Arrow's Flight

Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey

(Book #2 of the Heralds of Valdemar series)

Rating: 🍁

Link to Blurb

This was a very frustrating read, enough so that I gave up partway through. Given the enjoyment I got from the first book in the series, it was very disappointing. Why? Where to begin...let's try making a list:

1) One of the things I enjoyed most about book 1, Arrows of the Queen, was Talia's growth from an abused, repressed child to a confident, wise-beyond-her-years Herald. For this installment in the series, the author undoes all of Talia's emotional growth and reverts her back to that insecure, hesitating child. All because of some court rumours. Seriously? As soon as Talia finds out about the rumours, the bulk of the narrative becomes focused on her lack of confidence and internal processing of her self-doubt. It was rather tedious after a while.

2) The fact the Kris so easily doubts Talia's ability to control her gift is highly questionable to me, given that so much emphasis is placed on the inerrancy of a Companion's choice. Ronan chose Talia to be the Queen's Own. According to every single character we've met in this world, the Companions never make mistakes. Everyone apparently knows and accepts this as a truth - they've based their entire system of government on it. And yet Kris, who is surely at least somewhat aware of his uncle's political aspirations, immediately and continuously doubts Talia based on a question from his uncle regarding her character? What?

3) I cannot stand a plot that only works if the characters don't talk to each other. If Talia had just once mentioned to Kris all the doubts she was now having, or if Kris had just once pushed her a bit to find out what was wrong, or spoken to her about his own doubts, instead of repressing and dancing around the issue, this book would have been over by chapter 4. Incredibly frustrating.

Maybe the book picks up in the latter half, but the pacing would have to be incredibly fast for anything significant to happen beyond getting Talia back to where she was at the end of book 1. Oh well. I may try to find a synopsis and then skip ahead to book 3, as I really do enjoy the world of the series and kind of want to see where it goes. Hopefully things will improve.