Arrows of the Queen

This is the first Valdemar book. I must have read it first more than twenty years ago and began to read it again with some trepidation, wondering if it could be as emotionally engaging as it was when I first read it. If anything, it was even better this time.

Talia is a thirteen-year-old girl who was raised in a very restrictive sect on the border of Valdemar. Her life was bound and restricted. Reading was discouraged and any disobedience was harshly punished. When she is told on her thirteenth birthday that it was time for her to marry a man chosen for her by her father, she runs away but really doesn't know where she might be going.

She is picked up by Rolan who was the Companion of the previous Queen's Own Herald. Talia doesn't know show more what is going on. She's certain that she'll be punished for stealing the Companion. When she arrives at the Palace and the Collegium, she finds herself in a life she couldn't possibly have imagined. Now, she is in training to become a Herald and the Queen's Own to Queen Selenay. One of her first tasks is to befriend the Queen's Heir who has become thoroughly spoiled and is in danger of never being Chosen by a Companion of her own.

But the spoiled Heir is just one thread of a bigger conspiracy that caused the murder of the previous Queen's Own and the death of a number of other Heralds. Talia is also in danger of being a victim of that conspiracy and would have except for the friendships she's made among the other Heralds and Trainees at the Collegium.

I enjoyed the seamless way the world building was built into the story in the form of stories told Talia whose past upbringing made her ignorant of the world she is now living in. I liked Talia's common sense and compassion. I could understand her fear of trusting which has her keeping secrets from those who would be able to help her if only she could open up to them.

There is an engaging cast of characters who surround Talia and make the story even richer. I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy again to watch Talia grow into the Herald she becomes. show less

Arrows of the Queen is a magical school centered fantasy that was published in 1987 and is clearly the inspiration for all of the successful magical school fantasy books that came after! I’d also classify it as a semi-cozy fantasy. It has sad parts, which makes it not fully cozy, but the plot and pacing are relaxed enough throughout that it has a cozy fantasy feel to it.

The story follows Talia, a girl who has been raised in a cult environment and escapes with the help of a magical horse called a Companion. She then attends a magical school and is mentored by older teens and adults in the story, gradually coming into her own over the course of the book.

There’s so much to love about this book! First of all, it’s total wish show more fulfillment for teens who always wanted to own a horse growing up. Just look at that cover! That horse couldn't be more perfect. The worldbuilding and magic system are wonderful! There’s also a strong found family element to the story, which I always appreciate. And as an INFJ reader, it was so enjoyable to follow a main character who is pretty clearly an INFJ! INFJs often end up cast as the wise wizard-ish mentor or side character, so it’s great to get to see one in the spotlight.

There are also several delightfully unexpected story elements that made it feel way ahead of its time. Arrows of the Queen has LGBTQ characters, scenes featuring the importance of consent, and a discussion surrounding the use of a fantasy version of birth control!

There were a couple of drawbacks that kept this book from being a full 5 star read. For a story all about emotions, the writing is somewhat unemotional and removed. In many scenes, Lackey tells readers what characters are feeling rather than trusting them to discern on their own from the characters’ actions. Also, there were so many characters in the book and some weren’t developed enough which made it hard to distinguish between them. Even with those drawbacks, though, the positives vastly outweigh the negatives, and it’s definitely worth reading! show less

Arrows of the Queen is the first in the Heralds of Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey. This is my first time reading anything Valdemar and I'm glad I decided to start with the very first published book as it was an absolute delight to read. Part of me wishes I had discovered this series back when I was a teen as teenage me would have absolutely devoured these books. Luckily adult me loved it too.

The story introduces us to Talia, a 13-year-old daughter of Holder folk. Life among the Holder-kin is rough, with men dying young to frequent raids by outsiders and women expected to be broodmares in a "sister-wives" situation. Talia runs away on the day her family decides it's time for her to accept her fate and marry someone much older than show more herself. While on the run a white horse straight out of Talia's dreams appears and Talia climbs into his saddle, never looking back, setting Talia on the path to becoming one of the Queen's Own, a Herald.

The bulk of the story focuses on Talia's life at the Collegium where Heralds are trained. It's a coming of age story in a magical school setting. Heralds are an elite force that keeps the Queen's peace and protect the realm. I loved being with Talia as she worked through her shyness and insecurities and opens up to the joys of friendship with other students and teachers. There's also a magical aspect to the story as the horses, known as Companions, are mystical in nature and they choose their Heralds for a matching psionic ability, which is part of the training at the Collegium. While the story is more slice-of-life than a traditional plot, Talia uncovers a conspiracy against the crown and proves her Companion's choice was the right one. We end as Talia's best friend graduates and I think Talia herself is at least half trained.

I was surprised that the story tackles some heavier social topics very well, such as bullying, discovering your sexuality, gender equality and homosexuality, without negative connotations.

