The sequel to Magic's Pawn finds Vanyel worn thin and exhausted from a too-long stint on the Karsite border taking the place of not one, but five Herald-mages. Valdemar's plight is dire, with a fast-sickening king and ill-luck stalking his Herald-mages. But Vanyel is due a rest, and plans to take it in the bosom of his family - although he knows just how restful he'll find it: not at all.

But all is not peaceful across the border, and before Vanyel can fully regain his lost reserves he's sucked into a plot that may cause a new flare-up on the border, stretching himself and Valdemar's already strained resources to the breaking point.

Vanyel always seems to be stretched too thin - and he's still whiny, but showing improvement. The second installment is more better than the first. ( )

In this story, taking place 12 years after the end of the previous book, Vanyel returns to Haven after taking the place of 5 other mages on the front lines to save Valdemar from the denizens of dark magic. However, when Yfandes and Vanyel respond to an urgent call for help from a young, untrained mage and his companion from across the border they become embroiled in an international incident that could bring Vanyel's family to the cusp of war, just when he's actually starting to like them.

My biggest complaint here is the leap in time. Although we learn much of Vanyel's life as he grew from the teenage, newly-made Herald-Mage of the first book it seems as though he had a great many adventures that might have been book-worthy. Certainly there are a great many surprises that come up during this story of things Vanyel accomplished during this in-between time. The other thing I had difficulty with is all the characters. I totally couldn't keep up with who was who and there is an important scene at the end with the character, Jaysen, who sounded familiar but I had no real clue who the person was. Outside of that this fantasy was very interesting. There is lots of action and lots of soul searching on Vanyel's part who, despite the intervening years, continues to have many of the issues that plagued him at the end of the first book. I also liked the fact that he learned to let go of his grudges and accept people previously vilified in his life. Overall I did enjoy it despite my character confusion and I will be reading the last book of this trilogy. ( )

http://zehavit-lamasu.livejournal.com... ( )

I love Vanyel's character and this is my favorite book in the trilogy. ( )

Am Utterly Engrossing Series!

I picked up this series because I was in the process of writing a fantasy novel with a gay hero and I wanted to see what other works were out there. I had never read Ms. Lackey's work, so I didn't know what to expect. I was not just pleasantly surprised by this trilogy, I was completely captivated by it and very sad when I reached the final page. The plot is interesting and the pace is quick. The characters, especially the hero Vanyel, are extremely sympathetic, primarily due to the fact that they are so flawed. Some may find the romance a bit sappy, but I'm the first to admit that I dig that kind of thing and you'll see it in my own novels as well.Orphan's Quest (Chronicles of Firma, Book One) Best of all for me, though, was the fact that although her hero is unapologetically gay, the series does not become mired in its "gayness" as so many other works of gay-themed fiction I have read.

This trilogy gave me a great deal of inspiration to push on with my own fantasy aspirations. I owe Misty a big hug if we ever meet face to face. I highly recommend these three books. Whether you're gay or straight, you'll find them an excellent read and, like me, you'll be sorry to reach that last page. ( )