Exile’s Honor by Mercedes Lackey
Alberich had been an honorable, loyal, and effective officer in Karse’s army for many years until the day the Karsite sunpriests discovered that part of his success was due to the flashes of foresight he sometimes gets. When they attempted to burn him alive as a witch, Alberich was saved by a white horse that turned out to be one of the blue-eyed mind-speaking Companions of Valdemar, an enemy of Karse. Now Alberich is in Valdemar being trained as a Herald and, since he’s such a good fighter, he’s being groomed to be the Heralds’ next weapons master.
Alberich has a lot of adjusting to do because everything about Valdemar is different from Karse. It’s more comfortable, more tolerant, the government works better, and there is far more freedom and justice, even for Alberich, an immigrant who doesn’t speak the language well.
As Alberich continues to ...
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Winds of Fate by Mercedes Lackey
Winds of Fate (1991) is the first book in Mercedes Lackey’s MAGE WINDS trilogy which is, in terms of internal chronology, an early trilogy in her VALDEMAR series. The VALDEMAR universe currently contains dozens of novels and short stories. So far I have read only six of them, but I own several more which I’m planning to review for our readers here at FanLit.
The VALDEMAR books are best suited for readers who enjoy classic high fantasy. They’re filled with mages, orphans, princesses, magic swords, animal familiars, and flashy magic spells. In my middle-age, and with decades of fantasy reading behind me, I’m a little tired of these elements, so please keep that in mind when reading my reviews. It’s pretty hard for stories li... Read More
Magic’s Pawn by Mercedes Lackey
Vanyel Ashkevron is miserable at home. His father, one of the lords of Valdemar, wants him to be a warrior like the other boys in the family, but Vanyel, who’s more interested in clothes and music, wants to be a bard. After getting beat up by the armsmaster, Vanyel is sent to be fostered by his Aunt Savil who trains Valdemar’s Herald-Mages. At first he is terrified, but soon he realizes that he is finally free to discover the truths about himself. He experiences love and tragedy and, in the end, he’s a completely different person.
Magic’s Pawn is the first book in Mercedes Lackey’s THE LAST HERALD MAGE trilogy which is part of her larger VALDEMAR saga. They’ve finally been produced in audio format by Brilliance Audio. Actor Gregory Nassif St. John, who is a relatively new audiobook narrator, does a great job with the narration. As far as I can tell, this is his first fi... Read More
Magic’s Price by Mercedes Lackey
In Magic’s Price, the third book in Mercedes Lackey’s THE LAST HERALD MAGE trilogy, we discover how this trilogy got its name. It’s been nine years since the previous story ended and the Herald-Mages are being knocked off one by one. Valdemar is in great danger. Vanyel is “the last Herald-Mage” and there’s a target on his back. If he dies, how will Valdemar survive a magical attack by enemies? Can Vanyel and Yfandes, his Companion horse, find and stop Master Dark, the evil magician, before Valdemar is doomed?
Obviously there is much at stake for Vanyel and his beloved country in Magic’s Price. Vanyel is the most powerful person in the realm and at first he doesn’t even know who his enemy is. All he knows is that he and the people close to him are targets, so Vanyel moves his family to court in Haven where, he hopes, he can keep them safe.
In H... Read More
Foundation by Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes Lackey has written this book before. And she’s written it better before. Foundation follows the story of Mags, a plucky orphan who is rescued from an abusive situation as a slave in a mine by a Companion and brought to Haven to become a Herald. Substitute Talia for Mags, and Holder for mine, and you have just summed up Lackey’s first book, Arrows of the Queen. The problem is that Foundation isn’t nearly as good.
Foundation is the start of a new trilogy set in Valdemar, Lackey’s favorite story world. The characters are retreads of old familiar faces, and the pacing is erratic. Lackey is obviously writing a trilogy, because the story just stops abruptly with little resolution. I have no problem with books being designed as trilogies with an overarching metanarrative, ... Read More
Changes by Mercedes Lackey
And it is on this day, the 23rd of April, in the year two thousand and twelve, that I, Ruth Arnell, having been ushered into the world of fantasy readerdom by Arrows of the Queen, have given up on Valdemar.
