Rating: 
Summary: Editing????
Review: EXILE'S VALOR is impossible for me to rate outright, as there are several continuity errors that cause problems in the Heralds of Valdemar series.But as a stand-alone book, or as a sequel to the superlative EXILE'S HONOR, it's quite good. Which makes it tough to review, but I'll give it my best. In EXILE'S HONOR, Alberich of Karse finds a new home, a new job, and many new friends. He also finds out most of what he thought he knew about Valdemar was dead wrong; the Companions are not demons (as the priests of Karse had said), the people of Valdemar are much like his own people of Karse (which also certainly wasn't what the priests believed). And EXILE'S VALOR continues to show Alberich as he gets more settled with his new job, his new home, and his new friends. Along the way, he tries to help the young Queen Selenay cement her rule, and helps to train many young people in the art of war -- praying the whole time that they'll never be needed. Alberich, his Companion Kantor, his lover Myste (whether she's based on Ms. Lackey or not), and the other Heralds, Bards and people-at-large are real, vivid and extremely interesting to read about. But then, there's the downward side, which is that this is a book that has an already well-established backstory, and EXILE'S VALOR doesn't seem to adhere to that backstory as well as one might wish. In addition, I don't understand how the mixup from the Bardic trainee to the Heraldic trainee (and then not being certain afterward, either) could have happened; this should have been caught by someone in editing. The story -- if taken alone, or in sequence only with EXILE'S HONOR -- would be a four star story; very good, and recommended. As it stands, I still recommend the book for the writing, the believability of the characters, and the intricate weave-through of plots. But I feel I can only give it three stars (and at that, I'm rounding up considerably because of my respect for the writing and the writer) because there are just too many continuity errors with stories written far earlier (especially the "Arrows" trilogy and the stand-alone "By the Sword"). The bottom line here is, do you want the quality of the writing, or do you want the continuity? If you get very upset by continuity errors, skip this book for now; if you don't care much about continuity errors (after all, MZB made quite a few, and told people who complained to just live with it), get it now. The writing is exemplary, and Alberich is a great character. But it's really too bad we can't have both things, as in other, earlier, books, Ms. Lackey has been able to remember her own backstory. Barb Caffrey
Rating: 
Summary: Provides some backstory, but not Lackey's best....
Review: Exile's Valor is the follow up to Lackey's recent Exile's Honor. It is the continuing story of Herald Albereich and gives us a look into the young Queen Seleny's life after the death of her father and leading up to the birth of Elspeth.
While it is nice to have prequel material to the Arrows of the Queen series provided to us die hard Valdemar fans, I am dismayed that the minor "vanity" character Lackey created in previous Valedemar works has been given a major role in this book *there is no doubt about this, given the character's name is Myste*. Exile's Valor seems to be more about Lackey's indulging in private fantasies than in really telling a story that is a good addition to the Valdemar Canon. If a third book in the Valor series is forthcoming I will most likely check it out at the library rather than buy it. By all means pick up "Joust", "Alta" and "The Fairy Godmother" by Lackey however. All 3 are cracking good and should be added to any fantasy library!!
Rating:
Summary: Provides some backstory, but not Lackey's best....
Review: Exile's Valor is the follow up to Lackey's recent Exile's Honor. It is the continuing story of Herald Albereich and gives us a look into the young Queen Seleny's life after the death of her father and leading up to the birth of Elspeth.
While it is nice to have prequel material to the Arrows of the Queen series provided to us die hard Valdemar fans, I am dismayed that the minor "vanity" character Lackey created in previous Valedemar works has been given a major role in this book *there is no doubt about this, given the character's name is Myste*. Exile's Valor seems to be more about Lackey's indulging in private fantasies than in really telling a story that is a good addition to the Valdemar Canon. If a third book in the Valor series is forthcoming I will most likely check it out at the library rather than buy it. By all means pick up "Joust", "Alta" and "The Fairy Godmother" by Lackey however. All 3 are cracking good and should be added to any fantasy library!!
