Arrows of the Queen

Executive Summary: This book is super trope-heavy and not always the best written, but I found it a light, fun, quick read that seemed to suit my current mood. 3.5 stars.

Full Review
I've heard of Mercedes Lackey, but none of her books had made it onto my to ever growing to read pile. If not for Sword & Laser I probably never would have read this.

This is one of those books that read at a different point, I might have been bored by. I've been a bit burnt out on reading lately and this seemed to hit the spot. This is the classic chosen one trope mixed with the magic school trope. I'm a complete sucker for the Magic school trope.

It was obvious at times that this was Ms. Lackey's first book. The writing was decent, but could use some more polish.

The biggest surprise for me were all the social issues casually woven into the story, especially given the time this was published. It seems like only recently that books are dealing with things like gender equality, homosexuality or casual sex without negative connotations are more commonplace. This book covers all of those things, but in subtle ways. It could simply be that my own personal reading selection in the 80s and 90s simply neglected other works covering these kinds of things.

This certainly seems to be a book aimed at young women more than boys. Much of my reading was stuff my mom brought home for me. I doubt the cover with the girl on the magic horse was something I'd have been willing to give a try in my teens. That said, who wouldn't want a magic horse as your companion? If you don't, you might be dead inside!

If this book was published today, it'd be put in the YA section and might be lost in vast array of fantasy aimed at young girls. In many ways this book feels like it could be a prototype for those books. However, as I don't read a lot of YA anymore I could be wrong there.

The book ends in a pretty good place. The major issues seem to be wrapped up (albeit a bit too quickly and neatly). I feel like I might be up for reading more, but could be perfectly content to stop here.

Overall, I'm glad I read this book. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue on with the series. I'll probably have to be in the right mood for it. Maybe this time next year.