Mercedes Lackey was my gateway to fantasy as a teenage girl. Valdemar was fascinating to me, but after 30some-odd books set in the world, the magic has faded, especially in the volumes written with her husband Larry Dixon.
This is the third book in the COLLEGIUM CHRONICLES series, and I have chronicled my problems with the previous two books in the series, Foundation and Intrigues. Those problems are magnified in this volume. More kirball for no apparent reason. The same fights with the same characters. Dialect so strong that it made my head hurt to wade through it. L... Read More
Tempest: All-New Tales of Valdemar edited by Mercedes Lackey
Tempest (2016) is the most recent in a lengthy series of light fantasy anthologies set in and around Mercedes Lackey’s well-known Valdemar, is a land where people called Heralds are “Chosen” (read: magically bonded for life) with telepathic white horse-like creatures known as Companions. Once bonded, the pair joins others in traveling and policing their kingdom against wrongdoing, threats and evils of all kinds. While I’m a relative newcomer to the world of Valdemar, I’ve read several other works by Lackey and was impressed by a couple of her short stories of the Companions. Brilliant and heroic telepathic horses! What’s not to like? And many of these stories feature non-Herald humans from all walks of life, as well as gryphons, kryees (huge, intelligent wolves), and firecats (think large, magical, sentient Siamese cats): a promising variety.
... Read More
Elvenbane by Andre Norton & Mercedes Lackey
In the world of Elvenbane, elves have subjugated humanity because… well, they’re elves, frankly: magical and long-lived and perfectly capable of taking what they want. Apparently having served as the unselfish goodie-goodies one too many times, elves have instead been refreshingly cast as the fantasy version of the Roman Empire in this text, conquering and enslaving other races out of a sense of entitlement and a desire to expand their power. Humans are used for menial labor and sexual gratification, but any human/elf hybrid must by law be killed, as apparently these half-breeds can become very magically powerful and might do something crazy like pitying the wrong bough of the family tree. With a set-up like this, it’s really no surprise that our heroine is just such a hybrid, born of a pregnant human concubine fleeing into the desert. The young girl, called Shana, i... Read More
The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes Lackey’s ELEMENTAL MASTERS is a series of ten (so far) novels that take place on an alternate Earth where some people are born with the ability to learn to control fire, water, air, or earth. Each book is also a fairytale retelling, though you may not notice that if you’re not looking for it in the story.
The first ELEMENTAL MASTERS novel, The Fire Rose, is based on “Beauty and the Beast” and is set in 1905-1906 San Francisco. Years before, Jason, a Firemaster (the “beast” of the story), was experimenting with a dangerous magic spell. He managed to curse himself and has been living as a man-wolf ever since (this is obvious from the book’s horrid cover, so I’m not spoiling anything here). He has been searching for a way to reverse the spell, but his beastly shape makes it difficult to search his grimoires for information. (The book cover shows him with hands,... Read More
The Serpent’s Shadow by Mercedes Lackey
The Serpent’s Shadow is the second of Mercedes Lackey’s ELEMENTAL MASTERS novels. These are stand-alone fairytale retellings and this particular one is based on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” The story takes place in London in 1909 and it’s so different from that familiar tale, though, that you may not have recognized its influence if I hadn’t told you, even though the classic elements are here (seven companions, an apple, a magic mirror, poison that puts the heroine to sleep, a kiss).
Like the first ELEMENTAL MASTERS book, The Fire Rose, The Serpent’s Shadow features a strong and likable heroine. Maya is doctor who’s half English and half Indian. Her parents were recently murdered under suspicious circumstances and she has moved to London to get away from whoever may be threatening her family. She must find a way to practice... Read More
The Gates of Sleep by Mercedes Lackey
The Gates of Sleep by Mercedes Lackey, part of her ELEMENTAL MASTERS series, is a fun, harmless read based loosely on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.
