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Beyond (The Founding of Valdemar Book 1) by [Mercedes Lackey]

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Mercedes Lackey

Beyond (The Founding of Valdemar Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Mercedes Lackey (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Book 1 of 2: The Founding of Valdemar

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The long-awaited founding of Valdemar comes to life in this new series from a New York Times bestselling author and beloved fantasist.

Within the Eastern Empire, Duke Kordas Valdemar rules a tiny, bucolic Duchy that focuses mostly on horse breeding. Anticipating the day when the Empire’s exploitative and militant leaders would not be content to leave them alone, Korda’s father set out to gather magicians in the hopes of one day finding a way to escape and protect the people of the Duchy from tyranny.

Kordas has lived his life looking over his shoulder. The signs in the Empire are increasingly dire. Under the direction of the Emperor, mages have begun to harness the power of dark magics, including blood magic, the powers of the Abyssal Planes, and the binding and "milking" of Elemental creatures.

But then one of the Duchy’s mages has a breakthrough. There is a way to place a Gate at a distance so far from the Empire that it is unlikely the Emperor can find or follow them as they evacuate everyone that is willing to leave.

But time is running out, and Kordas has been summoned to the Emperor's Court.

Can his reputation as a country bumpkin and his acting skills buy him and his people the time they need to flee? Or will the Emperor lose patience, invade to strip Valdemar of everything of worth, and send its conscripted people into the front lines of the Imperial wars?

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384 pages
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DAW
Publication date

June 15, 2021
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Beyond (The Founding of Valdemar Book 1)
Mercedes Lackey

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Mercedes Lackey

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for the Valdemar novels

"Eye Spy feels like a present written especially for me. You're gonna want to read it. This one's a firecracker." —Tor.com

"Whether it's the spellbinding world, the intrigue of the plot, or the simple yet remarkable narrative style—it is impossible to say which of these makes the story so good, but one thing is for sure: Closer to Home marks the beginning of another fantastic Lackey series." —RT Reviews

"Mags remains an engaging character, and makes a very capable spy/investigator.... His adventures still make engrossing reading." —Locus

"Returning to her beloved Valdemar universe, Lackey opens her new series at a pivotal time in the history of Valdemar.... Series fans will enjoy the variations on a familiar theme, while enough information is presented for first-timers to discover a world of high adventure and individual courage. Highly recommended." —Library Journal

"Closer to the Heart has the two things that have always made me love these books: a richly detailed history of the world, and beautiful writing." —The Arched Doorway

"Lackey is a master at characterization." —The Ranting Dragon --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1

