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Mercedes Lackey

Beyond (The Founding of Valdemar Series) Audio CD – Unabridged, September 14, 2021

by Mercedes Lackey (Author)

2,930 ratings

Book 1 of 2: The Founding of Valdemar

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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. 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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1 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Tantor and Blackstone Publishing
Publication date

September 14, 2021
ISBN-13

979-8212134491
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mercedes Lackey is a bestselling American author of fantasy novels, including the Valdemar series, the Elemental Masters series, the 500 Kingdoms series, and many more. She also has written many stand-alone novellas and short stories.

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09WWHGKNB
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tantor and Blackstone Publishing; Unabridged edition (September 14, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Audio CD ‏ : ‎ 1 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8212134491
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.3 ounces

Best Sellers Rank: #4,502,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,626 in Dragons & Mythical Creatures Fantasy (Books)
- #32,413 in Sword & Sorcery Fantasy (Books)
- #45,735 in Books on CD

Customer Reviews:
2,930 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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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!

39 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 16, 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.

32 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.

18 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

12 people found this helpful

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Raven Z

So worth the wait!

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 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!

11 people found this helpful

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Jesse Pohlman

In Beyond, a Duke must guide his people out of a corrupt, cruel Empire.

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2021

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On the first night I had the book, I managed to read three chapters before the need for sleep overtook me. My dreams, that night, were filled with Heralds, Companions, and all sorts of wondrous magic - the delightful essence of Mercedes Lackey’s decades-spanning Heralds Of Valdemar novels. Yet in Beyond, there are no Heralds as long-term fans know of them; there are no Companions; there is no kingdom of Valdemar, but merely a Duke named Kordas who is trying to do the best he can for the people he leads - the very core of what long-time Valdemar readers have come to expect from Lackey’s work.

The hook to any novel is the opening, and what an opening it was! Alright, so we’ve got Duke Kordas doing his best to help a horse deliver a foal into the world. In this beautifully written, authentic (complete with the unpleasant business) description of what equine labor is, we get to some of the core of our protagonist Kordas’ personality. He’s hands-on, he’s quick-thinking, he’s caring. He’s the kind of person you’d probably like and get along with.

He’s the kind of leader who the Eastern Empire has little use for.

A vassal to a cruel Emperor, Kordas is carrying on his father’s plan for escaping the Empire once, and for all. This is a monumental task, and Lackey’s famous consistency in describing how her magic system works is on full display, here. Rules she developed twenty years ago are still in place, making for an organic re-entry into the world of Velgarth for returning readers, as well as a good explanation for new ones. We do learn new things about the universe, like how various magical planes of existence function. We learn how Kordas’ allies are able to accomplish the seemingly-impossible, and everything seems like it will be easy for Kordas to execute the last steps of the plan.

Then come the twists; the simple-enough final visit to the Empire’s capital leads to the promises of help, and a the burning need consuming Kordas - a need to help those who are victims of an Emperor who is perfectly content to enslave and torture magical beings for his own personal gain. Suddenly, the simple-enough plan has turned complicated. We learn the meaning of the Imperial maxim, explored long ago in Lackey’s ‘Mage Storms’ trilogy, that “Danger lies in the west.”

I hope you, dear reader, will give Beyond a chance. It’s a great entry point into the world Lackey has spent so many years crafting, and it will get you wondering what might come next for Kordas and his brethren. I, for one, suggest ‘Arrows Of The Queen,’ the very first novel of the series. Thank you for reading.

5 people found this helpful

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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.

One person found this helpful

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

One person found this helpful

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.

One person found this helpful

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