Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book
Valdemar: The Last Herald-Mage #1-3
The Last Herald-Mage
...
Show More
Alienated from his family, unsuited to life as a warrior or landholder, Vanyel is entrusted to the care of his aunt, Savil, a Herald-Mage in the kingdom of Valdemar.
Sensing that there is something unusual about the youth, Savil seeks to help him discover his true talents. Yet it is not until his friend and fellow student Tylendel opens a Gate of power and unleashes horror upon the land that Vanyel's latent talents are jolted awake -- with dangerous effects.
The only thing that may save Vanyel from his own wild magic is the intervention of a Companion, one of the beautiful, mysterious beings in the form of great white horses who bond for life with a chosen human Herald or Herald-Mage.
But though Vanyel may prove to be the most powerful Herald-Mage Valdemar has ever seen -- if he survives long enough to master his abilities -- desperate trials await him. For ill luck has taken an increasingly heavy toll on Valdemar with each passing year, claiming the lives of many among the Herald-Mages.
Even more disturbing, there is no rest for Vanyel even in sleep, for his dreams have long been haunted by the barely glimpsed image of an unknown enemy -- one who may be only a figment of his own imagining... or the creature responsible for all the evil and misfortune that plague the kingdom.
Is Vanyel Foreseeing his own doom, as he believes in his darkest moments? Or are the dreams a warning that will enable him to save Valdemar, his fellow Herald-Mages, and himself?
Includes Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, and Magic's Price.
Sensing that there is something unusual about the youth, Savil seeks to help him discover his true talents. Yet it is not until his friend and fellow student Tylendel opens a Gate of power and unleashes horror upon the land that Vanyel's latent talents are jolted awake -- with dangerous effects.
The only thing that may save Vanyel from his own wild magic is the intervention of a Companion, one of the beautiful, mysterious beings in the form of great white horses who bond for life with a chosen human Herald or Herald-Mage.
But though Vanyel may prove to be the most powerful Herald-Mage Valdemar has ever seen -- if he survives long enough to master his abilities -- desperate trials await him. For ill luck has taken an increasingly heavy toll on Valdemar with each passing year, claiming the lives of many among the Herald-Mages.
Even more disturbing, there is no rest for Vanyel even in sleep, for his dreams have long been haunted by the barely glimpsed image of an unknown enemy -- one who may be only a figment of his own imagining... or the creature responsible for all the evil and misfortune that plague the kingdom.
Is Vanyel Foreseeing his own doom, as he believes in his darkest moments? Or are the dreams a warning that will enable him to save Valdemar, his fellow Herald-Mages, and himself?
Includes Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, and Magic's Price.
900 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1,1990
This edition
- Format
-
900 pages, Hardcover
- Published
-
February 1, 1990 by Guild America
- ISBN
-
9781568650197
- ASIN
-
1568650191
- Language
-
English
Characters More characters
-
Vanyel Ashkevron
...
-
Yfandes
...
-
Savil Ashkevron
...
-
About the author
...
Show More
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.
"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.
"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.
"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:
"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."
Also writes as Misty Lackey
Author's website
"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.
"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.
"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:
"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."
Also writes as Misty Lackey
Author's website
Readers also enjoyed
Community Reviews
Rating(0 / 5.0, 0 votes)
5 stars
(0%)
4 stars
(0%)
3 stars
(0%)
2 stars
(0%)
1 stars
(0%)