Magic's Promise

2.5 Originally posted at FanLit.

Magic???s Promise is the second book in Mercedes Lackey???s THE LAST HERALD MAGE trilogy. This review is likely to spoil some of the first book???s plot, so be warned.

It???s been several years since the horrid events that took place at the end of the Magic???s Pawn. Vanyel is now the most powerful Herald-Mage on the planet and he???s been traveling all around the realm helping to fight a war with one of Valdemar???s neighbors. He???s exhausted and his body is scarred, but his reputation shines and everyone admires him. He???s been given the nicknames Demonsbane and Shadowstalker. But while Vanyel may be famous, he???s actually more alone than ever.

For a much-needed rest, Vanyel goes home to his parents. I???m not sure why he thinks this will be restful since his father despises him because of his sexual orientation and his mother is constantly parading young ladies before him, but perhaps Vanyel has a sense of familial duty. At home Vanyel gets embroiled in a mystery that involves a young disinherited prince and his slaughtered family. Who killed the family and why? Is black magic at work here?

I didn???t like the previous book, Magic???s Pawn, because Vanyel was such an angsty teenager. He whined and brooded and even tried to kill himself. I just didn???t like him and I doubted that this is how homosexual boys would prefer to be portrayed in fiction. He???s just a little better this time ??? less flamboyant and bitchy and definitely no longer a ???peacock??? ??? but he???s still obsessed with his sexual orientation and frequently laments his recent celibacy. As I mentioned in my previous review, Vanyel is defined by his homosexuality and thinks about it constantly. I am sure Lackey doesn???t mean to do this, but she is portraying gay people as (1) melodramatic and flamboyant and (2) obsessed with sex, especially sex with young teenage boys. Vanyel and the other young gay boys in the story actually seem promiscuous. There are even sheep jokes. Not kidding. I think Lackey wanted to confront us with gay sex (recall that this was written is the ???80s) but it comes across all wrong. I???m sorry to say this, but it???s really hard to read this and not think of those Catholic priests.

As before, the rest of the plot of Magic???s Promise feels like it???s of secondary importance, but at least it???s slightly interesting this time because Vanyel has to solve a murder mystery that involves physical and sexual child abuse, possible incest, a peace treaty, a greedy uncle, and a magical node. Another subplot involves the king of Valdemar and his soulmate, two dear friends of Vanyel???s. The king is sick and, therefore, the future of Valdemar is a concern. This is sure to become more of an issue in the next book.

There are some sweet spots in Magic???s Promise such as when Vanyel confronts Jervis the armsmaster about how Jervis treated him when he was a boy. Vanyel also rights some other wrongs in his family???s home. In the end, Vanyel reflects on his power and purpose in life and we see that he has matured quite a lot since we first met him. (Thankfully.)

The audio production of Magic???s Promise, which is 11 hours long, is quite nice. Gregory St. John does a great job with the narration. One small complaint I have, and it???s not the fault of the audio but of the author, is that so many of the names sound similar enough that it can get confusing when you???re listening rather than reading. Vanyel, Randale, Savil, Yfandes, Tashir, Shavri. These names look very different on paper, but if you say them you???ll hear that they sound similar.

4 stars. Honestly I went into this with almost no recollection of what happened in the first book and was confused for a great part of it. A lot of explanations and recaps came after the 75% mark which I certainly wish could have been earlier. Overall, though, the book got off from a slightly confusing and very introspective beginning, an exciting middle, and an excellent end.

The thing about these Valdemar's stories is that half the dialogue is MindSpeech, or basically telepathy. That being the case, you not only have entire conversations taking place in italics, but we readers are also very privy to our protagonist Vanyel's every thought and mental soliloquy. I don't feel like I've read a book like this before but I'm not mad. It does get a bit much in the beginning, maybe even the whole first half of the book, where I felt like we were just getting Vanyel lamenting about how tired he was and traveling from place to place catching up with people. That's fine though because it was oddly relatable to my life.

I think things really kicked up a notch in the middle after Tashir is introduced (and the circumstances around that). I gotta say that I had trouble sort of telling apart Tashir and Medren quite often, them both being young boys who are hero-worshipping Vanyel for whatever reasons and for whom Van does good turns.

I really enjoyed the whole ending sequence which I won't spoil here, but especially when Van is presented with a certain choice which is really interesting to me and already makes me want to read the next instalment to see how shit is going to hit the fan.

  I really liked this one.  There were about a million different directions Lackey could have gone in with the end of Magic's Pawn but I'm glad she chose this one in particular.  Magic's Promise doesn't pick up right after the end of its predecessor, instead it takes us 13 years into the future.  Vanyel is no longer a love-stricken teenager, he's now a 28-year old full blown Herald-Mage who has seen and done some insane shit since he was 15.  We get bits and pieces as to what he's done but we aren't directly told all of it, which is a smart decision in my opinion.  All we need to know is that Vanyel has been worn down by his duties and he is exhausted.  He still hasn't totally gotten over the loss of Tylandel and you can feel his pain every time he's mentioned.  Vanyel's mental state is the main focus of the book and he is absolutely a compelling-enough protagonist to pull it off.     As for other new things, there are quite a few of them in Promise.  The cast gets expanded, the existing cast gets developed and we see a ton of different locations, making Valdemar feel like a very real, alive place.  I know that Lackey has written a ton of books set in Valdemar and you can tell she just has such a control of this world.  The expanded cast also helps to separate this book from Pawn.  Tashir and Medren are the obvious stand-outs here as characters who exist on their own while also adding a lot to Vanyel.  But the best part about this book has to be the development of Jervis and Withen.  In Pawn they're pretty cartoonishly evil, but Lackey makes them so much more sympathetic here.  Their turnarounds aren't especially subtle but they're still quite heartwarming.    All in all this is a really strong sequel and I look forward to finishing the trilogy with Magic's Price.