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Avg. Rating: 4
One of my favorites so far
This book happens to have been my introduction to Mercedes Lackey and Valdemar. As a fantasy reader I've been leery of reading these books because I didn't get into it early, and by now the chronology is so big, it's intimidating. But I got this book in the airport before a long trip (you know how that can be) and read it on the plane.
I loved it! Sure, this is a lot like Oliver Twist, at first, but I felt that the author drew the characters wonderfully. I got to know and care deeply about Skif during this book, and it was a great introduction to Alberich, Companions, and Valdemar in general, especially the seamier side of things. The author is not afraid of painting her characters as human, and her world as imperfect. In fact, she revels in it and does it quite believably.
It was because of this book that I picked up the "Arrows" series, which I found juvenile by comparison. This wasn't surprising - the author wrote that series first, a long time ago, and the world she made has gotten more complex and colorful. I wasn't at all disturbed by continuity problems - hey, lighten up, people, the author is human, this is HER work, and she can develop things as she sees fit.
My major beef here is that having been introduced to the series with this book, I'm disappointed to see that Skif was given such short shrift in the other books in the series. I feel this character has as at least as much potential as an adult as he did as a child. To see him marginalized "afterwards" in the "Arrows" series didn't bother me because those stories were really about Talia, but I didn't like the treatment he got in Winds of Fate either, though I haven't read the rest of the Mage Winds series yet. I'd sure like to see Skif take a lead role in another book the way Alberich did.
I thought the pacing of the book was perfect, actually. Skif was moving along with his life, plotting his revenge, putting himself slowly back together, when he was kidnapped by his Companion and everything was turned upside down! From that point forward he had to balance being himself against being a Herald. Beautifully, done, IMHO.
Thanks for a great book!
likeable but flawed
This is an easy read and decent addition to the Valdemar canon, however, there are a few problems. It tells the tale of Skif, an orphan and pickpocket, who in Dickens-fashion, is apprenticed to a slovenly and corrupt uncle, then a humane and kind-hearted thief, and finally Chosen and brought to the Herald Collegium to train. Needless to say, he has difficulty adjusting to a place where just about everyone is kind and unselfish.
A conflict arises when Skif's Faginish mentor's house is burned and he is killed. Skif sets out for revenge, and as the man's misdeeds extend far beyond his imagination, he eventually gets aid from the Heralds, who wish to wipe out such a scourge in their city.
I was annoyed by the page after page of indecipherable dialect, and how one character's speech was grammatically correct half the time, and transposed English the other half. It seemed random and sloppy, and detracted from the impact of the character, especially since we were never given any good reason why this should occur. Other than that though, the book was fine.
Take a Thief
Skif was a thief, and a herald, the first thief-herald, But he wasn't always a thief-herald, Take a thief by Mercedes Lackey, is the story of how Skif became a thief-herald. I didn't find this to be one of Mercedes best books, However I enjoyed this book very much. on a scale of 1 to 5 I would give this book a 4
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