Rating: 
Summary: Mercedes Lackey has done it again, an extremely good read.
Review: When I first heard that Mercedes Lackey was coming out with a new "Valdemar" novel, I was excited, then after some long contemplation, and reading some of her recent books, I had doubts. I bought it, read it, loved it. Though at the beginning, I couldn't stand Darian, he was such a brat, no wonder the folk of Errolds grove looked down at him. Then when the barbarians came, and invaded Errolds Grove, and Justyn killed himseif trying to save the town, I started to have a little more compassion for Darian. I won't go into more detail, for there might be readers out there who want to read it, and find out the rest of this wonderful book for themselves. So do yourself a favor, buy this book, and you will be suprised!!!
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a must read.
Review: A really good read. Had to stay up late to finish it. Another good start for a series??????
Rating:
Summary: I very much enjoyed this book.
Review: As I expected, I have had a GREAT time with my first read-through, and am currently relishing my first re-read. Mercedes Lackey has been one of my favorite authors for several years now. Only her collaboration with Piers Anthony (a fine, but incompatible author) and, to a lesser extent, her recent 'Firebird' have disappointed me. 'Owlflight' had a good mix of interesting protagonists and positive viewpoints. Although I would enjoy it if she should come up with a new idea about magic - whether in limitations or in adaptations - I found this to be a worthwhile addition to my carefully limited library, and to me well worth the hardcover price.
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't want to put it down
Review: One of Misty's best Valdemar stories, possibly because it did not deal with the powerful and highborn. Following Darian from an angry, insecure, child to a confident hawk brother ready to train as a mage, then as a silver was an interesting view into the human psyche.
We got to meet all the races we have become used to as the population of Valdemar, but learning the personality of each new character was great. I personally have loved all of the previous stories put out, but there always seemd to be a connection of some sort to Vanyel or Skan, it was refreshing to meet characters who had only heard of the famous Elspeth or Firesong, but weren't related in any way.
Rating: 
Summary: A Rather Disappointing Book
Review: I was surprised after reading Owlflight by the disappointment I felt. I was expecting a full-bodied story. Instead, the one I got was limp and vaguely dissatisfying. And I can't even pinpoint the dissatisfaction. One might be that this book appears to have been written for juveniles. Even though many of her previous characters have been young, she had never "talked down" to the reader before. Also, while the side characters are all entertaining as usual (excluding the townspeople), Darian is a very unsympathetic character, which is unusual. I finally understood part of his problem was just being a teenager, but even then I could never care much for him. I much preferred the old mage, Justyn, and the Hawkbrothers and their companion birds. This story reads more like a very long short story, where you do not expect much character development. Nothing is explained. There are vague references to the former characters in her Winds and Storm series. I don't know if this is a "filler" book; i.e.,
Rating:
Summary: Could be Better
Review: "Owlflight" isn't the worst fantasy novel that I've ever read, it's just the most unnecessary one. Rebellious thirteen-year-old Darian is an apprentice wizard in the remote village of Emmond's Grove. One day the town is attacked by barbarians, and Darian barely manages to escape after his mentor, Justyn sacrifices himself to delay the approaching army. Fleeing into the woods, Darian meets a band known as the Hawkbrothers. They talk for awhile, there's a climactic battle, and, needless to say, Darian's courage and new magic powers turn out to be the key to defeating the bad guys, after which everybody lives happily until the sequel. The point is that we've seen this entire book before, countless times. The authors are utterly unable to dredge up as much as one unique element in the entire story. The characters, plot, settings, and everything else seem like they were borrowed from earlier works, and everything is completely predictable, to the point where you're almost able to predict exactly how many paragraphs will be spent on each blazingly obvious plot point before moving on to the next one.I'll admit that the authors do a reasonably good job of capturing the emotional turbulence of an teenager who's lost his parents, but other than that, the writing in "Owlflight" is embarrassingly bad. The dialogue never even comes close to sounding like normal conversational speech (how many thirteen-year-olds do you know who say 'intoxicated' rather than 'drunk'?) Also, the authors don't maintain a good balance between internal introspection and plot movement. "Owlflight" is 350 pages long and contains only three action scenes. Most of the space in between is spent on characters endlessly wondering what they should say or do, wondering how other people will react to what they say or do, wondering how people have reacted to what they just said or did, and inevitably taking ten pages to communicate even the simplest point. Some people might defend "Owlflight" on the grounds that it's aimed at a 'young adult' audience, and thus shouldn't be judged by the same standards as real fantasy novels. My response to this is that there are plenty of authors out there who are capable of writing books that appeal to all age groups. I've never understood why some people insist that anyone under the age of fifteen should be satisfied with inferior work. Readers in that age group are actually capable of distinguishing good and bad books. If they get fed only predictable, mediocre nonsense like "Owlflight", they're likely to quit the fantasy genre before they even have a chance to read some of the world's greatest books.
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: Not up to her usual standards....
Review: Mercedes Lackey is one of my favorite authors - her books are, on the whole, wonderful. Not deeply philosophical or anything, but great, creative fantasy. Reading that is relatively light, but still of high quality. Understandable and high-quality and yummy for teenagers and adults alike. In general. Owlflight, however, is really not. It feels like it was aimed strictly at kids age, maybe 8-12. Honestly, that really got to me. It felt almost like it should've been called "A children's guide to Valdemar". It was better then a lot of "young adult" fantasy - but not at ALL up to her usual standards. Please, please, if you want to read her books, PLEASE read other ones instead. The Last-Herald Mage trilogy is wonderful, as is the Mage Winds trilogy, Bardic Voices, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Read ME PLEASE!
Review: I haven't read Mercedes Lackey for a few years, but this one looked interesting. OWLFLIGHT is an adequate story, but is still too heavy on the exposition, drumming in the same outlook time and again. I wonder if she (they, she and Larry Dixon, co author) doesn't have another story to tell other than the misunderstood-kid-finding-his-magical-niche.
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