The Black Gryphon

by Mercedes Lackey

Other authorsLarry Dixon (Author)

Paperback, 1995

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Lackey

Publication

DAW (1995), Paperback, 464 pages

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML:It is an age when Valdemar is yet unfounded, its organization of Heralds yet unformed, and magic is still a wild and uncontrolled force. Skandranon Rashkae is perhaps the finest specimen of his race, with gleaming ebony feathers, majestic wingspan, keen magesight and sharp intelligence. Courageous, bold, and crafty, Skan is everything a gryphon should be. He is the fulfillment of everything that the Mage of Silence, the human sorcerer called Urtho, intended to achieve when he created these magical beings to be his champions, the defenders of his realm�??a verdant plain long coveted by the evil mage Maar. Now Maar is once again advancing on Urtho's Keep, this time with a huge force spearheaded by magical constructs of his own�??cruel birds of prey ready to perform any evil their creator may demand of them. And when one of Urtho's Seers wakes from a horrifying vision in which she sees a devastating magical weapon being placed in the hands of Maar's common soldiers, Skandrannon is sent to spy across enemy lines, cloaked in the protective of Urtho's powerful Spell of Silence… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member therhoda

Griffens everybody loves griffens well Mar dosn't but you'll see how that goes for him.

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LibraryThing member reading_fox

Two inter-twinned love stories set against a background of a world at war.
An interesting world with many varies races is cast into turmoil when a mage's lust for ower leads him to wage war against all the civilised lands. His numerous victories achieved by stealth and corruption as well as might of

arms leaves the defenders to teh Mage Urtho and his followers - mages, his creation the Gryphons and others. The story is centred on teh lead Gryphon and Amberdrake a "healer" and courtisan. Both alone, they manage to overcome the peril of war to find true love, from the damaged partisans of Urthos followers.

Some very gripping writing in places but didn't completely hold my attention all the way through. The vast array of other races are not described and somewhat conusiong in attributes. The plot is also somewhat predictable, and some of the characters feel a bit thin. Overall though an enjoyable read.

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LibraryThing member jshillingford

Prequels are not usually as good as the material they spawn from, and that is the case here. The Gryphon Trilogy tells the "pre-history" of Valdemar. The novels are very good and enjoyable on their own merits, but are not the same calibur as Queen's Own or The Last Herlad Mage trilogies. I highly

recommend them, but warn readers not to expect to read about the Valdemar we know and love. The Black Gryphon is the best of the trilogy - the next two books are worth reading, but the story is stretched more than it needed to be.

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LibraryThing member frazrat

Skandranon is the leader of the gryphons. A vain and charismatic creature. An intellegent species created by Urthro, the mage of silence. His partner is Amberdrake. his healer companion. The story is delivered through their experiences in this good vs evil story.The tyrant-sorcerer Kiyamvir Ma'ar

is sweeping across the land destroying everyone who won't join him in his war. This story pre-dates the Vladamar stories and set up some of the characters you encounter there.

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LibraryThing member cabri

The Black Gryphon is a new character in the Valdemaran histories, brought in after the successful use of gryphons in a previous trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and deservedly so -- the gryphons were nicely characterized, given their own little quirks and histories. As far as the Lackey trilogies go,

this isn't the best beginning of a series but it's adequate. It also isn't the first book she co-authored with her husband, but it's the first one I read and clearly inferior; however, the military aspects of the story are pretty good and it kept my interest throughout. Can't say much more than that.

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LibraryThing member jehovahrapha

Of the Mage Wars trilogy, this first one is my favorite. For some reason, I became very fond of Gesten at the beginning, and Zhaneel. It's an incredible story, and I think it's more fun that not all of the main characters are human, or even necessarily initially impressive.

LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey

A really good book. It's been a while since I read a Lackey - triggered by hearing a story read by her and Larry Dixon at Baycon. It's Kelvren as the Gryphon of Light - the part where he's castigating himself for not being like Skandranon when he's wounded. Made me want to go look at Skan again.