“Help them through, whenever you can,” muttered Kordas, Duke of Valdemar, in a horse-box that felt stifling for the stark, dirty work to be done. He had latched onto that as his personal guide to life when he’d begun equine husbandry, and he must have repeated it to himself twenty times in the past candlemark, to maintain his focus.
The Duke was nearly beside himself over the state of his favorite mare, but no grinding of teeth nor fretting would take the place of skilled hands in a time like this. The mare in question was in the throes of foaling, and it was not going well. Knowing that she was very close to dropping, Kordas had ordered her put up in her loose-box just before sunset, and it was a good thing that he had. It was, as these things always were, the middle of the night.
On the plus side, Kordas was an educated mage, so at least he had mage-lights to see by, and a panel of mage-fire to keep him and the sweating mare warm. And, fortunately, this wasn’t out in the pouring rain. Because it was raining—of course it was. Not all of the rumbling was thunder. There had been tremors all across the Empire of late. This mare and most of the other animals in the area were on edge, and those tremors could be why she went into birthing so suddenly—an instinctive impulse to birth now, in case danger was coming. The stable smelled of sweaty horse, damp and dry hay and straw, rain, the reek of Kordas’s own sweat, the mare’s waters, and a truly notable amount of the mare’s digestive gas.
This was especially notable because Kordas was trying to get the foal positioned correctly and his arm was deeply engaged.
They never tell you that giving birth makes the mother gassy, until you’re well-committed to the program . . .
Kordas had stripped off tunic and shirt a candlemark or so ago. His trews were probably ruined, his hair was plastered to his head with sweat, more sweat ran down into his eyes and down his back, and the pain in his right arm and shoulder was indescribable. I don’t think I’ve ever been more miserable in my life.
On the minus side . . .
The mare grunted with a contraction. Her vaginal muscles clamped down on his arm, he lost the miniature hoof he’d been groping for, and he thought his head was going to explode from the compression of those muscles around his arm. And then, she farted in his face.
As soon as the muscles relaxed, he pulled his arm out, another contraction started, and the foal popped into view again. One tiny hoof, and the nose, and no further.
He stared at the sight of his failure and cursed. “Futtering breech birth,” he murmured, as his Healer, Cestin, soothed the mare and stroked her nose.
“Neither Arial nor her foal are up to much more of this,” Cestin warned him, which of course he was well aware of. Arial’s flanks were soaked with so much sweat that it had begun to foam, and her head hung limply. She was on her feet purely because Cestin was keeping her there. “That foal has to come out soon, alive or dead, or you’re going to lose both of them.”
“I came to help,” called his sister-in-law Fidelia from the doorway. A moment later Delia herself came to the open door of the loose-box, shaking the water off her waxed-canvas cape as she took it off and slung it over the loose-box wall. As always, Delia was dressed to suit the occasion—in this case, in a pair of old worn breeches, a snagged and darned knitted tunic, and knee-high boots. She held up an unneeded lantern and blew the wick out.
“I’m not sure what you can—” he began.
“I’ve got the Fetching Gift,” she reminded him. “I also brought you the boiled strap you forgot.”
“Because I didn’t know it was going to be a breech birth,” he retorted. Then, aware of how ungrateful he sounded, he flushed. “You’re a star.”
“Well, when you didn’t come back, I assumed the worst, and the worst is always a breech birth. I’ve learned an awful lot about foaling since I moved in with you and Isla.” She hung the lantern up and handed him a pail holding a steaming strap made of boiled bandage. “Now let’s get this poor creature out of her misery.”
As he took the strap, she moved to the mare’s side and began feeling her swollen flank. The mare barely registered her presence with a flick of her ear.
Relief settled over him like a warm cloak. Now he could concentrate on getting this thing done properly.
Arial had presented a breech birth with one leg folded back, which was not the worst that could have happened, but was a difficult proposition with only two people, especially when one of them had to keep the mare on her feet, leaving only Kordas to do the work of trying to get the foal into a proper position for birth. When the mare began pushing the foal through the birth canal, as she was now, only one leg, instead of two, was protruding, and that meant the second leg was turned back and stuck at the shoulder. As he well knew, if he had made the mistake of grasping the first leg at this point to try tugging, serious damage could have resulted to the mare.
To solve the problem, he had to get the fetus pushed back out of the vagina so that the forelimbs could be repositioned. This was more easily done if the mare was on her feet rather than on her side straining. That was why Cestin was at her nose, giving her strength and keeping her upright. The problem he’d had was that he needed to keep track of the leg that was correctly positioned, and each time he’d pushed the foal back, that leg had gotten away from him. To make certain the free leg wasn’t “lost” in the process, he should have placed some boiled rope or other sterilized strap around the protruding leg before the repulsion began. And because he’d run out of the manor so fast, purely not thinking, he’d left things like that behind. There were plenty of supplies here in the stable, but Cestin didn’t know where they were, and to be honest, neither did he. Arial wasn’t the only mare foaling tonight, and the stablemaster and both stableboys were somewhere out in the storm attending to a mare who’d hidden herself at the bottom of the pasture.
