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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mage Winds Series Rules, September 10, 2002
I have to be honest with you. I am new to the works of Mercedes Lackey but I have become hooked by reading this book. I have always loved fantasy and sci-fi novels a little more than most young women should, but I don't care.On with the book review. I found that the tale of Elspeth and Darkwind was one that I could very easily find myself immersed in. When this first happened it was much like Elspeth learning her magic for the first time...very overwhelming. As you begin to read the book you find that everything Elspeth deals with by being heir to the throne of Valdemar is what every teenager in every walk of life goes through eventually. That was one of the points that sold me on the book. Misty does not make you feel anything more than sorry for Elspeth and her plight. She wants to be free, but realizes that will be impossible unless someone who is more worthy than her decides to take the throne of Valdemar and free her from her responsibilities. All through the book Elspeth doubts that she is even fit enough to rule the kingdom of Valdemar the way it deserves to be ruled. As Elspeth fights her mother Queen Selenay and the Valdamaran council to be able to go on her journey to find the mages and teachers that may very well keep Valdemar safe from the wrath of the evil blood mage that wants to take over the kingdom of Valdemar you feel her rock-solid determination that she is the only one able to carry out this task because she is a herald and as she sees it she is expendable to the kingdom because Talia has the twins that are far more capable of ruling Valdemar than Elspeth is. Once the council decides that Elspeth is the one for the job the next task is getting them to agree to let her go outside of the kingdom on her own. That is not to be however and the council decides that she can go but that she has to take one more herald with her. That herald turns out to be the well-loved and well-written Skif. Though Elspeth is not big on the idea of having someone else slowing her progress down she agrees and decides it is better that it is Skif and not a whole troop of Valdamaran soldiers as her mother and the rest of the council wanted to begin with. The way Mercedes Lackey describes the land that Elspeth and Skif travel through and the people that they meet, it seems like you are right there, riding on the back of the Companions Gwena and Cymry as they wind their way to their destination. Once Elspeth has the sword Need and she wakes up the action really starts to become intense. Elspeth is a female that every woman young or old can identify with. Her anger at being herded down a path that was already pre-chosen for her is an anger that I am sure every human being, male or female has felt and rebelled against at one time or another in their lifetime. Once they get onto the D'Horisha Plains and draw closer to the lands of the Tayledras and the gruesome horrors that Mornelithe Falconsbane has unloosed in that territory you begin to feel that Elspeth is finally in charge of her own destiny and nobody is going to tell her what to do or where to go after that. As they get up to the ruins where the two gryphons Treyvan and Hydona live with their two young gryphlets they are chased into a cave of sorts by Mornelithe Falconsbane's evil concoctions. This is where Elspeth really begins to utilize her magic with the help of Need who is controlling her motions and trying to teach her without making herself a crutch for Elspeth to lean on in times of trouble. The first time we meet Darkwind and his bondbird Vree he is an enigma to us. We know that he is a scout for the Tayledras who used to be a mage but foreswore magic. In closing, I think that this book is a must-read for anybody who is into fantasy and magic.
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by Mercedes Lackey
by Mercedes Lackey
by Mercedes Lackey
by Mercedes Lackey
by Mercedes Lackey
