Rating: 
Summary: Story good; character TOO TOO perfect
Review: This is the first Mercedes Lackey novel I've read, and I really look forward to reading more of them, especially about the Heralds of Valdemar. My only problem with the book was Talia's talents. What next for the girl? Can she cure the common cold too? Every chapter was a new expansion on her inherent skills. It got a little ... predictable at the end. I would like to see the nature of the Companions explored in greater depth. I do agree with other readers that it is definitely an adolescent girl's fantasy come true - which is not a bad thing by any means
Rating: 
Summary: This book was WONDERFUL!
Review: This was the second book I ever read by Mercedes Lackey. I have now read a good deal more of her books and plan to continue doing so. I am very annoyed with the person who called the Companions "magical white horses" Though the Companions may LOOK like horses, they are anything but. They are intelligent creatures. In Winds of Fate, the Companions are seen by mages as spirits, not horses. The nature of good and kind people and horses is fantastical. That is why they call it a Science Ficion-Fantasy novel. I don't hink it was a Cinderella Story. Fairy Tale don't go over the consequences. Talia pulls into her self instead of letting others help her when she has problems. She has a depp fear of men which comes from her childhood. These problems cause her great pain and suffering till near the end of the book! Mercedes Lacky is good to read any time when you want to read a damn good book. I have not once been disapointed yet
Rating:
Summary: Every girls' dream come true!
Review: The first book in the series that I have read, and imagine my joy in finding out there was more! A good book to make you feel better when you are depressed, but a little too perfect at some times. The next few books show a greater sense of danger, but an all-round good book, and the daydream of every girl I have ever known come true
Rating: 
Summary: An early work from an excellent writer
Review: This is a good read, but not superior. There are too many cliches, a common sin of first-time fantasy writers. We've got magical white horses (at least they don't have wings), a Cinderella story, and a protagonist who's too good to be true. The world is one of the best I've come across, though, and the author continues to develop it in her other works. I'd recommend the book purely for that reason
Rating:
Summary: nkritzer@carlton.edu is stupid!
Review: Excuse me! Mercedes Lackey is just the best fantasy writer
I have ever come across, and I am disturbed at nkritzer-whatever-your-name-is's attitude at giving her
a pitiful little 4. She deserves a ten for every
single one of her books. This particular one exemplifies
her wonderful ability to draw a reader into the story.
I would just like to see nkritzer try better. I have read
K. Kurtz and S. Donaldson and I still prefer Mercedes Lackey.
(so there!)
Rating: 
Summary: Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed reading it.
Review: I realized the other day that everything about Valdemar makes perfect sense if you assume that Mercedes Lackey came up with the world when she was 13 years old. Her heroines are ALWAYS misunderstood adolescents from Oklaho--excuse me, the Boondocks, until a wonderful white horse comes and CHOOSES them because, despite the fact that no one around them ever realized this, they're really special and wonderful. And then they get trained to do great, heroic deeds.
It's the perfect adolescent fantasy.
Don't get me wrong; I actually quite enjoy her books. However, if you're looking for fantasy with a complex society or characters who aren't universally pure of heart, word, and deed, I would suggest Katherine Kurtz or Steven R. Donaldson. If, however, if you're looking for something to read while recovering from the flu, Mercedes Lackey is just about perfect
Rating:
Summary: An amatuerish start
Review: "Arrows of the Queen" was the first book that Mercedes Lackey ever wrote in the world of Valdemar. It's also the first book in the trilogy. It's about a young woman, Talia, who lives in an oppressive household and runs away when she is told she has to marry. She's an imaginative and extremely shy and self-conscious young woman. She stumbles (literally) upon a Companion, a white horse of the Heralds of Valdemar who serve the monarchy. The Companion takes her to the capital where she goes into training to become a Herald and finds out that she has been chosen by a special Companion whose Herald is the Monarch's Own, sort of the one person the monarch can trust above all else. The first book is mainly about her intitial years at the capital, getting to know people, learning what Heralds are and do, and overcoming her extreme shyness.
I read these books when I was about Talia's age and it meant a lot more to me then than it did now. I got into reading through Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, but after a few years, I think I outgrew them.
I decided to read the trilogy again, because I wanted to read a series and fantasy tends to have the most extensive series available, and because I had read them and was interested in seeing how my views of the book had changed.
The following book in the trilogy is "Arrow's Flight" and the third is "Arrow's Fall."
Rating:
Summary: This book is really age dependent
Review: Which woman can't relate to an adolescent who is not understood by her family because she wants something different for herself than they have planned? What woman doesn't feel at some point in her life that she has to contribute to her world by doing something only she can do (in some cases, we call that motherhood, as well as rocket science and brain surgery)? Although some of the writing is a bit awkward, especially in the first few pages, it is a wonderful story of how a girl goes from being the black sheep of the family to being the nation's heroine.As for Valdemar being perfect, I tend to think not. Why would you need Heralds if the place were perfect? No one would be greedy, lie, cheat, murder, plot, or swindle. The imperfections in the nation are evident in books 2 and 3. Just give yourself a chance to get there. A devoted reader.
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