By the Sword

bookslifewine r by the sword 4.5 stars rounded down to 4 stars Please Note By the Sword is a stand alone book that can be read out of the Valdemar Universe publication order By the Sword IS 9 in the Valdemar universe, however, so there is a great deal of history and definitions that are from previous works in series universe How do you analyze old friends Honestly, I think it s impossible I first met Mercedes Lackey while browsing the stacks at the public library in my home town I don t remember [...]

There s no question in my mind that this is the best Valdemar book by far It might partly be because Kerowyn is so very much the fantasy heroine I would want to be tough, practical, supremely competent, and principled, although regrettably straight The three sections are very nearly complete stories in themselves, but flow nicely together, keeping the overall pace up by skipping the long boring stretches involved in getting from 15 years old to 35 without losing the feeling of steady character d [...]

Kind of Tarma and Keth ride again, for fans of those series More accurately, Tarma and Keth The Next Generation Kerowyn, is the daughter of Keth, one of the two main characters in the Vows and Honor trilogy Her mother was the odd one out in the family, uninterested in weapons or magic, and left as soon as she was able to have a conventional life She died when Kerowyn was young, and she grows up in her father s house, feeling out of place, unaware of her heritage or birthright.Her father is atta [...]

I loved the Heralds of Valdemar in middle school I read everything by Mercedes Lackey I could get my hands on, which was a considerable lot.Eventually I outgrew them, sort of I had reread the old ones so much and the new ones didn t have the same allure It was time for new favorites.Still, eventually nostalgia called, and I looked up my old friends to find you really can t go home again Books that had made me alternately joyous and heartbroken were distressingly flat and transparently clich.Well [...]

I ve read this book so many times I actually need to get a new copy because my copy is falling apart I love Kerowyn and you see her in many of the other Valdemar books so if you have read those and wonder how she became who she is, this book tells her story Readers see Kerowyn turn from this sheltered young girl into one of the top mercenary in the mercenary guild.The book is basically broken up into two parts The first part follows Kerowyn as she is taken in by her grandmother, Kethry, and reti [...]

This is one of my most favorite of the Valdemar books it s really a stand alone adventure, and yet it fits so smoothly into the other stories Highly recommended.

Mercenary life and fantasy warfare never really interested me that much until I read this book Why Because up until that point, so many fantasy novels that I d read showed either the overblown or the gritty tactics of warfare from the viewpoint of someone who se brilliant, talented, a star general, and little to no backstory on how he got there If there was that backstory, it consisted of said leader always having had a talent and getting promotion after promotion within the military with ease.B [...]

Like most of Lackey s Valdemar novels, By the Sword draws rather heavily on traditional high fantasy tropes in order to advance its plot Main character who is a fish out of water Check Murdered family Check Mysterious, ancient mentor Check Mercenary companies with uncommon morals Check Unlikely love interest Check I can t hold this against the book though since the use of traditional fantasy plot devices is one thing I love about this author s work Kerowyn as a main character is solid and well f [...]

I have a friend who refused to read GRR Martin because it s boy fantasy When I asked her for an example of non boy fantasy, she pointed out, among others, this book.I was expecting a strong female in distinctly female situations, perhaps with intrigue or relationship focus, but this book out boys the boys It is probably the most manly fantasy I ve ever read battles, camping, training, military life The only thing that s really female about it is that the main character is a woman.She s a woman [...]

Re read this today as I was hanging around the hospital and none of the books really fitted or could be found This is a good book insofar as brain free entertainment goes, particularly as I ve read it before Its the usual Valdemar fare incredibly noble people having adventures in a slightly grubby land, with a mostly intelligent if complicated romance and a few fights Kerowyn s one of the better of Lackey s leads, thanks to less angst and cynicism, which helps smooth over a not stellar plot Wis [...]

Kerowyn is an attractive heroine to me almost in spite of her physical prowess and mercenary attitude Her driving desire is freedom, and her motto is that she can live without________ She doesn t dislike comfort, she simply needs to be self sufficient So I like her And since this is a novel of Valdemar, after she fights in several wars and endures many hardships she gets to have a magical mind reading horse that loves her and will be her best friend forever.

