Larry Dixon (1) (1966–)

This takes place during the war between Urtho and Ma'ar, which began for reasons I can't recall (because Ma'ar wants world domination?). Most of the book is focused on life in one of Urtho's army's camps, far enough away from the fighting that no one there is in immediate danger but filled with humans and nonhumans healing from injuries and dealing with PTSD.

Urtho used his magic to create gryphons to help him in the war, and Skandranon (Skan), the "Black Gryphon," is one of the best of them. show more His closest friend is a human named Amberdrake, a kestra'chern (an empath/healer who uses a combination of methods to heal others emotionally and physically). The book follows their life and the development of their relationships in the camp, as Urtho attempts to figure out how to turn the tide of the war against Ma'ar.

This was my first time listening to this in audio form, although I had previously read the book quite a few times - it was the first Valdemar book I'd ever read, back when I was a teen obsessed with gryphons, and it became one of my comfort reads, although it's probably been at least 10 years since I last read it.

I was interested to see how well this would hold up after all this time, but I don't know that audio was the best way to do that. Gary Furlong pronounced most of the names and fantasy words differently than I'd imagined they would sound, and his narration gave the slower parts of the book more weight and made them more noticeable than they might have been if I had been rereading my old print copy. It wasn't bad (except for maybe the gryphon hisses - Furlong tried, but those weren't designed for audiobook narration), but it was definitely different.

I remembered most of the characters and their relationships, as well as most of their backstories (Amberdrake was the one character whose backstory I completely forgot). What I did not remember was how little on-page action there was. This was technically a war story, but it was so focused on characters' thoughts and emotional turmoil that it was easy to forget that there was fighting going on elsewhere. For example, Amberdrake tried his best to be everyone's rock while in reality he was one bad piece of news away from completely falling apart, and Winterhart seemed heartless and brittle but was eventually revealed to be a mass of guilt and anxiety.

Lackey spent a lot of time on character relationships: Amberdrake's friendship with Skan (which had some issues because Skan is not the sort to sit down and talk about feelings), Amberdrake helping Zhaneel to increase her self-confidence, and the budding romances between Amberdrake and Winterhart as well as Skan and Zhaneel. It was all blended with information about the war - for example, in an effort to increase her confidence and catch Skan's eye, Zhaneel created and worked out on obstacle courses that led to her being given an important role in one of the battles. Still, there were times I found myself thinking that the story was extremely slow, and I wonder how much of that was this reread (enough time for me to not be so affected by nostalgia?) and how much was due to the audio format making the pacing more obvious.

During this reread, I found myself viewing Urtho's army from more of an organizational leadership perspective. I imagine Urtho had a limited number of people he could promote or demote without risking further problems among his ranks, but there were at least a couple characters who were perfect examples of why it's dangerous to just shuffle toxic employees around. It was frustrating to watch.

All in all, I enjoyed seeing Amberdrake, Skan, and Zhaneel again, but this didn't work as well for me as I remembered. At some point I'll have to reread my paper copy to see if that makes a difference, and then continue on from there to The White Gryphon and The Silver Gryphon, which I don't think I've ever reread.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

One of the strengths of this book is the fact Lackey knows how to write a villain. She can get into their minds and show us the twisted thoughts these guys have. I love that we have two cultures trying to figure each other out trying to hold true to that which is them and have room to grow as they work together. It's nice to see fantasy that while it has very serious dire moments leaves room for our characters to have light humorous moments where they pick on each other. Out of all the books show more in this trilogy this is the one I always struggle with, the political heavy beginning makes me feel like I'm slugging my way through, until the action picks up to the later end of the book. I appreciate Lackey gives us characters who are middle aged or possibly brushing it, proving the young bucks arn't the only ones who can save the day. show less

This is the second book in the Owl Mage Trilogy. It has been four years since Darian saw his village attacked and fled to the Hawkbrothers. He has bonded with an eagle owl, learned his magic, and is ready to go back to Errold's Grove to see up a vale and act as an ambassador from the Hawkbrothers to the Valdemarans.

Meanwhile, Keisha Alder has taken over duties as healer in Errold's Grove. She tends both the humans and the animals. The area's lord wants to send her to the Healer's collegium, show more but she knows that there is no one to replace her in Errold's Grove. Besides, she knows that leaving Errold's Grove would be bad for her. She has been trying to learn more about being a healer from books given her by another healer, but she doesn't understand everything she reads and needs help.

When Darian and his group get back to Errold's Grove, Keisha has a chance to work with another healer in the new vale and quickly learns about many of the confusing things from the book. She had never learned to create a shield to protect her mind and was in danger of becoming a hermit or going mad with one.

Just as things are settling down, they learn that there is another group of barbarians coming toward Errold's Grove. They have been spotted by the Hawkbrothers' bond birds. This group is different than the group that overran Errold's Grove four years earlier. They have brought along their women and children and their animals too.

The Queen has sent a military force to counter any attack from the new barbarians. The leader of that group joins with the leaders from the vale and the Valdemaran lands to go to meet this oncoming horde and find out what they want.

Keisha who has been learning from the army's healers is along on the trip and is one of the first to learn that this group is following their guiding totem who has promised to find them a new place to live and healers for the debilitating disease they call the summer fever.

The healers all fear that the disease will jump its way to the Valdemaran people who have no built-in immunity to deal with it. And the healer's oath means that they have to try to help these invaders whether or not the military and civilian authorities think it's a good idea.

This was an excellent young adult fantasy. I loved the worldbuilding. I also loved the way the characters, especially Darian and Keisha, handle their coming-of-age journeys. The world is also full of marvelous creatures from griffins to Companions. show less

UPDATE:
Screw this mind-fekkery. I am DUN at 73%!

FREEEDOOOM!!!!



And I am giving this book a new rating: 2 Supermassive Black Hole Stars .

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ONE STAR, cause there are no negative stars on GR

This book is one long INFO DUMP. It's so polluted with unnecessary details, it's almost unreadable. I would not have survived the printed version and I am barely surviving the audio one. It's a wonder I haven't fallen asleep at the wheel ...yet.

I am having a strong urge to DNF at 67%. So show more far only two things had happen: the invasion of Darion's village at 40% (-ish) and dog/griffin fight at 66%. There is no plot to speak of.

POVs jump around, at one point dissipating into nothingness and what we have on our hands is a long, boring, overly descriptive bestiary; long, boring overly descriptive history of each and every other creature we encounter; a good 10 minutes on potion making (why???); pages and pages on analyzing the poor, emoitonally abused boy's predicament ...and so on.

Will not continue with the rest of the trilogy. As a matter of fact, I don't think I will read another ML's book in the near (or not so near) future. show less