“The series is linked by its setting rather than focusing on a core group of characters; it covers roughly 3,000 years of history, all told. It is written mostly in the form of trilogies that do focus on a particular character, although there are a handful of independent novels as well.
The majority of the series revolves around the Kingdom of Valdemar and its protectors, the eponymous Heralds of Valdemar. Heralds are Heroes of one stripe or another Chosen to defend Valdemar from the current Big Bad. Sometimes they have to go on The Quest for the MacGuffin that will save Valdemar, other times they have to root out The Mole or discover whatever Applied Phlebotinum solution they need to save the day. Almost always, it’s a Coming-of-Age Story as well.
An important aspect of the Heralds of Valdemar is their Companions. Companions are, in essence, Cool Horses with human-level intelligence and telepathy. They deliver the Call to Adventure to new Heralds by instinctively seeking out and recruiting youngsters with latent Gifts and good hearts, and always find the one person for whom they were meant Because Destiny Says So. This usually happens at just the right time to get the newly Chosen trained just before the kingdom needs them.” TV Tropes
In Chronological Order:
The prehistory of the Valdemar ‘verse, including the eponymous war between Great Mages Urtho and Ma’ar that resulted in the Cataclysm and its aftermath, and the exile of the Kaled’a’in. Features the mighty Black Gryphon, Skandranon.
Delves into the story, first outlined in the original Arrows trilogy, of the flight of Baron Valdemar and his people from the despotic Eastern Empire and their eventual settlement in the northwest of the continent, where they founded a new Kingdom and named it after him.
A trilogy that details the tragic life and ultimate Heroic Sacrifice of Vanyel Ashkevron, the most powerful Herald-Mage Valdemar has ever known. Features one of the first, if not the first, openly gay yet unambiguously heroic protagonists in fantasy literature.
follows roughly fifty years after The Last Herald-Mage and features a young orphan named Mags, detailing the founding of the Heralds’ Collegium and associated traditions.
a sequel to the Collegium Chronicles with an adult Herald Mags
a sequel to The Herald Spy, focusing on the children of Herald Mags and his wife King’s Own Herald Amily.
Brightly Burning A stand-alone novel detailing the short life of Lavan Firestorm, a Firestarter and legend in Valdemar, who went mad.
A duology plus an anthology of short stories, based on Mercedes Lackey’s first published short stories, covering the adventures of Tarma and Kethry, mercenary warrior and mage, and their geased spellsword Need. Noteworthy for Tarma being Asexual and even referred to as such.
Exile’s Duology
Tells the story of Alberich the Weaponmaster, who came from Karse, historical enemy of Valdemar. The first book deals with Alberich’s Choosing and how he settles in as a Herald, plus the events of the Tedrel War, the Tedrels being an entire nation of corrupt mercenaries that Karse hired. The second book deals with Alberich’s time in the years following the war and Queen Selenay’s disastrous first marriage.
Take a Thief (2001): Standalone, tells the story of the young thief Skif, his Choosing and life as a Trainee, and his role in breaking up a slaver ring.
Innocent farmgirl Talia is rescued from an Arranged Marriage and with her empathic powers becomes the Queen’s Own Herald, just as an old ally of the kingdom turns traitor and starts a deadly war. This was the first published trilogy set entirely in Valdemar.
By the Sword (1991): A standalone novel introducing Kerowyn, mercenary and inheritor of Need (from Vows and Honor), who comes to lead her own mercenary company and eventually rescues Valdemar from a savage Hardornan attack.
Elspeth, the Royal Brat a decade earlier, has come of age and is foretold to become Valdemar’s first Herald-Mage in six hundred years. But she’s not about to be controlled by destiny and ends up unexpectedly making allies of the magical Hawkbrothers, just as an ancient enemy returns and threatens to destroy both the Tayledras and Valdemar.
In the aftermath of Hardorn’s defeat, Valdemar has an uneasy assembly of newfound allies, including their historical enemy, Karse. Karal, a young Karsite priest and aide to the ambassador, must navigate the resulting political intrigue while a new threat arises from the Eastern Empire. But even this struggle may be moot in the face of the return of the three-thousand year old Cataclysm.
The Owl Trilogy (Darian’s Tale)
In the aftermath of the Mage Storms, young Darian Firkin, reluctant apprentice wizard, finds his life altered when his village is attacked by barbarians and he is forced to flee, finding sanctuary and tutelage with the Hawkbrothers. As he grows into his responsibilities, he finds himself an ambassador to the northern tribes.
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The novels in the Elemental Masters series, by Mercedes Lackey, are a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, with a big scoop of fairy tales stirred in. Most of them are set in the late 1800s-early 1900s.
The books “officially” in this series are:
- The Serpent’s Shadow (Snow White)
- The Gates of Sleep (Sleeping Beauty)
- Phoenix and Ashes (Cinderella)
- The Wizard of London (The Snow Queen)
- Reserved for the Cat (Puss in Boots)
- Unnatural Issue (Donkeyskin)
- Home from the Sea (Tam Lin)
- Elemental Magic – An anthology of short stories about Elemental Masters and Magicians.