Growing up, I had always been drawn to Mercedes Lackey books, mostly because of the lush cover art, usually drawn by Jody Lee. But then, unfailingly, I’d read the blurb and decide not to read it; they usually sounded too involved, too conspicuously “high fantasy,” or otherwise cheesy and formulaic. (I love high fantasy, but I must have been a hipster when I was a kid because I couldn’t stand it if the book seemed like it was trying too hard.)
So I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging I found this book. Lee’s artwork is the perfect companion to Lackey’s prose, which is rich and descriptive. The world she creates for Read More
Home from the Sea by Mercedes Lackey
Home from the Sea by Mercedes Lackey was a pretty enjoyable, fluffy fantasy romance. Set in coastal Wales, it combines the story of Tam Lin with selkie myths. Mari Prothero is a young woman who lives with her father, Daffyd, an unusually lucky fisherman. On her sixteenth birthday, Mari learns, to her great dismay, that she has been promised as a bride to one of the Selch, the seal-skinned people of the sea. This bargain has been in place for generations of the Prothero family; they inject their healthy human blood into the waning Selch stock, and in return, the Selch reward them with prosperity and safety at sea.
Mari doesn’t take this news lying down. She has been able to see magical creatures since her birth, and they have recently warned her that she is special and that she has the... Read More
Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey
Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey is another fairy-tale retelling from her ELEMENTAL MASTERS series. It recasts Hans Christian Andersen’s story of the Steadfast Tin Soldier.
Katie Langford is a circus acrobat on the run. She flees to Brighton and ends up as a dancer and magician’s assistant for a small theatre. Lionel Hawkins, the magician she works for, is an elemental magician; he and his good friend Jack, the one-legged doorman of the theater, soon see that Katie also has undiscovered magical abilities. They train her in these abilities while trying to help her escape the Big Bad that is coming for her —her angry, abusive husband, Dick, who happens to be the circus strongman.
I listened to Steadfast read by Carmela Corbett, and I liked this novel okay at the beginning. The set-up was fun; it was really interesting t... Read More
Firebird by Mercedes Lackey
Since Firebird is one of Mercedes Lackey’s somewhat older works, I thought I’d enjoy it. It certainly sounded promising.
And indeed, Firebird starts off with a lot of potential. Though the main character, Ilya, is yet another underappreciated, super-clever youth whose family is mean to him, etc. etc., he’s a bit of a, well, womanizer. He likes him some womenfolk, and it’s kind of charming in a rather “That’s not very like Mercedes Lackey” kind of way. I liked Ilya, and the book, with its charming premise, starts out well.
But… by page 90-something, it still hadn’t stopped starting. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for the book to get on with it. By the time I put the book down, Ilya still had not been “cast out” as the blurb promises. In fact, he’s still ba... Read More
Joust by Mercedes Lackey
Vetch’s family used to own land in Alta, but when they were invaded and occupied by Tia, Vetch’s father was killed and the rest of his family became serfs. Vetch, who was taken away from his mother and sisters, is now the servant of a horrible fat and lazy man who’s pretty much the worst master you can imagine. (All of Mercedes Lackey’s bad guys are really really bad!)
When a Tian dragon jouster named Ari notices Vetch’s plight, he rescues him and takes him as his own servant. Now Vetch is a dragon boy, feeding and cleaning up after his new master’s dragon. In the process, he learns everything there is to know about caring for dragons and his new circumstances are comfortable and far superior to his previous enslavement. However, Vetch is treated like a serf by the other dragon boys and, worse, he feels ... Read More
Alta by Mercedes Lackey
Alta (2004), the second book in Mercedes Lackey’s DRAGON JOUSTERS quartet, starts where Joust left off. Vetch, formerly a slave and more recently a “dragon boy” in the land of his enemies, has escaped with the dragon he raised from an egg. They are now in Alta, the land of his birth, which has been occupied by Tia, the land he just escaped from.
Vetch (now called by his real name, Kiron) arrives with much knowledge about how Tians train their jousters, and about how to best raise and train dragons. He hopes to meet the right people and convince them to try his training methods so that, in the future, Alta will be better prepared to win their country back. He worries a bit that someday ... Read More
The Phoenix Endangered by Mercedes Lackey
I got through about three quarters of The Phoenix Endangered on audio. This was a sluggish and clunky second installment in The Enduring Flame trilogy. The writing was dull and not much happened to advance the plot. By the time a battle finally started, I couldn't muster up enough interest to participate.
