Exile's Valor: A Novel of Valdemar [Hardcover]

Mercedes Lackey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Valdemar Novels | Publication Date: November 4, 2003

National best-selling author Mercedes Lackey takes us back to the enchanted land of Valdemar.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Making love and not war is the theme of Lackey's entertaining high fantasy, the second in a trilogy (after 2002's Exile's Honor) within her long-running Valdemar series-not that love is any less of a battlefield. Alberich of Karse, the outsider Herald, must watch over the newly enthroned queen, Selenay, as he trains young Heralds by day and chases down treasonous plots in the alleys and shady locales of Haven by night. Along the way, his recruit in the arts of undercover work, Herald-Chronicler-Second Myste, provides him with her own ideas of work under covers. And his Companion, the intelligent, mind-linked equine Kantor, keeps Alberich honest with a sardonic sense of humor. The recently bereaved Selenay, too, faces her own challenge in the court of love, first from anxious councilors trying to arrange a royal marriage, then from the too-good-to-be-true Prince Karathanelan of Rethwellan. Will good triumph in the end? That answer will have to wait for the next book, as the master villain remains unknown. But it would take a poor gambler to bet against a set of characters so obviously beloved by their author, despite her inflicting a Germanic speech pattern on poor Alberich, who often sounds like Yoda. Long-time readers will appreciate learning more of favorite characters. Newcomers will definitely feel as though they have walked in on the middle of a gossipy conversation.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The sequel to Exile's Honor [BKL S 15 02] continues the adventures of Herald Alberich, former Karsite captain turned herald of Valdemar. After the Tedrel War, few, if any, doubt Alberich's loyalty to his adopted country, which is just as well, for the death of King Sendar during that war put his daughter Selenay, who had barely finished herald's training, on the throne of Valdemar. She had expected years of apprenticeship in ruling at her father's side, but she is now queen of a country that, while victorious, is weakened by the bloody war. Furthermore, her council and some of her heralds see her as too inexperienced and badly in need of a consort. Alberich is now the Collegium weapons master, a job that includes keeping track of Valdemar's enemies, internal and external. What with court intrigues, foreign envoys, and Selenay's grief, Alberich's duties are no less time-consuming than were his wartime responsibilities. A must for Valdemar fans. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: DAW Hardcover; 1ST edition (November 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756402069
• ISBN-13: 978-0756402068
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,154,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mercedes Lackey is the acclaimed author of over fifty novels and many works of short fiction. In her "spare" time she is also a professional lyricist and a licensed wild bird rehabilitator. Mercedes lives in Oklahoma with her husband and frequent collaborator, artist Larry Dixon, and their flock of parrots.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hindered By the Mary Sue Element, January 21, 2004

By 

Amanda M. Hayes (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exile's Valor: A Novel of Valdemar (Hardcover)

I should start out by saying that I may have given this book more stars than it deserved, and was highly tempted to give it only three--the reason I didn't is that three seemed too low, just as four seems too high. This is a difficult book to rate, because I believe how well a reader will enjoy it depends quite a bit on just how familiar they are with the world of Valdemar and with Mercedes Lackey fandom in general.

Like several recent Valdemar books (and its own prequel, _Exile's Honor_), this one is set in a space of history which was alluded to in the early novels; now we have a chance to see just how the events unfolded, and get to know some characters--Selenay, Alberich, and Talamir, among others--in greater depth than ever before. This can be a fun experience for the Valdemar fan. I enjoyed seeing Selenay as a young Queen, and Talamir as he is after the tragedy he suffered in _Exile's Honor_; the glimpse of Karathanelan and exploration of Selenay's doomed marriage were also worthwhile. Alberich remains a colorful and interesting character. I did think more space was spent on the game of Hurlee than it needed or deserved, which could have been better spent on plot... but then, I'm not a sports fan.

