Owlknight (Valdemar: Darian's Tale, Book 3)

The story of how these problems are all resolved is told in a quiet tone unusual in this sort of epic fantasy. Darian has as much to look within for the solution to these issues as to struggle in the outside world. The woodland journey during which he does this is much of the time a celebration of the renewal of the human soul by the natural world.

Lackey and Dixon have found a courtly, meditative way of telling an attractively simple story. Darian's growth to final maturity is inevitable, but still fascinating. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Not Their Best, 2008-06-13
Owlknight was an adequate conclusion to Lackey's and Dixon's Owl Brother trilogy, but I confess I was more than a little bored by the endless and tedious descriptions of clothing, housing, flora, etc. Yes, I know how flamboyant the Hawkbrothers are; I got that in all the other novels which included them in their tales. When we finally got to the action; i.e., the journey to find Darian's parents and the ensuing fight with the evil tribe and mage, there just wasn't enough of the good thing. Also, I had hope to see more detail about the interaction of Darian with his parents.

In spite of that, I certainly hope someone manages to tap into a leyline somewhere and open a gate so Darian can visit his family. I just betcha one of his sibs has Adept potential!

I discovered Mercedes Lackey and Valdemar years ago and have begun to reread the series. To my knowledge, the only books about Lackey's world that I haven't read are those in the Gryphon trilogy. I have begun The Black Gryphon and relish the opportunity to finish it and read the other two.

I taught middle schools for decades and highly recommend most of Lackey's books to mature readers in that age group. Perhaps I am a little prejudice; after all, fantasy is one of my favorite genres.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

It wraps up the Darian tale, but not much more, 2008-02-23
Owlknight finishes up the Darian's tale trilogy (or the Owl trilogy). One of the Lackey/Dixon series set in Lackey's Valdemar.

If you've read the first two, you'll probably read the third, and there's no reason for anyone to *stop* without reading this book. I wish there were more of the Hawkbrothers and Firesong. They are truly more interesting characters that Darian/Keisha, but then this is Darian's tale so guess he has to be featured.

The search for Darian's parents is OK, but is isn't a stellar plot. It was more of the standard coming of age theme, and unfortunately the protagonists aren't interesting enough to give any depth to the plot.

This novel doesn't add much to the Valdemarian universe. If you're new to Lackey's works, start elsewhere. If you're already crazy about Valdemar, the HawkBrothers, Change Circles and the like will keep you interested enough to get through it.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

An interesting ending, 2007-04-02
This last of the Darian's Valdemar books ties his story up nicely. It is interesting to see the growth of the character and ties up loose ends. We find out what actually happened to his parents and bridge the gap. We also get to see how Darian and his friends cope with the other Northern tribes that had a difficult time with the mage storms.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Eh., 2007-03-08
It was... OK.
And really, there was just way too much navel-gazing teen angst.

I can't believe that Valdemar is exploring steam power, and yet still knows little about what's west of their country. It's like Lackey thought, "Oh, wow, the Lewis & Clark anniversary is coming up! Let's write something like that!!"

Kind of like "Oh, wow, Y2K might take away all our modern conveniences, so let's have the Mage Storms do that to the Empire!"

Jeeeez. I'd like to see more about the early Herald-Mages, or what really went down in Iftel. Maybe she touches on that in her gryphon novels, but I couldn't really stand the thought of morrrrrrre connnnnnsonnnnannnttttssssssssssssss than there ought to be in dialogue, so I've not even gone there.

And while I'm thinking about gryphons, why did it take flying sentient beings so LONG to make their way to Valdemar?

I miss the quality of the Vanyel books.

I also wish that the Hawkbrothers had some kind of flaw???


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

good read, 2007-01-11
the nice thing about Lackey's writing is the character development that occurs. Darian's tale exemplifies her skill in handling character conflict and growth.

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