The Ladies of Mandrigyn

This was a rather refreshing book, with a female mercenary who is really good at what she does, and a whole group of women learning that they can run businesses when their men are captured, and that end up decent soldiers as well. It also shows a bit how disconcerting this is to the whole of their society, which isn't used to women with agency. I found the relationships to be well balanced. Sun Wolf and Starhawk find out separately that they like each other in another capacity than professional, and they do so realistically. Fortunately no gushing. I found the relationship between Sun Wolf and the women who kidnap him to be realistic as well.

I can't quite figure out why this isn't a 5 star for me, despite all that. Somehow I can't find show more anything wrong with it, and I see a great deal of good, including things that are rare to get right in fantasy, but still this book didn't draw me into its world as much as I would like. show less

After an evil wizard conquers Mandrigyn and kills or enslaves most of the men, the women of the city attempt to hire mercenaries to fight back. The mercenary captain refuses, so they kidnap him and force him to teach them how to fight so they can go and rescue the surviving men themselves. Meanwhile, the captain's second-in-command is out looking for him, but she experiences unforeseen delays...

I like Barbara Hambly's fantasy, generally speaking. At her best, she provides solidly entertaining storytelling and characters who feel like people rather than archetypes. She's also capable of writing a romance subplot that doesn't make me want to roll my eyes with annoyance, which is more than most fantasy writers ever manage. (Or most show more Hollywood writers. Or pretty much anybody for that matter.)

I'd say this particular volume is neither her best nor her worst. On the negative side, the pacing seems to me to be off, with events alternately passing too slowly or too quickly. The action isn't really terribly exciting. And the plot relies on a few awfully convenient coincidental circumstances. On the other hand, Hambly somehow manages to make the whole fighting-the-evil-wizard plot feel much less cliche than it really is. The characters develop in interesting ways. And there's a nice hint of a progressive sensibility to it that I think is usually lacking in this kind of fantasy. More often than not, what you end up with is the restoration of a status quo in a triumph of old-fashioned military values, and this story, I think, does something subtly and pleasantly different from that.

I already have the other two books in this series. I'll probably be reading them sometime soon. show less

After discovering [author: Barbara Hambly] via the books Dragonsbane and The Time of the Dark, I just couldn't get enough of her. She writes great, strong women characters, that are usually of the non-magical sort. The women are often the warriors, like Starhawk. Her male characters are also indelible, flawed but inspiring.

In this book, Sun Wolf is a successful mercenary captain who refuses a job that is basically a rescue mission. The women of Mandrigyn want him to rescue their men from the mines of the evil wizard Altiokis. Sun Wolf had one rule, one principle he always adhered to - never get involved in a war with a wizard.

But the "ladies" of Mandrigyn are insistent and ingenious. They kidnap Sun Wolf and poison him to force him to show more help them. They have an antidote, or actually a concoction that will keep him alive, as they poison they've given him has no antidote.

Sun Wolf trains the women as a strike force to assist in the rescue. There isn't much hope that they will be successful, but he doesn't have much choice but to make the best of the situation.

On a training mission in the wilderness surrounding the city, the women have their first skirmish, but Sun Wolf is injured and separated from them. Left for too long without the antidote, the poison starts it's slow torturous march to what Sun Wolf believes is his death. However, after many hours or days, he finds that the poison has been purged from his system and he now seems to have acquired the powers of a wizard.

Eventually, he re-unites with the women and Starhawk and an attempt at the rescue is made. Sun Wolf discovers that Altiokis isn't really a wizard. Altiokis managed to encase a portal from another world or dimension in a stone hut, forcing it to remain open indefinitely. Sun Wolf, afflicted by one of the beings from that dimension, who burrow into a man's brain via their eye socket, burns out his own eye with a torch to kill the thing. He then destroys enough of the castle and the hut to expose it to sunlight, thereby sealing the dimensional rift.

Hambly is such a joy to read. Her elements of adventure, fantasy, horror and romance are all woven into a wonderful story that leaves you wanting more. show less

This was a rather refreshing book, with a female mercenary who is really good at what she does, and a whole group of women learning that they can run businesses when their men are captured, and that end up decent soldiers as well. It also shows a bit how disconcerting this is to the whole of their society, which isn't used to women with agency. I found the relationships to be well balanced. Sun Wolf and Starhawk find out separately that they like each other in another capacity than professional, and they do so realistically. Fortunately no gushing. I found the relationship between Sun Wolf and the women who kidnap him to be realistic as well.

I can't quite figure out why this isn't a 5 star for me, despite all that. Somehow I can't find show more anything wrong with it, and I see a great deal of good, including things that are rare to get right in fantasy, but still this book didn't draw me into its world as much as I would like. show less

First volume of series.
Trope of the glamourous mercenaries has a bit of original twist. Humorous, with serious reflections. Interesting interplay of the main characters.
Plot hole at the end is mildly off-putting (actor behaves out-of-character to serve the needs of the author's outline).
Major complaint is having the climactic scenes (which are the point of the bulk of the novel) occur "off-stage" (this is not a Greek drama, folks: if you're going to tease the trailer, run the show).

The Ladies of Mandrigyn is what happens after an evil wizard defeats a city and enslaves most of its men. The women suddenly have to take charge, and take charge they do by kidnapping a famous mercenary after he refuses to help them and then blackmail him with the help of a local witch into training them into an army. Sun Wolf does not necessarily enjoy this, but he does try to make the best of it, pretending to be the slave of a local noblewoman.

Meanwhile, his loyal lieutenant Starhawk has gone in search of him, believing that he has actually been taken captive by the wizard. Over time, she realizes that her feelings for him are more than just friendship, and Sun Wolf realizes that he misses her too. However, none of this mushy stuff show more can do anything to stop the wizard. Only good strategy can. That and the power of women.

It's very vintage/old school fantasy, but it has a lot going for it. I definitely enjoyed reading it. show less

Found this recommendation from a list of strong women fantasy titles. Older book that I was surprised to find immediately absorbing, initially thinking it would be dated with gender roles limitations. It’s quite the opposite.