Even more than the last book, this one was full of two teenage boys brooding, bickering, whining, and being noble. Half of what they say is said "sulkily," "rudely," "darkly," or "huffily." I got tired of hearing how they didn't want to be heroes and didn't want to kill anybody (even when a huge evil army which had destroyed a few cities and killed thousands of people had them under siege).
And the plot (what little there was) was just plain silly. For example, it is considered extrem... Read More
Gwenhywfar: The White Spirit by Mercedes Lackey
I normally wait a day or two after reading a book to write the review. This gives me time to let the book settle, and for my opinions to solidify. I finished Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit by Mercedes Lackey over a week ago, and am still struggling with this review…
Gwenhwyfar is a retelling of the Arthurian legend, based on an ancient Welsh myth that says that Arthur actually had three separate wives named Gwenhwyfar. Mercedes Lackey decided to use this as a springboard to tell the story of the Gwenhwyfars, focusing on the third wife. The other two wives are bit parts, with the first one never actually appearing on stage, as it were.
This is a novel concept, and I was looking forward to a retelling of the Arthurian legend. I love authors who can take a familiar tale and make it their... Read More
Crown of Vengeance by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
I finished listening to the audio version of Crown of Vengeance, the first in Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory’s DRAGON PROPHECY series. It tells the story of Vielissar Farcarinon, an Elvish mage who discovers when she is twelve that her parents were killed and her ancestral house destroyed by the people who fostered her, House Caerthalion. She nurses her rage and quest for vengeance as she learns to channel the Light. However, she soon finds out that she is the Child of the Prophecy, a foretold hero who will both save the world from the demonic Endarkened and shake Elvish culture and tradition to its very foundation.
So, basically, it’s your typical high fantasy. And I am pleased to say that I enjoyed every moment of this book.
Lackey and ... Read More
The House of the Four Winds by Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory
Do you ever read a book and wonder how it got published? Or read an established author and think, "Don’t they understand basic storytelling?"
The House of the Four Winds, by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, starts innocently enough. Princess Clarice of the Duchy of Swansgaarde must go out and seek her fortune because she has eleven sisters and a brother, and the Duchy cannot support twelve royal dowries. Clarice is a master sword fighter and intends to make her living as an instructor. First, however, she seeks adventure on a merchant ship, disguised as a man named Clarence. The ship is captained by an evil lout, Captain Sprunt, but Clarice/Clarence falls in love with one of the ship's officers, Dominick. After the crew mutinies against the wicked Sprunt, they set sail for an unknown destination whose coordinates are provided by a magi... Read More
Hunter by Mercedes Lackey
In Mercedes Lackey’s new young adult novel Hunter, post-apocalyptic science fiction mixes with magical fantasy to produce an adventure in the tradition of The Hunger Games and Divergent. A series of catastrophes called the “Diseray” — a corruption of Dies Irae — has hit our world: a nuclear bomb (blamed on Christians) was set off in the near east, the North and South Poles switched, plagues killed countless people, and storms have permanently grounded most aircraft. These disasters culminated in the Breakthrough, a permanent rift in reality that allows deadly magical creatures to invade our world from the Otherside. Luckily, along with all of the hostile magical monsters have come some friendly ones, called Hounds by humans, even thou... Read More
The Hills Have Spies by Mercedes Lackey
If, like I was, you’re utterly unfamiliar with Mercedes Lackey’s hugely popular and wide-ranging VALDEMAR series and the various interconnected novels set within that kingdom, The Hills Have Spies (2018) is a good entry point. The narrative flow is familiar in a retro, 1980s kind of way, evoking the fantasy genre I immersed myself in during my adolescence, with an appealing and likeable main character, various clever animal companions, a dastardly villain who spends most of the novel off-page, and just enough tension to keep me turning the pages to the comfortable, heartwarming conclusion.
