21_days | Valdemar Discussion Post!

This is the official Dead Vanyel Party discussion post!

Whether it's your first read or your millionth, there's always something worth talking about--and rambling at length about at that. Confide in your fellow Lackey fans--who's your fave? What books do you eat up with a spoon? Does Vanyel end up as a gay Companion after the Mage Storms books? Or is he reborn as the very subtle baby herald "Vanel"? If so, does that make Stef his life-bonded companion "Tylenol", or what? And is Ma'ar REALLY dead? (No!)

Life's little questions, and we all want to talk about them.

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Which book is first on your Valdemar list?

I'm rereading Talia's trilogy right now, and just finished Arrows of the Queen! I don't think I ever reread it before, so the last time I read it I was around 13. It's weird to read it again realizing how young Talia really is.

What do you think of her now? I remember identifying with her super hard when I was about 13 or 14, but last time I tried to reread, I almost couldn't.

She was still quite loveable as a character, there was just a lot of me cringing at myself in retrospect. And lolling at how unbelievably tailored to my barely teenaged id those books were. Talking magic horses who chose a lonely reject to be ~special~? Yeah, perfection.

Hm. On rereading, I still found Talia very likeable, and I think I'm better able to appreciate how all of the special positions and abilities she acquires don't suddenly erase her self-esteem issues.

The main thing I had trouble getting around was Elspeth as the Brat, and how Talia was the only one who could help. Like, NOBODY else in the capitol was able to handle a difficult child? Really? I suppose the kid's status as the Queen's daughter complicated things.

And due to changing cultural norms since the book was published, the spanking/corporal punishment doesn't seem as reasonable as I'm sure it used to.

SA is now midway through Arrow's Fall. Another thing I forgot -- how long it took Talia to get from "Huh, I guess I'm lifebonded to Dirk" to actually getting together. It's nice to see that lifebonding doesn't automatically segue into an easy relationship.

Because I always need more angst and turmoil for my faves -_-

Exile's Honour!

And boom, there it is:

Whatever; when Alberich lost his faithful old Smoke a few weeks ago he hadn't expected to get anything better than the obstinate, intractable gelding he'd taken from its bandit owner. But fate ruled otherwise; the Voice chose to "honor" him with a superior replacement along with his commission, the letter that accompanied the paper pointing out that Silver was the perfect mount for a Captain of light cavalry. It was also another evidence of favoritism from above, with the implication that he had earned that favoritism outside of performance in the field.

First page, and she doesn't follow through with that AT ALL. How unfair!

...and yet fixable. God I love the first part of this book.

I don't think I've ever actually read Exile's Honor, though I feel like I've osmosed a good deal about it... Hopefully I'll get to it on my current Valdemar binge, his narrative voice sounds really fun. (Work this week has slowed my reading down considerably :( )

I am currently stalled out about halfway through Winds of Change, which is weird because I remember really liking this book.

Storm Warning, though I'm kind of skimming around not-Karal and through some of the descriptions of Karal's more mundane chores and duties. Trying to get to Altra showing up.

Right now Talia as just taken him to met An'desha, who is super hopeful that Karal might be an exorcist.

I finished Arrows this morning and just started Oathbound! I haven't read this one yet but am liking the characters so far. (I skipped the first short story, but the book does a fair job of catching me up.)

I've been mostly going in order of publication for my canon review, but I might skip to Brightly Burning after the Tarma & Kethry ones. Just because it was always one of my favorites :)

Ok, since I try to read during lunch at work, the "ebooks on my iphone" thing wasn't working out. I've switched gears to Winds of Fate, and will catch up with Oathbound over the weekend when I can spend some quality time with my laptop.

Valdemar Discussion Post!

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