Mercedes Lackey fans a little help please?

[CerridwenLorelei]

Dh likes her and from playing AO he has learned of her Last Herald Mage Series

The magic's gambit/price etc

But it looks from the description on her website that they are prequels to the Exile books

SO he wants to know should he read the exile books first or go ahead with the magic/last herald mage first?

[AdinaL]

Holy crap! There is another person who reads this???

The Last Herald Mage trilogy is a prequel to the whole Valdemar series almost. So if he read the Mage Winds Trilogy then he has already been introduced to the main character....in a kind of odd way.

Basically the time line goes something like:
The Gryphon Trilogy
Last Herald Mage Trilogy
Exile books, Skif's story, Firestorm's story
Oathbreaker, Oathbound
Arrows of the Queen Trilogy, By The Sword
Mage Winds Trilogy and all the stuff after that

The Last Herald Mage Set is one of my faves. I love the characters. Quick reads - lots of backstory.

I would say read those first. Then go back and read the Exile books - while good, those just fill in an individual's story (weapons master Alberich), while the Last Herald Mage helps to explain a whole bunch of things that happen later in the series.

I am so excited that someone else reads these!!

[Meiri]

I think it doesn't matter what order you read the books in, except within the trilogy sets that are one continuing story. Those should be read in order for the story to make sense.

I love her books. I keep a running list in my Z22 so as to not accidently get duplicates.

[CerridwenLorelei]

I have only read two things of hers

and one doesn't seem to exsist anymore even in out of print!

Our library has her book with Piers Anthony "if I pay thee not in gold"

Exdh and I read a series in the mid -late 80s called heroes in hell

It was many authors and she was one along with a lot of other fantasy/sci fi writers

Most war generals were in hell and one faction was trying to take over and oust Satan and one contingent was trying to keep things as they were and one small little contingent had orders from God...

Napeoleon and Wellington were on the same side along with Che Guavara....

[Meiri]

Napeoleon and Wellington were on the same side along with Che Guavara....

Which side were they on? That sounds like it could be an interesting story.

Was the Heroes in Hell series books, a book, or in a magzine?

I"ll have to check our library for that Piers Anthony book. I like him too, mostly for lighter reading, in Xanth.

[TortelliniMama]

Originally Posted by AdinaL

Basically the time line goes something like:
The Gryphon Trilogy
Last Herald Mage Trilogy
Exile books, Skif's story, Firestorm's story
Oathbreaker, Oathbound
Arrows of the Queen Trilogy, By The Sword
Mage Winds Trilogy and all the stuff after that

I haven't read all of them, because something about them started bugging me around the end of the Mage Winds (I think it was actually Lackey's own personality coming through in the books; things I've read that she's written as herself -- prefaces, open letters, etc. -- have tended to rub me the wrong way; I did enjoy her books for quite a while, though), but would Skif's story really come before Oathbound and Oathbreaker? I would think his story would be just a few years before Arrows of the Queen, and Kethry and Tarma would start considerably before that. For that matter, I've always pictured Alberich as being *maybe* a generation older than Kerowyn, and maybe a bit less than that, which would put him more at Kethry's kids' generation. I do agree with By The Sword after Arrows, though since it ends after the Arrows trilogy.

Geesh, I'm a geek!

The Last Herald Mage Set is one of my faves. I love the characters.

Me, too. Those are my favorites of her books. The characters are much more well-rounded than in the Arrows books, and she hadn't started becoming as formulaic as I found her later on.

I would say read those first.

Yes, I'd recommend reading any of her Valdemar/um,-I-forget-the-name-of-the-planet books in the order that they were written. So between the Last Herald Mage trilogy and the Exile books, it would be LHM. Personally, though, I would suggest reading the Arrows trilogy first. It's not her best work (very young-adult feeling, with a main character whose *only* flaw is that she's too hard on herself), but it's very fast reading, and I think it'll establish more of a context for the Alberich/Exile stuff. (Incidentally, Alberich was always my favorite Arrows character. He was one of the more complex characters.)

[AdinaL]

The time line of Oathbound/Oathbreakers is weird. It would be a little before and at the same time as Skif was a kid...

Those occur in the reign of the monarch prior to Selenay? I think. God...it has been forever since I looked.

The time between Last Herald Mage and Arrows tend to be a touch nebulous. But yeah, I would agree that the beginning of Oathbreaker is before Skif and all those...and the end of Oathbound would be right around the time of...with By The Sword starting near the beginning of the Arrow's Trilogy???

[TortelliniMama]

Originally Posted by AdinaL

The time line of Oathbound/Oathbreakers is weird. It would be a little before and at the same time as Skif was a kid...

