I approached this wondering if I was going to enjoy it as I was rather put off the sagas of Valdemar by the Last Herald Mage trilogy which I remember as being rather maudlin and a bit sadomasochistic in places. Anyway, this is a completely different no nonsense sort of book and not a wallow in angst despite some sad things that happen along the way.

Kerowyn is the put upon sister of a young lord who is having his wedding feast as the story opens. Her mother died and her father has expected her to run the house for the past few years, which is a full time job and means that Kerowyn is slaving in the kitchen having had to organise the logistics of an enormous banquet. Lucky for her she is, because a massive home invasion occurs by bandits who slaughter a lot of those in the banqueting hall and would have attacked the kitchen staff too if not for Kerowyn and a couple of others putting up a spirited defence. Kerowyn has telepathic ability but she has learned to block it - here it saves her from making the mistake of going upstairs to see what all the screaming is about before the bandits actually appear. When they leave, Kerowyn helps patch up the wounded then discovers that her new sister in law has been kidnapped by the bandits.

Kerowyn goes to her grandmother's house nearby for help as her grandmother is a mage - and I gather, one of the main characters of a couple of previous novels. She has a run in with a strange old woman enroute - who turns out to be her grandmother's sworn sword partner from the earlier novels. Her grandmother hands her a sword which reacts - this is Need, a magic blade which only works for a woman - though has the awkward attribute of also not attacking women even if they are hostile - and has now chosen Kerowyn as the next woman to carry it. Just as well because it has the power of giving a trained warrior magical immunity - or taking over and fighting expertly for someone like Kerowyn who is untrained. And Kerowyn has to go after the bandits to rescue her sister in law or the same sister in law's relation, a rich baron with a bad reputation, will use it as an excuse to demand recompense from the devastated family.

The novel covers Kerowyn's entire military career from this beginning through her training by her grandmother's partner, after she realises she is looked on as an oddity at home, to her joining a company of 'ethicial' mercenaries, through to her eventual captaincy. It does not properly belong to the Heralds of Valdemar series because most of the action is not set there - but in the middle section, separated from her unit and forced to travel through hostile territory, she helps and then befriends a Herald and both fall in love, but she realises this is incompatible with her need for independence and to pursue her own chosen lifestyle. And in the last section, her company ends up fighting for Valdemar.

The main characterisation is around Kerowyn and her internal dialogue though there is the odd scene from another point of view such as her old friend Deryn. There is a lot about military tactics and organisation and the ethics of fighting and the idea that it is best that at least some of the people fighting have a code. None of the other characters, even Kerowyn's lover, are well developed but there are some good action sequences.

Lackey does have a tendency to fall into long info dumps at times where characters have conversations that tell the reader something rather than show it. One example of this style is that, although there is a scene where Kerowyn goes back home after she has started her training and she reflects on how the people around the table are strangers to her now and view her as embarrassing or alarming or whatever, she doesn't actually show any of this from character interaction. An actual scene where the other characters were behaving like this to her would be more effective rather than a statement of facts, but this does sometimes occur which has a distancing effect from the character.

Some things in the book are not explained, for example, why magic does not work in Valdemar - or at least, why magicians can't cross into it without feeling stared at etc until they can't sleep and start to become unhinged, because they seem to be able to do magic that affects Valdemar if they physically stay over the border. Similarly, in the central part of the story when Kerowyn crosses enemy territory in Karse, she senses hostile psychic eyes watching her at times. Neither of these things are ever explained.

I also found the final part of the book rather rushed and a bit of a wish fulfilment where almost everyone that the reader might care about has a happy ending, however implausible. Also, the vilain behind the war doesn't seem to be killed or captured after the battle - as Kerowyn is out of action, we don't get to see what happens - and no one seems bothered that he apparently got away to possibly do it all over again.

I was also confused by a reference to a certain key character in that section the Companion who Chooses her indicating that this character was male, followed by three references on the last page as 'lady' which rather took me out of the story and which I can only think was a typographical error. What I also found odd is that, although Kerowyn often thinks of or refers to her grandmother and her fighting teacher, they do not appear in this final section and it isn't clear whether they are still alive at this point. It is odd that such important characters who had their own series are allowed to fade away invisibly like this.

Overall I found it a good workmanlike read with some weaknesses and for that reason rate it at 3 stars. ( )

A fine place to start when you last read a Valdemar book twenty years ago. ( )

And I say it again: I love this series. This time with Kerowyn, who is brave, strongwilled and has her own set of rules to live by. She is very honorable, but her honor is not the same as the honor of the heralds of Valdemar. Most of the story is not set in Valdemar and that gives a nice glimps of the lands outside of Valdemar and how they see Valdemar. On to the next book! ( )

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I like the books Mercedes Lackey writes, she is good at creating a believable world and people to populate it. While her writing is not the strongest I do find it engaging ang and enjoyable. I like a series I can live inside of and her books are ones that have characters I feel invested in and a world I believe could exist.
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