Bedlam's Bard

Rating:
Summary: One of the best yet.
Review: This is one of Misty's best. I bought it just because she wrote it and I was very glad I did. Eric and Kory are intriguing characters and although she's annoying Beth has her own strong points. I'm hoping that there will be a third - I can't wait to find out how they all hold up and if Ria ever snaps back into reality.

Rating:
Summary: This is my favorite fantasy book of all time.
Review: This is the greatest, and most fun, fantasy book ever! Not only is it magical and suspenseful, it is extremely funny and well written. No other book has ever so completely won me over. I COULD NOT put it down, and I have read many, many books. Lackey brings these characters alive; You feel their pain and shock, their fear and their laughter. It's just fantastic!

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Stories of a Troubled Bard
Review: This was the first work (actually works, since it's two books in one) that I'd read that Lackey had a hand in that was set in contemporary society, and I found what I have come to like in Lackey's stories -- how someone (in this case, the fabulously irresponsible and troubled latent bard Eric Banyon) comes to grips with a budding and unexpected talent, which is both blessing and curse. Eric is a gifted musician who busks and plays the RenFair circuit to keep his freedom/avoid responsibility, but when he inadvertantly wakes the sleeping noble elf Korendil, Eric's life is irreversably altered. The mix of magic and mundane (to borrow a Rowlingism) is done nicely in both books, particularly with respect to the L. A. musical underground in the first book and the central plot of the second. As in all of the Lackey books I've read, the problems characters face are presented in both day-to-day and heroic perspectives, with as much emphasis placed on personal issues as on magical battles. I found both stories to be the usual very good read characteristic of Lackey stories, although I confess particular interest since I'm a musician and a lover of RenFairs.