The Sword and Laser discussion

So I don't want to start a whole discussion thread on the series because it's not actually our pick this month. But for those who are finding Arrows of the Queen a little...uneven, might consider eventually reading Mercedes Lackey's newer series, The Five Hundred Kingdoms, starting with The Fairy Godmother. I'd hope that people don't give up on Lackey because they didn't like her debut novel.

She's gotten rid of quite a few of her problems by the time she started writing these. The prose is way less purple and the dialogue is more modern. I consider the characterization to be much better. There is still an overall theme of good people trying to do right in a world stacked against them, with some evil people in it. So a little on the rose-colored side, but frankly I at least need a steady diet of that to cut the modern focus on grimdark.

The biggest reason I recommend it is the concept of The Tradition. The Tradition makes things happen the way they do in stories and songs. It's a sort of like gravity to increase the status quo. It builds up magical potential around people whose lives can be fit into one of the old fairy tale patterns, like The Wicked Stepmother or The Relative Not Invited to the Christening. Certain people have noticed the pattern and have effectively become genre savvy. One of the major themes involves trying to tweak the story slightly, hoping to widen the option set available for the next person caught up in that tale like an ocean current.

I personally think it's one of the better deconstructive fantasy series out there, especially for a reader who's read quite a bit of fantasy and myth and is tired of the same old tropes. I was somewhat disappointed though with the latest book in the series, Beauty and the Werewolf, because the tone is darker and the scope was smaller, making it seem to me to be more like a paranormal romance that just happens to take place in the same universe.

Like I said, I don't want to hijack Arrows of the Queen's thunder, but I really think that this audience would like this series. I am also curious to hear of who's enjoyed them already, so if that's you, speak up! But please tag spoilers.

I could never really get into this series. I like fairy tales but these books were too corny for me.

Plus, there was that whole romance thing in this one... Much more romance than is generally in Lackey's books - which makes sense since they're published by a Harlequin imprint.

Though to be fair, I did try these about the time I was getting bored with Lackey and was already really irritated with her for writing herself into the Albrich books. And I'm not a big fan of corny books or tons of romance anyway, so it had a million strikes against it.

So, FWIW, I am enjoying the AotQ series well enough - not great, plenty of use of stereotypes, but engaging enough.

Is there a book or trilogy that is considered Lackey's best? I would be interested in moving on, but probably not another "princess" story.

John (Taloni) wrote: "So, FWIW, I am enjoying the AotQ series well enough - not great, plenty of use of stereotypes, but engaging enough.

Is there a book or trilogy that is considered Lackey's best? I would be interes..."

As for me, I've only read the Valdemar and the Five Hundred Kingdoms. In my experience, I've seen her most praised for Valdemar. She's also got the elemental masters series, set in a magic version of our world, I think. Historical fantasy. I haven't read it myself. https://www.goodreads.com/series/4036...

Outside the Valdemar series, the Five Hundred Kingdoms series that Joanna has linked to is probably Lackey's most well-known.

Within the Valdemar books - a teen, I really loved her Last Herald's Mage trilogy and read it until the pages were falling out and I had it almost memorized. I'm not sure I'd like it as an adult though - it would probably be too much teenage angst for me these days.


The blurb on the book's page is really inaccurate and what little it says is very spoilery, by the way - and doesn't even mention the first half of the first book.

It's about a boy named Vanyel who'd rather play music than learn to use a sword. His father is quite upset about this and as punishment sends him off to live with his aunt - who happens to be a Herald - in hopes that she'll be able to make a man out of him.

It's basically a boy-meets-boy story with some pretty depressing consequences.

Joanna wrote: "She's also got the elemental masters series, set in a magic version of our world, I think. Historical fantasy. ..."

They're okay. Pretty variable. There's some that aren't great and some that are decent.

They're fairy tale retellings set around the time of WWI. There's nothing really overtly wrong with her historical settings but they never really come to live for me.

I'd also be curious at what series people think is her best work. I liked AotQ well enough and I find her breezy writing style suits me but wouldn't mind a slightly more thought out plot.

Before AotQ, I read her Dragon Jousters books and they are just OK. (More adolescent than AotQ and a generic male tween protagonist, rather than the somewhat more realized Talia.)

I like most of Mercedes Lackey's work, although I'll agree they're light reading. Have you ever read the books she co-wrote with James Mallory? I read the first two trilogies and loved them (First book was . To me, it had the characterizations I love in most of Ms. Lackey's work but it's not as light. I also really liked the Bardic Voices series

I really liked her Dragon Jousters series Joust