By the Sword

And I say it again: I love this series. This time with Kerowyn, who is brave, strongwilled and has her own set of rules to live by. She is very honorable, but her honor is not the same as the honor of the heralds of Valdemar. Most of the story is not set in Valdemar and that gives a nice glimps of the lands outside of Valdemar and how they see Valdemar. On to the next book!

Mercenary life and fantasy warfare never really interested me that much until I read this book. Why? Because up until that point, so many fantasy novels that I'd read showed either the overblown or the gritty tactics of warfare from the viewpoint of someone who'se brilliant, talented, a star general, and little to no backstory on how he got there. If there was that backstory, it consisted of said leader always having had a talent and getting promotion after promotion within the military with ease.

By the Sword tells a slightly different story. For one thing, the hero of the piece is a heroine, still leading battles with aplomb but with the slight twist on the story by virtue of them being female. Which may be nothing to look twice at by show more today's standards, but there was less of a focus on heroines back in the early 90s, often unless it was to prove a point. Kerowyn doesn't need to prove a point that she's as good as a man by pointing it out at every turn. She does it by being a competant and talented leader who earns respect rather than demands it.

Secondly, although Kero is said to have a natural aptitude with swordwork and tactics, she still goes through gruelling training to perfect that talent, and what's more, the reader gets to see it. I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to look sideways at pieces like I mentioned before, where the hero is the hero simply because they are, and where little is shown regarding them actually working for and earning the respect and skills that they command.

Internal inconsistancies in this novel as it relates to the rest of the Valdemar novels are, thankfully, at a minimum, which is in no small part due to the fact that the only time it really relates to what happened in other novels is at the beginning when Tarma, Kathry, and Warrl are around, or toward the end when it involves Valdemar and Heralds. It's a good standalone book in the series for that reason.

Though I have to admit, I do find it a bit sad when I can say that it's partly good because the errors are kept low. I love Mercedes Lackey, I really do, but the amount of timeline mistakes made through the series... Do not want.

Stylistically, this book is on par with most of what Lackey was doing at the time. Between then and now, her work still has gone on to be polished, but the feel of By The Sword style is much the same as what you'll find in just about any of her later Valdemar books, which for me, is a good thing. There's a reason that I class these books as the literary equivalent of comfort food. For all their errors and imperfections, I still love them to death, adore the world created and the stories told in it, and wouldn't want to be without them.

As a standlone, this is a book that can be skipped over without missing any major plot points, since some of Kero's backstory is mentioned again in subsequent Valdemar novels. On the other hand, it is a good tale of progression, with good messages about not taking crap from people who are flinging it, about standing up for what you believe in even if others think you're a little nuts, and about not just keeping quiet and accepting what others have decided for you when you're just plain not suited to it. The overall theme is about living your own life and not somebody else's, and that's a theme I can really get behind.

Recommended for fans of the Valdemar/Velgarth novels, for those interested in more of Valdemar's backstory, though I wouldn't recommend starting your journey into Valdemar with this one, since it hints at and mentions far too much that Lackey expects you to already know about Tarma and Kethry. If I hadn't already read the Vows and Honor series, I suspect I'd be frustrated at not getting the full story but instead only getting vague mentions of what came before, especially in the way that they're delivered. show less

I love Mercedes Lackey. She has been writing of strong female characters in Fantasy settings for years. Her women are warriors, mages, queens and more. She includes the realities of being a woman in a tough world. She also includes nods to LGBTQ characters in her stories, as well as women who do not want families, or want families and a career.

She is one of a few female writers who broke through the stigma of writing in a genre that did not welcome women at the time.

This novel takes place in the world of Valedmar. I read it as a standalone book with no problems. She fills in the knowledge gaps with quick references making it unnecessary to read the other books in the series. (I will be going back to the other books since I loved this show more one.) The world is also well fleshed out in this book as well.

I recommend it to all level of readers who enjoy the fantasy genre. It is highly recommended to those who are looking for strong female leads who do not conform to the traditional roles. show less

There's no question in my mind that this is the best Valdemar book by far. (It might partly be because Kerowyn is so very much the fantasy heroine I would want to be - tough, practical, supremely competent, and principled, although regrettably straight.) The three sections are very nearly complete stories in themselves, but flow nicely together, keeping the overall pace up by skipping the long boring stretches involved in getting from 15 years old to 35 without losing the feeling of steady character development. Previous Valdemar reading is not really required, but it fits in nicely to the
"modern" story arc and leads into the next trilogy in a number of ways without losing its feeling of completeness.

It's not perfect - the middle show more section drags a little, in my opinion, the logistics of the main romance feel implausible, and the recurring musing on why good people need to fight is terribly unsubtle and awfully repetitive - but they are relatively minor flaws (especially coming off the comparatively clumsy Arrows trilogy.) It's a very solid book, and probably the first one I would hand to someone interested in Valdemar. show less

I approached this wondering if I was going to enjoy it as I was rather put off the sagas of Valdemar by the Last Herald Mage trilogy which I remember as being rather maudlin and a bit sadomasochistic in places. Anyway, this is a completely different no nonsense sort of book and not a wallow in angst despite some sad things that happen along the way.

