Winds of Change

May 13, 2019
Winds of Change Book Cover Winds of Change
Mage Winds, #2; Valdemar, #32
Mercedes Lackey
Fantasy
DAW Books Inc.
August 1st, 1993
Paperback
475
Library
1992
Adult
Larry Dixon

In The Mage Winds trilogy, which began with the best-selling novel, Winds of Fate, author Mercedes Lackey continues the epic that started with her first published book, Arrows of the Queen introduced readers to the remarkable land of Valdemar, the kingdom protected by its Heralds--men and women gifted with extraordinary mind powers--aided and served by their mysterious Companions--horselike beings who know the many secrets of Valdemar's magical heritage. None but the Companions remember the long-ago age when high magic was lost to Valdemar as the last Herald-Mage gave his life to protect his kingdom from destruction by dark sorceries. But now the protective barrier set so long ago over Valdemar is crumbling, and with the realm imperiled by the dark magic of Ancar of Hardorn, Princess Elspeth, Herald and heir to the throne, has gone on a desperate quest in search of a mentor who can teach her to wield her fledgling mage-powers and help her to defend her threatened kingdom.

 

The halfway point of #ReadingValdemar has passed as Melanie @ Grab the Lapels and I have just finished our book #9, Winds of Change! It’s hard to believe that we’ve made it this far and are still not only on track with our reading but excited to continue. While Elspeth’s story didn’t start how I expected it to, I am intrigued to see where Lackey goes from here. After all, the Mage Winds trilogy is touted as one of her best.

15 16 books. 12 months. 5 series. What could go wrong?


Last time in Winds of Fate

Elspeth, Heir-Apparent of Valdemar and her partner Skif have traveled to the Pelagirs in search of a mage to return with them to Valdemar and train the Heralds with Mage talent. Caught up in the machinations of Companions and Shin’a’in alike, our Heralds arrive in k’Sheyna Vale just in time to help rescue the Vale from dark magic. And, for Elspeth to realize her own Mage Gift is incredibly strong.

With the Vale still in danger, and Mage training to begin, it doesn’t look like the Heralds will be returning to Valdemar any time soon…

 

The Mage Winds Reviews:
Winds of FateWinds of ChangeWinds of Fury


 

With Mornelithe Falconsbane vanished, the k’Sheyna shift their focus towards repairing the Vale’s Heartstone. This is no easy task with the majority of the Vale’s mages missing. Darkwind sponsors Elspeth as a Wingsister to the Vale and begins training her untapped Mage gift, with the hopes that she will help repair the Heartstone in time. Meanwhile, Skif, also adopted in toe the Clan, heads off with Darkwind’s brother Wintermoon to seek out the missing Nyara and sword Need. But, as is to be expected, the Vale cannot rest any time soon.

“But–” he chuckled, ironically. “As Iceshadow told me, being a sane, honorable human being is not always comfortable.”

Compared to other books, the plot of Winds of Change dragged. I know that Lackey wants to explore her magic system, but I could have done with fewer magic lessons and more overarching plot. This meant the story bogged down quite a bit. In fact, it wasn’t until chapter 14 (57%) that I really got into the book. Why is this? Because up until this point, it just felt like a lengthy training montage with quality character developing supporting it. And don’t get me started about the big bad not appearing until 73% of the way through this book.

Now, as long as both sets of promises never come into conflict, I should be all right.

Many of my pacing concerns could have been solved by showing instead of telling. Much of Elspeth and Darkwind’s time together is the two of them explaining things to each other, or being explained at by others. I often found my mind wandering during these sections. Coupled with worldbuilding magical “technobabble”, I just couldn’t seem to care. While the themes of the Valdemar books are becoming more adult, Lackey’s writing style remains simplistic. This means that Winds of Change remains, in the style of earlier Valdemar books, an easy read, but the simplistic style feels out of sorts when coupled with her more adult content. I don’t mind this simple writing style as much with the sexual overtures, but when explaining sadistic torture, sexual deviance, cannibalism, and brutal murder… well, things felt off.

It was a little too late for regret now. It was not, however, too early for strategy. It was never too early, or too late, for that.

The strength of Winds of Change, as with all the Valdemar books, are the characters. We spend significant time with Elspeth, Darkwind, Skif, Wintermoon, and Nyara. Each one has their own challenges to face and conquer. I really enjoyed following their significant growth in this book. While the protagonists all have their moments, it’s the secondary character development which really speaks to me. I love experiencing Starblade bond with Hyllarr and Kethra. I adored watching the gryphlets grow up and Treyvan and Hydona grow into their intended roles. In fact, all the secondary characters made my heart sing. Particularly Firesong k’Treva. He’s the strongest character Lackey’s written since the Vanyel books. He’s both likable and horrid. I couldn’t get enough.

Darkwind laughed, and she let relief wash over her again. “No, I do not plan on taking him up on it.”
“Good,” she replied. “Because in a cat-fight, I’d win.”

“I believe you would,” he said lazily.
“That’s because I’d cheat,” she continued.
“I know you would.” he chuckled.

As always, this wouldn’t be a Valdemar book review if I didn’t address Lackey’s exploration of feminism in Winds of Change. First, it’s great seeing the female characters develop stronger agency and break out of the sex object roles they seemed to have in Winds of Fate. I grew tired of that quite quickly, regardless of how well Lackey covered it. But my favorite part in Winds of Change is exploring the autonomy of women to make decisions of their own accord, no matter how dangerous. Skif has an incredible speech where he recognizes he’s being possessive and stupid and controlling, but he doesn’t want to be. While I’m less than thrilled with how Skif’s character is represented in this book, this speech about the emotional manipulation of men to keep women in their place made me cheer aloud!

