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DAW
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. HTML:The long-awaited founding of Valdemar comes to life in this new series from a New York Times bestselling author and beloved fantasist. Within the Eastern Empire, Duke Kordas Valdemar rules a tiny, bucolic Duchy that focuses mostly on horse breeding. Anticipating the day when the Empire�??s exploitative and militant leaders would not be content to leave them alone, Korda�??s father set out to gather magicians in the hopes of one day finding a way to escape and protect the people of the Duchy from tyranny. Kordas has lived his life looking over his shoulder. The signs in the Empire are increasingly dire. Under the direction of the Emperor, mages have begun to harness the power of dark magics, including blood magic, the powers of the Abyssal Planes, and the binding and "milking" of Elemental creatures. But then one of the Duchy�??s mages has a breakthrough. There is a way to place a Gate at a distance so far from the Empire that it is unlikely the Emperor can find or follow them as they evacuate everyone that is willing to leave. But time is running out, and Kordas has been summoned to the Emperor's Court. Can his reputation as a country bumpkin and his acting skills buy him and his people the time they need to flee? Or will the Emperor lose patience, invade to strip Valdemar of everything of worth, and send its conscripted people into the front lines of the Imper… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member kmartin802
I have been reading the Valdemar books for years and years. So I was excited to find that Mercedes Lackey has chosen to write the story of how Valdemar came to be.
Duke Kordas Valdemar rules a small, rural duchy famous for breeding horses and making and selling rafts. He is proud of his reputation
Kordas was taken hostage for five years as a teen and lived in the Emperor's palace. He had a chance to see the way the empire worked and the way people were shaped to fit into it. He decided not to be brainwashed.
He is also keeping a major secret: his family has been planning a way to flee the empire with their people and goods for a couple of generations. They were waiting for mages who live secretly in Valdemar to find a way to gate them to a place far outside the Empire. Now that discovery has been made and it is time to put the plans into motion.
But, just as plans are getting underway, Kordas is called to the capitol to present his annual tribute of horses to the Emperor. He finds that things are not only worse than they were when he was a hostage but getting worse each day. He also finds new allies and the need for a bigger rescue than he could have imagined.
I enjoyed the world building in this story. I also enjoyed getting to know Kordas, his wife Isla, and his young sister-in-law Delia. There were many other characters who were well-developed and interesting people. The story was filled with action, adventure, and lots of moral dilemmas.
I can't wait to see where this series goes next.
Duke Kordas Valdemar rules a small, rural duchy famous for breeding horses and making and selling rafts. He is proud of his reputation
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as a country bumpkin who lives in an uninteresting place. Staying out of the Emperor's mind is his goal.Kordas was taken hostage for five years as a teen and lived in the Emperor's palace. He had a chance to see the way the empire worked and the way people were shaped to fit into it. He decided not to be brainwashed.
He is also keeping a major secret: his family has been planning a way to flee the empire with their people and goods for a couple of generations. They were waiting for mages who live secretly in Valdemar to find a way to gate them to a place far outside the Empire. Now that discovery has been made and it is time to put the plans into motion.
But, just as plans are getting underway, Kordas is called to the capitol to present his annual tribute of horses to the Emperor. He finds that things are not only worse than they were when he was a hostage but getting worse each day. He also finds new allies and the need for a bigger rescue than he could have imagined.
I enjoyed the world building in this story. I also enjoyed getting to know Kordas, his wife Isla, and his young sister-in-law Delia. There were many other characters who were well-developed and interesting people. The story was filled with action, adventure, and lots of moral dilemmas.
I can't wait to see where this series goes next.
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LibraryThing member JessBass87
An absolutely thrilling start to the long awaited series introducing the beginning of the beloved country of Valdemar. I couldn't put it down and I cannot wait for the next one.
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Cute story. Valdemar is...well, he's an idiot, but it's because he's so good-hearted. And I think the business at the end was retconning a confusion in earlier books over his rank. Neat story, nice explication of the beginnings of the Valdemar we know - and I'm looking forward to the rest of the
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series. Show Less
LibraryThing member humouress
{Fourth of 38 (currently; after Mage Wars trilogy) in Valdemar: chronological order; Valdemar, fantasy, magic, origin story} (2021)
This (about a thousand years after the Mage Wars series with the gryphons) goes back to just after the Change Wars when magic became unreliable and the Dukes of
But then Kordas, delivering his annual tribute of the horses that the duchy is famous for, is asked to stay on at the capital. Should The Plan go on without him and, if so, will he be left behind? Once The Plan is in motion it evolves beyond its original concepts, as plans tend to do. We are also introduced to the vrondi whom, I vaguely recall, have a part to play further on in the chronology.
