Describe Regarding Books The Oathbound (Valdemar: Vows and Honor #1)
| Title | : | The Oathbound (Valdemar: Vows and Honor #1) |
| Author | : | Mercedes Lackey |
| Book Format | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 302 pages |
| Published | : | July 5th 1988 by DAW |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction Fantasy. High Fantasy. Magic. Epic Fantasy. Adventure |
Mercedes Lackey
Mass Market Paperback | Pages: 302 pages Rating: 4.09 | 13293 Users | 260 Reviews
Ilustration As Books The Oathbound (Valdemar: Vows and Honor #1)
Skimmed the last 25% It started out promising but then it crashed, hard and fast, and somehow just kept getting worse. This book is like that awkward kid who tries too hard to fit in with the cool kids: cringe-worthy and embarrassing. I can see what it was trying to do, but to say it's been done better before is putting it mildly. I don't even know where to start with this one, so list! (view spoiler)[ 1) So. Much. Rape. Most of it's off-page, but it's like Lackey thinks this is the only threat women face. Well, that and murder after said rape. 2) And it's bad enough that it's used so often and so cavalierly, but then our heroines don't even have to deal with the trauma because of mystical, magical healing, which just further cheapens it and belittles every rape victim ever. If you're going to use it, be ready to deal with the consequences of it. (The same issue happened with Talia in the last Arrows book too. I'm sensing a trend here, and it's not a good one.) 3) Too repetitive and too scattered. I thought this was setting up Kethry to confront her brother and the dirtbag he sold her to, but that was over and done - largely off-page - by 23%. The brother could show up again, I suppose, but that would be rather anti-climatic at this point. Also, every time they met someone new who needed their help, we had to see them described all over again, from their looks to their weird bond to their abilities and on and on. 4) The idiocy of a sword that only women can use, but not against other women, and that can turn a completely untrained person into a master swordswoman. I know this is fantasy, but you can't just write "cuz magic, yo!" to explain everything. This stretched my ability to suspend disbelief. I mean, what happens if a man picks it up? Does it become so heavy it's impossible to move? Does it just freeze itself in midair somehow? Does it freeze the man? Tarma tries to use it once against a woman and it's described as awkward, which doesn't really explain anything. 5) Lackey can't write action, and there's a lot of action in this one, when it's on page anyway. 6) So you have a rapist. You go to bring him to justice. You use your powers to make him look like a woman and send him off to his band of rapists so he can get some of his own medicine. Um... what? Do I really have to spell this one out? And not surprisingly, it comes back to bite them in the ass, as it should have. (hide spoiler)] These women are awful. The writing here is somehow both banal and gross. Next time I want to see two women with a sacred bond righting wrongs and signing songs, I'll watch Xena. Not sure if I'll read the next one with these two. I planned to read one book from this series every month this year, and I'd planned to go in publication order, which puts Oathbreakers next. But it might be time to start skipping if this is what Lackey's idea of woman empowerment is. There are 36 books in this series, so that leaves plenty to still read one a month. Edit: This review includes a lot more of the issues I had with this book but was too tired last night to include. Warning for spoilers. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... I also found out that this was a collection of short stories that they tried to package as a single story, which explains a lot of the pacing issues and repetition.Itemize Books During The Oathbound (Valdemar: Vows and Honor #1)
| Original Title: | The Oathbound (Valdemar: Vows and Honor, #1) |
| ISBN: | 0886774144 (ISBN13: 9780886774141) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Valdemar: Vows and Honor #1, Valdemar (Publication order) #4, Valdemar (Chronological) #21 , more |
| Characters: | Tarma, Kethry |
Rating Regarding Books The Oathbound (Valdemar: Vows and Honor #1)
Ratings: 4.09 From 13293 Users | 260 ReviewsJudgment Regarding Books The Oathbound (Valdemar: Vows and Honor #1)
Feb 2018 - bought the Kindle edition, since the pb one I have is pretty elderly by now. Am reminded just how annoying it is when the italics (ML uses them for mental dialog and mindreading, etc) are messed up in the middle of sentences, when the page-scanner screws up so many words ("Warrl" becomes "Ward") or words are broken into nonsensical parts because they were hyphenated in the scanned copy ("reshea thing"), and when the breaks within a chapter, to indicate a change of scene or timeI really wish I liked this book more than I did. The idea promised by the cover - two oath-sisters, wielding magic and the sword, whose purpose is to protect women - is super badass. But I feel like the word that best fits the actual book is "odd".The structure of the book is odd: multiple times, there'd be a fun leadup to a cool scene/adventure (e.g. there's someone to fight!/they got hired as bodyguards!) but then the actual meat of the thing would be skipped and the next scene would be the
More like a collectionI didn't feel like this was a complete novel. More like a collection of related short stories or novellas. I did enjoy it, but wished it was more cohesive.
Sooo...I was planning on doing a full review of this series once I'd read the two novels and the book of short stories/novellas. But after reading this first book and then letting it sit...I just don't care to continue. I liked the duo of strong female leads and the world-building was alright...there's potential in the magic system too. But honestly, nothing hooked me enough to make me want to continue on. And there's an awful lot of rape happening to our leads or mentioned in the past and it
I always skip this series when I feel like reading Valdemar novels, I think because I'd heard they weren't actually set in Valdemar proper. And I was right; they aren't, and somehow for me that just made them less enjoyable. I prefer Companions and Heralds, and while this wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I love about Lackey.So it was good, but not great. I will read the next two as I have themin the same new paperback edition, but this won't be a series I'll return to like I do with other books
I understand this was initially released as a serial, but it suffers in book form. Every chapter has to waste time retelling bits just read, and I found that frustratingOtherwise very enjoyable.
I will say this -- my favorite aspects of Vows and Honor duology/trilogy/whatever is that the main relationship is between two women and is platonic*. The Oathbound is about two women, Kethry, who used to be a noble of a poverty-stricken house, but after her brother practically sold her into marriage, she took up the path of the mage, and Tarma, a swordswoman from a Nomadic Horse Clan, who became a servant of her peoples' Goddess in order to get revenge on her clan's murder. The two became
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