Publication
Daw Books, c1991.
Collection
Series
Status
Available
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Romance. HTML:New York Times bestselling author Mercedes Lackey has enchanted readers since the publication of her first novel, Arrows of the Queen. Now she takes readers on another thrilling journey with the first novel in her Mage Winds series... High magic had been lost to Valdemar when he gave his life to save his kingdom from destruction by the dark sorceries. Now it falls to Elspeth Herald, heir to the throne, to take up the challenge and seek a mentor who will awaken her mage abilities.
User reviews
LibraryThing member surreality
Plot: The book consists of two plots that only interlink in the last few chapters. The quest plot is predictable and doesn't come with any real highlights or tension-filled moments. Same goes for the second plot that mostly consists of depicting life in a magic-laden environment. The story suffers
Characters: Compared to other heroines in the Lackey-verse, Elspeth is suprisingly unperfect. She's still a Mary Sue, but it could have been much worse and she can be likable. Darkwind is trickier since his plot is so determined to be mysterious that a lot of his past is never clear either, so his motivations are not clear and he falls flat as far as characterization goes. The rest of Elspeth's plot's characters are a show of "let's see how so-and-so is doing", with practically no-one new introduced and the known figures not developed any further than they were in previous books. Darkwind gets a few stereotypes to play with, plus an incompetent crazed villain.
Style: Simple writing that is suited to a young adult audience. What is odd are the scene lengths - minor scenes can stretch out over pages, while major scenes are regularly cut short and summed up. Same goes for dialogue, especially when information is imparted that way. The less interesting and important the information, the longer the dialogue.
Plus: As far as Lackey books go, this is a fairly grown-up one with very little fawning over the pretty horsies.
Minus: The plot feels unfinished and makes the story drag. No temporary conclusion at the end.
Summary: A Lackey book with relatively little drama, romance or horse-snogging. Overall an average read.
Show More
from very little action in both plots - the final fight isn't set up well and is done in rather anticlimatic ways. Nothing is really resolved at the end of the book.Characters: Compared to other heroines in the Lackey-verse, Elspeth is suprisingly unperfect. She's still a Mary Sue, but it could have been much worse and she can be likable. Darkwind is trickier since his plot is so determined to be mysterious that a lot of his past is never clear either, so his motivations are not clear and he falls flat as far as characterization goes. The rest of Elspeth's plot's characters are a show of "let's see how so-and-so is doing", with practically no-one new introduced and the known figures not developed any further than they were in previous books. Darkwind gets a few stereotypes to play with, plus an incompetent crazed villain.
Style: Simple writing that is suited to a young adult audience. What is odd are the scene lengths - minor scenes can stretch out over pages, while major scenes are regularly cut short and summed up. Same goes for dialogue, especially when information is imparted that way. The less interesting and important the information, the longer the dialogue.
Plus: As far as Lackey books go, this is a fairly grown-up one with very little fawning over the pretty horsies.
Minus: The plot feels unfinished and makes the story drag. No temporary conclusion at the end.
Summary: A Lackey book with relatively little drama, romance or horse-snogging. Overall an average read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Bibliotropic
There are two real parts, by my way of figuring, to the Valdemar continuum. There's the main story, the 'modern' stuff, which is written about in the Arrows trilogy, the Winds trilogy, and the Storms trilogy. The rest is history, elaboration of side stories, and all the other books that make up the
Winds of Fate is the first book of the Wind trilogy, and the one where Lackey takes back her original vow of not having large casts and not having magic be central to the Valdemar stories. After first having been introduced to the character of Elspeth in the Arrows books, we now see her grown up, willful and stubborn, and facing her destiny as the first Herald-Mage since Vanyel. Not only that, but she's the one who gives herself the task of going out and finding somebody to train Valdemaran mages, in an effort to defend Valdemar against Ancar of Hardorn's attacks.
No easy feat.
Interwoven with Elspeth's part of the story is that of Darkwind, Tayledras mage-turned-scout, who's trying to defend a weakened Vale against threats from both outside and in.
Naturally, the stories converge, they end up meeting, and Darkwind is just the one to train Elspeth in the art and science of magic.
It's not exactly a surprise when that happens, but it's still all interesting to read about.
If there's one thing that Lackey is skilled at, it's making a rich and interesting world, and in providing a wonderful amount of detail about the various cultures within. In this book alone, we see glimpses of life as a highborn Valdemaran, a Shin'a'in shaman, a Rethwellan mage, various Tayledras, and some who don't fit into any real category except perhaps "exotic misfit", and seeing their lives from their point of view, even for a short chapter, is always interesting.