As someone else noted, the writing in this novel swings back towards the standards of the original Heralds series (but, for me, nothing can ever capture that magic of those very first books and the introduction to a new world) though Lackey still tends to show and then tell as well and still tends to sprinkle italics around randomly to some extent. It has, for me, a different feel to other Valdemar books I've read partly because it's quite bucolic and partly because everyone is trying to live under the radar of the Empire and circumvent the magical scans that that the Emperor's mages constantly carry out so they can avoid the Emperor's random cruelty.
I liked, however, the literary nods (I assume) - to P.G. Wodehouse's Blanding Castle, with the Empress, and to Tolkien's Shire, where the Brandywine flows. And I liked the details about the horses that are a significant part of Kordas's life. I don't fully understand the difference between mage powers and Gifts; Delia (Kordas's sister-in-law) has a Fetching Gift but absolutely no mage power, for example (and both of these attributes are taken advantage of, to help The Plan). Maybe this will become the difference between Heralds and Mages?
I did wonder how - since it involved, at the minimum, fifteen thousand people - they managed to keep the migration a secret for so long; why there was such a rush to go, especially if things weren't ready; and why weren't things ready if it had been planned for years? Once Kordas got to the capital and spent time there, he started to want to save everybody and that seemed to happen to the author as well (commendable but complicating). By the end if it The Plan had changed so much that I wondered why they didn't abandon the original concept too.
There are a few plot holes (and a few gaps in the narrative - I don't remember Kordas actually being told to stay on in the capital, for instance) but if you don't think about them too hard, it's fun. It comes to a natural end (ie. no cliff-hangers) but it is billed as the first in a new sub-series - so let's see where it goes next!
3-3.5 stars
October 2021
This (about a thousand years after the Mage Wars series with the gryphons) goes back to just after the Change Wars when magic became unreliable and the Dukes of
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Valdemar - a small and unimportant (by design) duchy of the Empire - have been plotting for generations to escape the corrupt war machine that the Empire has become. Kordas, the current Duke, has secretly collected mages who don't want their power sucked away by the Empire who have been working on a way to open a portal, or Gate, far away from the borders of the Empire where it won't be detected by the Emperor's pet mages. Shortly after the beginning of the story they have a breakthrough and so The Plan is put into motion. But then Kordas, delivering his annual tribute of the horses that the duchy is famous for, is asked to stay on at the capital. Should The Plan go on without him and, if so, will he be left behind? Once The Plan is in motion it evolves beyond its original concepts, as plans tend to do. We are also introduced to the vrondi whom, I vaguely recall, have a part to play further on in the chronology.
As someone else noted, the writing in this novel swings back towards the standards of the original Heralds series (but, for me, nothing can ever capture that magic of those very first books and the introduction to a new world) though Lackey still tends to show and then tell as well and still tends to sprinkle italics around randomly to some extent. It has, for me, a different feel to other Valdemar books I've read partly because it's quite bucolic and partly because everyone is trying to live under the radar of the Empire and circumvent the magical scans that that the Emperor's mages constantly carry out so they can avoid the Emperor's random cruelty.
I liked, however, the literary nods (I assume) - to P.G. Wodehouse's Blanding Castle, with the Empress, and to Tolkien's Shire, where the Brandywine flows. And I liked the details about the horses that are a significant part of Kordas's life. I don't fully understand the difference between mage powers and Gifts; Delia (Kordas's sister-in-law) has a Fetching Gift but absolutely no mage power, for example (and both of these attributes are taken advantage of, to help The Plan). Maybe this will become the difference between Heralds and Mages?
I did wonder how - since it involved, at the minimum, fifteen thousand people - they managed to keep the migration a secret for so long; why there was such a rush to go, especially if things weren't ready; and why weren't things ready if it had been planned for years? Once Kordas got to the capital and spent time there, he started to want to save everybody and that seemed to happen to the author as well (commendable but complicating). By the end if it The Plan had changed so much that I wondered why they didn't abandon the original concept too.
There are a few plot holes (and a few gaps in the narrative - I don't remember Kordas actually being told to stay on in the capital, for instance) but if you don't think about them too hard, it's fun. It comes to a natural end (ie. no cliff-hangers) but it is billed as the first in a new sub-series - so let's see where it goes next!
