Book One of the Mage Winds, a Valdemar Omnibus.
***SPOILERS***
The shield protecting Valdemar from the effects
(and memories) of magic was failing. This prompted Elspeth, Crown Princess and
a Herald of Valdemar, to find a sorcerer to teach her people magic and help
them fight the hostile neighbouring country of Hardorn.
Meanwhile,
the book also explores Darkwind, a scout of a Talyedras clan (people who heal
land poisoned by negative magic) who protects his clan and Vale (tropical
hothouse containing their homes) against the dark mage Mornelithe Falconsbane.
The Heartstone (which powers and protects the Vale) of Darkwind’s clan has been
corrupted which inhibits their ability to find the rest of the clan which has
been transported away (once an area of land is free of negative energy, the
clan moves on to a new location) which is why Darkwind had forsaken magic.
Elspeth
is escorted by her best friend Skiff who develops romantic feelings for Elspeth
though, thankfully, Elspeth didn’t reciprocate those feelings (I absolutely
hate it when best friends end up as a couple). Elspeth has this huge issue with
the Companions sweeping her off in a direction that she had no say in, so she
chooses her own way. Elspeth ends up meeting Darkwind who decides to take up
magic again and teach Elspeth who (unsurprisingly) had the potential to become
a very powerful mage.
Lackey is such a funny writer. I can’t
count how many times I cackled. Fantasy tends to be more formal and serious
than realistic genres (thus establishing efficient suspension of belief) so the
fact that Lackey can write with humour whilst maintaining the suspension of
belief is admirable. Elspeth’s Companion (white ‘horses’ which are the moral
compasses to Heralds, the police and judges of Valdemar) is a very funny
character. I wished we got more of Gwena but as she is subsidiary to the plot
so I don’t begrudge Lackey’s decision. It’s not just her characters that are funny
but her prose as well.
I loved the Talyedras (commonly known as ‘Hawkbrothers’).
I
loved that they were artsy and had no restrictions on sexual behaviour. I loved
the Vales they lived in, surrounded by beautiful plants and hot springs. I
loved Vree, Darkwind’s bond bird (magically enhance birds with the ability of
limited speech that can be of many species, from owls to firebirds to hawks to
falcons to crows) and the bond between them. They made a perfect team and it
was a shame the Vree-Darkwind interactions lessened over this series and their
conversations was basically non-existent in other series, even when Darkwind
was the viewpoint character.
Shin’a’in
clans are the cousins to the Talyedras. One of the Shin’a’in clans is the Clan
of the Hawk. The official explanation for Talyedras being known as ‘Hawkbrothers’
was because of their close association with their bondbirds, but could this
name also be a sign that they are brothers to the Hawk Shin’a’in clan and thus
by extension all other Shin’a’in? This sort of ambiguity is often found in
Lackey’s work, giving readers something to think about and make connections.
When
Elspeth first finds Darkwind, the Talyedras is with the griffins Treyvan and
Hydona. Darkwind tells Elspeth that she is in the presence of two mages:
Treyvan makes a big deal about this, being surprised Darkwind has finally
decided to be a mage again. Darkwind confirms this. But both griffins are also
mages (a fact that Darkwind knew) so Elspeth was in the presence of three
mages. This was a preventable mistake.
Just some general notes.
When
following every character, the readers see them think through multiple
scenarios or reasons before taking action. It’s fantastic to see such deep
thinking. Obviously they all inhabit roles that require intelligence but
equally it would have been nice for each character to have different levels of
intelligence.
Magic
is interesting in Valdemar. It bleaches everything which is why Talydras have
white hair and their bondbirds turn white. The Companions are white because
they too are bleached by magic. The land contains energy flows of magic (lay
lines and such) from which all magic is drawn. If a mage draws magic from the
surrounding area, other mages of that area can also feel it. Falconsbane
performed many feats of magic that the Hawkbrothers should have been able to
sense, yet they realise that he’s being using energy from Nyara (his
daughter/concubine), another mage, meaning local energy flows aren’t disturbed.
The general conception of magic is that is behaves like water.
When
Elspeth and Skiff enter Rethwellen, the resident they visit says that Elspeth
studied the Rethwellen as evidenced by her ‘lack of accent.’ Basic linguistic
fact: everyone speaks with an accent. If you speak, it is with an accent. You
can’t lack an accent when you speak. This is the result of people confusing the
standard variation of the language as being the only ‘correct’ way to pronounce
a word with all other variations being accents. Just nope. When teaching
non-natives speakers a language, you can only teach them one of the many
accents of a language, and it makes sense to teach all non-natives to speak in
this one way for convenience. This standard variety ends up being the accents
of the well-to-dos in the country’s capital. But this doesn’t make the standard
variety ‘right’ or a non-accent. A Londoner and someone from Yorkshire speak
very differently; Standard French is very different from the French spoken in Brittany.
One
sentence that stood out for me was ‘If this is a trial of my abilities, the
gods have no sense of proportion.’ I found that interesting to ponder. The
characters’ intellect and the system of magic were also interesting.
Reviews: Mage
Winds Omnibus (Mercedes Lackey)
Winds of
Change (Book Two)
Winds of
Fury (Book Three)
Review:
Mage Storms Omnibus (Mercedes Lackey)
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