to ever stop writing?)

Truly outstanding trilogy, ranking alongside The Last Herald-Mage as her finest works to date. Gripping from beginning to end with tears, laughter, happiness and sorrow. Keep up the good work!!!!

In this third volume of the series, Mercedes Lackey switches direction. Unlike the first two volumes, the focus moves away from the growth of Talia as a person and as a Herald and shifts to a more action oriented story of intrigue, betrayal, and good winning over evil.

In this volume, Talia has just concluded her training as a Herald and comes back to the capital to assume her full role as a member of the governing council of Valdemar. She now must deal with court intrigues including finding ways to deal with her nemesis - who happens to be the most senior councillor AND the uncle of her good friend Kris. While in the capital she must also deal with her budding romance with Dirk.

The switch in direction becomes apparent almost immediately as the author starts telling the story from three different directions. We get a few paragraphs told from Talia's point of view, a few from Kris's, and a few from Dirk's. I did not like this. I find this mechanism to be very artifically done and not to have aided the story much.

The bigger storyline is that a marriage proposal has arrived in Valdemar proposing to hook up Elspeth with the son of one of Valdemar's few friendly neighbors. Talia and Kris are dispatched to check this out in advance of the Queen's arrival at the other land. One thing leads to another and many dark secrets and evil magic are encountered along the way as this task is not as simple as it looks. However, the end of the book resolves the main points of the crisis, brings out the best in many of our heroes, and brings the young lovers (Dirk and Talia) to their senses and has them married off!

In addition, the story line evolves to allow for many future directions. Dirk has been adopted by Kris's family and Talia may be introduced to them; The revelation of new uses for the old and terrible magics leads to many possible future volumes; the companions find new ways to be helpful; etc.

I downgraded this book because the ending was too pat and the storyline was way too predictable. It was too easy to see who were the real evildoers in this book. Also, too many fortuitous connections to previous volumes in the series were being made. As an example: just when Talia is at the end of her rope (apparently), she comes across an individual whose life she saved in a previous volume in a totally different land. And, it turns out that not only can he help her immediately, but he is almost immune to the bad forces, AND he is the head of a clan. I mean, come on!!!

So, while there were many intriguing moments and emotionally gut wrenching moments in the book, there were also too many problems for me to rank it higher than just average. Sorry.

As you followed Talia through the first two books in the Arrows trilogy, you saw her grow and prosper under the guidance and care of those in the Collegium.
Now, after finally completing her classes, and receiving her Whites, she is sent on a mission, with Herald Kris, to investigate a marriage proposal from Prince Ancar of Hardorn, to Elspeth, Heir to the throne of Valdemar.
Everyone has their doubts, and wants those doubts calmed and dismissed before they accept the proposal. But what Talia and Kris discover dismisses the sincerety of Prince Ancar's proposal without a second thought: Ancar, along with Hulda, a Mage who had tried to overthrow the throne of Valdemar, and undermine Elspeth (when she was young), are now trying to overthrow the throne of Hardorn. Not only do they try- they suceed.
We lose one of our favorite characters, and see two of our other favorite characters through a very happy event.
And although this book will make you yell, laugh, and cry, it is worth every second.

This is truly one of my favorite books! When I read it for the first time I could not put it down, nor could I help laughing, weeping and smiling when the story unfolded. I won't read it in public, though, I'd be too embarrased at crying in front of people. I've never read a book that has had that much affect on me, it was that good!

This book is...beyond words! There are just a few books that I've read that could inspire such a deep understanding of its characters (two of them being the first and last of the "Magic" series by Mercedes Lackey). Talia, Kris, and Dirk were all (almost) perfectly molded as developed, interesting, yet faulted characters that people can relate to. They are funny and sarcastic and emotional and bright...and human, not gods or goddesses in their own rights. With all of their good comes bad, times when they are stupid (Dirk and his "cold"), arrogant (Kris, just about all of the time), vain (Kris again), and nuts (that applies to not just the triad, but EVERYONE in the book). Arrow's Fall made me bawl--if you want romance and danger (that's what Heralds are for!) and adventure and trajedy and friendship, pick up the "Arrow" series and you'll be busy for a long time...

Wow! This book is an amazing exploration of emotion. It begins with a common enough plot, one with twists and intrigues but it is in the characters that Lackey shows her genius. I have watched Talia grow up through these books and have grown to love her and her friends, thus her pain cuts me and her joy cheers me. While I can't say I enjoy seeing my friends suffer I did enjoy this book and treasure it as some of the most emotional literature that I have read. Be warned that there are severel scenes in here that contain such raw emotion that you will tear up thinking about them later.

Oh, this one is the saddest of the three of them... but it is still very good. It certainly is exciting... and really sets up the remainder of the series. I had forgotten some of the details for this one about Ancar and Hardorn so it made it especially fun to re-read!