Peregrine is the oldest of three children born to Mags (Herald Spy of Valdemar) and Amily (the King’s Own Herald), and Perry and his siblings have spent their childho... Read More
Other books by Mercedes Lackey
Bardic Voices — (1992-1997) Author’s description: A voice, an icy, whispering voice, came out of the darkness from all around her; from everywhere, yet nowhere. It could have been born of her imagination, yet Rune knew the voice was the Ghost’s, and that to run was to die. Instantly, but in terror that would make dying seem to last an eternity. “Why have you come here, stupid child?” it murmured, as fear urged her to run away. “Why were you waiting here? For me? Foolish child, do you not know what I am? What I could do to you?” Rune had to swallow twice before she could speak, and even then her voice cracked and squeaked with fear. “I’ve come to fiddle for you-sir?” she said, gasping for breath between each word, trying to keep her teeth from chattering. The Ghost laughed, a sound with no humor in it, the kind of laugh that called up empty wastelands and icy peaks. “Well, then, girl. Fiddle, then. And pray to that Sacrificed God of yours that you fiddle well, very well. If you please me, if you continue to entertain me until dawn, I shall let you live, a favor I have never granted any other. But I warn you — the moment my attention lags, little girl — you’ll die like all the others and you will join all the others in my own private little Hell.”





The Doubled Edge — (2004-2008) Historical fantasy with Roberta Gellis. Publisher: The FarSeers among the Sidhe of Elfhame Avalon have seen two visions of the future. In one, an evil queen will take the throne and welcome the Inquisition in, debauching the nation and threatening even the elf strongholds throughout the land. In another, a red-haired child will grow up to take the throne and usher in a golden age of literature, music, and art. The evil Unseleighe Sidhe, who draw power from pain and misery, welcome the coming of a ruler of humans who will increase their strength, and are determined to prevent the red-haired child from coming to the throne. Unless the good Sidhe can find the child and protect her from the evils and dangers of both the human and elven worlds, she will never grow up to become Elizabeth, Queen of England in the Sixteenth Century.




Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms — (2004-2011) Publisher: In the land of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, if you can’t carry out your legendary role, life is no fairy tale… Elena Klovis was supposedto be her kingdom’s Cinderella — until fate left her with a completely inappropriate prince! So she set out to make a new life for herself. But breaking with “The Tradition” was no easy matter — until she got a little help from her own fairy godmother. Who promptly offered Elena a most unexpected job… Now, instead of sleeping in the chimney. She has to deal with arrogant, stuffed-shirt princes who keep trying to rise above their place in the tale. And there’s one in particular who needs to be dealt with… Sometimes a fairy godmother’s work is never done…







Secret World Chronicles — (2011) With Dennis Lee, Steve Libbey, Cody Martin, Veronica Giguere. Publisher: It’s good to be meta-human, a superhuman hero in a world of normals. Use your superpowers, fight crime, stave off the occasional rogue mutant — then get some rest and have a nice day. But when swastika-laden robotic warriors from an alternate and incredibly advanced Third Reich discover a way to breach the barrier between worlds, the metas face an opponent that will push them to the edge of extinction. And if they can survive the transdimensional menace, the titanic effort will finally push the metas onward to find their true place in society and force them to forge a new, heroic destiny for their kind! From New York Times best-seller and science fiction and fantasy mistress of adventure Mercedes Lackey together with a team of topnotch collaborators, the start of a new saga of superpowers — and the very human men and women who must learn to wield them without losing themselves in the process!




Stand-alones:
Sacred Ground — (1994) Publisher: Native American myth and magic blend with fantasy novel by the author of Winds of Change. Private investigator Jennifer Talldeer, grandaughter of a powerful Medicine Man — and a shaman-in-training herself — finds she is in deep trouble when a routine insurance investigation turns into much more.
The Black Swan — (1999) Publisher: This fantasy is based on “Swan Lake”, a monumental tale of loyalty and betrayal, of magic used for good and evil, of love both carnal and pure, and of the incredible duality of human nature as Prince Siegfried, a selfish hedonist and womaniser, is taught a lesson by the woman he has wronged.
