A coming of age story that reads for the most part as if it's written for pre-teens. Not like a lot of Mercedes Lackey's fantasy novels which tend to be very overwritten and with lots of angst between the lovelorn and generally doomed characters. This one's more lively about a 13 year old girl from a very misogynistic and insular society who is 'chosen' by one of the intelligent horses, known as Companions, and undergoes training in the very important role of Queen's Own Herald (yes, all those things have capital letters!)

It's a bit of a Mary Sue (from classic Trek fandom, the character who is absolutely perfect and everyone loves her ... in this case, everyone except certain not well developed baddies). Her only flaws are lack of self confidence but she turns out to be the answer to the kingdom's prayer. Anyway, I liked some characters and enjoyed the first part of the story and there were some touching bits e.g. her friendship with a lonely old harpist but it is a bit too twee somehow. The saving grace is that although it is the first of a trilogy, it is fairly self contained and can be read as a standalone book so you don't feel the need to look for the other volumes! ( )

I like all books in this world by Mercedes Lackey. ( )

A nice start of this series. I haven't read anything from the world of Valdemar before, and I am looking forward to spending more time there. ( )

2561

Fun, fast-paced, interesting heroine ( )