I started reading Lackey with Children of the Night and the Diana Tregarde books, but this was the first Valdemar book I ever read.I liked it so much I next hunted down the Tarma Kethry novels, then the short stories was thrilled when Oathblood collected their short stories then continued on to the actual Valdemar books.Kero is my fav character from these books read 12 7 2003re read 10 7 2014

The only thing that bothers me about the series is some inconsistency with the time line If you read Exiles Valor and then read this, the stories about the betrayal of the prince are different Probably not something I would have picked up on if I had recently reread everything up until this point.

This is one of my favorite books written by Mercedes Lackey The main character is a wonderful, free spirited, strong willed young girl who is thrown into greatness by unfortunate circumstances and finds her calling in life.This is one of the books by Mrs Lackey that I can read over and over again.

Can we say, Xena, warrior princess This is what Kerowyn s Tale reminded me of a warrior princess Even the slight undertones of f f made me feel like I m reading about Xena Since this came before Xena, I m thinking someone is a fan of Ms Lackey when they created the Xena series.Kerowyn kick s butt and she s good at overcoming obstacles I like it.

Rereading Mercedes Lackey books because I m in great need of comfort reading, and Lackey is one authour I can always turn to for that By the Sword is actually one of my favourite Lackey novels I love the lead character, Kerowyn, and I like the exploration of the life of a mercenary fighter in Lackey s world of Velgarth.

Lackey is one of my favorite authors ever and Kero is probably my all time favorite chracter I started reading her in 8th grade but I will still pull out her books to reread them Her character building is really her main strength you want to meet her characters which is probably why I always reach for her books as a pick me up, it s like talking to old friends.

This falls solidly into the category of tough as nails female fighter who doesn t need no man to tie her down But on the whole it is still enjoyable, and all the difficulties are neatly tied up by the end There are still a few mysteries, though.

Kerowyn never expected a betrothal feast to launch her on a lifelong adventure that would be plagued with annoying bards,demons, feminist magic swords, blood mages and a mercenary life but hey least it wasn t her betrothalAnother Valdemar hit

One of the best out of the Herald s of Valdemar series

Gah, I had to return the kindle version of this It was irritating to read, so full of type errors

I don t even know why I read this Oh well.

Faaaaaave Stands up to a reread.

Still an excellent epic, many times read, years later

I was introduced to Mercedes Lackey s world via Sword Sorceress books which certain bookstores still carry , and while I never did read as much of these two as I wanted, I eventually found the music on Youtube and started reading up on the world the tale of Kerowyn intrigued me.In general, the book span s Kero s entire adult life, and perhaps as a side effect, we don t get to see many moments of it We move between the challenge, the training montage, the falling in love, the low point, the bounc [...]

I enjoyed this one a lot, but it was pretty slow to get going I enjoyed seeing Tarma and Kethry again, and really found myself amused by the different Herald Companions The different personalities were amusing for me Probably my favorite section was when she was going through Karse, that was interesting Eldan was a good match for her in my opinion as they just clicked and could try to keep the other out of trouble I almost wish we had seen of Kero and her cousins That would make for some great [...]

Very introspective heroine and a lot of character growth Reading the novel is like reading about a guide to life in terms of being your own woman , only in a wonderful fantasy setting complete with a fantastic world and engaging skirmish and battle scenes The romance was also just right, not too much I d actually give it 5 stars if I were in a better state of mind while reading it I guess I reserve 5 starts for books that really have an epic impact on me.

I especially loved the first third and then the very end of this excellent novel that, though standalone in the Valdemar series, gives us some all too brief glimpses of characters from what is my favorite time frame of Valdemar and its Heralds Kerowyn is an admirable lead character and the world building is excellent I was very pleased with the finale, but wish there were an immediate follow on book.

It was hard to get into this book, and Kero comes across as being pretty stereotypically Strong Female Character, but given the time it was written and also just how well characterized she is, I forgive it And in the end, I was definitely rooting for her and looking forward to the next part I m interested to see what else happens with her character.

Mercedes Lackey manages to spin a good tale of a female mercenary, despite the fact that the main character is an incredible Mary Sue What appeals about this book is the usual adventure packed story and interesting fantasy animals The heroine, OTOH, is too perfect and therefore boring.