Winds of Fate, and the trilogy, creates a turning point in the Valdemar saga. It’s not the advent of something new, but rather the return of something long forgotten. The immunity from magic that has existed since the death of Vanyel (The Last Herald-Mage trilogy) has kept Valdemar safe from enemy magical attacks. But that immunity seems to be fading away.
Much of the book takes place away from Valdemar, in the lands of the Hawkbrothers. And I love the world of the brothers. To me, I envision them as a blend of Tolkein’s elves of Galadriel and First Nation peoples. Their world is so different from Valdemar, from our own, that it really draws me into the story. And as with all Valdemar books, there are twists and turns, magic and fantasy, and enemies to battle, all of which I adore!
But I will admit that, despite my lifelong and diehard love of Valdemar and Mercedes Lackey, there are some things that bother me about this book. While I love Darkwind, Elspeth, and all the characters of the Vale, I don’t love the casual treatment of rape that is too often found in some of the books. This one included, and somehow, at least to me, in a more obvious way. Characters that have experienced rape (off the page for the most part) seem to recover too easily, quickly able to put the trauma aside to enjoy intimacy. However, I think it’s probably a result of the times. The early 90s, when this was published, wasn’t exactly the most enlightened time when it came to sexual assault.
The second thing I didn’t love was Skif’s character arc. His purpose in this book seemed to be solely to have a misogynistic crush on Elspeth, to provide the motivation for her to grow and come into her own. He treated her like porcelain for much of the book, became ego-hurt whenever she made choices without him or in opposition to his own wishes. And that all seemed very out of character for the Skif we’d met in earlier books. When he had feelings for Talia, in the Arrows trilogy, he did not act like that. So it was bizarre.
That being said, those things were not enough for me to give this book less than 4.5 stars.