Mercedes Lackey is my all-time FAVORITE author. I have read many of her Valdemar books, and some of her collaberative works as well. She is the author that inspired me to write and I absolutely love her work.

My favorite trilogies of hers are:

The Last Herald-Mage

The Obsidian

and The Enduring Flame Trilogies

:glomp:

I haven't read Mercedes Lackey in years! The Last Herald Mage is one of my favourite series ever. I also loved the ones about Talia (Arrows?), and By The Sword. Also, whatever the Tarma/Kethry books are called. Yeah, it's been a while...

I used to listen to a lot of Filk music based off of her books, but now I can't find any...

I tried to find some of her music but I can't seem to find it anywhere. My favorite series is the one that ended with Owl Knight.

Ooo, yes, I do love her Valdemar books, but I also liked the Aerie books. Yay dragons!

I've only read fire rose so far. I think it's great. I think I'll try the valdemar thing...

@ Jessa: Do. Her Valdemar books are darn awesome. But her Elemental magic books (don't remember if Fire Rose fits into that series) are also good reads.

Fire Rose is not part of the series.

I love her books too.
I just got done with Gwenhwyfar. It is a really good retelling of King Arthur.
I am currently reading The Serpent's Shadow.
I really like the Mage Wars (the ones with the gryphons) series and the Darian's Tale (Owl) series.
She also has a really good retelling of Swan Lake called The Black Swan.
My first and favorite though is Take a Thief.

Take A Thief is an awesome story. If you look, it's actually an awesome retelling of Oliver.

The Serpent's Shadow, is amazing. It actually helped me in my AP European History class, because it taught me a lot about the Victorian cultural era. Any book that is so well researched that it actually helps you in History class is awesome.

@ Lilith: Hunh, I thought is was. Guess I was mistaken. And The Black Swan is one of my favorites. ^^

@ Aravilui: I think that's one of the awesome thing about Lackey's books is that she does research whatever she's using as source material or setting very well.

Yus, it does make it awesome. Because seriously, how often can you read a book that's (mostly) set in the past, totally fictional... and yet it literally helps you write essays in class, even if you can't use it as a reference?

I'm such a terrible know-it-all... >.>;

Oh, being a know it all is perfectly fine. Trust me, I am one too. XD

And not damn often. Even today I was reminded of that when my history professor pointed out to us that a common plot device in romance novels (and the movie Braveheart), the idea of <i>prima nocte</i> (sp?), is complete fiction. You can tell sometimes when a novelist in off in pure fantasy, but Lackey writes what she knows and if she doesn't know it, she researches it well.

It seems to be primae noctis (I googled it because I had no idea what you were talking about. My non-English language is French or Elvish. XD), properly French Droit de seigneur because all good educated people in the Middle Ages spoke French and yeah. I mean, I've heard of it (though not by its proper name) but it always seemed like it was a fiction to me. Now, I'm sure there were lords that DID that, but they were few and far between. Just like most slave owners were not the evil bastards they are portrayed as, though enough were.

That's one thing I really appreciate about Lackey. That and she can tie in good fantasy with the history and yet it all flows well. I've read some that were very well researched, but... well, it felt like it all clashed.

There we go! I've heard of it called by both names (only saw it in one romance novel though and I don't particularly like Bertrice Small anymore), and I wouldn't be surprised if something like that did occasionally happen, but not in a wide spread manner. Something like that is asking for an uprising.

She seems to pick things that mesh well. Like her Five Hundred Kingdoms books. They take fairy and folk tales from all over the world and mesh them into a believable, single universe, and she does this by stripping them down to their base elements and then working from there. That takes a great deal of knowledge about the stories themselves, and I wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't read as many variations one the ones she features as she possibly could. That's not to mention her novels dealing with single legends like Firebird.

I adore Firebird. That was one of my first books ever set in anything but a western european-style setting. I've not often found others that I liked, but I loved the entire world and how believable it was and authentic it felt, despite my complete lack of any background knowledge in Russian culture. I don't know anything about the Five-Hundred Kingdom books, though. I've read mostly what my parents had, and we don't have any of those.