Mercedes Lackey

[anakhouri]

Mercedes Lackey is the Author GOH at Gencon this year. I had never read any of her stuff, but I knew she had about 8 million books out, so I thought I'd give it a try. Some friends recommended I try one of her early series as those were the best, so I picked up The Last Herald-Mage trilogy.

Ye gods, if this is her best stuff, I hope to never see her not-best stuff.

The main character in this first book is a little whiny pretty boy whose daddy is a big manly man and keeps trying to push Vanyel to be a big manly man as well. Vanyel spends the first 80 or so pages of the book bitching and moaning about his terrible situation. A few interesting things have happened, and every time I thought, 'Oh good, now the real story can begin.' but instead Lackey takes this opportunity to have Vanyel be a big crybaby and whine for another 20 or 30 pages while everyone else thinks about how terrible his situation is. In almost 200 pages (I'm nealry finished with book one), this kid has not made a single decision or committed a single action of his own volition, except for trying to kill himself once, but he screwed that up so we're still stuck with him. And then had to hear about it for another 30 pages.

But Patricia, you say, this is realistic. There are people in the world who whine and bitch all the time and never do anything for themselves.

Yes, that's true. But no one likes these people. And if your character is one of them, I sure as hell am not going to care about him.

She's also fallen victim to what I call "Jordanitis", which is a tendancy to long, overly-detailed, over-explanation of every landscape, magical protocol, run-down inn and character in the book.

AND NOW THE ELF-ANALOGS HAVE ARRIVED. Lord save us from European-inspired fantasy with thinly-veiled versions of elves in them.

Good God. I feel like I should soldier through this crap because I bought all three books at once, and would hate to waste the money. But I don't know if I can take it...

Anyone know if Lackey has anything out there that is actually worth my time?

[Aethian]

I really enjoyed her "Five Hundred Kingdoms" series which starts with "The Fairy Godmother"

[Nekojin]

Although they're largely co-written (Mercedes Lackey + Larry Dixon, for most), the SERRAted Edge series of books (set in a larger universe that includes several other book series) is fairly well-written. The first four books (Born to Run, When the Bough Breaks, Wheels of Fire, and Chrome Circle) are better than later entries, IMO. The Bedlam's Bard series (set in the same series, written by Lackey and Ellen Guon) is also a fairly good read.

Note that this shared universe is urban fantasy (modern-day with elves and magic), so it may or may not be your cup of tea. But the way they handled magic interacting with technology was very well-done, IMO. Particularly when they introduced a retired engineer named Samuel to the mix, who had to defend himself against Unseelie. Never fuck with an engineer if they have time to prepare against you.

I'm not going to "rah-rah" Lackey wholesale; her stuff has always been hit-or-miss with me. But I've enjoyed most of her entries in the Chicks in Chainmail anthology series, and from what I've heard, she's one of the most fan-approachable authors out there.

I think it's very possible that Lackey needs a collaborator to do her best work. All of the stuff I've seen of hers that really spoke to me were either co-authored or themed anthology shorts.

Edit: By sheer coincidence, our boss brought in a stack of books today for employees to take if they wanted; three of them were some trilogy written by Lackey.

[Kheldarson]

I mostly like her stuff that she's co-authored. Can't remember the name, but there's a book she did with Piers Anthony that I rather liked. It wasn't outstanding but it was decent. But in terms of her own writing...she's mostly meh for me.

But I seem to recall a Beauty and Beast rewrite she did that had an amusing ending. That's pretty much all I remember about it though.

[brandy]

I second her 500 Kingdoms series. I also like her Elemental Mage series. I think they are fun and quick reads. They're brain candy, which is pretty much what I look for in authors like Lackey.

[RedRoseSpiral]

I read her book Take a Thief and it was really, really good (or so I remember it was, it's been a decade since I read it). The next time I was at the library I picked up another from her, The Gates of Sleep and oh gods was it horrible. It was as if she took two books and mashed the beginning of one with the end of the other and tossed in a romance between two characters for giggles. Never picked up another one of her books after that.

[Duelist925]

I second the SERRAted Edge and Bedlam Bards series recomendations. Great stuff.

She has another coauthered series called the Elvenbane series--it's quite good, with a rather interesting world built into it.


As for Vanyel--finish at least the second book, and I do recomend checking out other stuff in the Valdemar series. Vanyel himself does get better as a character--heck, most of the point of the first book is to let the prissy pretty boy start to grow into the much better character he is in later novels.

And I wouldn't term the Last Herald Mage her best work...not even the best in the Valdemar series. While I like'em, I'm more fond of the Collegium Chronicles and the Arrows trilogy, along with the series of anthologies set in that world that other authors contribute to. (Which are bloody hard to find in digital format. )

The Exile duology and its semi related To Take a Thief are rather good as well.

[AccountingDrone]

I have always been pretty meh about her stuff - it seems like there is always an abused kid or female, lots of whinging and pretty meh fay clone stuff going on.

Maybe it is because I was introduced to fay by Tolkein and folklore, but most fictional fay is verging on marysueism to me.

[anakhouri]

Thanks everyone- I should have asked here to begin with! I will stick it out another book in this series (though since it took an entire book for this kid to grow some balls, I'm not real hopeful, honestly) and if I have time before the con will check out some of her other stuff.

[HYHYBT]

If you really hate the series you're reading, why add wasted time to wasted money?

[anakhouri]

Someone in this thread tells me it gets better, so I'll read a few chapters of book 2. If Van is still being a crybaby though, I'm gone. You're right; I usually drop books pretty quickly if they don't grab me but as there's a good chance I'll be meeting Lackey at the con I wanted to give her a longer chance. I do plan to look for some of the titles the other members have given me.

[Duelist925]

If you really hate the series you're reading, why add wasted time to wasted money?

Series can improve. The Dresden Files had a somewhat slow start, and didn't really hit its stride until book 3, but when it did, damn if it wasn't good.

Especially with a writer as prolific as Lackey, whose worked with so many other authors.

[Kheldarson]

If you really hate the series you're reading, why add wasted time to wasted money?

Or, to add to what Duelist said, it's the old nerd complaint.

What's the point if you can't complain?

[Panacea]

nyone know if Lackey has anything out there that is actually worth my time?

The Arrows of the Queen series was decent. The rest sucks.

But that's just my opinion.

[Gravekeeper]

I recognize her name, but can't for the life of me remember a single thing she's written that I read. I know I've read some and use to own some of her books. None of them made an impression I guess. I don't even remember them out of pure spite like I do Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind.