Once again, I got behind

 Evidently Valdemar (book 3 of Mercedes Lackey's The Founding of Valdemar trilogy) came out in 2023, and I missed it. Well, that has been remedied, and I can now say I have finished the story of how Baron Kordas of of the Duchy of Valdemar became King Kordas of Valdemar, First of his name. 

The book picks up roughly ten years after the last book, with the remnants of the escape living in what they're calling Haven. While many people who came on the journey either stayed at the lake or moved elsewhere, the remnants are fairly well organized and establishing a kingdom. The Hawkbrothers are less present, but still able to be in contact. An Adept of not quite known hostility is north of the kingdom, running their own city, and absorbing some of the groups unhappy with Valdemar. 

We get a lot of watching the children grow into their roles, and Kordas does eventually deign to let them crown him King, against his better wishes. This leads into a very strange magical firework show against the shields, which in turn leads to Valdemar's legendary prayer that births the Companions. Amusingly, the first companions share some information that later on in the timeline Valdemar Heralds don't get until much later. 

Speaking of, the Adept turns out to be a missing Hawkbrother Prodigy who vanished after learning her first Fire spell. (AKA tying it in with Mage Winds, where we find out this was the legendary Ma'ar's trick to eternal life.) 

It's a really fun and quick read, although it is very much a Lackey Valdemar novel. You know what you'e in for when you pick it up.

Crecesnt Lake memories

 So, Mercedes Lackey finally finished book two of her Founding of Valdemar series, which was really a lot of fun.

Into the West picks up not long after the last book ended, with all of the Duchy of Valdemar that wanted to escape the Empire living on a lake far west of the Empire. We're again focused on Kordas and Delia, as they work to make their way west for the lake, looking for the perfect place to establish a kingdom. 

On one hand, we see Delia becoming more independent of Kordas, whom she spent the first book mooning over, just as we see Kordas doing his best to do right in the situation he has brought his people in to. On the other hand, given how many of these books end with a lifebond or a romance, I remain worried Kordas's wife will die/leave him and he'll wind up with Delia by the end of it. 

Any rate, the story is well presented, resolving several problems from the first volume, while introducing the problems of people from a highly advanced society giving up things and starting over. We encounter a really fun carnivorous forest, and encounter the Talydras.

Really enjoying this one. Kind of hoping a continuation comes sooner than later.

Exodus

 So, Mercedes Lackey has decided to write a trilogy finally depicting the Kingdom of Valdemar, starting with Beyond. We know some of the legends, thanks to prvious volumes, but legends often don't capture the full truth. 

In this case, we're dealing with the Duchy of Valdemar, a far flung part of the Empire, that specializes in horse breeding. Duke Kordas and his wife Isla run the Duchy, working to bring to fruition a plan his Grandfather, the first Duke, came up with to get everyone in Valdemar far enough away from the Empire that they wouldn't be stuck in the perpetual loop of Imperial Politics. Thus Kordas does his best to come off as a bumpkin to avoid the Emperor's notice. 

 As it becomes apparent they have the ability to start the evacuation, Kordas is summoned to the Imperial City for the Emperor's Birthday Regatta. Which leaves it up to Isla and her lovesick sister to carry out the plan, hoping Kordas can work out everything on his end from across the Empire. (In modern terms, it looks like the Capital and the Duchy are about the distance between, say, Los Angeles and Washington DC.)  

Unfortunately, Kordas is stuck dealing with imprisoned elementals, Imperial hostages, and the fact the emperor has been making abyssal deals on top of everything else. 

Again, as we've been reading the legends of these events since 1987, the ending comes as no surprise, although the ride to get there is fascinating to read. 

Great addition.