I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
I grew up spending hours of free time in Valdemar, treating my horse as a Companion and wishing I knew gryphons and mages and Tayledras and Heralds in real life. I started with Arrows of the Queen (Talia’s story) when I was twelve or thirteen, and never stopped collecting every book and short story available in the rich universe Mercedes Lackey created. So, I was excited for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon’s newest Valdemar novel, Gryphon in Light.
Gryphon in Light is set in the current Valdemar timeline, when complications in the country after a war, mage storms, and new allies arriving has thrown society into a state of change. A group of merchants who want to be new warlords have hired mercenaries and conscripted locals to fight against the government in a preliminary volley of civil war. It is here the gryphon wingleader, Kelvren, nearly dies, sacrificing himself in a heroic manner, and ends up in the “there’s nothing we can do to heal this one” tent.
The last-ditch magical effort to save Kel has some unexpected consequences, and instead of the celebration he expects at his return to k’Valdemar vale, his home, he is met with suspicion and fear. His very nature has changed, making him an unstable bomb that could level the area in a spectacular inferno if he doesn’t learn to control himself. With the famous mage Firesong’s help, Kel has to figure himself out before he kills everyone by accident. At the same time, Kel and a company of allies are sent on a quest into the wilderness to search for the evil mage Ma’ar’s stronghold, currently beneath a lake created a thousand years ago when Ma’ar died.
There have been a few books in the Valdemar timeline that felt rushed and not quite fully fleshed out: Gryphon in Light is not one of them. Kel’s inner and outer worlds are equally compelling, and there are twists and surprises that keep the reader in the adventure (and lose sleep to keep going). One of Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon’s strengths in the large and ever expanding Valdemar universe is their ability to mix known and loved characters with new blood. All the characters involved have their own motivations and growth, which means both known folk and new ones never feel like a cardboard cutout there to take up space. Gryphon in Light is the first in a new series of adventures in Valdemar with a crew of heroes both well known to longtime readers and brand new.
This book stands on its own as Kel’s story, but I should say that it is so much better and richer if you’ve read the novels leading up to this point in the timeline, particularly the Mage Wars, Mage Winds, Mage Storms, and Owl Mage trilogies. There’s backstory in them which make the references in Gryphon in Light deeper and the world that much more realistic. However, it’s not necessary to read them to get pulled into Kel’s tale, nor to recognize the traumas and motivations of the others around him.
It’s fair to say I’m probably predisposed to appreciate any of the Lackey-Dixon novels in the Valdemar universe. Gryphon in Light took me back to those older trilogies where I could lose hours of time in a different world through a character’s journey. I loved every word, and I’ll be picking up a copy of the final hardcover for my library when it’s released later in July (last I checked, July 23rd 2023 is the release date). If you’re a fan of Valdemar, you’re going to need to read this one. If you’ve never read any of Mercedes Lackey or Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon, and you like fantasy, you need to start. Gryphon in Light‘s Kelvren is a fabulous hero and I can’t wait for the sequel.
No Pithy Phrase 