The Last Herald-Mage series - Mercedes Lackey

So, this is what I recently chose for comfort reading, so, heck, I'll review it. Someone may find this useful.

I dig Mercedes Lackey. A lot of hardcore fantasy readers would disagree with me, but screw them, this is my blog. I dig her because the worlds she creates are interesting and original, her characters are pretty well developed and you care for them, her magic systems feel original but are still very familiar and graspable (sure, that's a word).

Reasons why folks have complained to me about her included he need to pair her characters up romatically, just about everyone gets a significant other at some point in her books. But that's cool, there's nothing wrong with romance. Also, good and evil in her books are very black and white. Good is always very noble and self sacrificing, evil is always, well, evil, and usually pretty one dimentional (and ocasionally somewhat faceless). There is no grey in her stories. Not a huge problem either, just something to be aware of and prepared for. If you want a deep thoughtful evil, these aren't the books for you.

This particular triolgy is somewhat ancient history of a bigger collection of works, her Valdemar series. It's the story of a hero. As it's called the *Last* Herald-Mage, we also know that it going to be a tragedy. So, yes, I spent 3 days on my couch reading these sobbing. It was good.

-more later-