"By the Sword" is one of Mercedes Lackey's best books. It's an honest, unflinching look at the life of a mercenary woman -- and a parable of how difficult modern women find balancing love, sex, partnership, and job responsibilities, all at once.
"By the Sword" tells the story of Kerowyn. She's Kethry's granddaughter (Kethry, as you might recall from the "Oath" books, was the mage partner of Tarma the Shin'a'in), yet grows up mostly ignorant of her heritage. That's because her mother dies young, her father is an idiot, and Kerowyn's been left to rule the roost at the ripe old age of 15.
As her brother is being married off, also at a young age, bandits come in and disrupt the festivities. They carry her brother Lordan's new wife off, kill her father, and murder many others on the way out. This inflames Kerowyn, who vows revenge.
Going to put on her brother's cast-off armor and grabbing a dagger, she's stopped by a rather mysterious woman on the way to see her grandmother. (Yes, she's so ignorant that she doesn't recognize Tarma, nor her significance in her grandmother's life.) She's warned to go back; this inflames Kerowyn still further.
Kerowyn goes to Kethry and tells her what's happened; Kethry passes along her sword Need -- which basically is a sort of magical guardian spirit. If you're a mage, it gives you ultimate fighting prowess. If you're a fighter, it gives you immunity against magic.
Kerowyn rides, finds the bandits, kills them, and brings Lordan's bride home. However, after she gets there, she realizes she's not cut out for the life of a noblewoman (they are of the minor nobility); she goes back to her grandmother and asks for more help.
At this point, Tarma steps in, and trains Kerowyn to fight.
The rest of the book deals with Kerowyn's training, some of her campaigns, her growing strategic and tactical prowess -- and something more. Along the way, as she watches others pair off and feels hopelessly alone (she's gifted with Mindspeech, making it even worse, as none of her mercenary compatriots have this particular talent/affliction), she finds her soulmate, Eldan. Who just so happens to be a Herald of Valdemar.
A lesser writer would have dragged Kerowyn into Valdemar at that point; wisely, Lackey keeps Kerowyn out, instead giving her more adventures, then finally getting Kerowyn and Eldan together in the midst of a long, bloody war.
As they deal with their love and duty, much happens. (I don't want to give the rest of the plot away.) And Kerowyn finds a way to indeed have it all, after all.
This is definitely one of my all-time favorite Lackey books; Ms. Lackey did an outstanding job with this one, as it is accurate, unflinchingly candid, yet still realistic without sacrificing anything in the characterization department.
Thing is, with someone else, Kerowyn wouldn't be so engaging. She's a tough, smart woman who happens to like her job -- as a professional mercenary soldier and captain. Most writers would draw her as a caricature; instead, Ms. Lackey showed Kerowyn as learning tactics, and coming to believe that people who fought wars should have ethics -- as it's bad enough as it is.
Five stars plus. Highly recommended.
