Storm Rising

Storm Rising is a strong middle volume to the series. Other than the "Firesong goes slowly mad" plotline - which, while sort of interesting in that an established character becomes an unreliable narrator over the course of a handful of POVs, is just too unsubtle and way too whiny to really appeal - the characters remain delightful, and while there's no real plot arc outside of the larger crisis (and the ending feels totally tacked-on) it's exactly the sort of collection of escapades that I like Valdemar for.

Two plot threads in particular are worth mention. One, Tremane's kingdom-building, I adore for the same reasons I like the crafting scenes in the Recluce series and video games like SimCity. That careful, logical assessment of show more resources and implementation of solutions is just so soothing. I may be weird, though, and normal people might find it boring.

The other, Karal's attempt to be an ambassador from his people after the death of his superior, is primarily interesting because he fails. He tries really hard, has quite a bit of support (and a bunch of opposition) and just can't make it work, and the big boss has to step in and take over. That's really atypical of fantasy novels, but much, much more realistic than the more usual "hero comes up with elaborate plan and makes everyone love him." show less

This is one of those books where you can see everything moving from bad to worse. The mage-storms are increasing in frequency and strength, and the solution put in place at the end of the previous book wasn't meant to be anything more than a temporary measure to buy them all time. Firesong's jealousy toward Karal and the way that An'desha is moving away from him threatens to turn to physical harm. Karal himself is struck ill from the sheer amount of stress he has to go through in trying to hold a position he doesn't feel he suits, while other allies are openly hostile to him. In Hardorn, Tremane is all but snowed-in, and the terrifying creatures caused by the mage-storms aren't making things any easier for him or the people in the town show more of Shonar. It seems like no matter where anybody turns, there's another problem that needs solving.

Mercedes Lackey does a wonderful job of keeping the conflicts interesting while avoiding getting so bogged down in them that the story stops making sense. Whether you're trying to figure out where Firesong's good sense went or trying to come up with your own suggestions for things that might lessen or stop the mage-storms, there's something to keep you turning the pages, something to make you want to keep reading so that you can find the resolution to what's going on.

We do get to see a fair bit of Lackey's typical recaps in this book, too, usually in the retelling of backstory, but rarely did it get tedious to read, for which I'm glad. For those of us who did read the Winds trilogy, sitting through another retelling of the story of An'desha and Falconsbane could have very easily gotten annoying and could have been skipped, even if it did serve character development. But fortunately the recap pieces didn't come along too often and weren't very long, so they weren't a chore to sit through.

What does make the book a little difficult is the fact that very little actually happens, and the ending is a repackaged version of the end of the first book. There's a lot of council discussion about what to do about the storms, lots of artificers using a model to try different solution ideas, lots of character discussion. It's a lot of people just trying to get through the days, really. There are some major events, such as the alliance between Tremane and Valdemar, the Kaled'a'in showing up, Solaris paying a visit to Haven, but for the most part, there's very little action and tension here. At least until the end, when a group of people have to travel to Urtho's ruined tower in the middle of the Dhorisha Plains and Karal once more has to act as a channel to set up yet another temporary solution to the storms. While the book was enjoyable, it felt like there was very little forward motion. It all needed to be done, of course, but it still took a lot of pages to accomplish them. Call it Second Book Syndrome, I guess.

Still, it did a good job of setting the stage for the third and final book of the trilogy, since everyone is a little bit closer to figuring out how to stop the storms entirely and new alliances have been made. And fortunately it's been long enough since my last reading of the third book that I've no doubt forgotten a good deal, so seeing how it'll all tie together in the end will no doubt be interesting. Classic Lackey! show less

Good story. It catches me from the start, and draws me in. An'desha keeps growing, slowly and quietly; Karal does too, though he's pushed beyond his limits several times over and has to recover from that. _Firesong_ grows and develops, with a reason for his weird behavior here and in Warning that makes sense. We see a lot more of Tremane and what he's building in Hardorn - I still have trouble with what he sees as 'the obvious answer', though he explains that a bit in the interrogations. An Empire built on expediency sounds rather fragile to me, though - loyalty and expediency don't really run together very well. Ah well. Oh, and one error - in Warning An'desha is described as looking just like he did as a boy except for silver hair and show more blue eyes. Now he's described as having cat-eyes, fading now to pale green, and 'more silver in the roots of his hair' which means it's not all silver. And a few other minor continuity errors - things that bother me when I come across them, because I have that kind of mind, but don't noticeably interfere with my enjoyment of the story. It's fun watching Tremane turn from Imperial Commander into a local lord - it's growth, in odd directions. Long-term thinking, for one thing (not new to Tremane, but new in this situation). And Solaris' curse - we don't really see the effects here, only Tremane's initial reaction, but...that's gonna be _fun_ for him. And the Storms have been dealt with, at least partly, by the end (well, another temporary solution) - but there's a whole other book. show less

3.5

Karal and An'desha continued to be likable characters with their own continued arcs of growth and General Tremayne ended up being an excellent POV in this second installment to the Mage Storms trilogy. The odd deviation with Firesong's character and the arc we are presented for him was bizarre and could have been written much better. All in all maybe a touch better than Storm Warning, but while we had a less frustrating An'desha we had to deal with Firesong.

Not a bad middle book; but the author's handling of Tremayne (ensuring his eventual death in any real world, although perhaps Lackey didn't understand this) bothered me.

I like the books Mercedes Lackey writes, she is good at creating a believable world and people to populate it. While her writing is not the strongest I do find it engaging ang and enjoyable. I like a series I can live inside of and her books are ones that have characters I feel invested in and a world I believe could exist.

This is the second book of the Mage Storms trilogy, so you should read Storm Warning first--in fact I'd go back further than that, and read the Arrows of the Queen with Talia and the succeeding books.

I'm a fan of Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar books, for me they're like visiting with old friends. I like the concept of the Heralds and their horse-shaped magical Companions, and this series in interesting in that you're seeing Valdemar from the point of view of someone hailing from their traditional enemy, Karse. I found Karal an appealing enough point of view protagonist to keep my interest, and this volume was I felt up to the same quality as the previous book.

If this is getting only three stars from me, it's that I think this is more show more for existing fans of the Valdemar books, then anything that would make someone a fan of the series. show less