- Steadfast (The Steadfast Tin Soldier)
- Elementary – Another anthology
- Blood Red (Red Riding Hood)
- From a High Tower (Rapunzel)
- A Study In Sable (The Twa Sisters)
- A Scandal in Battersea (The Pied Piper of Hamelin)
- The Bartered Brides (Bluebeard)
- The Case of the Spellbound Child (Hansel and Gretel)
- Jolene (The Queen of the Copper Mountain)
The Fire Rose (Beauty and the Beast) uses the same pattern and tropes as the official books (though with minor differences, including a slightly different magic system and being set in America instead of Britain/Europenote “ TV Tropes
“Dragon Jousters is a four-book series by Mercedes Lackey that could be described as “Ancient Egypt with Dragons”.
The countries Tia and Alta (Fantasy Counterpart Cultures for Upper and Lower Egypt, respectively) have been at war for centuries. The elite soldiers on both sides are the Jousters; men who ride trained dragons into battle.” TV Tropes
The books mostly follow the adventures of the Free Bards, a group of musicians who work to help each other and make music. Their main rivals are the Bardic Guild, who have strict rules and are more concerned with their own individual power and wealth than anything else.
Related: Bardic Choices
A series of fantasy books with shades of romance.
The books are set in a realm (the Five Hundred Kingdoms) which operates according to the laws of a Background Magic Field known as the Tradition. When circumstances begin to resemble a plotline from a fairy tale, fable, fireside tale, morality play, or even a bawdy bar song, the Tradition tries to make that narrative play out… no matter how it ends or how the participants might feel about that.
Fortunately, they have allies in the Fairy Godmothers — women in possession of magical power as a result of the Tradition trying to force them into a role that either circumstances or their own personalities made impossible. They use their experience and a moderate touch of magic to minimize the damage the Tradition can do, steering characters out of tales they know will end badly and into ones with a happier ending. Also on the side of Good are the Wizards, Sorcerers, and Sorceresses, who work the larger magics when a Godmother’s efforts are not enough; similarly, the Champions take on the physical heroics, epic quests, and the wielding of enchanted blades. Opposing them are Evil Sorcerers/Sorceresses, Wicked Stepmothers, cruel rulers, and all sorts of woe, which the Tradition enables because every story needs a villain.
The books provide a relentless and quite entertaining send up of most of the standard Fairy Tale Tropes, both as they play out straight and as the active figures try to avert or subvert them.
The Obsidian Mountain Collection
An Epic High Fantasy series coauthored by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, The Obsidian Trilogy tells the story of a war between a coalition of races and evil Demons known as the Endarkened.
A second trilogy written by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, the Enduring Flame Trilogy is set a thousand years after the events of The Obsidian Trilogy. Kellen and Idalia are worshiped as religious figures, and High Magic is long gone. However, Tiercel Rolfot and his friend Harrier Gillain embark on the adventure of their lives when Tiercel discovers he is a High Mage.
Meanwhile, in a far-off desert, a Wildmage named Bisochim comes to believe that the world is out of balance without darkness. He formulates plans to bring back the dark, against the wishes of his bonded dragon, Saravasse.
Here, readers will learn the truth about the Elven Queen Vielissiar Faricarnon, who was the first to face the Endarkened in battle and the first to bond with a dragon. She worked some of the greatest magics her world has ever known, and paid the greatest Price.
The Diana Tregarde series is a set of three urban fantasy novels by Mercedes Lackey. The primary character in all three is Diana herself, a romance novelist who is also a magical defender called a Guardian.
A series of novels following the adventures of Spirit White and her friends as they attend Oakhurst Academy by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill.
The Halfblood Chronicles, sometimes called the Elvenbane Trilogy, is a series of Fantasy novels by Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton. They take place on a world in which humans are slaves to the cruel and sadistic elven race, and a race of shapeshifting dragons watch warily from the remote deserts.
A series of novels by writers Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and David Freer. They are Historical Fantasy novels set in an alternate Venice in the 1530s. The point of divergence from our history (other than the addition of Functional Magic), was Hypatia being converted to Christianity and stopping the mob from destroying the Library of Alexandria, eventually splitting the Church into the Petrines, under her own and St. Peter’s doctrine, and the Paulines, under St. Augustine and Paul’s doctrine.
A five book series of super-hero novels, plus a collection of short stories, that begins with the invasion of the world by a power from the past.
A medic, a Communist, and a thief; an angel, a magician and a fugitive. They have to save the world. But first, they have to save each other.
Related: Secret World War (Short Stories)
In a post-apocalyptic world, wracked by environmental disruption and harried by creatures of myth and legend, monster-killing Hunters and their magic Hounds protect the survivors huddled in their walled cities.
Hot cars, fast elves, and rock’n’roll! The elves of old have integrated themselves into society, hiding in plain sight as they insinuate themselves into the world of exotic sports car racing. But the elves and their human allies have enemies—and so do the human children in trouble that they seek to help.
In the time of Henry the Eighth, sinister forces have their eye on Princess Elizabeth. But so do the Elves of Great Britain, who are determined to allow no harm to come to their shining hope for the realm.
Eric Banyon was a talented music whose lady had left him singing the blues and playing his flute in a deserted corner of the Renaissance Faire. He couldn’t have known that the desperate sadness of his music would free Korendil, a young elven noble, from the magical prison he had been languishing in for centuries.
Suddenly, Eric had no time to be in the dumps, as he had to help his new acquaintance fight against the evil elf lord who had first imprisoned Korendil and now seeks to conquer all of California.
And that was only the beginning.
Using the lore of the videogame of the same name, these three epic fantasy adventures take no prisoners…or take themselves terribly seriously.
Miscellaneous