These are the good aspects, and if you concentrate on those the book deserves four stars. I should also mention that this wouldn't be a bad book for those new to the Valdemar series (though I'd suggest reading _Exile's Honor_ first if nothing else): it's a light, engaging romp, and a decent introduction to Valdemaran governance--and if you haven't read many of the other books, you're less likely to be bothered by the many and myriad consistency errors here.

This was one of my two main quibbles with _Exile's Valor_. It appears that Lackey really, *really* skimped on her homework, and that no editor made any effort to clean up the mess. As far as external consistency goes: what happened to Karathanelan's nickname (previously 'Thanel,' not 'Karath') and eye color (Elspeth, whose eyes are brown, was previously said to have her father's eyes)? And how exactly are two blue-eyed parents supposed to have produced a brown-eyed daughter anyway? My erstwhile Genetics professor would probably have something interesting to say about that. Also, _By the Sword_ clearly states that Karathanelan's father died *after* his son's antics in Valdemar and subsequent death--in fact, Thanel's hijinks were what caused his father's collapse. So it's rather confusing to see Megrarthon kicking the bucket months in advance of the entire episode here. Internal consistency doesn't fare much better; Lackey can't seem to make up her mind which of a pair of troublemaking students is a Herald-Trainee and which a Bard, and switches their roles twice! First Mical was the Herald, then Adain, and then Mical again. Shouldn't some editor have caught that? Having so many errors makes the book look sloppy (IMHO) and causes some points of confusion where it openly conflicts with other volumes.

The second quibble is another one which may be less apt to bother those who aren't so familiar with Lackey fandom: the existence and predominance of the character Myste. As other reviewers have mentioned and as Lackey has herself confirmed in the short story "After Midnight" (which appears in a DAW anniversary anthology), Myste is Misty Lackey herself. She appears to go so far as to share not only the author's name, but also her physical build and possibly her general personality. In fanfic this would be called a 'Mary Sue,' and probably looked down upon as self-indulgent. I find it, if anything, even more self-indulgent here. At least in _Exile's Honor_ and _Take a Thief_, Myste wasn't always at the forefront--but in _Exile's Valor_, she has the solution for *everything*! Everyone relies on Myste to solve all their problems! She's one of the heroes of the entire Karathanelan affair, never mind that this makes the lack of any mention of her up until the preface of _Winds of Change_ awfully hard to explain! And she gets the male lead as her love interest! Good gods, but that gets old. I firmly believe this book would have been much, *much* better if Myste had not been in it, or at the very least if her role had been seriously downplayed. Come on, ML--Selenay has a lot of scholars and Collegium Heralds at her disposal. I found it hard to swallow that she or anyone else would really think to themselves that *only Myste* could possibly be able to untangle any of the knotty intellectual problems facing Our Heroes. Jeeze.

In short, this isn't the strongest Valdemar novel, and is unfortunately plagued by a host of minor problems. However, it may be a fun read despite that--it depends on what the reader is looking for, and how much the errors bug him or her. They bugged me a *lot* (obviously ;) but I still liked the novel enough that I look forward to rereading it in time. My advice: get this one in paperback or from the library if you like the sound of its story, but don't expect it to be either the best or the worst work that Lackey's ever done. And if you decide to make this your first Valdemar novel, you may want to give the series another try by reading an earlier book (I would recommend the Last Herald-Mage trilogy) should you find this one not to your taste.

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tale of Prince Charming, November 4, 2003

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exile's Valor: A Novel of Valdemar (Hardcover)

Exile's Valor is the second novel in the Exile's subseries, following Exile's Honor. In the previous volume, the Valdemarans have decisively defeated the Tedrels and Alberich has led a raid to recover captive children from the Tedrel main camp. King Sendar and his companion have been killed in the engagement and Talamir's companion has also been killed. After the battle, Selenay is proclaimed as Queen and leads the combined funeral and victory march back to Haven.

In this novel, six months later, Alberich is now highly regarded by most Valdemarans for his exploits during the war against the Tedrel. As Weaponsmaster, he is finding his students less reluctant and better behaved. As internal security chief, he is finding less interest in buying intelligence about Valdemar and more in buying intelligence about her neighbors and trading partners. The economy is picking up and trade is becoming more important than warfare.