You could always be in their shoes right now.
He quickly passed the soft strap around the tiny ankle, loosely twisted it once to hold it in place, and began shoving the foal back up into the mare’s uterus. She responded with a contraction that felt like she was about to break his arm, but he got the foal back up where she didn’t want it to go, inserted his other arm, and began feeling for the mispositioned leg.
And barely got the tip of his finger on the knee, when another contraction moved it out of his grasp. He and the mare groaned together.
“Got it,” Delia said quietly from beside him. He spared a glance at her; both her hands were on the mare’s side and her eyes were closed in concentration, bits of her hair already coming loose from the fat brown braid curled around her neck.
A moment after that, he felt the foal’s other foot fit itself into his hand. “Don’t let her start a contraction!” he said sharply to Cestin. He shoved his other hand up inside his poor mare, got the strap around the second hoof by feel, then slid his hands out, pulling the strap just barely taut as he removed his arms from her insides.
“All right, let her lie down,” he told the Healer. Arial responded to the Healer’s release by folding her legs beneath her and going straight down into the straw, as he kept the tension up on that strap. Tension only. Just enough to keep both little feet where he wanted them, in the birth canal. He did not want to pull the foal out. All he wanted to do was to keep both legs positioned as if the foal was diving—
The mare’s flanks shuddered with a contraction, and just like that, as easily as if Arial hadn’t been struggling for the past half-candlemark, the foal slipped out onto the straw, rupturing the membrane around it as it did so.
A filly!
Moving slowly, and making soothing sounds, Kordas picked up a waiting piece of toweling and gently toweled off the foal’s nose. She lifted and shook her head, and sneezed, and his heart sang. She’s fine. She’s just fine.
Another moment later, the foal rolled from her side into a normal “lying” position, and sneezed again. He put a finger in her mouth and she sucked at it vigorously. She was going to be more than fine.
Now it was Arial’s turn to move; Cestin backed up as she gave indications she was about to stand. When she rolled to her feet and did, the cord broke, and Kordas reached for it carefully and tied a loose knot in it to make sure she didn’t step on it and pull out the afterbirth prematurely.
She sniffed at the birth fluids in the straw, then, as if that scent reminded her that there ought to be a foal somewhere about, she turned, and spotted her new daughter. This was her third foal, and she was an old hand at this by now. She immediately began licking her foal, starting at the head. Kordas moved back and let her have her way.
He looked over at Delia, who was watching the foal with a thoroughly infatuated little smile on her face. The half-formed idea he’d had when he knew Arial had “caught” hardened into a decision. “Delia, I couldn’t have turned her without your help.”
Delia looked up from the foal to him. “Her? Oh! It’s a filly?”
“More to the point, she’s your filly now,” he said warmly.
“I—what?” He chuckled. Delia looked as if he’d awakened her from a dead sleep, she was so startled.
“She’s yours. Your sister had Arial’s first foal, my cousin got her second. And the way you’re watching that little girl, I’m afraid your heart would break if I gave her to anyone else.” No mention of selling the foal; he would never sell a foal of Arial’s bloodline.
Delia’s expression went from stunned to joyful, with a hint of tears in her eyes. “It just might.” She might have said something else, but just then the afterbirth fell into the straw with a dull thud—a good sign, that Arial had passed it so early. Delia moved out of the way so that he and Cestin could examine it.
No tears, no holes, and no toughening. He sighed with relief, and just then the stablemaster and two of the stableboys came in, the entire little parade soaking wet, one of the boys leading the mare that had been down at the end of the pasture, the stablemaster carrying the foal in his arms.
“Any problems?” he and the stablemaster asked simultaneously. And they both laughed.
“If I’d asked the gods for a perfect, easy birth, I couldn’t have gotten better,” the stablemaster said, as the boy led the mare into the loose-box. “But then, it did have to be in the middle of a howling thunderstorm and a groundshaker.”
“Arial was breech, but Cestin and Delia helped me right her,” Kordas replied.
The stablemaster put the foal down beside the mare; the foal immediately shoved his nose under his dam’s belly and began rooting for the nipple. “Delia, eh?” The stablemaster eyed Delia with some speculation. “Never thought of using Fetching Gift for a breech birth. You could be right handy; if you think you could turn a foal that was presenting tail-first, you’re worth your weight in gold.”
Delia made a little bow. “Call on me at your will,” she said. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08T6VFNQJ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ DAW (June 15, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 15, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3597 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0756417333
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #36,227 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #642 in Action & Adventure Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #658 in Dark Fantasy Horror
- #726 in Dark Fantasy

