Sanctuary

This is the third book in the Dragon Jouster's series that began with Joust and continued in Alta, and you should read those first. I'm a fan generally of Lackey's books, particularly her Valdemar series, and I think these are among the best of her books I've read. The series is centered on Kiron (in the first book known as Vetch) and I like his arc throughout the books, as well as the magical land, reminiscent of Ancient Egypt, in which this is set--and the dragons of course. They're not talking or telepathic dragons in the vein of McCaffrey or Novik, but are still engaging. The problems in the two lands of the previous books come to a head in this one, and beyond following characters I'd grown to care about (the dragons as much as the show more humans) this makes for a well-paced gripping adventure tale. show less

Actually, [bc:Aerie|13979|Aerie (Dragon Jousters, #4)|Mercedes Lackey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166575458s/13979.jpg|2600] is concluding book to this four volume series. That said, this one was a very satisfying entry in series and a riveting read in terms of action, engrossing characters and more so than first two books a believable worldbuilding. I am particularly fond of the type of worldbuilding where beloved characters get to build a whole new society (and generally a really big fan of Ms. Lackey for all that three of her collaboration efforts are among my most hated ever) so likely this review is prejudiced.

I like the books Mercedes lackey writes, she is good at creating a believable world and people to populate it. This series starts off very strong though I do feel that it falls off a bit as it progresses. It is truly readable and enjoyable.

Kiron gets pushed further forward (did he ever really notice that he was Commander of Jousters?), exciting adventures, a deus ex machina or two to wipe out all the enemies and a conventional happy ending. I'm kind of surprised she wrote the next book, actually.

I ripped through this pretty quickly. It was definitely a page turner and an easy read. The story was enjoyable, I just feel like Mercedes Lackey's actual writing could be better. But she does come up with good plots.

This one has a less fast paced plot, and primarily centred around the development of the new settlement, Sanctuary. The ending is good though, and it gathers pace there to an excellent conclusion. In fact, it's surprising there's a fourth book, since this is so clearly an end to the over-arcing story of the series so far.

This series seems to be losing some of it's spirit. It just seemed to go on for a bit too long and felt almost like an excercise in writing a series rather than a serious inclusion in the series.
The fight between the magi and the jousters and the other magic users intensifies and starts to get serious. More and more children are turning up dead or drained. The Magi are planning to do more damage.

It is a problem sometimes with Mercedes Lackey that her bad guys rarely seem to have shades of grey involved.