Sword of Ice: And Other Tales of Valdemar

... and it makes for a lovely book! Honestly, I'd been finding Mercedes Lackey's own Valdemar books to be getting repetitive. It's to the point where I can pick one up (say, Brightly Burning) and go, 'Ok, he's going to be Chosen, she's going to have a Lifebond with HIM, and those two over there are going to have catastrophic mental Gifts that they have to fight to master.' Predictable. Still affecting, I must admit - nobody can make me cry like Lackey - but boring.This book is not like this. Why? Because other authors were let in to play with Ms. Lackey's toys, and it's an enchanting work. Lots of short stories set in the Valdemar universe, each exploring some small aspect that Lackey hasn't focussed upon yet. One thing that sucks me into fantasy worlds like nothing else is the feeling that so many OTHER stories could be being told than the one the author has chosen. This book proves Valdemar has this potential.If only Ms. Lackey could write Valdemar stories like these, instead of her (now-standard) Tayledras/Herald/etc moony lovefests about Grand Quests and World-Changing Events, I'd buy a lot more of them in hardcover. As it is, I hope she lets folks into her playground again, for another similar volume.

I thought this was a great collection. I am, admitedly, a long time Lackey fan, but I have to say that recently I'd been disapointed with her Valdemar work (the first Owl one read like a first novel-errgh), but this book completely sucked me in, and I liked getting other author's looks on Valdemar. I read a lot of anthologies like Sword and Sorceress, so I was familiar with a lot of the authors. I especially liked Tanya Huff's, since it sounded like her, but still like Valdemar. This is, though, really only a book for Valdemar fans.

This was very interesting, but it just lacks that "Valdemar feeling" that only Misty has......

I rate anything having to do with Misty a ten. Am I biased? Of course not... I loved the way the short stories plugged the little holes in society. Readers get filled in on details about the common life and we get to find out about Jonne! The story about Van's lover from his point of view! It was great. Really an amazing collection.

This is one of the best compilations of Valdemar related stories that I've had the pleasure of reading. The stories are fresh and insightful, and I truly loved reading about Savil's first meeting with Starwind. I've been reading Misty's books for years, and this is definitely one I want in my permanent collection