By dawn, if all went well, she would be inside the fortress itself. Alone…
:Alone, like bloody hell,: the sword snorted scornfully. :What am I, an old tin pot?:

As with Winds of Fate, Larry Dixon’s art is featured at the start of every chapter. As someone who doesn’t see pictures in their head, this helps me quite a bit. And his art reinforces that my idea of the Tayledras as Native American inspired was right! The only downside is that Dixon’s art is often subtitled with character names, often revealing important twists from these chapters. I eventually found myself seeking for the references from the art in each chapter, distracting from my reading. I would have preferred the art be representative of the chapter which has just concluded.

Few people are good judges of their own heart.

Despite some significant reservations related to pacing and writing style, Lackey set up Winds of Fury well. Winds of Change has no cliffhanger, but it did leave me with many questions I want answers to: What happened to Tre’valen and Dawnfire? Why did the node-energy go to Valdemar? Did Vanyel build the infrastructure for it before he left? Does this have something to do with the Web? Is Vanyel still around protecting Valdemar somehow, or am I crazy? Can Ancar’s people access nodes? If so, doesn’t this put Valdemar in greater danger? What’s going on with Karse? What has Ancar been up to this whole time? Who is up north? Is it Vanyel and Stefen, or is this the Big Bad from The Last Herald-Mage who we learned nothing about? Something completely different? Why does Firesong insist that Darkwind go with Elspeth? Does he have ForeSight? If not, is he just playing matchmaker? Why does no one else seem to care that Darkwind will be going with her, despite the fact that NO TEYLEDRAS HAS EVER DONE SOMETHING LIKE THIS (since Vanyel’s time). And what they heck IS Gwena?! Will I never find out?!

So. Yeah. Lackey has definitely hooked me. Again. I’ll be reading Winds of Fury with all due haste.


Are you participating in #ReadingValdemar? If so, link up your post below. It could be an old post or a new post, a list or a review — it doesn’t matter. Share your thoughts and feelings about Winds of Change in whatever way your heart desires so we can follow along! Speaking of, you can also join us on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #ReadingValdemar. Each post will earn you two entries for our upcoming giveaways. Join up! We’d love to chat Valdemar.

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What do you think?

  • Have you read Winds of Change? What do you think of this book?
  • Do you have outstanding questions you hope to see resolved in the final book of The Mage Winds?
  • What books have you read where the first half drags, but they are worth reading for the second half? Let me know so I don’t give up!
  • Do you ever notice secondary character development?

3 Comments

  • Grab the Lapels May 14, 2019 at 11:07 am

    I really did not like what is essentially a “C-plot” with Tre’valen and Dawnfire. It felt odd. He suddenly realized he loved her, or something? I mean….he’s new to the Vale. He was just sworn in as a wingsib, too. Why do I not remember this mage up north that you’ve mentioned? See, I think this is the problem with me reading only one book per day. I read so much of it that I forget parts, which takes me back to my argument that reading bits of many books each day keeps my mind sharp. The problem is that it seriously slows down reviewing (it takes about 2-3 times as long to get through a book if I’m only reading 20 pages per day).

    • Jackie B May 15, 2019 at 8:32 am

      The mage up North I’m thinking of is the one Vanyel fights at the end of Magic’s Price. The one we don’t get to know anything about at all before Vanyel kills him. I mean, he’s probably dead. But Falconsbane has been around since The Black Gryphon in one form or another, so I wonder if Vanyel *truly* killed that mage, or if he’s just been in hiding waiting to take down all the mage children of Valdemar again? Who knows. I feel like we cannot have yet another new big bad introduced in Winds of Fury, so it’s either that dude or no one. Just Vanyel. That’s my theory at least.

      You know what would have been neat? Reading this trilogy in conjunction with the Mage Wars trilogy. According to publication order, The Black Gryphon is published the same year as Winds of Fury. It’s obvious to me that Lackey and Dixon are writing Mage Wars simultaneously with Elspeth’s story. They are connecting these stories as they are writing them. Which is brilliant. I cannot wait to dig into this in the future!

      The whole C-Plot with Tre’valen and Dawnfire didn’t work for me either. We didn’t know enough about Tre’valen’s character or his background. But to me, it didn’t feel forced. I felt like Lackey probably got long-winded and the first thing to be cut was Tre’valen’s plot line. I can tell she’s *trying* to make something awesome happen. Something about fate and the connection between the Teyledras and the Shin’a’in and the Valdemarians. There’s a lot packed in his Shamanistic ways we don’t get to see. I wonder what this plot like could have been– and if they will come back.

      • Grab the Lapels May 15, 2019 at 3:27 pm

        There’s the whole part where Falconsbane is dreaming and we learn that all he needs to reincarnate is one of his children to ignite him. His name back during the Mage Wars was Ma’ar, or something like that. We also learn that he has loads of children running around, so he’s not worried about dying. And we don’t know that he’s dead. He was just….gone, if I remember correctly.

        I want to know why only bad mages get reincarnated. Why can’t Vanyel or Savil or or Starwind or Moondance come back? I know Falconsbane has a spell tied into fire that lets him know someone in his family line has a body he can take over. But is his ability to wait for a spell that calls him a spell too?

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