Those occur in the reign of the monarch prior to Selenay? I think. God...it has been forever since I looked.

The time between Last Herald Mage and Arrows tend to be a touch nebulous. But yeah, I would agree that the beginning of Oathbreaker is before Skif and all those...and the end of Oathbound would be right around the time of...with By The Sword starting near the beginning of the Arrow's Trilogy???

There's quite a bit of timelag between the Oath books and By The Sword, isn't there? I mean, at the end of Oathblood (the third Oath book), Kethry's oldest daughter is a young teenager. Kerowyn's mother was still pretty young, if she had even been born yet. So then she needed time to grow up, have Kero, and then Kero had to get to 16 or so before By The Sword starts. I think there's got to be at least close to 30 years before BTS. Then it's a couple of years before we hear about Selenay's husband trying to kill her, isn't it? And that's a few years before Arrows starts, which would be around the time of Skif's book, I think. So I would guess that Take a Thief and BTS could start at the same time, but not the Oath books.

I should *so* be in bed right now. How can I still be so interested in a series that I stopped reading years ago? (Well, I do periodically reread the Last Herald Mage ones.) Anyway, I poked around and found the "official" chronology.

http://www.mercedeslackey.com/text/1mlchron.shtml

Velgarth! That's the planet, isn't it?

Just so that this post isn't solely a "well, on page 214 of Oathbound, it says..." , has anyone heard the "soundtracks" to the books? I like them a lot.

http://www.firebirdarts.com/music/3music33.shtml

[AdinaL]

I stand corrected.

I haven't read these in years. Not sure why I still care.

[CerridwenLorelei]

Meiri

as the Heroes in Hell series books, a book, or in a magzine?

They were paperback books that we got at a gaming store where exdh and I lived. If I had known then what I know now they would be on MY bookshelf!!!

[earthmama369]

I read the Winds of Fate, Winds of Change, Winds of Fury trilogy first, and that actually worked out really well. It was central to the overarcing theme and made it pretty easy to go back and know what was going on with the other books in the series. A lot of the more recent publications revolve around individual characters, filling in back story, that kind of thing. Gryphon, Last Herald, Arrows of the Queen, and Mage Winds deal the most with the general story line.

[mamimapster]

Great to know I'm not the only one on the planet who has read ML. I have to say that the Last herals mage series is one of my favourites (Magic's Price etc), so I do reccomend that first.

[TortelliniMama]

Originally Posted by AdinaL

I haven't read these in years. Not sure why I still care.

I was wondering the same thing about myself. I think it's just that it's so exciting to *finally* have people who are interested in talking about them, that I don't care *what* we're talking about in particular! I can remember trying to get a couple of my friends into the Valdemar books, and having no success.

[AdinaL]

I do love those books. I used to be on a yearly rotation of reading through them.

No one has ever really gotten into them when I had them read them either!

(I used to be a member of the fan club. )

[liawbh]

Wow, I haven't thought about these in a while! I second (or third?) the rec. to start with the LHM series. (Weren't they written first?) Def. my favorite of all, though I will admit to reading all of them more than once.

[AdinaL]

I think the Herald of Valdemar (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, Arrow's Fall) trilogy was written first.... 1987, 1989, and then 1996 (?reissue date) from what I can find...My books are packed or i would pull them out.

LHM was in 89 and 90 I think.....

[TortelliniMama]

The Arrows trilogy came out first. I remember I read Arrows of the Queen and Arrow's Flight, then had to wait for Arrow's Fall to be published. What torture!

Looking at the publication order on the mercedeslackey.com page I linked to before, I'm surprised that Oathbound and Oathbreakers came out before LHM. I guess LHM was just more memorable. (I do like the Oath books, but I think LHM is a stronger trilogy.)

[Mama Rana]

I know this thread is sorta old, but I just heard about this series, and I by accident started with the Last of the Herald Mage series. Now, for the most part, I enjoyed the series. Although strangely, the editions I had were poorly edited (lots of spelling and punctuation mistakes ); oh well. A few questions/complaints. I'll spoiler them for those who haven't read the series yet.

Warning :: Spoiler Ahead! Highlight to read message!

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1) I can't believe Vanyel died! I mean, I know he thought he would, but I sorta thought especially when Yfandes showed up that they would find a way to make it back to Stephen. :
2) The epilogue makes it sounds as if there were no herald-mages after Vanyel? Of course, I haven't the stories that come after it chronologically, so maybe that would answer my question, but it will take some time to get through them all.
3) ummm, ok, I guess that's about all for now. I'll think of more later, I'm sure.

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I've requested the Heralds of Valdemar series from my local library, and hopefully I'll get those soon. Luckily I'm recovering from back surgery, so I have lots of time to read.