Customer Reviews:
2,236 ratings

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Mercedes Lackey

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Mercedes Lackey is the acclaimed author of over fifty novels and many works of short fiction. In her "spare" time she is also a professional lyricist and a licensed wild bird rehabilitator. Mercedes lives in Oklahoma with her husband and frequent collaborator, artist Larry Dixon, and their flock of parrots.

Photo by Elkman (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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3 star		3%
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Top reviews from the United States

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Marianne Ross

Back to the Best

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2021

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Without giving plots away, this is what I was reading 20 years ago. We are back to Lackey at her best. This has been researched, not formulated with the same old plotlines we have gotten over the last books. It’s new, well thought out, complete. Yet you’re looking at release dates for the next one in line! I was up all night reading this. And while it got a tad tedious on the number of rescuees that were kept getting added, “the Plan” was totally believable, if not maybe exactly what was hinted at in the beginning books. But even that might get written in later. Fresh look at “the Mage Wars” from far enough away to tie a lot of plots (even plots from the books that were barely okay) into a whole believable setup. Worth the read!

32 people found this helpful

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aannbrr

A new chapter- the oldest- in the history of Valdemar

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2021

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Mercedes Lackey continues to surpass my expectations. Beginning with Arrows of the Queen so many years ago, I've read every word she has written about Valdemar. Mere glancing references to the legendary origins of the country are finally being fleshed out with a full cast of interesting characters and a delicious narrative that I positively INHALED without pause. Duke Kordas of Valdemar's experiences in the Emperor's palace had me involuntarily comparing those of Grand Duke Tremane in Storm Rising, which takes place hundreds of years later. After all the tumult occuring here, I am very interested to see where Misty goes next in founding her beloved country. So very many of us have been at her elbow for years, eagerly snatching her newest offering, building our own images of Valdemar. Thank you, Misty, for finally going back to the beginning.

29 people found this helpful

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Lala

Wow oh wow

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2021

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Better than imagined, full of detail and engrossing real life planning. Cannot, but must wait for the next book.
Thank you Mercedes for the ending, I was really shocked at the twists & turns, exactly like real life.

17 people found this helpful

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Zenzero

The old Misty is BACK!

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2021

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Finally, we have a real, original Valdemar story! Whatever has been bedeviling Lackey's books in the last decade or so has been cleared out (or edited out) and "Beyond" solidly delivers the kind of plot, characters, and writing we so enjoyed at the beginning of her career.

Lackey has a formula: Complex but nearly pure-hearted protagonists who are thoughtful and pragmatic, mustache-twirling antagonists who get off on pain and power, at least one awesome gay person, supernatural helpers, some tree-huggin', some cool animals, and a healthy dose of magic. It's a good formula. It works. We're finally back on formula.

"Beyond" makes the Empire interesting, unlike whatever Lackey was trying to do in the subplots in Storm Warning/Rising/Breaking. Valdemar is cut from the same cloth as Tremane, so if you liked that Duke, you'll like this one. There are a few actual shocks and reveals I didn't expect. The mechanisms of the good guys escaping are clever and have just enough tension. I'm thoroughly looking forward to the next two books in the series.

In the Elemental Masters series, Lackey's writing was starting to falter — her characters were getting stale and she was repeating phrases verbatim in the narration. Maybe it was sloppy editing? This book feels tighter and cleaner. So glad to get the old Misty back.

11 people found this helpful

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Rusty

The long awaited beginning of Valdemar.

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2021

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I have been a fan of Valdemar for decades. I was always disappointed that Mercedes seemed so reluctant to write about the founding of Valdemar. Although I imagined it differently, I am not disappointed by the journey so far. I hope I won't have a great wait for the next installment. My favorite aspect of Mercedes' writing is her character building. She has a wonderful way of bringing her characters to life. Her characters are so humanized, not just pieces to be moved about the storyline.

12 people found this helpful

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Daniel Bowen

Awesome! It's About Time!

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2021

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Well. . . It's about time! What 34 years in the making? !!! 'Arrows of the Queen' captivated me back in 1987, encouraging Dan and I to join Queen's Own, an early fan club of Mercedes Lackey. Before she wrote full time, before she married Larry Dixon. Over the years I've loved her work, some more than others, but this one stands out. We know the results, we just want the details in how it happened.

A lot of the story is from Delia's eyes, sister-in-law to Duke Valdemar. Despite being sheltered, she grows and matures. Of course she has the fetching gift. Kordas, the Duke of Valdemar, is the main focus. He juggles fulfilling his commitment to his father, to his people, with decades of planning, putting lives at risk -- His thoughts, heart, and soul are on the line. This Plan is everything and it must succeed!