The Winds trilogy is not my favourite, but I can't deny that it's good, it's engaging, it's deep and developped, and it's an integral part of the story that is Valdemar.
Show More
tapestry of the history of Velgarth. But those three trilogies all take place around the same time period, involving the same characters, and are interlinked so that they're the central column of the Valdemar series.Winds of Fate is the first book of the Wind trilogy, and the one where Lackey takes back her original vow of not having large casts and not having magic be central to the Valdemar stories. After first having been introduced to the character of Elspeth in the Arrows books, we now see her grown up, willful and stubborn, and facing her destiny as the first Herald-Mage since Vanyel. Not only that, but she's the one who gives herself the task of going out and finding somebody to train Valdemaran mages, in an effort to defend Valdemar against Ancar of Hardorn's attacks.
No easy feat.
Interwoven with Elspeth's part of the story is that of Darkwind, Tayledras mage-turned-scout, who's trying to defend a weakened Vale against threats from both outside and in.
Naturally, the stories converge, they end up meeting, and Darkwind is just the one to train Elspeth in the art and science of magic.
It's not exactly a surprise when that happens, but it's still all interesting to read about.
If there's one thing that Lackey is skilled at, it's making a rich and interesting world, and in providing a wonderful amount of detail about the various cultures within. In this book alone, we see glimpses of life as a highborn Valdemaran, a Shin'a'in shaman, a Rethwellan mage, various Tayledras, and some who don't fit into any real category except perhaps "exotic misfit", and seeing their lives from their point of view, even for a short chapter, is always interesting.
The Winds trilogy is not my favourite, but I can't deny that it's good, it's engaging, it's deep and developped, and it's an integral part of the story that is Valdemar.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
I really enjoy this book. I've read it half a dozen times, easily. That does make it a little hard to review - I have to remember where this book stops, in the story. So...This is Elspeth's story - Princess Brat has grown up, in several meanings of the term. And as she reaches an age to start
Alternate chapters of the book, from the beginning, have been telling the story of Darkwind, a Hawkbrother from a clan that's in serious trouble. They're under overt and covert attack by a powerful, evil mage, and some of his early work against them is harming them now. Darkwind, with help from various sources, has just figured out what sort of attack is being made on them, and stopped one of the primary weakening agents - when these weird people all in white show up and claim that they want to help in return for lessoning in magic. Oh, did I mention that Elspeth turns out to have a very strong mage-gift herself? The book ends with a semi-successful ambush of the evil mage, and Darkwind agreeing to teach Elspeth as he renews his own lessons. Next, please!
Show More
acting on her own, Valdemar faces a new crisis in the war with Hardorn - their ancient defenses against magic are weakening, faster than the forgetting-about-magic part of it. There are magic attacks being made within Valdemar - within Haven itself - and too many of the people who should be devising defenses are literally unable to remember that magic is any more than a bards' tale for more than a day or two. Elspeth seems to be immune to this, or at least less bound by it; this, among other things, convinces her that she needs to be the one to go out and find them a mage who can help them devise defenses, and possibly even find Heralds and others who have the Mage-gift and can be trained. She more-or-less gets her way, and heads out accompanied by her Companion, Skif and his Companion, and the sword Need. Things are going along swimmingly...and then Elspeth decides, apparently accurately, that she's being herded along the path of Destiny, and she wants no part of it. Then things start getting interesting.Alternate chapters of the book, from the beginning, have been telling the story of Darkwind, a Hawkbrother from a clan that's in serious trouble. They're under overt and covert attack by a powerful, evil mage, and some of his early work against them is harming them now. Darkwind, with help from various sources, has just figured out what sort of attack is being made on them, and stopped one of the primary weakening agents - when these weird people all in white show up and claim that they want to help in return for lessoning in magic. Oh, did I mention that Elspeth turns out to have a very strong mage-gift herself? The book ends with a semi-successful ambush of the evil mage, and Darkwind agreeing to teach Elspeth as he renews his own lessons. Next, please!
Show Less
LibraryThing member jackelly
Liked it, not as much as Arrow's of the Queen trilogy. I really enjoy Elspeth and Darkwind's characters.
LibraryThing member SunnySD
Elspeth comes into her own. With Valdemar threatened by Ancar and whatever barrier to magic the kingdom possessed beginning to fail, Elspeth sets out to find what may be Valdemar's only hope: mages.
As the Heir, a Herald, and a well-trained swordswoman with a mage-possessed blade, she feels she's
Meanwhile, far, far away among the Tayledras, the legendary Hawk Brothers, one young ex-mage turned forest scout is facing his own set of seemingly insurmountable problems.
