Reviews

Oathblood, by Mercedes Lackey

knatreads501's review

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.25

joabroda's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

3.5

 The last book in the trilogy, my first dive into Lackey's world. It turns out that this is a book of short stories and at the end a longer novella. Shorts are not really my thing, but I enjoyed this book a lot. The shorts included are some of the very first of Lackey's career, and prove she has had the makings of a great storyteller from day one. Also, seeing the characters at different stages of their lives was very interesting.

Tarma and Kethry are great characters and the world of Valdemar is opening up for me. I am excited now to plunge into that world head first. 

logarithm's review against another edition

Dnf @70% some stories repeated from Oathbound, and lost interest in the rest

felinity's review against another edition

4.0

I like getting all the "fill in the gaps" anthologies! Aside from a couple of stories I'd read elsewhere, these were new and gave a few new snapshots into Kethry and Tarma's lives, including a couple from after Oathbreakers ended.

rokinjaguar's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

I really adored how intimately feminine this book was, while still being a clever and action-packed fantasy! When I was first reading it I was very impressed with Mercedes Lackey’s writing, since this was the first book I’ve read of hers, but to be honest there was a bit too many references to sexual assault and violence against women for me. I loved that the main characters helped other women dealing with a variety of issues, but it was a little too dark for me a little too often. The endings of the short stories were also a little cheesy for me at times, very “and this is what we learned today” haha. 

Those were really my only complaints, though. It was clever, interesting, funny, and could be very touching at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Rape

Moderate: Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Violence, Death, and Sexism

Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Blood, Animal death, Vomit, and Pregnancy

craftingrama's review

3.0

Was disappointed in this one,only good thong about it was I found out what happened to them, but to a large extent it repeated some of the previous stuff.

lillowo's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

3.5

A fun series of short stories with loveable characters! It was also super cool to see the thought process that went with each story! 
I think I would have enjoyed a few longer stories like the last story in the book and a little bit more about the foot process that went into them!

csarakas's review against another edition

3.0

I discovered this on my bookshelf the other day and realized I had never read it. It was a nice reminder of the Mercedes Lackey I grew up with, and equally nice to have new-to-me Tarma and Kethry stories to pass the time with. The repetition from story to story is quite obvious here, but that's the risk you take when you put together a collection of previously published short stories featuring one set of characters. Some nice background development, and I really enjoyed reading a bit about their lives once they had settled down and had the school and so on.

karinajean's review against another edition

4.0

comfort book left over from high school. YA fantasy at it's best/worst!

roklobster's review against another edition

2.0

You know those books you read when you are younger than you are now and they make an impression and you think they will be crucial to your life for always and forever?

And then you do some growing up and changing and then re-read those books? And the power that they had over you is not as vast as you once thought? AND you also remember them somewhat differently than what they are?

Yeah, this is that book. I liked the stories, but I was really hoping to sink my teeth into something more meaty than a compilation of stories already published somewhere else (say, in the FIRST BOOK of this series?!), and some too short to be satisfying.

Don't get me wrong - I still think the characters are awesome, I just think ML did them a disservice by quelling them to short stories. The last story in the book could have easily been expanded to be a whole novel - I wanted it to be a whole novel! - but sadly, she did not deliver.

The writing was good, but I guess I though this was going to be a NOVEL, not a collection of short stories. Sigh.