I listened to the audio book narrated by Christa Lewis. Lewis does a masterful job bringing the characters to life with a wide variety of accents. It was a joy to listen to. show less

Oh, this is just like Alanna but with added magical ponies! Not Great Literature, but warming and page turning and a quick and enjoyable read. The hero, Talia, is a young girl, miserable and squashed at home (she wants to read and have adventures, her family think she should do chores and be married off). Then a magical horse selects her as the only one in the whole kingdom who can solve the problems of the Queen, and she is whisked away to live in court, and be liked and admired by everyone (or at least all the Good People). I've had enough interesting debates around the problems with the term 'Mary Sue' to want in general to try to avoid it, but oh, she's the best rider, the one chosen to be not just a Herald, but the Queen's Super show more Special Herald, she is so empathic, she learns to sing and two weeks later has all the servants enthralled in a concert, she's the only one who can get through to the spoiled princess... If that's going to annoy you, don't read this book. But if you want escapism and fun and a rollicking tale, read it. It's great.

Interesting slant on relationships that I wasn't expecting and that is different from current YA - her best friend fancies her, she likes him in a gentle way, so they decide that yes, they should have some hot fun sex together, and this is all OK, within the social norms, and presented positively. Except then every time they try one or both of them (magically??) falls asleep, and eventually they decide that's a strong hint, and they go back to being best friends / brotherly. Still not sure what the point of that story is.

[If I was inclined to over analyse, from a sensitized internet feminist point of view, the start of the plot is really kind of worrying. Talia is poor and abused, and 13, and knows nothing about the world. A horse looks her in the eyes, and immediately forms a bond with her, so that she is willing to work hard and in all kinds of peril, because whenever she is with him she feels joy and loved and safe. If we replace 'horse' with 'man or 'prince', and have a story of a vulnerable child whisked off to the palace to groom him and tend on him and risk her life for him... well, it might be an excellent kinky novel, but it would be a bit risque. Luckily the get out of gaol free card is that the horses are Impossibly Good By Definition, because Magic, so that sidesteps some of the more disturbing ideas.]

It is the first one in a trilogy, and I don't have the rest yet, and I've ordered them from Amazon but it'll take weeks for them to come from America. Pout. show less

When I was around 11, 12, 13 years old, I read this novel and lots of other Lackey--along with my Favoritest Book in the Universe at the time, The Mists of Avalon, and various other fantasy series ... David Eddings, Robert Jordan, you get the idea. I remember feeling utterly immersed in these worlds, just sitting out under a tree in the summer reading a whole book in one go. When I decided to reread this one as an adult, just to see what I'd been up to back then, I mostly expected to feel bored and embarrassed for myself.

In fact, though, I quite liked it. I'm still a fantasy-lover, which helps. And, three cheers for 12-year-old me, it turns out this book is flagrantly feminist (didn't remember that about it). We have a girl escaping her show more patriarchal home culture's restrictions, yes, but we also have frank discussions about sex (actual good sex! with fun and pleasure and affection!), menstruation, and birth control. There's a really sweet lesbian couple and everything. Bigger-picture, too, I like that the main characters are fundamentally nice and loving people.

That said, this is one of those books that's difficult for me to rate: it's four-star fun with two-star technical quality. Which is to say, I really enjoyed zipping through it and will likely continue rereading Lackey, while simultaneously wishing I could edit the crap out of her books. The book is oddly structured, sort of loose, without a clear, beautiful, or thought-provoking shape. Some elements feel schmaltzy. There are peculiar and distracting uses of quotation marks. I'm curious to read on and see whether Lackey's later novels get cleaner and tighter, collapse into these weaknesses, or just carry on. show less

A young, underappreciated and abused girl suddenly finds herself living out her best daydreams when she's chosen to become a Herald to the queen.
Written in the 80s, this is clearly an early-days entry in the Strong Young Female Heroine Who Is Super-Talented in Various Ways but Has Trouble Believing in Herself genre and I assume it's probably one that broke ground in that particular area. It does some things really well - it doesn't feel the need to give her a love interest, and it also introduces a couple of LGBTQ characters in a way that's NBD - so I was happy about that and grateful for the groundbreaking bits, but otherwise it didn't grab my interest enough to make me want to continue with the series.

This was a really cool feminist, pro-LGBTQ, fantasy book from 1987! I think it was an inspiration for both the Harry Potter series and, surprisingly enough, the Fourth Wing series.

It's like Harry Potter in that it follows a young person from an abusive family who is chosen to go to a sort-of magical training school. The connection with Fourth Wing is that a magical creature has to choose the kids to be in the school, the creatures live at the school, and they have very similar relations ships with their chosen human as the dragons with their humans in Fourth Wing.

There are of course more differences than similarities between Arrows of the Queen and the other series. It is set in a medieval fantasy world and follows a young girl, Talia, show more who lived in a small, cult-like community on the outskirts of the kingdom. Talia is chosen to be a Herald by a Companion (magic horse critters) and goes to the capital to be trained at the Herald training school. The Heralds serve the queen of Valdemar and ride about the kingdom carrying out missions for her.

One of the things I liked about the book is that I'm pretty sure the main character is an INFJ, which is unusual for a main character. INFJs are usually older mentor characters, but rarely main characters.

The book isn't perfect, but it is very good in a lot of unique ways, and I highly recommend it! show less