The desert never lies

 So, finally circled back to finish Mercedes Lackey's Dragon Jousters with Aerie, which I know I read at some point, but honestly didn't remember anything about.

And frankly, given how scattershot the plot is at points, that isn't a big surprise. 

Kiron and Aket-ten are having separation missions throughout, as she's stationed in Mephis and trying to raise a female only wing of dragon jousters and Kiron is at the newly discovered city of Aerie trying to find ways to keep the Jousters active. 

Eventually, among all the relationship drama, Kiron discovers a plot that leads back to the long ago vanished Nameless Ones, which ends up getting Aket-ten and him going to the Two kingdom border with the Chosen of Seft. 

And eventually, Altia gets attacked by the tribe of the East with their Goddess of Vengeance, Tamat. 

Oh yeah, and a subplot about one of Aket-ten's trainees finding Kiron's mother. 

Despite my quibble about the plot being scattershot, there is actually a very interesting argument in here about the relationship between Gods and Humans, and how both end up influencing the other. That made the latter half much more interesting.

He's a Dead Ringer for his brother

 I'm a day late writing this, but...

Sanctuary by Mercedes Lackey is the third book in the Dragon Jousters series (and reads like the last book in a trilogy. Amusingly, there's a 4th book, which is up when I finish my library reserves.) 

Again, we're following Kiron and friends in the desert city aptly named Sanctuary as they deal with the aftermath of leaving Alta, following finding out the Mages have been using dark aligned magic to keep from aging on both themselves and the royal family. About a third of the way through, as refugees from Tia come pouring in, we find that a schism among the mages has lead to the Tian royals to be similarly corrupted. 

We really don't see much of Tia, though, as Kiron and his wing are busy dealing with another city unburied in the sand, a former wild dragon of Tia roosting there, and then the whole saving the Winged Ones from Alta and eventually the remains of the Healers. 

It's a crowded book. 

By the end, two kingdoms have more or less fallen (in Alta's case, literally, as the earthquakes caused by the Mage's big magnifying glass cause most of the city to sink into the swamp) and Kiron and friends are looking forward to a normal life. Eventually. 

I've enjoyed this reread, but I find it really doesn't have as much emotional depth as some of her other works. On the other hand, it hold attention quite well, so I can't complain.

Delta Blues

 Book 2 of the Dragon Jousters, Alta, opens with Vetch (now Kiron) leaving his time with the Bedu and finding his way into his home country of Alta. He acyually lands in the courtyard of Lord Ya-Tiren, who's youngest son, Orest, and only daughter, Aket-Ten fall head over heels in love with Avatre. 

Kiron gets his wish and joins the Altan jousters, he teaches them the ways of raising tame dragons, which gets him a wing of 8 boys to do so. One of these is of course Orest, but also one of the twin princes in line for the throne. Aket-ten, ine the mean time, is becoming a Winged One thanks to her gift of Silent Animal Speech. 

Now, as happy as everyone is, we end up finding out the Magi of Alta are actually bad people, draining powers from dead soldiers, Winged One, Fledglings, etc to fuel their spells. It's not pretty, particularly when the prince winds up dead after accusing the Magi of being traitors. 

In the end, the other twin prince discovers the Voice of Prophecy, the dragon wings find a way to ruin the tala that keeps the wild caught dragons tractable in both Tia and Alta, and everyone winds up in a city in the desert they call Sanctuary, including Ari and Kashet from Tia. 

It's again a fun read, just really a case of frying poan and fire for Kiron.

Land of De Nile

A while back, someone gifted me a copy of Mercedes Lackey's Joust, which I last read when it was released. It was fun to revisit one of her not so major series. 

For the sake of summarizing the setting, this first book focuses on the kingdom of Tia, which is roughly analogous to the Upper Egypt of antiquity. Our focus is on the Altan serf, Vetch, who's family was put into serfdom after the Tians invaded their farm. (Alta, of course, being analogous with Lower Egypt, where the Nile reaches its delta.) While the two countries share similar Gods, the hierarchy of deities is a bit different, as are some of the practices. 

Anyway, Vetch labours under Kefti-the-Fat, who pretty much abuses the heck out of his serf, his servants, and his apprentices. Indeed, much of the first chapter gives us details on curses Vetch is trying to lay on his evil master. Then Ari lands, and Vetch's life takes a turn for the better. Ari is one of the famed Dragon Jousters of Tia, who rides dragon back to keep Tia safe. He ends up conscripting Vetch and making him his Dragon Boy (a squire and caretaker when in quarters). 

Vetch excels at his new job, and Kashet, Ari's dragon, loves him. Kashet was raised by Ari from an egg, unlike most of the other dragons in the compound, who were grabbed from nests around the time of their first flight. As the book goes on, and we find that Ari is sympathetic to Vetch's problems, we hear all about how to train a dragon. Which comes in handy later on, as one of the wildborn dragons has a mating flight and lays an egg Vetch ends up hiding in an empty pen and eventually hatching. 

By the end, we all sing one of those 70's numbers as Vetch and Avatre fly free on her first flight. All is revealed in the last chapter, as Vetch gets a bit of help from Ari and heads to Alta. 

While not as epic in scope or as prolific as some of her other series, it's still fairly quality and good for a read.