Rating: 
Summary: A good solid read, but don't expect pure fantasy
Review: I bought this book because I love fantasy and I love books by Mercedes Lackey. I got quite a surprise. This book was not what I expected but I enjoyed all of it. The typical fantasy book is heavy on the fantastical elements with one or two plot twists thrown in. This book has one basic fantasy premice and is heavy on the plot twists and turns. There are pages and pages that read like a good solid historical novel instead of a fantasy book.For me, this was all the better. I love a good fantasy, but I also appreciate getting a book I can sink my teeth into - and this one is a book that cannot be digested all in one bite. There is a 25 page prologue that takes you over 3 different locations and 8 characters - and these are just the men that pull the strings of power, not the heros and heroines of the book. Then in the next 25 pages you meet Benito, Katerina and Marco the most major characters in the book. Its a daunting 50 pages and can leave you feeling overwhelmed, but once you get past it the book begins to draw you in. As advertised on the front cover, it IS "Rich plotting, vivid characterization.." As a matter of fact, at the end I found myself wondering about the histories and futures of several of the more minor characters as well as what Benito would do in the future. This is not a light read, but it IS a good solid enjoyable one. Buy it and digest it, you'll be glad you did.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok at best
Review: I didn't make it half way through the book before I gave up on it. It just seemed to go on and on and on.... I usually like Mercedes Lackey, but every once in a while, she makes a bobble, and this was one of them. I think the book whould have been a lot better as either two books or one greatly pared down book.
Rating:
Summary: A Fantasy Dorothy Dunnett
Review: I have always enjoyed books set in the 15th and 16th centuries. This book is one of the better ones that I have read. It reminds me of a combination of Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series and Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. Both the characterization and the description are excellent. If you enjoy either fantasy or historical fiction, I believe that you will like this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Ringing Changes on the Middle Ages!
Review: I love historical novels, especially the really well researched and lushly written kind, like the late, and very much lamented Dame Dorothy Dunnett wrote, and I love science fiction, fantasy and alternate history. Mercedes Lackey, Dave Freer and Eric Flint have managed to write an alternative historical fantasy about 16th century Venice. So I got three of my favorites in one shot. This novel is long. But it never flags. The pace is headlong, but the descriptions are clear, crisp and detailed. And the characters are wonderful, especially the little people, the spearcarriers, and the supporting cast. A case in point is the use of a certain Basque priest as a main supporting character. It plays great without knowing who that character is based on, but it adds piquancy indeed to know that the character is really St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. The magic isn't intrusive where it shouldn't be, and is organic... that is, it doesn't just come from anywhere, and there are clear rules about how it works. The magic isn't nearly as important to the plot as the convoluted and terrifyingly complex politics in the story. Remember, this is the same part of Europe that was still reading Macchiavelli as a "How To" textbook. I read snippets before publication, and I can't wait for the next one. The collaboration of Lackey, Freer and Flint is greater than each of them alone. And since Lackey and Flint are known for being extremely good on their own, and Freer is too, just not as well known, that's saying a lot. Buy this book. You will be swept away. The Bananaslug. at Baen's Bar.
Rating: 
Summary: Toothless lion
Review: I love Misty Lackey, but this one left me cold. This is perhaps the third book in my life (alongside "Moby Dick") which I started and couldn't finish. I suppose if I knew real Venetian history this would have been more interesting, but the politics were complicated, the magic too vague, and the characters were frankly boring. I didn't care who lived or died, or why. Lackey is a far better writer than this; her compatriots pulled her down.
Rating:
Summary: much stronger than other Lackey titles
Review: I love the easy-reading fantasy books by Mercedes Lackey, but can recommend them only for fantasy lovers. This much more ambitious work, however, works on so many more levels that even my much less fantasy-oriented husband couldn't put it down, while I relished the depth and multiple layers of meaning. Yes, you have to work a little bit harder than with Lackey's less challenging works, but the payoff is enormous! The individual characters are *so* individual, so non-formula, so interesting. The book's whole world, with its alternate history from ours, is fascinating. This is a book to be savored, rather than gobbled mindlessly (though I very much enjoy doing the latter, too, on occasion).
Rating:
Summary: At first daunting, but ultimately very satisfying
Review: I must admit, I wasn't particularly looking forward to this book. While I love certain of Mercedes Lackey's writing - especially her Elemental Masters and Free Bards series and her historical retellings of fairy tales - I've never warmed up to her Valdemar books, and I'd never read anything by (or even about) her two co-authors, Eric Flint and David Freer. I started the book, and was underwhelmed. While the concept seemed interesting - an alternate Renaissance Italy where magic works - the execution seemed clunky, introducing over a dozen major characters within the first chapter or so (a common mistake in historical novels). But within the first few chapters, I found myself caught up by the characters and the events that tied their lives together. By this point, the book had become so gripping that I couldn't stop until I finished it - and at 800-some pages, that takes a while! This is a wonderful book, and has persuaded me to check out some books by Flint and Freer while I'm at it. Certainly if you're at all interested in historical fantasy (especially dealing with alternate histories) you should give this book a chance.
Rating: 
Summary: The Shadow of the Lion
Review: I read the book and it was not up to par with Mercedes Lackey's previous books, even the ones co-authored. It seemed as though there were no set rules as to how each character was named. One person would go by the first name another by the last and it was confusing. Content wise it was fairly good. But as I said before it was not the best I have read by this author.
Rating:
Summary: Not a juvenile - thank the Lord!
Review: I really enjoyed this collaboration of Lackey, Flint and Freer. I had been rather disappointed with Lackey's latest offerings (except The Serpent's Shadow)and, while I love and adore Flint, his books with Freer are lightweight bordering on silly. This book really worked for me. I couldn't identify the various authors which is often a problem with collaborations and the plot moved seamlessly from one story line to another. Unlike other reviewers,I had no problem with following the plot, the characters or the intrigue and I don't believe other Lackey or Flint fans will have trouble either. Nor is the Shakespeare reference difficult for any high school student who has read Romeo and Juliet! The story, set in an alternate world Venice, is an adventure, a fantasy, a court intrigue, a romance, in other words, something for all tastes but in a unified package with great and sympathetic characters. Don't let the heft of the package put you off - The Shadow of the Lion is long but well written, using an easy to read vernacular. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: It drags
Review: I tried a couple of times to read this book. Each time I stopped half way through. It dragged in places and was OK in others, but it's definately not up to Mercedes' usual standard. The book finally wound up in the "donate to the library" pile.
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