Broadside No. 8 – Mercedes Lackey

Ahoy there me mateys!  Welcome to the eighth broadside – the Mercedes Lackey edition.  She is one prolific author.  Over 150 books.  Sheesh!  I have read 21 of them.  Such a small percentage now that I look at it but what I have read has made her one of me favorites.

Please note: All book descriptions are taken directly from the author’s website.  The book title links lead to Goodreads.

The Valdemar Universe

So this be the series that introduced me to this author.  The book was arrows of the queen, which is book one of the Heralds of Valdemar.  It has magic, strong females characters, and “talking” magical ponies.  Of course it floats me boat.  This book blurb:

Chosen by the Companion Rolan, a mystical horse-like being with powers beyonding imagining, Talia, once a runaway, has now become a trainee Herald, destined to become one of the Queen’s own elite guard. For Talia has certain awakening talents of the mind that only a Companion like Rolan can truly sense.

But as Talia struggles to master he unique abilities, time is running out. For conspiracy is brewing in Valdemar, a deadly treason which could destory Queen and kingdom. Opposed by unknown enemies capable of both diabolical magic and treacherous assassination, the Queen must turn to Talia and the Heralds for aid in protecting the realm and insuring the future of the Queen’s heir, a child already in danger of becoming bespelled by the Queen’s own foes!

I finished the trilogy and forayed further into the Valdemar world.  I am not sure how well this series would hold up now since I haven’t re-read any since I was a younger lass but me memory holds such fondness for them.  I enjoyed her writing so much that eventually I delved into her other work.

Dragon Jousters

Dragons.  Hence the appeal.  This is a quartet.  A wonderful wonderful one.  The first book is joust.  The blurb:

The first book in this thrilling new series introduces readers to a young slave who dreams of becoming a Jouster-one of the few warriors who can actually ride a flying dragon. And so, in secret, he begins to raise his own dragon.

Vetch was an Atlan serf. Anger was his only real sustenance—anger that the land he worked had once been his family’s farm, and anger at the kind of work he did—for the crop he helped raise gave the Jousters their ability to control the great dragons that had enabled Tia to conquer more than a third of what had once been Atlan lands. It seemed that Vetch’s entire cruel fate revolved around dragons and the Jousters who rode them. But his fate changed forever the day he first saw a dragon. From its narrow, golden, large-eyed head, to its pointed emerald ears, to the magnificent blue wings which were spread to catch the sun, the dragon was a thing of multicolored, jeweled beauty, slim and supple and quite as large as the shed it perched on. Vetch almost failed to notice the tall, muscular Jouster who stood drinking from his water bucket. And when Vetch’s master raised his whip to punish the serf who had dared to pause in his duties, the Jouster had stilled his hand. “I need a boy,” he said, and with that and a call to his mount, Vetch found himself lifted above the earth and transported like magic to a different world. If this Jouster had tamed his dragon, perhaps Vetch too could tame a dragon. And if he could, then he might be able to escape. And if he could escape, maybe he could even bring the secret of dragon-taming back to his homeland of Atlan. And maybe, just maybe, that secret might prove to be the key to Atlan’s liberation…

Five Hundred Kingdoms

Fairytale retellings where the stories ye think ye know are flipped an’ twisted around.  I have not read all of them (there be six to date) but I did love the ones I read.  The first be the fairy godmother (blurb from Goodreads):

In the land of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, if you can’t carry out your legendary role, life is no fairy tale…

Elena Klovis was supposed to be her kingdom’s Cinderella–until fate left her with a completely inappropriate prince! So she set out to make a new life for herself. But breaking with “The Tradition” was no easy matter–until she got a little help from her own fairy godmother. Who promptly offered Elena a most unexpected job…

Now, instead of sleeping in the chimney, she has to deal with arrogant, stuffed-shirt princes who keep trying to rise above their place in the tale. And there’s one in particular who needs to be dealt with…

Sometimes a fairy godmother’s work is never done…

One Dozen Daughters Series

Now this series only has one book written so far as I know – the house of the four winds.  But I truly enjoyed it.  It was co-written by James Mallory.  It features pirates!  Arrrr!! The blurb (Goodreads again):

The tiny nation of Swansgaard is a lovely place with abundant natural resources, including the royal family, which has been blessed with twelve daughters and a son. As this boisterous baker’s dozen approaches adulthood, the king and queen lovingly tell their daughters, “You must make your own fortune, for we cannot enrich you without impoverishing our people or leaving our lands defenceless, and that we will not do.”

Happily, the princesses of Swansgaard are eager to meet this challenge, for they yearn for adventures both near and far from home.

Clarice, an expert swordswoman, is the first to depart. Disguising herself as Clarence, she signs on for a voyage to the New World. The captain is vile and blackhearted, and the crew soon mutinies. Clarice becomes first mate – and finds her heart captured by the new captain, Dominick, who is, to his own surprise, increasingly attracted to Clarence.

Now outlaws, Dominick and his crew turn to piracy – though their hearts are not entirely in it. They soon run afoul of the Pirate Council, who orders them to retrieve the Heart of Light. All who have searched for this great treasure have vanished, with neither ships nor crews ever seen again and no sign of their fates ever discovered.

But none before have carried with them the sorceress Shamal, who stakes a claim of her own on Dominick’s heart.

Hunter Series

I have also only read the first book of this series out of two so far.  This seems to be a hit or miss book for many but it was a hit for me.  It is a sci-fi /fantasy mash-up.  It has Hounds!  The Goodreads blurb:

They came after the Diseray. Some were terrors ripped from our collective imaginations, remnants of every mythology across the world. And some were like nothing anyone had ever dreamed up, even in their worst nightmares.

Monsters.

Long ago, the barriers between our world and the Otherworld were ripped open, and it’s taken centuries to bring back civilization in the wake of the catastrophe. Now, the luckiest Cits live in enclosed communities, behind walls that keep them safe from the hideous creatures fighting to break through. Others are not so lucky.

To Joyeaux Charmand, who has been a Hunter in her tight-knit mountain community since she was a child, every Cit without magic deserves her protection from dangerous Othersiders. Then she is called to Apex City, where the best Hunters are kept to protect the most important people.

Joy soon realizes that the city’s powerful leaders care more about luring Cits into a false sense of security than protecting them . . . There is something much worse than the usual monsters infiltrating Apex.  And it may be too late to stop them…

So that be me introduction to Mercedes Lackey.  ;Also a lot of her work can be found in an omnibus format which is a bonus if ye be new to her work.  If ye haven’t read any of her novels I would suggest ye hoist those sails and get moving!

To visit her website go to:

Mercedes Lackey – Author

To see a complete list of all books she has written visit:

Mercedes Lackey – Books

To add this author or her novels to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

If ye want to see me other author broadsides:

Garth Nix – No. 1

Sharon Shinn – No. 2

John Scalzi – No. 3

Tamora Pierce – No. 4

Brandon Sanderson – No. 5

Robin McKinley – No. 6

Michael Crichton – No. 7