Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Well-written Tale of Friendship, June 22, 2002
Talia has finally achieved the rank of Herald, and must now prove herself in the field for a year-and-a-half. She is partnered with Kris, a handsome young Herald. As she sets out, seeds of self-doubt are sown in Talia's mind when Kris talks to her about her unusual Heraldic Gift of Empathy (the ability to sense emotions and even manipulate them) as a favor to his power-hungry uncle. The doubt eats away at her, slowly eroding her control over her Gift, and unleashing a dangerous force that Talia must learn to control if she is to assume her place as Queen's Own Herald..."Arrow's Flight" is the second book in Mercedes Lackey's The Heralds of Valdemar Trilogy. I greatly enjoyed this book. It wasn't quite as good as the first and third books in this trilogy, but I think it sets up the stunning conclusion in "Arrow's Fall" absolutely perfectly. I found "Arrow's Flight" to be a much more emotional journey than its predecessor, "Arrows of the Queen." It's a wonderful tale of a growing friendship. Talia and Kris's interactions are realistic and entertaining. However, I would not recommend this book to younger readers that might be uncomfortable reading about sex. The sex is minimal (one or two scenes), but I was almost taken aback by its presence. Be forewarned. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience reading this book.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as AotQ, January 29, 2002
Although this book was well-written, I couldn't help but be a bit bored with it. This is the second installment of the Heralds of Valdemar series, and it feels like the middle chapter of a longer, more interesting story. This book lags quite a bit, and becomes down right boring in many sections. I found myself getting really frustrated, with Talia holding in her emotions, trying to gain control of her Gift, her odd love-hate relationship with Kris. For every step Talia took forward, she was taking a step back in the next paragraph. The scenes where she and Kris were doing their Heraldic duties were great, but an over-long "snowed in" sequence and too many incidences of Talia "holding it all in" just made the book too long. The typos were annoying, too. Is Talia's friend and blood brother's name spelled "Skif" or "Skiff"? There are several incidences of both. I love the characters, the world they live in and the Companions, and I think Misty's writing skill is fab, but
ultimitely, I felt this book could have been about 75 to 100 pages shorter and been more effective. I am still enjoying this series, though, and look forward to completing this trilogy, and I can't wait to see what else Valdemar has in store.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A growing up story, January 17, 2006
This is volume two of the story of Talia, a young girl who becomes the Queen's Own Herald in the land of Valdemar. In the first volume, we leared of Talia's history in an abusive home and her being Chosen by a Companion and her training at the Herald Collegium. In this volume that story continues from the point where she receives her Whites as a full fledged Herald and must set out on her 18 month internship under the tutelage of a qualified Herald.
The beauty of this volume is that it is really all about the coming of age of Talia. The poor abused girl who is still very unsure of herself, has to deal with many challenges along the border's frontier. Most of her troubles are really internal as she has a unique Gift (Empathy) for which there are no existing rules or precedents. It does not help her that her hold on her Gift is actually quite tenuous. Throughout the book she struggles with herself.
The book is a wonderful story of how this insecure young woman becomes a mature and secure woman who is comfortable with her unique gifts, is comfortable with who she is, and sheds her inhibitions and fear of men as she spends the 18 months with Kris. While all of this is going on, she is also starting to realize that her true love is another man and we get to watch and observe her feelings for Dirk develop steadily even though Dirk is never present in the book itself.
This volume has restored my faith in this series. The first volume can now be seen as setting the context and filling in the history of this fascinating character. While I was not totally happy with the first volume - essentially its almost direct copying of an earlier trilogy - this second volume has gone in a totally different direction and was a wonderfully engrossing read. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.
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by Mercedes Lackey
by Mercedes Lackey
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by Mercedes Lackey
by Mercedes Lackey
