Maintained by Jerry Cullingford (Click here to mail)
Other books in the trilogy are:
Let's be honest: Mercedes Lackey's recent works have not been all that good, especially the collaborations. Even the stuff she wrote by herself, that has been published in the last year, hasn't been all that great. _Winds of Fate_, the first book in "The Mage Winds" trilogy, was, at the time, one of the worst things I'd read by her (although, at the time, her worst was still better than lots of other stuff I'd read).
WoC is better -- but not always. The first three hundred pages or so are... not her typical writing. It is not engrossing at that point, and rather lacking in action. I want to say, however, that I *like* the concept, it's just the actual doing that I'm not too happy with. (Essentially, there is no major singular challenge, just her characters getting on with more-or-less normal lives. Which is *good*, because almost all books and stories only deal with the stressful times. It's nice to know what calmer times are like. I just don't know that three-hundred-odd pages were necessary to do it, and I'm not sure that how it was done was really worthwhile. To give you an idea, if/when I reread the book, I will probably either skim or skip that entire section.)
After that, however, the tone of the book changes -- *drastically*. It reminded me a lot more of other Lackey books I enjoyed greatly. And the last sixty pages or so were so engrossing that I've stayed up until now to finish the book.
Despite that, however, there are still more problems. The ending of the book is a bit sudden, and, of course, there is no real ending, just a fadeoff into the next book (which isn't out yet, of course). However, it was not unexpected, since it's been known since _By the Sword_ that the "Mage Winds" trilogy would be just that: a trilogy. So, with that in mind, where and how the book ends comes quite a bit more easily, and is, actually, probably a good ending for it.
There are some other, minor problems (one of the Hawkbrothers swearing, "God!" was my favorite, since they worship a Goddess who takes a rather personal interest in them), especially the drawings, which have some of the characters pictured as a few years older than they should be (twenty, thirty, in some cases, it seems 8-)).
It's good to see Mercedes Lackey writing *good* stuff again. Even if it is only the last third of the book. And it is good, good enough that I will reread it (I still haven't reread _Winds of Fate_, although I was tempted to, having run out of new books to read; fortunately, a new shipment of books came in at about the same time... 8-)). Hopefully, the trend will continue.
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%A Mercedes Lackey %T Winds of Change %I Daw Books, Inc. %C New York %D 1992 %G ISBN 0-886-770534-5 %O hardcover, US$20.00 %P 446 pages