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A review by _fletchr
Exile's Honor by Mercedes Lackey
2.0
I haven't read anything else by the same author so some of my opinions may be colored by not being familiar with the greater series here.
I found this pretty lacking. Valdemar and its leaders are presented as one dimensionally good, just, and fair. That despite their system of government being a divine-right-of-kings monarchy (just how concepts of plurality, equality before the law, and so on, could develop under such a system is never explored unless we are to assume the Valdemarans' magic telepathic horses are responsible).
The protagonist's central dilemma is whether to ally with Valdemar, which has taken him in, at the risk of hurting people from his home country Karse, but don't worry Karse hires some sub-human mercenaries so it's never a problem.
Speaking of dehumanizing people, the sections where Alberich writes off anyone who patronizes drinking establishments in certain parts of the city as "scum" and works out his frustrations by getting in fights with them left a bad taste in my mouth. As for that matter did the casual throwing around of the word "whore" and the dismissal with that term of any woman who'd spent more than a certain amount of time as a captive of the mercenaries.
It's full of stock characters; the upstanding king, the feisty princess, the stern older warrior, none of whom are developed beyond those simple sketches. Amidst all the pseudo-archaic names, one character being named "Myste" (pronounced "Misty" by the audiobook narrator) made me laugh out loud. She's tentatively presented as a potential love interest for the protagonist, but (like so many things in this book) that never goes anywhere.
The Karsite priests use invisible night-stalking demons we are told. Great! Sounds interesting. But we never see them, and they are never a factor in the story. Perhaps those are explored in other novels in the series. This definitely bears all the hallmarks of being a prequel exploring the origins of characters, and hemmed in by what has already been established about them.
All in all, simplistic and forgettable, unfortunately.
I found this pretty lacking. Valdemar and its leaders are presented as one dimensionally good, just, and fair. That despite their system of government being a divine-right-of-kings monarchy (just how concepts of plurality, equality before the law, and so on, could develop under such a system is never explored unless we are to assume the Valdemarans' magic telepathic horses are responsible).
The protagonist's central dilemma is whether to ally with Valdemar, which has taken him in, at the risk of hurting people from his home country Karse, but don't worry Karse hires some sub-human mercenaries so it's never a problem.
Speaking of dehumanizing people, the sections where Alberich writes off anyone who patronizes drinking establishments in certain parts of the city as "scum" and works out his frustrations by getting in fights with them left a bad taste in my mouth. As for that matter did the casual throwing around of the word "whore" and the dismissal with that term of any woman who'd spent more than a certain amount of time as a captive of the mercenaries.
It's full of stock characters; the upstanding king, the feisty princess, the stern older warrior, none of whom are developed beyond those simple sketches. Amidst all the pseudo-archaic names, one character being named "Myste" (pronounced "Misty" by the audiobook narrator) made me laugh out loud. She's tentatively presented as a potential love interest for the protagonist, but (like so many things in this book) that never goes anywhere.
The Karsite priests use invisible night-stalking demons we are told. Great! Sounds interesting. But we never see them, and they are never a factor in the story. Perhaps those are explored in other novels in the series. This definitely bears all the hallmarks of being a prequel exploring the origins of characters, and hemmed in by what has already been established about them.
All in all, simplistic and forgettable, unfortunately.