Gryphons of Love

 In what I was hoping was the next Volume of her Founding of Valdemar series, Mercedes Lackey instead started a new "Modern" Valdemar series in Gryphon in Light, centering on k'Valdemar Vale gryphon Kelvren and longtime character Firesong. There are other new characters floating around in here, like First officer Hallock, who gets mortally wounded early on in combat during an uprising in the northwest of Veldemar; his wife Ginny, a healer's hand; Jefti, a poor boy who is enamored with Kelvren; Three Ghost Cat warriors; a wing of Iftel gryphons; an unpaired companion; and a Firecat, as well as a few tervardi, dhyeli, and hertasi. Much like the group in Mage Storms, this ensemble (with cameos and callbacks to previous series) are being called by the gods of the world to do something. 

Mind you, it takes half the book for the expedition to get started, let alone off the ground. The first part focuses on Hallock, who gets a gut wound, is dying until Kelvren heals him. This inspires Kelvren to use up what magic he has to heal Hallock, which in turn leads to Kelvren nearly dying. This gets Treyvon involved, and he uses an old rite to recharge Kelvren. Given it hadn't been used since the original mage wars, no one was quite dure how it worked, or how it worked. It more or less supercharges Kelvren, who manages to set off a Diplomatic incident, get treated as a danger at k'Valdemar Vale, and eventually get diagnosed by Firesong as being in danger of spontaneously combusting. 

Eventually, a portable Heartstone gets strapped to Kelvren, and Firesong proposes an expedition to Lake Evendim to see how the Mage Storms affected Ma'ar's old kingdom. Which is great, until just about everyone and their brother sends people to go. Including supernatural creatures with direct pipelines to the Gods of the world.Seems something is happening at the Lake, and those in the mortal realm need to go investigate. 

By the end of the volume, we aren't there yet, but we do see a lot of the Pelegirs, and meet a new as of yet unnamed creature that appears as smoke and may or may not be attempting to possess people. 

As a start, it takes some time to get going, but once it gets going, it gets more engaging, making us wonder what exactly awaits our heroes at the lake.