The River’s Gift — (1999) Publisher: A new novel from Mercedes Lackey is always a special event. Now, for the first time, this fantasy legend has contributed a brand-new novella for Roc’s fantasy hardcover line — a deluxe showcase for major talents such as Anne McCaffrey and Marion Zimmer Bradley. In The River’s Gift, a young woman uses her healing gifts to help a magical horse-like creature — and receives, in return, the greatest gift of all…
The Otherworld — (2000) With Holly Lisle and Mark Shepherd. Publisher: In this rollicking action comedy, a group of good elves with a passion for racing hot rods sets out to rescue Jamie’s father from a fanatical cult that is in contact with a supernatural and evil entity.
Shipscat Collection — (2012) Publisher: This is a collection of the four “Shipscat” stories: SKitty; A Tail of Two SKittys; SCat; and A Better Mousetrap. These stories tell the adventures of Dick White, cat handler for the space ship Brightwing, and the cats he is supposed to be handling. Of course, given that he’s working with cats, there is frequently the question of who is “handling” whom.
Dragon’s Teeth — (2013) Publisher: A massive collection of wonderous science fiction and fantasy stories from New York Times best-selling Mercedes Lackey. Includes Fiddler Fair and Werehunter for the first time in one volume. A massive collection of wonderous science fiction and fantasy stories from New York Times best selling Mercedes Lackey. Fiddler Fair Running the gamut from her beloved Bardic fantasies to urban fantasy set in the modern world, from science fiction adventure to chilling horror, this is Mercedes Lackey at her best. Animal rights fanatics try to “liberate” genetically reconstructed dinosaurs. Lawrence of Arabia meets a power beyond human comprehension, and King Arthur is reborn into the present day when he again gains possession of the enchanted sword Excalibur. Werehunter A young woman who has been given the power to transform herself into a leopard, but she now finds herself pursued by a hunter who is more than human. Skitty, ship’s cat extraordinaire, and telepathic problem-solver, saves the day on a spaceship. Return to the world of the Heralds of Valdemar series, and much more. Plus, Merecedes Lackey’s celebrated occult detective Diana Tregarde, attends a gathering of romance writers and encounters a visitor whose passionate desire is for fresh, warm blood. ”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION BY MERCEDES LACKEY.
More books by Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill
Bedlam’s Bard — (2000-2005) Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill. Publisher: After the events chronicled in Bedlam’s Bard, world-saving bard and magician Eric hopes to settle down to the quiet life. No such luck: his apartment building is a safe-house for a group of occult Guardians protecting New York from supernatural evil. And there’s a new evil for them to guard against… Unethical researchers are planning to raise a psychotropic drug-enslaved army of mercenaries. But this gets the attention of Aerune mac Audelaine, lord of the dark Unseleighe Sidhe, who hopes to use the drugs to break through to the human world. Both plans will bring terror to the world — and both are threatened by the very existence of Eric Banyon. With his possibly loyal companions — a beautiful elven half-breed and a gargoyle — Eric heads for a three-way battle of wizardry that will determine Gotham’s fate-and his own.







Shadow Grail — (2010-2014) Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill. Young adult. Publisher: Spirit White wasn’t exactly a normal teenager; but when a freak accident left her the only survivor in her family, she found herself the legal ward of a strange boarding school and orphanage in the middle of Montana — the Oakhurst Academy — and its even stranger headmaster, Doctor Ambrosius.




