By the Sword

Rating:
Summary: Simply Superb
Review: This is the first Mercedes Lackey book I have ever read and having completed the rest of the Valdemar triology, I still think it is her best. Misty always creates her characters well but Kerowyn is the most personable one and the one we can most empathise with. Her character traits are like a modern woman's, defiant, opinionated and high-spirited. The ingrediants of this story include a good mixture of humour( often provided by a certain kyree), romance, drama and adventure. We sit enthralled as Kero's destiny unfolds about us and cannot but envy her and wish deep down in our hearts that we can somehow leave our mundane lives and be magically transported to her world. We share in her tragedies and triumphs as if we were living them ourselves and that is what makes this book succeed.

Rating:
Summary: The best in the series!!
Review: This was the first of the Misty books I read, and it's the one that got me hooked!! You find yourself being sucked into Kerowyn's world and feeling everything she feels. It's the character of Kerowyn and everything she goes through that makes this book so good! I really reccomend this one!

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!!!!
Review: I love all of Lackey's books but it was Kerowyn's character that really made this book worth wild. When everyone in her keep was wounded she went out to try to save her brothers bride, not for honor or bravery but because the girl needed help. I'd already read the Tarma & Kethery books and was looking forward to more books with Need in them. I can't say how much I enjoyed this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: This was the first Mercedes Lackey book I'd read that she hadn't co-authored with one of my other favourite authors. It is a wonderful read and I recommend it. It hooked me on the Heralds of Valdemar and I've read all of those books that I've been able to get my hands on!

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BETS BOOKS I'VE EVER READ
Review: I LOVE Mercades Lackey's books!. She is my favorite author. I've read all the books ahe's written up to "The Winds of Change". I'm only 13 years old, but I know wha I like and this is my all time favorite. She again has managed to take every character in the book and develop them so deeply and so emotionally that you would think she lived this herself. She is one of the most talented writers I've ever read. Don't thoink just because I'm 13 I haven't experenced anything and I don't know what I'm talking about. I read at least three books a week and so far this was the best. Some auhtors can't develop thier characters well, so they drag the story out until its about 5,000 pages or so. Mercades Lackey and others however can give you the same thing without all the nonsense. I truly believe that Mercades Lackey is one of the best if not the best Fantasy writers of all time. Thats just my opion though.

Rating:
Summary: Easily the best of Lackey's books set in that world.
Review: Good characters, good story, well-written, better than any Mercedes Lackey has written set in that world. (Next best are Oathbound/Oathbreakers, which precede this book and can really be taken as a "trilogy".) Loved Kerowyn, same way I loved Tarma & Kethry.

Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: Mercedes Lackey is one heck of a gifted writer. Her books, like this one, are woven very tight, with few holes, unlike the numerous explanatory gaps that I have seen in many other fantasy books. That, I suppose, is what makes a lot of fantasy/sci fi writers either good or catastrophically bad. Lackey, however, makes her little world believable. Her characters have unusual depth and are like real people, all with their quirks and differences, and not shying from life. Like I said, she writes brilliantly, and I love her sense of humor in her writing style! I can guarentee you that the (perhaps?)formidable size of the book completely belies the reality, for it will seem a short read. Not hard to understand at all, and hilariously funny at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: By the Sword was the best book I've ever read!!!
Review: I LOVED this book! I couldn't put it down till I got to the end and I've read it 5 times! I pick all my books out by the cover and what I get is always a good book, if you like women with swords, castles, middle age kind of magic, and so on THEN THIS IS YOUR KIND OF BOOK!!!!

Rating:
Summary: THE SERIES WAS VERY GOOD.
Review: I'VE READ THE WHOLE SERIES FROM THE BEGINNING FROM THE GRYPHONS UP TO THE VERY LAST TWO BKS IN THE SERIES IT WAS VERY GOOD . HOPING TO SEE MORE ABOUT CHARACTERS LIKE STEPHEN VANYELS COMPANION, MORE TELEYDRAS , VANYELS FAMILY LATER IN THE SERIES.

Rating:
Summary: Another dismal attempt to make fantasy more "correct. . . "
Review: It is fairly well written. . . but suffers from the syndrome inflicting modern fantasy that makes them look for a politically correct "lesson" to teach us all. If you like to be hectored by a writer, then by all means buy this book. If you think women could survive in a sword fighting culture as warriors for very long, then by all means get this book. Otherwise, reread "Lord of the Rings."