[Mercedes-Lackey] The Halls have reopened ----Party!

[Layla Voll]

Dax writes:

> Vetch is a coming of age character, as is his sweetie.  That was why I 
> said that there were parallels to a number of Valdemar characters. 
> Vanyel, Talia, Skiff, Darian, Lavan, Elspeth, Darkwind, in fact, most of 
> the Valdemar stories are about someone "coming into their own". And while 
> there are adult secondary characters that people have come to love, they 
> are in fact mostly secondary characters.  And the ElvenBreed books are 
> also coming of age books.  Interestingly, though, while each of these 
> series start with a youngster, the ending books are usually about nations, 
> so a revolution of the nations. What is it that draws people to these 
> stories so strongly?

That's a nice parallel.  It reminds me of, say, the Lloyd Alexander "Prydin 
Chronicles," where the first books are abut Taran's coming of age, and the 
final ones put him into the context of a nation. It really works when you 
like the person and like seeing them grow up and come into their own. 
Vanyel, Elspeth, and Skiff are all great characters, and I liked watching 
them grow up - especially Skiff and Elspeth, who you see over the course of 
six or eight books.  I have to admit that Talia is not one of my favorite 
characters; I read Arrows more for the nation of Valdemar that for Talia, 
who I found excessively self-pitying and annoyingly closed-off in the second 
book.  The same is sort of true for Joust: Vetch is fine, but I read those 
books more for Tia, Alta, the dragons, and the cast of characters than for 
Vetch himself.

One exception in ML's recent books, of course, is the Alberich duology, 
which I loved.  Alberich has already come of age by the time we met him, so 
his issues are a whole different other set of reconciling loyalties and 
trying to do the right thing (like Ari).  I loved both the Exiles books.

> I guess the question then begs to be asked, Do you still enjoy the stories 
> as much, ie do you re-read the older stories or mostly concentrate on the 
> new?  Which series/book do you like the best?

It really varies: Of the older work, I will re-read both the Arrows and 
Magic trilogies, but not Owls, or Winds, or the gryphon books.  Of the new 
Valdemar stories, I liked the Skif and Alberich books quite a bit.

> By the way, the Mouth of the Gods was a character that I liked quite well, 
> and his twin who died, was my favorite. I was very sad to see him die.  As 
> for most favorite series, it is the Urban Elves, both the Bedlam Bardz and 
> SERRAted Edge.  I really liked Sacred Ground and Di, too.
>
> Dax the Eternal

I liked Sacred Ground a lot, but haven't read the others. Some day, maybe. 
I like individual Valdemar books, but I actually think my favorite books are 
the Fairy Tale series.  I'm currently reading Fire and Ashes, which is 
wonderful so far.

Layla