Kerowyn is the put upon sister of a young lord who is having his wedding feast as the story opens. Her mother died and her father has expected her to run the house for the past few years, which is a full time job and means that Kerowyn is slaving in the kitchen having had to organise the logistics of an enormous banquet. Lucky for her she is, because a massive home invasion occurs by bandits show more who slaughter a lot of those in the banqueting hall and would have attacked the kitchen staff too if not for Kerowyn and a couple of others putting up a spirited defence. Kerowyn has telepathic ability but she has learned to block it - here it saves her from making the mistake of going upstairs to see what all the screaming is about before the bandits actually appear. When they leave, Kerowyn helps patch up the wounded then discovers that her new sister in law has been kidnapped by the bandits.

Kerowyn goes to her grandmother's house nearby for help as her grandmother is a mage - and I gather, one of the main characters of a couple of previous novels. She has a run in with a strange old woman enroute - who turns out to be her grandmother's sworn sword partner from the earlier novels. Her grandmother hands her a sword which reacts - this is Need, a magic blade which only works for a woman - though has the awkward attribute of also not attacking women even if they are hostile - and has now chosen Kerowyn as the next woman to carry it. Just as well because it has the power of giving a trained warrior magical immunity - or taking over and fighting expertly for someone like Kerowyn who is untrained. And Kerowyn has to go after the bandits to rescue her sister in law or the same sister in law's relation, a rich baron with a bad reputation, will use it as an excuse to demand recompense from the devastated family.

The novel covers Kerowyn's entire military career from this beginning through her training by her grandmother's partner, after she realises she is looked on as an oddity at home, to her joining a company of 'ethicial' mercenaries, through to her eventual captaincy. It does not properly belong to the Heralds of Valdemar series because most of the action is not set there - but in the middle section, separated from her unit and forced to travel through hostile territory, she helps and then befriends a Herald and both fall in love, but she realises this is incompatible with her need for independence and to pursue her own chosen lifestyle. And in the last section, her company ends up fighting for Valdemar.

The main characterisation is around Kerowyn and her internal dialogue though there is the odd scene from another point of view such as her old friend Deryn. There is a lot about military tactics and organisation and the ethics of fighting and the idea that it is best that at least some of the people fighting have a code. None of the other characters, even Kerowyn's lover, are well developed but there are some good action sequences.

Lackey does have a tendency to fall into long info dumps at times where characters have conversations that tell the reader something rather than show it. One example of this style is that, although there is a scene where Kerowyn goes back home after she has started her training and she reflects on how the people around the table are strangers to her now and view her as embarrassing or alarming or whatever, she doesn't actually show any of this from character interaction. An actual scene where the other characters were behaving like this to her would be more effective rather than a statement of facts, but this does sometimes occur which has a distancing effect from the character.

Some things in the book are not explained, for example, why magic does not work in Valdemar - or at least, why magicians can't cross into it without feeling stared at etc until they can't sleep and start to become unhinged, because they seem to be able to do magic that affects Valdemar if they physically stay over the border. Similarly, in the central part of the story when Kerowyn crosses enemy territory in Karse, she senses hostile psychic eyes watching her at times. Neither of these things are ever explained.

I also found the final part of the book rather rushed and a bit of a wish fulfilment where almost everyone that the reader might care about has a happy ending, however implausible. Also, the vilain behind the war doesn't seem to be killed or captured after the battle - as Kerowyn is out of action, we don't get to see what happens - and no one seems bothered that he apparently got away to possibly do it all over again.

I was also confused by a reference to a certain key character in that section the Companion who Chooses her indicating that this character was male, followed by three references on the last page as 'lady' which rather took me out of the story and which I can only think was a typographical error. What I also found odd is that, although Kerowyn often thinks of or refers to her grandmother and her fighting teacher, they do not appear in this final section and it isn't clear whether they are still alive at this point. It is odd that such important characters who had their own series are allowed to fade away invisibly like this.

Overall I found it a good workmanlike read with some weaknesses and for that reason rate it at 3 stars. show less

I always liked Kero, and I love how well this book fills in both the gaps in the existing Valdemar storyline (between Arrow's Fall and Winds of Fate), and touches back on the Tarma and Kethry stories (which I love almost more than the Valdemar tales) as well as being something unique of its own sake. After all, Kero is special all on her own! I also like the taste of Need's true abilities while still 'sleeping'.

Kept surprising me. Good at what it does. Sword and steed adventure with plenty of feminist self development and the ethics of high end mercenary fighters. Romance with no initial slow burn - but just wait! Definitely sticks the landing.