'Beyond' has decades of books, a life's work behind it. Yes, the founder was a robber baron. Magic circles are still active. There's the magic of Valdemar's borders where 'eyes' follow and I wonder if the Vrondi are involved. The enormity of 15,000+ of the Duke's people that came to this new land and their numbers 'only' encompass a small part of the Empire. Barely above notice! The scale of people, possessions, animals, and way of life. . . But nothing said about religion. Interesting. There's the Dukes horses, so important to him and to his people. All this background to prepare for the companions to come. I'm curious to see where they landed, exactly where the villages of Oakton and Brandywine are located as well as Crescent Lake. IE: Yes, I did check the maps.

As this is a series, it'll be interesting to see how Kordas decides on the territory, how he's chosen as ruler, and by the way, just where did that wolf crown go? There's background on the Empire, a King that controls his people in every way, a totalitarian regime. It's easy to see the comparisons to today. Recommended for those that love fantasy and this world of Mercedes Lackey. - Dan's Wife

9 people found this helpful

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Raven Z

So worth the wait!

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2021

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I’ve waited for this book since 1986! So worth the wait! Lovable characters, drama, humor, and all the cats, dogs, and horses anyone could want!

10 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

V. O'Regan

My first (though not last) visit to Valdermar

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2021

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‘Beyond’ is Book 1 in the Founding of Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey.

Although I have been aware of the Valdemar books for many years, this was actually my first reading of one. Perhaps fitting that this is about Valdemar’s founding.

Some details about the plot: Duke Kordas Valdemar is the ruler of a small Duchy that is mainly focused on horse breeding. He is aware that at some point the Emperor will turn his predatory gaze towards Valdemar. Over the years Kordas’s father had quietly gathered magicians and tasked them with finding a way to free the people of the Duchy from this tyranny.

One of the Duchy’s mages finally has had a breakthrough and uncovers a way to put the Duchy, and its people, beyond the Emperor’s reach forever.
Yet before any plan can be put into action Kordas is summoned to the Emperor’s Court. Playing on his reputation as a country bumpkin he seeks to buy himself and his people the time they need to implement this plan.

This certainly proved to be a solidly plotted high fantasy with memorable characters and superb world-building. I felt that Mercedes Lackey’s style of storytelling was quite traditional without the cynicism or postmodern aspects found in some modern fantasy.

I enjoyed ‘Beyond’ very much and look forward to Book 2 in the trilogy due to be published in 2022. Also, after such a positive experience and this introduction, I plan to read more of her Valdemar novels in the very near future.

In addition, full marks to the design team at Titan Books for such a beautiful cover.

One person found this helpful

Lisica

Much awaited but disappointed by content

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 2, 2021

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Such a shame, I really love Mercedes Lackey books and own all of them however this one isn't one I'll ever read again!

It felt like a story written in a hurry, there wasn't any depth to it, nothing to keep me turning the pages (kindle pages). The precis as written on Amazon offered great promise which didn't come to fruition in the book itself.

There was also the issue of punctuation which made it very hard to read, I like having a space after a comma and not the next word jammed up next to it - ie word, word and not word,word

Perhaps the next book in the series will be written in the way her other books about Valdemar have been, but this one doesn't work for me, not as a stand alone nor as the prequel to the original series.

Irish migrant

Not great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 4, 2021

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I love Mercedes Lackey's tales as a general rule.
This one however feels like an "I promised another book" rather than actually being a fully immersive story which she's often written before.
There were glimpses of potential character development, but the fact that 24 hours after finishing the book, I can't remember any character names really says everything.
It's very definitely a prequel, but whether it would encourage anyone coming on the author for the first time I sadly doubt

anon

Lackey doing what she does best

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2021

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Been waiting to learn about the founding of Valdemar for - can we just say a few years (ahem -decades!- ahem) and leave it at that? As such, I had high hopes for this book. It wasn't a disappointment.

It's Lackey doing what she does best, building interesting yet flawed characters and putting them up against near possible odds with only their wits, and some magic of course, to save them. Valdemar, to my mind, has always been her strongest cannon and this is a really strong contribution to it. If you're a fan of the Arrows, Winds or Mags stories then do yourself a favour and grab a copy already. It's right up there with the Valdemar greats, and I am really looking forward to seeing how this develops.

Only problem now is waiting for the next volume.

Sam

Not very Gripping

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 7, 2021

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The book itself felt more like a set up to the actual story that will be told in subsequent books. The characters felt a bit flat, the story wasn't very gripping and in all honesty was a bit of a disappointment. I'm hoping that the rest of the series will fix that, but I'm not holding my breath.