Vows and Honor
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Oathbreakers
Having made their reputation as independent mercenaries, Tarma and
Kethry set out to advance their careers by joining an established
mercenary company. Their hope is simple enough: work hard, rise
up through the ranks, and eventually, attract the attention of a noble
with land to grant and some need that only Tarma and Kethry can
soothe. For values of soothing that involve swords and sorcery,
of course.
As with all of Lackey's Valdemar novels, the characters end up finding
what they were looking for. But the how and why of finding it are
quite well done, managing to introduce Tarma and Kethry to the royalty
of both Rethwellen and Valdemar, thus setting up several plot points to
be paid off later in the Valdemar saga.
Oathbreakers is substantially more unified than Oathbound.
It reads more like a novel than a collection of short stories with a
lot of filler material, and the plot is almost completely independent
of Oathbound.
In addition, Oathbreakers contains some elements affecting the overall
Valdemar story arc, and while those are not vital, they are nice to
know. The book stands alone quite well.
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The Oathbound
The story of Tarma and Kathry, shin'a'in swordsworn and white-winds
mage, begins as a short story published in a collection. After
two or three stories, the characters made it into a full-fledged novel
set slightly before the events in the Arrows of the Queen
trilogy. Although this book successfully stands alone, readers
will want to read the sequel Oathbreakers, and may also be interested
in Oathblood (which collects the short stories concerning the two main
characters into a single volume).
The story is exactly what an experienced reader would expect from
Lackey's writing; well-handled and entertaining characters who main
flaw is being too consistently moral while fighting villians too
consistently immoral. The villians in this novel are no exception
to Lackey's usual pattern, constituting everything from a roving band
of bandits set upon pillage and rapine to a godling of debauchery and
blood-magic.
While the characters are well-handled as usual, the plot is somewhat
disconnected -- showing its origin in short-story format, and reading
more like several novellas that don't quite meet smoothly along the
edges. There is little tension between the main characters, and
absolutely no room for growth; the demands of the format require each
episode to leave them in roughly the same condition that they
began.
Readers who enjoy the world of Valdemar for its own sake will enjoy
this book, and it's two cousins (Oathbreakers and Oathblood).
In particular, these three books are the best source of cultural
information on the shin'a'in, and very nearly the only source for
information on the forms of magic use that are not practiced by
Herald-Mages or their enemies. Kethry's use of magic is subtle,
intricate, and spell-based; very different from Vanyel's raw
manipulation of energy (with occasional major spells).
Readers whose attention is drawn primarily to the overarching plot of
the Valdemar world should feel free to skip these in favor of By The
Sword, which will provide all salient points of plot and history
required for later events.
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