No True Way: All-New Tales of Valdemar

Tales of Valdemar Series, Book 8

De: Mercedes Lackey

Narrado por: Emily Morse-Lee, Phil Ho, Mauricio Rivero Borrell, Amber Calypso, Catherine Crimmins, Tren Sparks, Tiffany Perdue, Veronica Giguere

In March 1987, Mercedes Lackey, a young author from Oklahoma, published her first novel, Arrows of the Queen. No one could have envisioned that this modest book about a magical land called Valdemar would be the beginning of a fantasy masterwork series that would span decades and include more than two dozen titles.

Now the voices of other authors add their own special touches to the ancient land where Heralds “Chosen” from all walks of life by magical horse-like Companions patrol their ancient kingdom, dispensing justice, facing adversaries, and protecting their monarch and country from whatever threatens. Trained rigorously by the Herald’s Collegium, these special protectors each have extraordinary Gifts: Mindspeaking, FarSeeing, FarSpeaking, Empathy, Firestarting and ForeSeeing, and are bonded for life with their mysterious Companions.

Travel with these astounding adventurers in sixteen original stories.

Featuring the following stories:
"The Whitest Lie" by Stephanie D. Shaver
"Old Loom, New Tapestry" by Dayle A. Dermatis
"The Barest Gift" Brenda Cooper
"Consequences Unforseen" by Elizabeth A. Vaughan
"Written in the Wind by Jennifer Brozek
"Nwah" by Ron Collins
"Spun Magic" by Kristin Schwengel
"Weavings" by Diana L. Paxson
"A Wake of Vultures" by Elisabeth Waters
"Maiden’s Hope" by Michele Lang
"Ex Libris" by Fiona Patton
"A Dream Reborn" by Dylan Birtolo
"Forget Me Never" by Cedric Johnson
"Beyond the Fires" by Louisa Swann
"A Brand From the Burning" by Rosemary Edghill & Rebecca Fox
"Vixen" by Mercedes Lackey

©2014 Mercedes Lackey and Stonehenge Media (P)2025 Mercedes Lackey and Stonehenge Media

No True Way

I enjoy everything Ms Lackey creates. Valdemar is endlessly fascinating. I wish her other anthologies were available from Audible.

Slice of life

I loved all the little slices of life in this book. So many different points of view in the great world Mercedes Lackey has created.

I only gave 4 stars for Performance due to some of the voice actors talking too softly at points. But alas, take that with a grain of salt as it could be my hearing.

A Mixed Review

I don't typically read or listen to short stories, but I have nearly every single Valdemar book available on Audible, so I couldn't pass up hearing some new stories, even if they're by other authors. But as these stories ARE written by other authors, and every story has a different narrator, it's hard to give a solid rating. (Also, I haven't quite finished the audiobook yet, and the last story is written by Mercedes Lackey, herself.)

ABOUT THE STORIES: I appreciate hearing the different stories from other author perspectives. They cover a wide range not just of subject matter, but also cultures. Many of them take place within Valdemar itself, but there's also stories that primarily based in other countries and territories.

One story may take place with the Hawkbrothers, while another is in Hardorn. Some of the characters may be newly Chosen, or full fledged Heralds. At least one story takes place around the time of Vanyel's lifetime, while others are during Queen Selenay's reign (and even features Talia and Dirk in one story), or after the return of the Mage Storms.

All in all, I've found the stories to fit well into the "Valdemar" universe. Many of them pose interesting situations that normally wouldn't come up in a full length novel. Other than Talia and Dirk being in one story (more as side characters), none of the stories are focused on existing canon characters. In one story, Vanyel is mentioned as being a current well known figure, but he never actually "appears" in the story.

ABOUT THE NARRATORS: Because there are so many narrators, their styles of narration can also vary wildly. For the most part they've been fine, for me. One or two were overly dramatic, or they seem to be overly focused on enunciating each word clearly to the point of becoming a detraction. The rest range from middling/average, to pretty good.

ONE BIG FLAW: When Companions and characters are speaking telepathically, they've added a reverb/echo type of sound affect to those lines. But that sound affect is WAY TOO STRONG, in my opinion. There are times when it makes it incredibly hard to make out what is being said, and has caused me some real frustrations at times. That said, there isn't a ton of telepathic speaking going on, so it's only in specific stories where it could become a problem. For the most part I've been able to figure out what they said, based on what I COULD make out, as well as the response/reaction to what was said.

IN SUMMARY: I would say if you're a fan of the Valdemar series, have already read all of the books, and you're interested in hearing more, this is a great addition to your library. You may want to think of these more as "Fan Fiction", since only one of the stories is written by Lackey herself. There are 16 stories in total in the book (1 by Lackey, 15 by other authors), ranging in length from around 24 minutes, to around 1 hour.

Mixed over all

Generally a really good set of stories they draw you in make you care about the characters. Downside some of the stories are over too soon making you wonder how they played out for the various charecters