title: Into the Westauthor: Mercedes Lackey
series: The Founding of Valdemar #2
published: 13 December 2022
publisher: DAW Books
genre(s): fantasy
pages: 504
source: bought
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | StoryGraph | Goodreads
rating:
| series rating: the blurb
Baron Valdemar and his people have found a temporary haven, but it cannot hold all of them, or for long. Trouble could follow on their heels at any moment, and there are too many people for Crescent Lake to support. Those who are willing to make a further trek by barge on into the West will follow him into a wilderness depopulated by war and scarred by the terrible magics of a thousand years ago and the Mage Wars. But the wilderness is not as empty as it seems. There are potential friends and rapacious foes....
....and someone is watching them.
a few notes
steamy rating: 0🔥s
language level: 0🤬s
POV: 3rd person
keywords/phrases: magic, wilderness, new life
my review
This is the second book in The Founding of Valdemar series, and I’m really enjoying seeing where it all began. After decades of reading about this world that Mercedes Lackey created, it’s great to understand it from a whole new perspective. Much of this book takes place as the group journeys across the land in search of the place they will call home. I love seeing the Tayledras here, before they became largely figures of legend and myth to the Valdemarans, seeing the hand they played in the establishment of Haven and Valdemar as a whole.
I loved seeing behind the curtain, so to speak, of Kordas. For most of the saga, he’s portrayed at almost mythological levels, the epitome of perfection. But the reality is that he was far from perfect. He second-guessed himself, he worried he wasn’t up to the task, he struggled in his desire to be what his people needed. I liked seeing him flawed, seeing the man behind the legends.
quoteables
The malignancy of divisiveness, given the chance to creep deeper, would rot us. You need to truly consider that your neighbor’s beliefs are as valid as yours and not disparage or impair those beliefs.
About Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70’s she worked as an artist’s model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.
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reading challenges:
- 2023 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
- 2023 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
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