Rating: 
Summary: The Best Ever!!!!!
Review: This is a really good book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it. There is some inapropriate material, so it should not be read by young children. Even so it is a wonderful book! It is about a land where there are different kingdoms. Urtho, the mage of silence, who invented the gryphon, is fighting Ma'ar, who invented the Makaar. The Black Gryphon, or Skadrannon, is the main character along with Amberdrake, Winterhart (sort-of) Aubri (sort-of) and Zhaneel. Like i said this is a wonderful book, Not to be missed!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Beginning
Review: this is an excellent tale that tells us the how and why of the mage wars and sets up heroes that we have already heard about. A must read for any valdemar fan.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: I'll admit, I'm a sucker for Mercedes Lackey's books, but this one blew me away. Couldn't put it down; literally! My teacher got annoyed because I wouldn't stop reading in class! Great characters, full plot, well worded: how else can I put it? The Black Gryphon ROCKED!
Rating:
Summary: Mage Warz and Gryphons
Review: This book is an amazing read. It combines Wizardry, adventure, and the miracle of creation. The book begins in the middle of a mage war between two wizards, Urtho and Maar. Maar is a upstart wizard who is trying to establish a Magedom (a kingdom ruled by a mage) that will rule over most of the known world. Urtho is the thorn in his foot, the only thing stopping Maar from conquering. Urtho, called the Mage of Silence for his ability to Mask spells creates the means of defending the land from Maar. He creates the gryphon. Maar, jealous of Urthos creation creates a horrible race, the Maakar. These beings have short life spans but are viscous fighters. As the war rages on Lackey and Dixon interweave plots of love, betrayal, and friendship. If you are in to fantasy this is definitely worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Da BOMB!!!
Review: i was around 10 when my big brother started reading this book out loud to me. i was bespelled, and i kept nagging him to read it to me some more. well, in the end, my brother gave up trying to live and gave me the book to read my self. this was at first terrifying, because i, a 10-year-old, was holding a 400 page book with tiny print, and i was expected to read it. well, so i opened the book, and i read, and i read, and i read... and before i knew it, the book was over way too soon!! this is definitely one of my all time favourites, and i especially enjoyed aubri, the constant nagging gryphon who had to share a mess tent with skan. at one point in time, my mother thought that i had gone crazy because i would keep laughing out loud while i was reading it. the book was nothing short of magic, and i literally didnt know what the hell went on around me when i read it. this book hooked me onto mercedes lackey books, and so far ive only read six. this book though, i read it at least seven times. its the best, for not only people who want fantasy books, but for any one who loves to read. you gotta read this book!!
Rating:
Summary: Yes!
Review: I really liked this book. I'm not sure how much of that was just that it was a prelude to the other series of Valdemar, but does that really matter? The characters were strong and complex, and the action kept me captivated. I was honestly surprised by the ending -- but I won't ruin it for anyone else who hasn't read it yet.A must-read, especially if you enjoyed the Mage Storms trilogy.
Rating: 
Summary: But why?
Review: This is the fantasy novel equivalent of a "chick flick". The true focus of the story is not the war between Maar and Urtho, but the personal travails and relationships of a therapist and his clients set against a fantasy backdrop. If you go in for such relationshippy stuff, this is a book for you (indeed, Mercedes Lackey excels at this kind of writing). To me, it seems a waste of the fantasy genre. Consider: human relationships are real, magic is not. Hence, it is possible to write about human relationships in a real-world setting without losing anything. But fantasy is meant to provide escapist fun or, at most, reflections on life, the universe etc. neatly packaged and disguised with lots of escapist fun. What other purpose is served by putting in the fantastic? As a fantasy, The Black Gryphon fails to deliver.
Rating:
Summary: my favourite of the mage wars...
Review: this is a really, really great book. i reckon this is one of her best yet, in the same league as 'magic's promise' and 'magic's price'. what i regret most is the fact that it took place at the end of the war with ma'ar. i regret the fact that urtho is such an enigmatic character, in which i mean that there's not much that we know of him. it would have been great had we known him like we know vanyel... i find urtho really fascinating. one of the best thing about this book is the fact that the emotions are real and tangible.... it feels like a battlefield out there and the future looks bleak and yet hopeful at the same time. i really wanted to actually know what ka'venusho is like before the war, how urtho was dragged into the mess and generally what was the past like. all of this is sadly lost by vanyel's time and it's sad... the people, the history and the technology has all gone to dust by then. i love the way misty express the bond between amberdrake and skan, and also how urtho was with skan. i was really pissed off when i realized that urtho died in such a wastefull manner... and really uncalled for. they had such fantastic plans and well, it's just too bad. that's why i personally think that misty should do a series on his life, at least. the story telling is superb, the character development is excellent and the plot is not wasted here. be forewarned though that the ending is really heartbreaking. a truly enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I just love this book. I do think that it should be a second book, not a first. I want to know more about Gryphons before Skandranon.
Rating: 
Summary: SIMPLE PLOT, SAPPY CHARACTERS
Review: The plot in this book is very, very simple. Also, there is almost no action to move the story along - and I don't mean just battles etc. I good story has to move along and this one stagnates. The characters and writing style is very sappy. This writer needs to learn how to write a story by showing more then telling. They just simply tell everything. Very poorly written from that regard. One thing good about this book is the fact that the birds were fairly believable. The ending was good in some ways, and terrible in other ways. The antagonist was barely known throughout the book and his conclusion was almost nothing. If you like romance novels, you might like this book. But I prefer better writing than that. Read David Gemmell, then compare his writing to this book.
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