Reviews

Un araldo per Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey

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redwing's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

manda_p's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

sashapasha's review against another edition

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3.0

I would have really liked this book as a child. It’s the story of a young girl who gets chosen by a talking, magical horse to become a Herald, which is right up there with becoming a lady knight in terms of childhood fantasies. Reading it as an adult, though, loses some of the magic. I felt the voice of the narration was too young for me, and there was a touch too much new age wish fulfillment-y vibes. The pacing was also confusingly uneven — it was normal for the first half and then suddenly switched into high gear and the protagonist made leaps forward in maturity and emotional development without going through the aging process (at least on-page). I doubt I’ll be picking up the sequels, but I would recommend for preteens into horses.

justmeareader's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

summerpy's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

This was a rereread! Mercedes Lackey’s arrow series was the very first fantasy books I ever read as a kid. It was a treat to see mc Talia go from a small patriarchal town meek girl to a badass emphatic, mature problem solver.

neolx's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

3.0

I really enjoyed most of this book and was even brought to tears several times, but overall this was largely a setup book made up of a series of events rather than its own story arc. This was a big disappointment given how much I enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book. Since this is YA fantasy from the 80s, it has a very nostalgic, cozy fantasy feel (not to be confused with the romance heavy, modern subgenre of “cozy fantasy”), and also feels written for its intended audience, with lots of convenient plot points and LOTS of blocks of text of tell vs show exposition. Despite that, this is competently written and I can understand why Mercedes Lackey was so popular in the 80s and 90s. It also has to be noted that this was, for its time, one of the rare fantasy series that featured normalized, accepted queer characters. I was hoping to like this enough to read the whole series, but I don’t think that’s likely now, especially since I had to skim the last 15% of this book out of boredom, but I’m glad I read it.