3-3.5 stars
October 2021
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LibraryThing member jamespurcell
An apt and interesting start to the Valdemar Saga. Duke Valdemar is hapless by design but cunning in his intent. Revolutions, by definition, are very complex and the many pieces required can get messy. And this is without mages casting spells and scrying everywhere. Some interesting characters
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sometimes even the Duke when he is not lost in introspection do make one look forward to the next episode. Show Less
LibraryThing member rivkat
Back in time for the founding of Valdemar as an escape from an oppressive empire, before there were Companions. It has the cozy feel of someone building out a familiar world even though the culture is very different (holding constant European-ish fantasy background). Funniest thing: the hero-leader
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gets super into protecting the sentient “dolls” the Empire uses in place of humans, who are spirits trapped in cloth bodies, and the way he narrates about his favorite is really thirsty, but that never gets any textual acknowledgement despite the fact that he is canonically in a loveless (respectful, not sexless, but arranged) marriage. Show Less
LibraryThing member lquilter
Cozy, although I'd hoped for a bit more Swiss Family Robinson style camping.
LibraryThing member kmartin802
This story tells about the beginnings of Valdemar. It begins in the corrupt Eastern Empire and Duke Valdemar rules a rural and hopefully overlooked dukedom. Its two major products are barges and very finely bred horses.
Duke Kordas Valdemar is at least the third generation that has been working to
But Kordas is called to the capitol with the latest tribute shipment of horses. He sees that even more has changed for the worse from the time some years earlier when he had been kept as a noble hostage in the palace. Human servants have been replaced by dolls powered by captive Vrondi and the city is almost empty since anyone not immediately needed to support the palace has been sent to the Southern border to fight in the emperor's long-running war.
Kordas, being the kind of man he is, becomes determined to also free the Vrondi, rescue that latest group of noble hostages, and rescue anyone else in danger. And danger is imminent because the emperor has captured a child earth elemental to provide magical power for his mages to use and its very angry parents are getting closer.
Meanwhile back at home, Kordas's wife and sister-in-law are mobilizing the transfer of people, goods and supplies to their new home.
I really enjoyed all of the magic and intrigue. This was an engaging audiobook presentation.
Duke Kordas Valdemar is at least the third generation that has been working to
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remove his goods and people from the Empire and start a new life somewhere else. Now that the mages who have stayed under the emperor's view have discovered a spell to make gates into new lands far away, the plans can begin to be realized.But Kordas is called to the capitol with the latest tribute shipment of horses. He sees that even more has changed for the worse from the time some years earlier when he had been kept as a noble hostage in the palace. Human servants have been replaced by dolls powered by captive Vrondi and the city is almost empty since anyone not immediately needed to support the palace has been sent to the Southern border to fight in the emperor's long-running war.
Kordas, being the kind of man he is, becomes determined to also free the Vrondi, rescue that latest group of noble hostages, and rescue anyone else in danger. And danger is imminent because the emperor has captured a child earth elemental to provide magical power for his mages to use and its very angry parents are getting closer.
Meanwhile back at home, Kordas's wife and sister-in-law are mobilizing the transfer of people, goods and supplies to their new home.
I really enjoyed all of the magic and intrigue. This was an engaging audiobook presentation.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc
This book finally tells the story of how Valdemar came to be. It has been hinted at a bit in some of the previous books but not spelled out in detail. The current Duke of Valdemar works very hard to convince him Emperor that there is nothing special about his dutchy. He tithes the horses he breeds
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
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every year and secretly works on a magical plan to move everyone under his care to as far as gate magic can take everyone. There are mages in this book and more magic is used in this than is in the latter books. The empire is run on magic and war to constantly expand the borders to feed the war machine. The Duke is recalled to the capital where he finds out just how much things have changed there since he was a child hostage of the Emperor. Most of the staff are magical constructs powered by enslaved vrondi and the Duke befriends them and incorporates them into his plan to escape and free them as well. There is a good stopping point at the end of the book but it certainly doesn’t cover how the Heralds came to be but I am certain that will be in the next book of the series. Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
The beginnings of Valdemar and how it all started is an interesting read. I'm curious to see how things will go, how they will manage to move the society from where it is to what becomes Valdemar. There are hints as things go along and I'm nicely brought back to the world and I had fun reading it,
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I'm tempted to revisit the books, I know I'm missing a few and I will have to invest in filling the gaps in my collection. Show Less
LibraryThing member lyrrael
A return to the cozy comfort of a good Valdemar read. OTOH -- and mind you, this is hidden for spoilers -- what the actual fuck was that ending? He melts the capitol and the -entire reason- for the rest of the series. Wtf?? I'm still going to read on because I can always do with more *adult*
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Valdemar stories (looking at you Mags) but why do that? :| Show Less
LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
I enjoyed this. I rather suspect that I would not have if I didn't know the while series so well.
Original publication date
2021-06-15
2021-11-02
Local notes
Valdemar - Founding, 1
DDC/MDS
| Fic SF Lackey |