Reviews

Choices by Mercedes Lackey

worthyadvisor's review against another edition

4.0

These are always good anthologies, so no real complaints.

whisper88's review

adventurous lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

blueangelfish83's review

3.0

I definitely felt dropped in the middle of stories, probably should read the Tales of Valdemar series in order.

kesnit's review

5.0

I've been a fan of Lackey's work since I was 13 and have read all the Velgarth anthologies. This was the best of the lot. In other anthologies, there have been one or two stories I didn't like, but I enjoyed all of the ones here. However, I would recommend a person read the previous anthologies before this one, as there are many stories that are continuations from earlier anthologies.

inferiorwit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Ableism, Animal death, War, and Rape

xeni's review

4.0

This was a strange mix of stories. It took me a while to get through them all. I loved some of them (especially getting a Valdemar story soon after the events of the Gryphon trilogy!), but more or less they were all average (with a few notable poor ones). Still, I love Valdemar.

morgandhu's review

3.0

Another year, another Valdemarian anthology from Mercedes Lackey. These books are like catnip for me. The collections are sometimes uneven, but Valdemar is a wonderful invention, a rich secondary word with so many different cultures and potential stories, and there’s something about Lackey’s world that I find irresistible.

As usual, there are some stories from longtime contributors, many of them featuring characters we’ve met before and come to appreciate, and some from new writers who’ve never written for Valdemar before. And of course a brand new story by Lackey herself, which answers one of the questions many of us have had about Need - and also makes a strong statement about trans inclusivity. But then, Lackey has always been an LGBT ally, which is probably one of the reasons I feel comfortable with her work.

In fact, Lackey’s story, “Woman’s Need Calls Me,” is my favourite from this collection, which is in fact one of the stronger collections of recent years - there really wasn’t one story that I didn’t enjoy, although some were slight in terms of action and adventure.

Good comfort reading when I needed it.




Note: This anthology contains 18 stories, 16 written by women and two written by men.

glennisleblanc's review against another edition

3.0

The latest in a long line of anthologies set in the world of Valdemar. The nice thing for dedicated readers is there are a few stories in here that follow a set of characters from previous years. The plus is the stories are stand alone and yet if read year after year do build upon one another. The collection makes for a great dip into world to get your fix. Not every story is about heralds and that is for the better since there is so much to this universe that has been build over the years. And the final story is an early days story about Need.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

emeraldreverie's review against another edition

3.0

Some real good, some ok, a couple clunkers. Always interesting to see the world of Valdemar through different eyes. The Need story was interesting as more backstory to her, but....gender based stuff is always slippery esp with an explicit trans story. It was handled ok, but from a very cis and binary view.