Mercedes Lackey?

[autumnmist]

I've been looking for a new sci-fi/fantasy type author to read and I finally settled down to read one of the Mercedes Lackey novels on Baen Free Library (I read the Lark and the Wren)--I gather that at least a few on my flist read her books

Comments

[shiv5468]

I thought her other books were much better. I didn't even bother with that series as i'd marked them down as pish.

[autumnmist]

Do you have any specific recs?

[shiv5468]

Swinping from wikipedia, I liked the Valdemar stories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Lackey#Velgarth

The Mage Winds

1. Winds of Fate, 1991
2. Winds of Change, 1992
3. Winds of Fury, 1993

The Mage Storms

1. Storm Warning, 1994
2. Storm Rising, 1995
3. Storm Breaking, 1996

I'm not sure whether I would today, as I just went back and read an old favourite fantasy series and kept picking it apart as I read it. Spending so much time wirting changes your relationship with books. I don't think they suffer the same problems you were talking about with plot incoherence though.

[labellerose]

I have to concur with Viv.

Lackey is great if you are traveling and want a distraction, or having a root canal or something similar and want a book you can follow despite pain killers.

I do appreciate that she is a proud and unapologetic genre writer
who doesn't get pretentious and overblown about her 'oevre'.

[anonymous]

The Bardic Voices series is not her best. Read By the Sword because it's a standout and my favorite. I also enjoy The Last Herald Mage Trilogy and the Diana Tregarde Investigations.

I also like a couple of her fairy tale retellings: The Fairy Godmother and The Black Swan are both interesting, the latter being the better of the two.

Stay away from the Serrated Edge books. However, if you like urban fantasy with gorgeous elves, do feel free to check out the Bedlam's Bard series (which I like).

Her books are entertaining and don't require much brainpower (great for reading during a commute or before bedtime), but you'll find that many can be formulaic at times.

[harmony_bites]

Oh, yeah, I'd also agree about By the Sword and the Diana Tregarde Investigations--those were her very first books, I believe, and I think they were her best.

Kinda sad, that an author, with time, got worse, not better--with their best their first.

[harmony_bites]

I'm with Shiv actually on which books to try. I think Lackey's problem is she got stale and formulaic--and looking at the frequency with which she publishes, rushed. I used to really enjoy her books, especially the ones she cites above and the Last Herald Mage series, about Vanyel. Then at some point she got...I dunno. Routine. I remember the last straw being this book about the Herald trainer who was from the enemy country. Forget the title. She inserted this character that was this obvious Mary Sue--even down to the name (Misty, IIRC, her nickname). It's like you said--it read like fanfic. So I'd try her early stories.