However, boys will be boys and a couple of high-spirited and high-energy scamps manage to break one of the wall mirrors in the salle by using a theatrical fighting style. The boys are sent to work in the glassworks for a while to give them an appreciation of the value of the mirror and Alberich learns where the boys had been observing this flamboyant style of fighting. Out of curiosity, he attends a performance of the acting troop and happens to notice that papers were passed covertly during the performance. Alberich quickly determines the name of the actor, but has little luck in identifying the young aristocrat.

Meanwhile, Alberich accidently creates a new sport, Hurlee, that becomes a overnight success. The various trainees are strong enamored with the new sport, either as players or spectator. At least, the threat of being barred from participation is a potent goad toward better behavior and scholarship.

Selenay is having problems with her council. They are pressing her to marry and she is not ready yet. Besides, none of the candidates presented by the council are suitable, much less desireable. Then the Rethwellan ambassador introduces her to Prince Karathanelan.

This story shows the continued assimilation of Alberich into the Heralds and Valdemar itself. He has gained respect and power as Weaponsmaster and war hero. He has two jobs that are both significant and satifying. And he has found love with Myste, the Herald Chronicler.

Highly recommended for Lackey fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of court intrigue and adventure in a fantasy setting.

-Arthur W. Jordin

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of unconnected details, November 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Exile's Valor: A Novel of Valdemar (Hardcover)

Some may accuse me of being picky, but I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped. I've been a longtime reader of the Valdemar books, but this book was sloppy and there was insufficient attention paid to the essential themes of the book. Alberich and Selenay have virtually no interaction, despite the close relationship they built in Exile's Honor. This seems at odds with the way they had worked together in the past-- that Selenary looked to Alberich for advice and trusted him as someone to confide in-- and yet here, she is never seen to interact with him, and he never does anything to address his own concerns about her situation with her. I'd have thought that Alberich would be more interested in protecting Selenay by having straight talks with her about what needed to be done, but in EV, he backs off of any interaction with her, and develops a discomfort with women that is cited as the reason why he doesn't tell Selenay his concerns. He comes across as a weaker person for all that.

Selenay, for the purposes of continuity with the stories later on, where she admits to being infatuated with her prince and making a bad decision in marrying him, nonetheless comes across as more of a whiner than I think was intentional. It's one thing to mourn your lost father and want romance like any other girl, but Selenay turns into a mopey, whiny, self-absorbed git which bears no relationship (or any point of departure) from the self-possessed and likable young Heir in Exile's Honor.

There are a lot of distracting elements to the story which are built up as if the character is going to be of great import, and which draw away from the main thrust of the story. Sure, it's nice that there's a Tedrel orphan/heraldic trainee who idolizes Alberich, but the deviation adds nothing to the story. We already know Alberich knows how to be nice to scared little kids, from Talia's interactions with him later on. There are several subplots and story elements in the story like this, which make the overall narrative disconnected and distracting. Likewise, much as it's nice that (SPOILER) Alberich has a potential love interest, the scenes are awkwardly written and not believable in terms of the way that Alberich reacts in those situations. He's not Don Juan, and I don't think any Lackey fan expects him to be, but he's portrayed as more awkward than he should be, and it detracts from his character.

Given Lackey's penchant for bringing characters and themes back in other stories, this all _might_ have had a point if she hadn't already written the books in which none of these side characters or issues play any role whatsoever, but since she's pretty much "filled" the stories of Selenay's reign in already, all the extra characters distract from the flow of the book, and contribute to the impression that this was something that Lackey pushed out the door without sufficient editing. And many of the resolutions are too pat, with not enough build-up-- we're told something might happen, then the focus shifts to another story line, and then all of a sudden the suspicious thing occurs, without any real denoument or climax. Not one of the worst Lackey books, but not up to the quality of some of the other books in the series.