Magic's Pawn:
Exasperated by his musical, dandy-ish, unmartial son Vanyel, Lord Withen sends him to stay with Savil, the boy's aunt at the court in Haven, as a punishment.

A quick, enjoyable coming-of-age, if rather overwrought, story set in a magic world. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I'd read it when it first came out and was closer to Vanyel's age.

Magic's Promise
12 years later, Vanyel is now a seasoned Herald-Mage in desperate need of rest and recuperation and so returns home to Forst Reach where he has to deal with some unresolved issues from his childhood and a dangerous political situation across the borders.

A quick read which kept me turning the pages to see what happened next without it being particularly emotionally engaging.

Magic's Price
Can the singing of a young Bard help ease the pain of the King of Valdemar, who is slowly dying?

I felt this one dragged a bit in places and there seemed to be a lot more typos in the text. But it was still a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. ( )

Another great read. With every trilogy set in the Valdemar world, I always need a couple of chapters to really get into the characters, but when that is done, I really get into the story and love every bit of it. I love Vanyel, even though he remains almost to the end a bit full of himself at times. But his heart is in the right place and he does learn from his mistakes eventually. You can feel the story building up to a great and bitter ending but you feel hope of a better ending all the way. And somehow you get both the bitter and the better. It takes a very good writer to pull that of and Mercedes Lackey did. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2021/08/2021094-magics-pawn-mercedes-lackey.html ( )

I am so glad to see this collection. I want to read the books in one fell swoop and this makes it simple to do so.

In Magic's Pawn we meet Vanyel who will become the last Herald-Mage. Here Vanyel, a gay teen, grows from a young popinjay to the kind of person who cares for and protects others -- in short, a Herald.

Magic's Promise requires a tissue warning! Sometimes the middle book of a trilogy is a weaker one than the ends. This one is a powerful book in its own right. Vanyel has come into his own as one of the most powerful (if not THE most powerful) Herald-Mages ever. Valdemar is still taking the geographic shape it would have in the Arrows trilogy. This story is one of personal sacrifice made for the good of others.

Magic's Price is a strong and moving conclusion to Vanyel's story. I like Vanyel, in part because he does his best, but isn't perfect. His strengths and flaws make this book a powerful story of love (of people and country) and duty. There are some scenes of sexual violence that are more implied than graphically covered, but that violence is integral to the story.

If you enjoy fantasy and have not yet read this trilogy, then I urge you to do so. I don't think you will regret the time you spend reading it. ( )

Omnibus volume, so I'm going to review it in parts as I finish them:

Magic's Pawn:

I still don't like teenagers that much, but there's a substantial difference between whiny teenagers and genuinely tragic ones, and Vanyel's definitely the latter. There's a certain amount of "don't do that, dumbass!" going on, but it's all pretty solidly supported by the character development and hangs together quite well. It's a book of its time, in regards to the gay issues, but certainly on the right side of its time - it won a Lambda Award for a reason. Not a happy book, but a solid one.

Magic's Promise:

The best of the three, no question (especially if you don't care for teenagers.) It's a little more mystery/adventure and a little less interpersonal angst, and the plotting is fairly tight. I also very much appreciated the resolution to some of the family issues brought up in the previous volume, and the whole family dynamic was realistic and ultimately very satisfying. This is not a happy trilogy, on the whole, but this is the happiest volume and therefore I like it best.

Magic's Price:

Magic's Price is rather uneven in tone - it begins as a fairly light-hearted, even slapstick romance, then turns darker and darker until the inevitable tragic end. (Not, I should say, tragic in the usual "gay man's lover dies" even though that's pretty much what happens - and more than once in this series.) There's one particular interlude that is fairly horrifying and not well-justified, I think, but while grim, the book holds together fairly well and the coda is really very charming.

All in all, a successful series even discounting the daring nature of the gay lead character for its time. ( )