Mercedes Lackey bibliography

This is a list of books by Mercedes Lackey, arranged by collection.

Some of the trilogies follow on chronologically from each other, while others are set a considerable number of years apart from the others - overall the books span some 3000 years of history.

This set consists of the original trilogy, the very first Valdemar books published, and a prequel trilogy.

The first written and published of the Valdemar novels, these center on the character Talia, who from the moment of being Chosen by her Companion Rolan becomes the very special and hard-working Queen's Own Herald.

These center on the Weaponsmaster Alberich (in the first two books) and the thief Skif (in the third book), telling the stories of their not-entirely-voluntary enrollments as Heralds. The order in which they were written differs from the internal chronology.

These follow on from the original Heralds of Valdemar trilogy and center on Princess Elspeth completing her transformation from "the Brat" to a fully-fledged Herald. Secondary protagonists include Skif and a new character Darkwind.

The latter part of Kerowyn's Tale, By the Sword fills in the events that happen after Arrow's Fall but before Winds of Fate.

This next trilogy follows on the Heralds of Valdemar story and centers around the characters Karal and An'desha as Velgarth is threatened by a repetition of the Cataclysm described in The Mage Wars trilogy. This trilogy also focuses on the threat posed to Valdemar by the vast Eastern Empire and the development of the newly formed Alliance between Valdemar and its surrounding nations.

The Owl trilogy takes place several years after the events of The Mage Storms and follows the character Darian. The story focuses on the repercussions of the mage storms on Valdemar's northern border and centers on new tensions between the Kingdom and invading barbarians from beyond the Ice Wall.

These occur some centuries before the Heralds of Valdemar books, telling the life story of Vanyel Ashkevron; by the time of the "later" books he has become legend, thus explaining some of the small inconsistencies. This series was also consistently nominated for the Lambda Literary Prize, with Magic's Price winning in 1990.

These precede the Heralds of Valdemar books and center around the characters Tarma and Kethry. These characters appeared first in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress series and were revisited in subsequent short stories. Two of these short stories are woven into the Vows and Honor books as part of a longer narrative. The original Vows and Honor pair of books were linked together with By the Sword (published long before Oathblood) as a trilogy.

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