Magic's Promise

How wonderful to have a mature and thoughtful Vanyel to narrate the second volume of this series Not there is no angst, but it is dealt with in a much adult way A depleted exhausted Vanyel returns from the battle front, only to discover that his family insist on his presence at home not the most restful place for the young man His father is having difficulty accepting Vanyel s sexual orientation and his mother frankly refuses to believe him, proceeding to push any and every attractive young wo [...]

Herald Mage Vanyel has spent long years defending Valdemar against wild magic at its borders, and has seen many of his friends and fellow mages die in the fierce demonic battles Returning from one such bitter victory, Vanyel is exhausted, haggard, lonely and heartsick By king Randal s order he takes time off to rest and recuperate, all the while knowing the safety of Valdemar rests on his shoulders for who else could do his job There is no one else.Reluctantly returning to his family s estate fo [...]

Magic s Promise is definitely the weakest of the Last Herald Mage Trilogy I think that s because it is primarily a book tying up the loose ends of book one such as Jervis and Father Leren while setting up book three establishing why Vanyel becomes distant from almost everyone, the growing chasm between ordinary Heralds and Herald Mages.There are some incredibly well done moments this is still a strong Lackey book and head and shoulders above the current disasters set in this world In particular [...]

Easily the best book of the trilogy the relationships here felt the most genuine, the plot unfurled organically rather than being tacked on in the last thirty pages, and sometimes it s nice to read about a main character who s just really awesome at a lot of things Many of the problems I had with the first book where also present in Magic s Promise, but my least favorite elements of the first book the romance, the Hawkbrothers, and the Powerful Enemy From Out Of Nowhere were not present in this [...]

I love it Vanyel and Yfandes are pushing my buttons so hard I just want wrap Van up in a warm blanket, give him some hot chocolate and hug him He made me cry when he talked thought about his grief about Lendel and his loneliness and I really don t cry easily while reading books I really liked the first part of the story with Van getting some rest and meeting up with his family and finding some surprises, being able to let things go, having some old hurts starting to heal even though he found som [...]

SHRUGS i mean its not BAD i guess ok but like, to be honest, there s one thing really bothering me about this book tho like i mentioned before, other sexualities than straight and gay don t exist in this book apparently its so black and white tbh PLUS what REALLY BOTHERED ME is that they made up this whole weird ass term for being gay, like, just litterally translating the word gay to this nonsense fantasy world term i cant even remember because its such a long and obnoxious word and tbh it feel [...]

Spoilers for Magic s Pawn, discussion of child sexual abuse Ugh, guys, this book had such a good chance of being maybe not brilliant, but the kind of decent, entertaining medieval fantasy that got me into Mercedes Lackey s books eleven years ago Rereading Magic s Promise for probably only the fifth or sixth time, I was completely invested in the characters, interested in the plot, embarrassed to be seen with that cover and also I kept having to cover my face and hide Because this is possibly the [...]

I will be giving you a brief overview of the second book in The Last Herald Mage trilogy, Magic s Promise by Mercedes Lackey In most trilogies the middle book is normally the filler that sits in between the introduction of the first and the climax of the third It s generally of a transitional book than anything else In Magic s Promise, while Mercedes Lackey may do a little of that, the story is about building an image in our minds of who Vanyel Ashkevron has become.The story takes place about [...]

This one was probably the weakest of the entire trilogy it s set twelve years after Pawn Since the end of book one, Valdemar has become involved in a war with Karse, it s Southern most neighbor We never get told why, who started it, or anything else It s just a fact that there s a war going on, and Vanyel is a key part in it His powers make him an invaluable tool, and he gets used almost to his breaking point until he finally is given leave Vanyel decides to go visit his family instead of stayin [...]

2.5 Originally posted at FanLit.Magic s Promise is the second book in Mercedes Lackey s THE LAST HERALD MAGE trilogy This review is likely to spoil some of the first book s plot, so be warned.It s been several years since the horrid events that took place at the end of the Magic s Pawn Vanyel is now the most powerful Herald Mage on the planet and he s been traveling all around the realm helping to fight a war with one of Valdemar s neighbors He s exhausted and his body is scarred, but his reputa [...]

What is it about GoodReads descriptions for this trilogy that land so far off the mark Anyway, the Last Herald Mage trilogy continues with this second novel, in which Vanyel has accepted his responsibilities as a Herald and has aged, not only in years but also in experience Gone is the whiny and insecure teenager we knew from the previous book, replaced by an older and wiser man, one who has seen far too many battles, and far too many dear friends fall in the line of duty.We have, in short, some [...]

I was jarred from the beginning when I surprisingly realized that this book takes place 10 years after Magic s Pawn So as I m reading along and trying to get into it, in the back of my mind I m hungry for the Valdemar short stories that will fill in this time gap I assume what I miss is how Vanyel learns to control his awesome ability and how he deals with his loneliness In Magic s Promise Vanyel discovers that his friends, family, and the population are not leery of him because of his sexual pr [...]