A good solid story. My only quibble? Skif comes across as slightly whiny and unexpectedly jealous - out of character for the man who championed Talia so valiantly. Both Elspeth and Darkwind are a bit more wooden than I'd have expected given Lackey's usual dab hand with her characters. Still enjoyable, though.
As the Heir, a Herald, and a well-trained swordswoman with a mage-possessed blade, she feels she's
Show More
the best for the task and hopes to have little trouble finding an adept-class mage or two to agree to return to Valdemar with her. Of course, you just know it's not going to be that simple.Meanwhile, far, far away among the Tayledras, the legendary Hawk Brothers, one young ex-mage turned forest scout is facing his own set of seemingly insurmountable problems.
A good solid story. My only quibble? Skif comes across as slightly whiny and unexpectedly jealous - out of character for the man who championed Talia so valiantly. Both Elspeth and Darkwind are a bit more wooden than I'd have expected given Lackey's usual dab hand with her characters. Still enjoyable, though.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
If you're new to Lackey and the Valdemir series, I wouldn't being with this book: I don't think the book, or the trilogy it is a part of is the strongest in this series, and it would be a spoiler for the earlier trilogy that starts with Arrows of the Queen. Go back and read those first, and if you
Show More
like them, I think you'll enjoy this tale of Elspeth, a character in earlier books, coming into her own. I enjoy Lackey's "Vows and Honors" series as well with Tarma and Kethry, and in the precursor to this book, By the Sword she melds the two series. So I'd recommend reading those, too, beginning with The Oathbound because for me a lot of the fun of this book is how Elspeth deal with the demanding sword, Need, that is important in those books. I also enjoyed how this book opened up the world Lackey created, with Elspeth in her quest having to deal with the Tayledras, an interesting magical world in its own right. A good read and a good beginning to an enjoyable trilogy. Show Less
LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher
I customarily skip the Mage Winds books when reading through Valdemar. They're pretty terrible, for the same reasons the Gryphon books are terrible. That reason is Larry Dixon. He's uncredited on these, but his atrocious writing is unmistakable. (I have been harsh on some of Lackey's work too, but
The Elspeth and Skif chapters are marginally ok - if they were the whole of the book, I'd probably give it three stars. The mock-romance is annoying, and the whole Destiny thing really wasn't developed enough to be interesting, but the core is there. The Darkwind chapters are just bad. Tedious, poorly written, overly reliant on As You Know, Bob and magically induced flashbacks to dump way more info than I care about, and with characters that all tend towards the whiny.
My vague memory suggests that this isn't actually the worst of the three (and the third is substantially better - I do reread that one sometimes) but the only reason I reread this one is because I am doing A Thing and refuse to cheat.
Show More
her failures are in completely different directions.)The Elspeth and Skif chapters are marginally ok - if they were the whole of the book, I'd probably give it three stars. The mock-romance is annoying, and the whole Destiny thing really wasn't developed enough to be interesting, but the core is there. The Darkwind chapters are just bad. Tedious, poorly written, overly reliant on As You Know, Bob and magically induced flashbacks to dump way more info than I care about, and with characters that all tend towards the whiny.
My vague memory suggests that this isn't actually the worst of the three (and the third is substantially better - I do reread that one sometimes) but the only reason I reread this one is because I am doing A Thing and refuse to cheat.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JohnFair
This is the first book in the third series of books about the Heralds of Valdemar.
In this book, the Heir, Elspeth, and her colleague, Skiff, leave Valdemar to go in search of the mysterious magic powers that Valdemar needed to counter the threat of their implacable neighbour Ancar of Hardon. Most
This was a particularly preachy book (ineed the series as a whole is probably the most preachy of the Heralds books but if you can overlook that (much easier now than when I first read them), it is a reasonably decent read.
In this book, the Heir, Elspeth, and her colleague, Skiff, leave Valdemar to go in search of the mysterious magic powers that Valdemar needed to counter the threat of their implacable neighbour Ancar of Hardon. Most
Show More
people in Valdemar didn't believe in magic even if they saw it happening but this disbelief was becoming a liabiklity so Elspeth set off to hire mages to counter the magic being flung at them. As the quest proceded it became obvious that she was being herded to a specific destination and, being Elspeth, decided to make her own decisions.This was a particularly preachy book (ineed the series as a whole is probably the most preachy of the Heralds books but if you can overlook that (much easier now than when I first read them), it is a reasonably decent read.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0886775167 / 9780886775162
Original publication date
1991