Reviews

The Oathbound by Mercedes Lackey

slpchristy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.25

kraley's review

2.0

I wish that they had hired an editor when they joined together these short stories. It was weird how every few chapters she would reintroduce the characters and tell us what a Kyree was. A good editor could have smoothed this into a cohesive story, but as is, it is too disjointed. Tarma and Kethry rock though.

bluestjuice's review

3.0

Not bad. A very woman-centric book, in not a very subtle way, which I found distracting and jarring at times. Thematically, it's a nice idea, but not the best implementation. The plot itself is okay but fairly episodic, eventually building up to a finale that does a better job of supporting the theme than telling a fabulous story. That said, the characterization was strong throughout, and it was an enjoyable if somewhat fluffy read.

tressym_wizard's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

Lesbian magic users and their non binary cat go on an adventure to save women

gypsydawn's review against another edition

4.0

This is our first introduction to this dup, outside of short stories published by another author, where they truly stand on their own. It's a mishmash collection of adventures, snapshots into their lives. While not compiled like an anthology, as Book 3 is, it serves as one regardless, though it seems to be in chronological order, while Book 3 skips around, as most collections do.

Despite this, I truly enjoyed learning more about this legendary pair - and more about Need, though SHE really shines in The Mage Storms.

ekunes's review

adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

3.75

wild_dog's review

1.0

Two things:
(1) There is a LOT of sexual violence in this and I'm not into it. Does not age well. TW for rape:

Spoiler

The main characters, who are both rape survivors, use rape as punishment for one of the villains.

It's not good. Also if you have issues with bad trans-as-plot-device narratives, maybe skip this one.

(2) I've never read anything before that was so blatantly someone turning their dnd campaign into a book. Wow. It's a lot and now has me questioning if this is something I've just overlooked in all like 30 of the other Valdemar books I've read. It's not BAD, it's just A LOT.

I'm very torn about this, but this series provides so. much. backstory. for the rest of the series. I'll keep reading, but damn.

stephk23's review

3.0

Overall, this is an OK book. If you like the Valdemar chronicles enough to read all of the books, you'll probably enjoy it. It's not badly written. It's not great. It has a vastly different feeling than the other Valdemar books. I don't like the Shin'a'in as much as I do the Heralds and Tale'edras, and I missed them terribly. The book is also written almost like more of a series of short stories rather than a building story, which made it feel as though the characters lost some development to me.

sundragonheartt's review

5.0

If there’s one thing I learned from this book, it’s that the only thing worse than demons is the patriarchy-good thing we have Tarma and Kethry, along with their sassy wolf pal/ certified good boy Warrl and feminist icon Need the sword, to defeat both evils.

genderqueer_hiker's review

4.0

Interesting asexual and gender diverse representation, especially given when this was published