A review by ros_lanta
Beyond by Mercedes Lackey
4.0
I enjoyed Beyond. It was a fast paced, gripping story, albeit without the emotional impact of certain other books in the Valdemar series.
This is the first book in the Founding of Valdemar trilogy, and so tells events which are broadly already known from books set hundreds of years later (albeit it is not the earliest book in the chronology). It does feel somewhat different from later books, partly due to the absence of the Companions. The worldbuilding of the Empire seems to be to be in fairly broad strokes, befitting a place that you know from the very beginning the intention is to leave entirely.
I probably wouldn't recommend this as a place to begin with Valdemar. A new reader would have the advantage of not knowing what would happen, but there might not be enough holding their interest to convince them to read further in the series. There also probably isn't enough explanation of the magic system for someone unfamiliar with it.
For an existing reader though I think this a decent book, not earth-shattering but it pulled me nicely out of a near-slump and I'm happy with that.
This is the first book in the Founding of Valdemar trilogy, and so tells events which are broadly already known from books set hundreds of years later (albeit it is not the earliest book in the chronology). It does feel somewhat different from later books, partly due to the absence of the Companions. The worldbuilding of the Empire seems to be to be in fairly broad strokes, befitting a place that you know from the very beginning the intention is to leave entirely.
I probably wouldn't recommend this as a place to begin with Valdemar. A new reader would have the advantage of not knowing what would happen, but there might not be enough holding their interest to convince them to read further in the series. There also probably isn't enough explanation of the magic system for someone unfamiliar with it.
For an existing reader though I think this a decent book, not earth-shattering but it pulled me nicely out of a near-slump and I'm happy with that.