There's a lot of deep stuff here - 'who heals the Healer', self-esteem (for both Zhaneel and Winterhart), making a new family, the whys of Ma'ar, Conn Levas and Shaiknam...the adventure part of the story is good (minor things like a war going on), but it's the people who make it so rich. Which is true of most if not all of the Lackey books, but as I said it's been a while.

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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C

I love Lackey's Valdemar novels, and this is set in the same world a thousand years before that country's founding, in the midst of a cataclysmic war referred to more than once in that series.

One of Lackey's strengths is her world-building, and that's certainly on display here, with magical races

like the gryphons developed in interesting ways, and I liked the title character, Skandranon. The novel kept my interest, was a fairly enjoyable read, and I did go on to read (and mostly enjoy) the next two books in this trilogy, which is why I felt it was fair to give it 3 stars.

It doesn't get more than that, because unlike other Lackey books in this world, I can't imagine I'd ever reread it; I don't think it's among Lackey's best, and I wouldn't ever choose these books as an introduction to the author. So if you love Lackey and her Valdemar books already, I think you'll like, even if not love this book; but if you're new to the author, try Arrows of the Queen or Magic's Pawn first.

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LibraryThing member Karlstar

This was interesting, but to me, it really seemed like you had to be fully immersed in the Valdemar books to appreciate it, even if it is supposedly the first book in a series.

LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher

The advantage to rereading the Valdemar books in internal chronological order is that I get my least favorite ones out of the way first. I do not like the Gryphon trilogy much at all - Larry Dixon's influence is far too noticeable, and while his illustrations are nice enough, the man can't write.

The result is a really choppy book, with some good parts - I love the idea of a professional therapist/masseuse/high-class escort, because we all have needs, and they're very much intertwined, I think. And some bad parts - any of Skandranon's internal dialogue. Which there is a fair bit of, since he's the title character. Amberdrake, obviously written by Lackey, is much more bearable.

There's also the larger problem of turning stories that are set up as legends in previous books into actual novels. We know how the war ends, and so the main conflict has to be much smaller in scope. I'm just not that fascinated by a secondary character's bad romantic choices, and she turns from a villain into a hero far too quickly and easily. There's just not that much tension there. I am glad that Lackey has consistently declined to write about the founding of Valdemar for that reason - it leaves the aura of epic adventure around it, whereas introducing everyone's petty little spats just brings it all down.

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LibraryThing member cfk

This is one of my favorite by Mercedes Lackey and the first in this series. Urtho is a powerful mage unwillingly drawn into a war against another mage. His forces include non-humans--sentient beings created by Urtho. The Black Gryphon is one of his most successful creations--he is talented,

creative and a powerful ally against the enemy warriors.

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LibraryThing member JohnFair

Chronologically speaking, this is the first in the series of stories that Mercedes Lackey and her husband Larry Dixon - along with may other authors - have written in this milleau. We learn the beginnings of the story of Valdemar and the Mage Winds that afflicted that kingdom so many centuries in

the future. This story basically covers the initial war between Urtho and Maar and its destructive ending.

Overall, though, on this read-through I found it rather light despite their attempts to add emotional depths to the characters

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LibraryThing member yonitdm

Took a long time to get all the new species, cultures, places, and people straight. Not as well introduced as in some of her other books.

LibraryThing member yonitdm

Took a long time to get all the new species, cultures, places, and people straight. Not as well introduced as in some of her other books.

LibraryThing member electrascaife

Set in a world of mages, healers, empaths, gryphons, and common soldiers, this first in a fantasy series details a massive war between two powerful mages, told through the viewpoint of a few of the people - and magical creatures - fighting on the side of the 'good' mage.
It's an interesting story

with well-drawn characters, and I enjoyed it. I liked the world building, the idea behind the creatures, such as the gryphons, being created by the mage and then straining against his control while still feeling loyalty and love toward him, and I appreciated that I felt immediately drawn into the world and story, which is frequently something I struggle with when starting a new fantasy book or series.

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