This is what magick is supposed to be all about Saving the world Things that explode without reason People who finally realize their full potential Youngsters who grow up to be valiant adults, and get their due kudos from those who used to scorn them The revenge for having been treated poorly To live fully and be good and happy I adore the language in this book, it is so uplifting, even in the parts where everything goes to hell with a bang And the humor is outstanding, listen to this, said abou [...]

It may interest those who have read this book to know that Mercedes Lackey also put out a cassette CD based in the Last Herald Mage trilogy You can sample some of the songs on YouTube, although the only place to buy it is from the Firebird Arts and Music website The songs below are all from Shadow Stalker as far I know.Magic s PriceShadow StalkerThe Shadow LoverDemonbaneWindrider UnchainedMy Lady s EyesNightbladesWeb of LightThe ColddrakeVrondi s EyesEarth SpiritHawk BrotherThe Herald s Creed

The fabulous Herald Mage Vanyel Ashkevron decides to take a vacation after pretty single handedly defeating Karse in a border war This and other magical displays have grown Vanyel from the hurting, uncertain sixteen year old from Magic s Pawn to the twenty eight year old hero of all Valdemar To take the break that the living legend of song and story deserves, Vanyel goes back to the Ashkevron home and all the people who gave him so much trouble in the first place There is a very interesting expl [...]

These books are so heavily character driven The plot can be summed up so easily in a few sentences but the actual story is about Vanyel and his internal turmoil.In fact a HUGE portion of this book is just Vanyel questioning everything himself, his abilities, his weariness, his comrades, his friends, his enemies Everything.So I don t know why I don t get tired of it I actually liked it despite it being annoying in some aspects For example, just like the first book, half of it is almost solely dev [...]

A fun, powerful fantasy epic of overpowered superheroes bashing away at villainous villains Everyone assumes Vanyel is a pedophile because he is gay, but he has no pedophilic tendencies, because that is evil Although later it is at least implied that he only wants sex with equals with friends which is a bit positive.But given all the changes in characters from Magic s Pawn to this book, I m not sure it is the same world Vanyel seems to have different powers and talents and seems constantly depr [...]

ahhhh chercherz shay a chern It s book two, and without giving away spoilersVanyel goes home to deal with his past, mainly his father, an abusive weaponsmaster, Jervis, a lady seeking his favors, and his mother Can he accept who he is, let others know, and receive their acceptance After dealing with that funky business, it s back to work he s a mage now and back to keeping people at a distance Why Because he fears his enemies will try and get to him through his friends.He is pursued, and must co [...]

The rating reflects my re reading of this series When I first read it, as a teenager, it would have given every star I could have assigned it For on that evolution, see my review of the first book, Magic s Pawn One of the things this series does well is manage time this novel picks up years after the first in the series, and it does so with purpose I ve been reading another series where it feels like very single day of the saga is described, and it was a relief to have the author make a decisio [...]

Oops I had Magic s Promise and Magic s Pawn out of order on the shelf and grabbed book 2 first, so you get two readinghistory books for the price of one today Promise is definitely a bridge book with not much impact on the character arc, but I love this whole trilogy so much that they re all five stars to me D

A friend was once told that Mercedes Lackey was comfort food The comment was not meant as a compliment at the time, but I would like to repeat it here as one This series was first lent to me in high school, and revisiting it as an adult had been a wonderful experience Lackey was one of the first authors I read who not only featured gay characters, but made them main characters and made then whole, dynamic characters.In this, the second of the Last Herald Mage books, we see main character Vanyel [...]

3.5 This one was not always easy to read it s about a man who s lonely and exhausted, and that was well portrayed The emotional themes went in circles a bit, not unrealistic but especially with topics like that sometimes frustrating Overall I enjoyed it though Side note, when Vanyel was wondering if he s really shaych or not at all because he might be attracted to a woman I wanted to grab him through the pages and shout that bisexuality is a thing How I would love to be able to say that this pro [...]

I love all of the Valdemar books I love all the Valdemar books I got hooked when I read the first one published, Arrows of the Queen I like to read them in chronological not published order, starting with The Mage Wars The Black Gryphon, The White Gryphon The Silver Gryphon, The Last Herald Mage Magic s Pawn, Magic s Promise, and Magic s Price, Brightly Burning, Vows and Honor The Oathbound, The Oathbreakers, Oathblood,band so on Good reading to all.

I didn t like this book as much as the first one I will finish the series though.

How much can you shoulder all alone before you break

Sad and dark but goodThis one wasn t as heart wrenching as the first but is sure is melancholy Good but tear jerking I am compelled to read the last in the trilogy.

Equally entertaining as number 1 Whiny Vanyel was back in parts but he often would point it out and pull it back in Can t wait to get my hands on number 3

I love this I like how it takes place twelve years later, instead of at the same the first book I can t wait to read the next book

4.5 stars

3.5 from me not as good as the first but i still enjoyed it wasn t really into the plot that much but still liking the characters a lot