Mercedes Lackey - who and where to start!

[Overread]

Well I have come across this name more than a few times and started to investigate - seems that she writes fantasy - a lot of fantasy! Ratings of her appear to be in the middle a bit - some people either loving or hating her and some select works appear to be more popular than others.
Anyone got any generalist advice for starting her works - really I have no idea where to begin!

 

[chrispenycate]

She has several series which you could investigate; Valdemar and surrounding territories, a multitude of trilogies starting with the Arrows of the Queen block, and no few standalones dedicated to individual characters, branching off geographically for the "Oath" series and temporally for the Gryphons.

Then there are her Urban elves, the SERRA series and the Bedlam's bard books, some in collaboration. Her Diana Tremaine books, modern witch Lots of collaborations. Her "Elemental Masters" series, early 1900s magic, modernised fairytales. The mediaeval "Bardic voices".

Several collaborations some more successful than others. The joust dragons. Different worlds, different styles. Lots and lots of books; quite afew very different environments.

I would recommend only if I knew what you were looking for, and I don't think you really know, without trying. Perhaps the 'Last herald Mage' trilogy for Valdemar (Magic's promise, Magic's pawn,Magic's price)

Each of her magic systems is carefully worked out, and the reader has the limitations spelt out to him; which I quite enjoy, but could be annoying to some.

 

[Iorek444]

I've read a few of her books - they're actually pretty enjoyable (though don't read any of her stuff looking for too much depth, in my opinion) as long as you leave a long enough time period between reading any of her series. I've found that if I read one of her series, and then another too soon afterwards, it just feels like I'm reading the same thing over again with slightly modified characters, despite the widely different environments (of course, I could have just selected the wrong few to read).

 

[Shingetsu]

Thanks for the info. I've been wondering about Mercedes Lackey too for awhile now. I keep seeing tons of her books at the book store. I'll buy one of the books and see how it is.