Exile's Valor: A Novel of Valdemar
Written by Mercedes Lackey
Narrated by Paul Woodson
4/5
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About this audiobook
Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music. Also known as Misty Lackey.
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Reviews for Exile's Valor
429 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jumped around a bit skipping long periods but as all her stuff well written and fun to follow!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The narrator does a great job, and the book provides a ton of insight into later events in the world of Valdemar.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I needed something comforting, and here was a cozy story about Alberich learning how to thrive as Valdemar’s spymaster, watching as Selenay suffers depression after her father’s death and makes bad romantic choices.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Weaponsmaster Alberich is now part of the background now to most people. To some, though he's still the damned Karsite and to others, like Selenay's new consort, is a roadblock to his deepest desiree; to sit on the throne of Valdemar. But you can't be king in Valdemar without being a Herald and there was no way a Companion would chose the Rethwellian prince. There was the heir, though, and if regent was less prestigious than king, our devious Rethwellian would take what he could. But he'd underestimated the weaponsmaster...With this book, we're getting into the near past history of the original Valdemaran stories and it's interesting to see how well Lackey has melded the two series together
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I don't think this is quite as strong a book as Exile's Honor, but I like it well enough. The primary plot (Selenay being a featherheaded teenager) is eyeroll-inducing at best, but I do like just about everything from Alberich's perspective, and his romance is charming and realistic, which is a nice change from all of the fated and sort of dire pairings we've seen so far.
Two small rants, though:
- Selenay is the Queen, had been raised from birth to rule, in an environment that has been firmly established to teach practical politics very, very well. How the hell is she not aware that a neighboring country has unmarried Princes of more or less relevant ages? They have treaties! Trade agreements! Ambassadors back and forth! The few pages she spends wondering if there are any eligible foreign men about undercut that entire plot for me. There's just no frigging way she's ignorant about such a fundamental detail.
- A lot of people gripe about Herald Myste, Lackey's admitted author-insertion character. I like her, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. The name is a bit over the top, perhaps, but she's a good character who fits a useful role in the story, and has many fewer Mary Sue qualities than, say, Vanyel (who is perfect in every way.) There are damned few middle-aged women who get to do awesome things in fantasy novels, and the more, the better. Especially when they get the guy in the end, too. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another good visit with the Heralds in Valdemar, and with my favorite character in the entire Herald series: Alberich the Weaponsmaster. It's not as good as the previous "Exile's Honor", but is a nice follow up.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An enjoyable addition to the Valdermar Herald Chronicles. Alberich is one of my favorite Heralds, so far. Much scheming, some action, can't wait to find out if my guess about the inside traitor is correct. Wish I could see a game of Hurlee!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I do love Lackey's Valdemar and picked up the earlier books eagerly. For me they're the equivalent of bookly comfort food. But I was disappointed in the earlier book centered on Alberich, Exile's Honor, and I'm afraid this sequel to it is no improvement. It's a common criticism of Lackey that she's very black and white in her worldview and characterizations. That doesn't suit in fleshing out the supposedly intimidating Alberich, who hails from Valdemar's traditional enemy, Karse. It also doesn't help with the major plot-line of the book, which deals with the young Queen Selenay's first marriage; Prince Karathanelan practically has stamped on his head: I'm a walking disaster--which makes Selenay rather stupid for ever finding him appealing, especially given how much is made of her struggle not to have herself married off by her council. If you're new to Lackey and her Valdemar, I'd try Arrows of the Queen or Magic's Pawn as an introduction instead--I can't recommend this one to anyone but hardcore fans.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is the second of the duology with 'Exile's Honor' (number 19), and picks up a few months after the first book ends. The war from the first book having been fought (and won), the action in this book stays in the capital city of Haven, mainly in the castle grounds themselves, and concerns itself with domestic affairs.Herald Alberich is Weaponsmaster to the Heralds, and also takes care of security, so he skulks around the less salubrious parts of the city to ferret out information that could threaten the kingdom. Stern, seemingly humourless Alberich also finds himself falling in love, all the while setting up defences to counter a possible plot against the queen.The story in this second book has a very different feel from the first one, and the plot is not as strong; you can see it being angled awkwardly in places to fit the storyline in the 'Arrows' trilogy - which were the first of the Valdemar books written (but come after this duology, chronologically). Apart from that, it flows along nicely enough, and is a pleasant read (if you're indulgent enough to ignore the holes in the plot)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is one of my favorite, if not my favorite set within the Valdemar series. I love getting the story on "side" characters, who are often more interesting then the main characters anyway. Albrich is a character I always wanted to know more about! I only wish I had more than the two books to read about him!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This follows Alberich as he settles firmly into his role as Weaponsmaster at the Collegium, and also Selenay as she years for romance. This one tends to suffer from having read the Arrow's and Mage War trilogies as a lot of it was heavily implied in those books, and this is just going in and filling in back story. In fact, a lot of Selenay's musings are very similar to Elspeth's, like mother like daughter. The story didn't pack as much of an emotional punch, as I knew exactly what was coming, and there was such a long build up to it, but it was neat to see Hurlee from the instructor's side after reading the short story in one of the anthologies. :)