I need your opinion

[aelfie]

I got to weed the SciFi collection at work yesterday and I realized that I've never read Mercedes Lackey. Anybody want to suggest a first book to start with? Joe suggests Arrow for the Queen. Agreement? Disagreement?

Also, I need a reading order list for Darkover. I have most of the books, I just don't know where to start.

Comments

[ross-teneyck.livejournal.com]

For Lackey, I suggest asking linda_marus; she's a fan.

It's been a while since I've read any Darkover -- and I only read a couple of the books -- but you might try this Wikipedia article.

[themusecalliope]

I think that Arrows of the Queen was her first Valedemar book. That's where I started, anyway.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

My personal suggestions for the *essential* Valdemar books:

0. Ignore the "Gryphon" books, or save them for dead-last. They're not up to the standard of the rest of her work. Reading them first will put you off of her stuff forever.

1. The Last Herald Mage Trilogy:
Magic's Pawn / Magic's Promise / Magic's Price
(This is the series that created a brouhaha because the lead character was - gasp! - a gay male. This series also sets up prehistory for everything else, and events in these books are referred to obliquely in nearly every other book she wrote.)

2. The Oathbound / Oathbreakers
(Feature co-consorts - both female - Arden & Leesa. You do the math.)

3. Arrows of the Queen / Arrow's Flight / Arrow's Fall
(Centerpiece of the various Heralds of Valdemar series.)

From here, you can either continue on down the timeline, or go back and fill in some gaps. (Again, avoiding the "Gryphon" books until the very, very end.)

A good timeline can be found at:

http://www.dragonlordsnet.com/dantime.htm

[ross-teneyck.livejournal.com]

The "Magic's P*" trilogy was my introduction to Lackey. I was told afterwords that since it was a pre-history story, a la Star Wars: Episode III, the ending was set in stone and she had to do it. I still found it... less than cheerful. Perhaps best not to start with that one, if my experience is any guide.

Darkover.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Marion Zimmer Bradley always suggested reading the books in the order in which they were written, probably because her writing got better, and she felt it was easier for the reader to follow her thought processes as they jumped around to "fill in" backstory.

Other people want to read the books in the chronological order in which they're set.

I ... have read the entire series both ways. Her early books aren't written as well as her later ones, and I think they're a little off-putting. I prefer to read the series in chronological event order.

Both orders are given at:

http://mzbworks.home.att.net/works.htm

Since you and I have similar mindsets, I suggest you'll probably enjoy the right-hand (Darkovan Chronology) order much more than the original publication order.