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Title: Finding the Way and Other Tales of Valdemar
Editor: Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Fantasy short story anthology
Thingummies: 2.5
Synopsis: 15 short stories set in Lackey's world of Valdemar, including one new one by Lackey herself.
Thoughts: This is essentially authorized fan fiction.
That, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. In fact, there's been at least two other anthologies of Valdemar stories by various people that I've read and quite enjoyed. Now, there's no point at all if you haven't read and loved most of the Valdemar books--this is an excuse to go visit the world again. But if you liked them, the previous anthologies were a lot of fun (with one or two "experimental" type stories I didn't care for at all).
Unfortunately, this one was not quite as much fun. Despite the fact that most of the contributors are established authors, it feels like everyone's phoning it in, including Lackey herself. I won't say that there are no new stories to tell in this world, but there are no new stories in this book. Look, there's just a limit to how many stories most of us want to read in which someone unlikely meets a Companion, hangs around with them for awhile, and then, surprise, discovers that s/he is the Chosen near the end. Alternatively, there's the "making a judgement in the village and discovering things are more complicated than you thought", "learning not to judge other by their appearances", "young person resists their fate for awhile and then gives in", and "noble and tragic sacrifice". They're all here. They all appeared multiple times in the previous anthologies, slightly fresher. They all appeared in the original books, significantly better.
I did wonder if perhaps I was casting a rosy glow on books I clung to as an angsty pre-teen. I skimmed through some. Not great art, no, but I was correct in thinking the source material was still a lot fresher than this.
Some people do quite like comfort-zone fiction, in which there is nothing that will surprise you. Well, this book's for them. You can see just about every ending coming from a mile away. The rest of us are wondering if it's time to put Valdemar, as much as we loved it, to bed.
Editor: Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Fantasy short story anthology
Thingummies: 2.5
Synopsis: 15 short stories set in Lackey's world of Valdemar, including one new one by Lackey herself.
Thoughts: This is essentially authorized fan fiction.
That, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. In fact, there's been at least two other anthologies of Valdemar stories by various people that I've read and quite enjoyed. Now, there's no point at all if you haven't read and loved most of the Valdemar books--this is an excuse to go visit the world again. But if you liked them, the previous anthologies were a lot of fun (with one or two "experimental" type stories I didn't care for at all).
Unfortunately, this one was not quite as much fun. Despite the fact that most of the contributors are established authors, it feels like everyone's phoning it in, including Lackey herself. I won't say that there are no new stories to tell in this world, but there are no new stories in this book. Look, there's just a limit to how many stories most of us want to read in which someone unlikely meets a Companion, hangs around with them for awhile, and then, surprise, discovers that s/he is the Chosen near the end. Alternatively, there's the "making a judgement in the village and discovering things are more complicated than you thought", "learning not to judge other by their appearances", "young person resists their fate for awhile and then gives in", and "noble and tragic sacrifice". They're all here. They all appeared multiple times in the previous anthologies, slightly fresher. They all appeared in the original books, significantly better.
I did wonder if perhaps I was casting a rosy glow on books I clung to as an angsty pre-teen. I skimmed through some. Not great art, no, but I was correct in thinking the source material was still a lot fresher than this.
Some people do quite like comfort-zone fiction, in which there is nothing that will surprise you. Well, this book's for them. You can see just about every ending coming from a mile away. The rest of us are wondering if it's time to put Valdemar, as much as we loved it, to bed.