Rating: 
Summary: I *liked* it
Review: Granted there are errors, there are errors in *all* of the Lackey books, and let's face it folks, Mercedes Lackey has one plot, maybe two, and she recycles them over and over...how did you think she came out with all of these books? It's her characters that grab me. Grab me, shake me around, and make me laugh, cry, and snicker myself sick. Alberich is an excellent character and she adds so much to the sinister yet sympathic funny talking man of the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy. Selaney is young, she just lost her father, and considering her lack of attention to Elspeth in Arrows of the Queen she could very well be caught up by Karath. The point? I liked it. Don't read Mercedes Lackey if your looking for innovation, or strict adherence to itsy bitsy details. You read Mercedes Lackey for the characters, the world, and, of course, the Companions!
Rating:
Summary: main action: character development
Review: I am a huge Lackey fan and consider the Exile series, so far, one of the best series. The first book was about things happening and Alberich's attempts to reconcile his situation with his stiff sense of honor. This book contains much more character development, but unfortunately not as much action. When taken both together, the first two books balance each other out well.
Alberich is one of Lackey's most interesting characters, and it is a pleasure to read from his point of view. Also intriguing were the sections written from the young queen Selenay's POV. One of my favorite aspects of Lackey's writing is how, over the body of her work, she will illustrate a character or situation from multiple points of view. She will show how someone acts in a certain situation and what other characters think about it, then somewhere else reiterate that situation from a first-person point of view.
The Exile series ranks up with the Mage Winds series (which follows it chronologically) in my estimation, but has so far avoided the loony bits (mainly to do with Falconsbane) that crop up in that series and that spring into full flower in the Mage Storms series that follow it. (Seriously - recruiting ghosts of dead famous Heralds and their lovers to help a multicultural cadre of random people uncover a buried magical key that will save the world from a mage storm echoing backward in time? A bit too ensemble-cast for me, although I do like the bits with the Karsite boy.)
Sorry, let me get back on track. Being female, the touches of romance in this book are also very appealing. If you're a guy, why are you reading this stuff anyway? Just kidding - but now you're forewarned so you don't have to roll your eyes at the mushy bits.
I liked this book very much and will certainly be as excited about the eventual release of the third book as I was about the first two.
Rating:
Summary: A Debt of Gratitude.
Review: I am appaled at the other reviews, Fatwas of the Imams of the Mosques of NitPicking. Who cares whether Romans pressed their bulls-eye glass, or spun it? Valdemar is not a district of Rome. My greatest wish was not for more accurate research in how things happened in our middle ages nor in Valdemars' history, my greatest wish was to be there, in Valdemar, helping however I could. That hunger for immersion is my test for the quality of a book, and this one gets 4 stars with no reservations. These Valdemar books lit up a desire for reading in half my children, for that I am in the authors' debt. Myste creates and chronicles lovable and hateable people, characters who are multi-talented, dedicated, and lamentably human. Companion or no, Gift or no, I'd buy a ticket to Valdemar at whatever price. Sadly, I'll haver to wait for another novel instead, and re-read the ones I have in the mean time.
Rating: 
Summary: For those of us who haven't read Mercedes before...
Review: I have been reading and rereading the Heralds of Valdemar series since I was Talia's age in 'Arrows of the Queen,' so I was very excited to pick up 'Exile's Valor.' But then I read it. This book actually made me angry - there are so many gross errors in it that I cannot possibly believe that Mercedes Lackey wrote it - there had to be a ghost writer. I had to go back and read the 'Arrows of the Queen' series to cleanse my palate! And who the heck edited this thing? He or she should be fired! HOW could the mix-up between the bardic and the heraldic trainee have occurred? Who is in charge of story continuity? Your ghost writer ought to read The Valdemar Companion, Misty. It might help. There was also too much coincidence - just as one character though of something, another character would come in and say the exact same thing the first character was thinking. Or, "There's a problem here only X can solve - well, looky here, it's X!" How convenient!
I read the reviews here on Amazon before I actually bought the book, and now I wish I had taken the advice of one reviewer who said to check it out from the library, or at least waited until the paperback version came out. If you are a huge fan and have everything Lackey has written about Valdemar, do yourself a favor and wait for paperback - trust me! If you are just getting started with Lackey (and you should - she's really a very good writer), I recommend reading these books in the order they were published, not necessarily in order of the Valdemar timeline.