Arcanum 101: Welcome New Students — (2012) Publisher: Fifteen-year-old Tomas Torres, the son of an immigrant family who are just barely making it, gets picked up by the police for doing some work for the local padrone (collector). For this work, Tomas has made $1000 a week, a lot of money by anyone’s count. But what is the work? What is Tomas arrested for? Arson, but arson that cannot be explained. Tomas has a most unusual gift: he is a fire-starter — he can start fires with sheer force of will that flame from the tips of his fingers. More, he can will fireballs to hurl at his enemies or opponents, and he can incinerate any evidence. But the courts decide they have enough to convict young Tomas and send him off to a school (which Tomas believes to be a kind of jail): St. Rhiannon’s School for the Gifted and Exceptional Student. At St. Rhiannon’s, Tomas soon finds that he is not alone. St. Rhia’s, as they call it, is a school for students of all ages with “gifts” like Tomas’s: students who are pre-cogs, storm-callers, witches, healers, wizards, techno-shamans, psionics, firestarters, teleporters, psychics, sensitives and much, much more. Things he could never have imagined happen at St. Rhia’s, and in time Tomas comes to feel less alone. He begins to believe in what he actually sees (astral warriors, for example) and all that he is taught by his attractive young mentor, VeeVee. All students at St. Rhia’s are attempting to learn to control their gifts. Tomas, too, must learn about the ethics and the laws of magic (of which he knows nothing) and more, how to control the strength and force of his fire. Join Tomas and his friends as they journey through St. Rhia’s and beyond, both through the outside world and through magical Gates to the magical worlds of Chaos and other kingdoms where their gifts will be tested. If they succeed, their powers will take on new relevance and meaning.
Dead Reckoning — (2012) Publisher: Jett is a girl disguised as a boy, living as a gambler in the old West as she searches for her long-lost brother. Honoria Gibbons is a smart, self-sufficient young woman who also happens to be a fabulous inventor. Both young women travel the prairie alone — until they are brought together by a zombie invasion! As Jett and Honoria investigate, they soon learn that these zombies aren’t rising from the dead of their own accord … but who would want an undead army? And why? This gunslinging, hair-raising, zombie western mashup is perfect for fans of Cowboys vs. Aliens and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE BOOKS BY ROSEMARY EDGHILL
By Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, Dave Freer
Heirs of Alexandria — (2002-2013) Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, Dave Freer. Publisher: it is the year 1537. The great winged Lion stares over a Venice where magic thrives. The rich Venetian Republic is a bastion of independence and tolerance. Perhaps for that reason, it is also corrupt, and rotten with intrigue. But for the young brothers Marco and Benito Valdosta, vagabond and thief, Venice is simply-home. They have no idea that they stand at the center of the city’s coming struggle for its very life. They know nothing of the powerful forces moving in the background. They have barely heard of Chernobog, demonlord of the North, who is shifting his pawns to attack Venice in order to cut into the underbelly of the Holy Roman Empire. All Marco and Benito know is that they’re hungry and in dangerous company: Katerina the smuggler, Caesare the sell-sword, Montagnard assassins, church inquisitors, militant Knights of the Holy Trinity, Dottore Marina the Strega mage… and Maria. Maria might be an honest canaler, but she had the hottest temper a boy could find. Yet among the dark waters of the canals lurk far worse dangers than a hot-tempered girl. Chernobog has set a monster loose to wreak havoc on the city. Magic, murder and evil are all at work to pull Venice down. Fanatical monks seek to root out true witchcraft with fire and sword. Steel-clad Teutonic knights, wealth traders, church dignitaries and great Princes fight and plot for control of the jewel of the Mediterranean. And somehow all of these, from thieves to mages to princes, must gather around Marco and his brother Benito, under the shadow of the great winged lion of Venice.





The Witches of Karres — (2004-2010) These are sequels to James H. Schmitz’s The Witches of Karres written by Mercedes Lackey, Dave Freer and Eric Flint. Publisher: It just wasn’t fair! Captain Pausert had foiled the deadliest of space pirates and eliminated the threat of the Worm World, yet his troubles kept piling up. Sent on a secret mission to stop the nanite plague, a self-aware disease that could devastate whole worlds, he quickly found that someone had convinced the Imperial Fleet that he was actually a wanted criminal, which led to a battle leaving his ship in urgent need of repairs. And while Goth and the Leewit, two of the notorious witches of Karres, could do amazing things, ship repair was not in their line. So he stopped at the next planet for repairs, but found that somehow his bank account had been cut off, and the authorities were looking for someone matching his description. There was only one thing to do-join the circus! An interstellar traveling circus, that is. All the galaxy loves a clown — as long as Pausert, Goth and the Leewit can keep their disguises from slipping. The show must go on — or the galaxy is doomed!

