Rating: 
Summary: A new perspective from a good author.
Review: I was very heartend upon reading this book. While all of Lackey's books have been enjoyable to read many of her latters books have lacked a fresheness in there perspective. This new novel was a fresh break from her previous work. The themes are not of global scale and you could feel inimately the plight of the characters. I also was quite delighted by her choice of main character for the novel. Darian, a young mage gifted boy, is not the perfect idealistic youth most often portrayed in books of this type. Instead we are introduce to a young boy who is lazy, neglectful of duty and a bit of a brat. Watching the growth of him through the book only underlines one of the over all premisses of Lackey's books. "There is not one true way". Not in religion, politics, or the raising of a children.
Rating: 
Summary: I have to say is has a slow start but keep at it.
Review: I will agree with anyone that it does start off kinda slow, bt keep up with it, once the barbarians sack Darians village she starts cooking with gas, for those who think this is the end, be sure to read the second book in the series Owlsight it is even better, and for those who like the non-human races you learn quite a secret out of the Dyheli in this one. I would have to admit that it isnt quite up to Par for Misty, but writing with Larry seems to slow her down, and the writing isnt as good.
Rating:
Summary: Disagreeing with the other reviews
Review: I'm 34 years old, and have read all but one of her books in the Valdermar series. I've enjoyed them all very much. Yes she has a set theme that she uses in all her books, but the charcters in each of her books have their own personality and she makes each and everyone of them come to life. In this book Owlflight, and the sequal Owlsight Darnin is brought to life in such away that when he thinks his parents have died you have no promblem feeling his grief.
Rating: 
Summary: Liked the story, hated the writing.
Review: I'm a big fan of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books, and this is the first one I read that was co-written by Larry Dixon. The story satisfied my hunger for more tales of Valdemar, but the language was difficult to process. I found myself reading passages over and over again to try to figure out what the heck was going on. It was very distracting. I'll read more of Darian's tale, but I know I won't enjoy it as much as the other trilogies.
Rating:
Summary: Liked the story, hated the writing.
Review: I'm a big fan of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books, and this is the first one I read that was co-written by Larry Dixon. The story satisfied my hunger for more tales of Valdemar, but the language was difficult to process. I found myself reading passages over and over again to try to figure out what the heck was going on. It was very distracting. I'll read more of Darian's tale, but I know I won't enjoy it as much as the other trilogies.
Rating: 
Summary: Yet another sign that it's time to give Valdemar a rest.
Review: I've been patient with Mercedes Lackey. I read "The Last Herald-Mage" trilogy and overlooked its flaws---such as her tendency to narrate too much and give the characters so much internal monologue that you get sick of their whining before they ever utter an actual line of dialogue. Despite that, the LHM trilogy was damned good---exciting, refreshing, emotionally captivating. I liked it so much that I immediately sought out the other Valdemar novels, in the hope that some or all of them would be as good.Maybe I just imprinted on the LHM trilogy, but none of the others, to date, has come anywhere near it in quality, IMNSHO. "Mage Storms" came close, but even that one amplified the flaws seen in LHM. Now, with this latest trilogy, I am utterly convinced that LHM was the peak of her creativity within the Valdemar-related series, and the rest has all been downhill from there. This newest trilogy is the best example of it that I can describe. The premise is interesting. This time we get a better look at the common folk of Valdemar, who live out on one of the harsher borders of the country---the one bordering the weird and dangerous Pelagiris Forest (home of Lackey's most popular characters, the Tayledras). The story focuses on a young boy, the son of trappers who hunt the Forest despite the fears of the more conservative and superstitious villagers. When young Darian's parents disappear during the chaos of the Mage Storms (this series takes place a few years after that trilogy), Darian falls to the village for care. From the start, there are problems. The villagers don't quite know what to make of the intelligent, spirited boy, and Darian, grieving for his parents, looks upon the village-folk with contempt. He even scorns the village mage's efforts to train him in the use of his innate magic. Then, however, an army of magic-twisted barbarians invades from the north, conquering the village and leaving little Darian as the whole town's only hope. Unfortunately, the plot is all-too-predictable from here. Darian is the same stock character seen in most of Lackey's Valdemar stories---a bright young misfit with lots of unrealized potential and a few obvious attitude problems. Indistinguishable, in many ways, from Vanyel, or Elspeth, or Skandranon. The story's conflict is stock as well---a supposedly overwhelming force which must be countered by teamwork among unlikely allies. The resolution is no different from what we've seen in other ML works, either: the stock misfit uses the stock allies to ovecome the stock enemies, and there's a stock happy ending (that's not a spoiler; if you've read any other Valdemar novels, you know what to expect). What's worse about this particular book is that on top of all the stock footage, the plot rambles more than usual. We're treated to pages upon pages of tedious description of the minutia of village life, for reasons I can't begin to fathom---after so many Valdemar novels, don't we know what this fantasy world is like, by now? It makes an already tiresome formula that much more exasperating. (For the record---I've now read all three books of this series. The "story arc" of the whole trilogy is also a stock plot.) I recognized the usual formula when I read the "Arrows of the Queen" trilogy; it's been a Valdemar staple from the very beginning, so I suppose I shouldn't be so disappointed to see it yet again. I guess I just couldn't give up hope that somehow, at some point, Lackey would really flex the talent-muscles I've caught glimpses of in her other works. Call me an optimist---or a fool. It's obviously not going to happen in this trilogy. My belief: it's time for the Valdemar books to change... or end. Or be relegated to the "young adult" section, where formula novels have a useful place, and stop taking up space among the adult books. ML can do better than this, but I've given up hope of seeing that happen as long as she continues to write this kind of stuff. She has no reason to change, you see---because Valdemar fans will eat up anything with her name and a white horse on the cover, she's got no incentive to do better. So since she's not going to do better any time soon... I am. These are the last Valdemar books I'm ever going to read again.
Rating:
Summary: Could be Better
Review: In this novel by Mercedes Lackey, a young orphan unwillingly Gifted with magic, sees his village demolished by barbaric men. Escaping into the Pelgaris Forest, Darian meets up with the legendary Hawkpeople, who help him overcome his pent-up grief. In my opinion, Darian overcomes his sorrow a bit too fast. In the beginning, Lackey makes an enormous deal about how tragic Darian is, and how misunderstood his entire life was. After a few days with the Hawkpeople, he seems as happy as you could wish. However, the plot is good (if not a little faulty) and the characters are usually quite convincing, especially the gryphon Kel. But I know Lackey has written better novels than this before.
Rating:
Summary: Little, lost, and lonely...
Review: is exactly how Darian feels. I think that this was a great story and I can't wait to read Owlsight. A bit slow-paced but overall is in league with all her other Valdemar novels. I only wonder: Will he ever find his lost loved ones? That's a question for the next part of this adventure.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing, not her usual quality.
Review: Mercedes could have eliminated about 50 pages of Darien's repeated whining and excuses in the beginning and it would have been a 4 or 5 star book. Good basic idea, skim alot of the beginning50-75 pages, the get to the good read.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing, not her usual quality.
Review: Mercedes could have eliminated about 50 pages of Darien's repeated whining and excuses in the beginning and it would have been a 4 star book. Good basic idea, skim alot of the beginning 50-75 pages, then get to the good read.
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