Rating: 
Summary: not one of Mercedes Lackey's best
Review: I'm a big fan of Mercedes Lackey and the Valdemar series but this book is not one of her better books. It's a pleasant read and the various elements of the story are entertaining so I recommend it for Valdemar fans. However, the book has structural problems. The main character is Alberich but the main plot is Queen Selenay's and Alberich has only a peripheral role in it. Basically, the council pressures Selenay into choosing a husband, she demolishes their arguments in a council meeting early in the book, and everyone backs off. Then Selenay meets her future husband, falls in love, and surprises everyone with her engagement. Everyone but Selenay thinks her fiance is bad news but no one has any reason for it so this seems a bit contrived. Those of us who have read the Arrows trilogy know why and we also have a general idea of how this book will end so in addition to the weak plot it lacks suspense. You would think that the book is all about Selenay but it's not. Most of it is about Alberich and his daily activities. Alberich' and Selenay's activities come together in the end, but all of the time spent on Alberich' activities leaves less time to spend on developing the main plot which suffers as a result. Mercedes Lackey is a skilled story teller so the individual events are a pleasant read and the various characters are interesting. The story also flows better than "Take A Thief" so fans of Valdemar will enjoy this book despite it's problems. However, for non-fans I recommend either her earlier Valdemar books such as the Arrows trilogy or her other new book "The Fairy Godmother" which has a much stronger plot and is better structured.
Rating:
Summary: Editing????
Review: I'm a huge fan of Valdemar and I have been eagerly reading each book as it comes out since Arrows of the Queen. This did not make the grade. It's not the plot, which is somewhat weak, nor the characters, whom I quite liked. (I get tired of the hero/heroine with manifest destiny and startling abilities chosen by the gods story line. It was quite nice to read about a man just doing his job, albeit in a world of political intrigue and fantasy.) No, the thing that I could not stand about this book was the writing. It was terrible. At points it felt like every single thought a character "had" was chewed over three times and then regurgitated two pages "later" by another character. Considering the fact that this book takes place in an "extremely" well-established world, there was no "need" for the wordy descriptions of any and every thing. I don't need to know how they make glass, or how to make skates, or whether Valdemarans use meatpies as hand warmers. Certainly not at such "tedious" length. And what is with the "ITALICS"? It is hardly necessary to italicize so much of Alberich's thought processes (or worse, the authorial voice's), if it's well written we'll pick up on the emotional emphasis on our own. The amount of "shoulds", "hads", and "coulds" that were needlessly italicized was positively painful. All of that combined with the petty mistakes begs the question: Did Ms. Lackey fire her editor?Compared to the quality of writing and plotting in her first books, Exile's Valor, Exile's Honor, Take a Thief and Joust are poor indeed. I give this book one star because I do like Alberich, otherwise...
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...save money reread some of her earlier work
Review: I've read every single Valdemar series book by Mercedes Lackey. What started out with the wonderful Heralds of the Queen and Vanyel series often fell into more formulaic writing in some of the later series. Even though they were predictable, these books were at least still interesting with fairly good character development and plot.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Lackey produced Exile's Valor inspite of her supposed hiatus from writing in Valdemar (although maybe it was this book that drove her into the hiatus). I have suffered my way through one third of the book and am convinced not to ever pick up another Lackey book. In the third I've read, the characters are superficial (even though we're re-visiting them from previous books) the storyline is thin, and a good portion of the first third is dedicated to Lackey's Valdemarian version of ice hockey. There are hints of of suspicious activities, discontent with the queen, foreshadows of marriage arrangements but all of this lacks the hook for the reader to get into the book.
I found this book easy to put down but difficult to pick up. With the likes of Modesitt, Zucker Reichert, and Martin producing quality work, it really is difficult for me to justify buying another Lackey book. I gave the book two stars...one for me surviving as much as I did and one for Jody Lee's gorgeous coverart.
Save yourself some money and pass on this book...re-read some of Lackey's earlier works. Or--try a Modesitt Recluse series book or George R.R. Martin Song of Ice and Fire series book. It'd be money better well spent.
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