Mercedes Lackey

[Shoal]

Ooooooh. Lmfao. I haven't read that and am apparently thinking of a totally different series/author.

I'm a dope.

are you thinking of the hundred thousand kingdoms by jemisin?

[Tamien]

I really liked the Free Bards books when I was younger but I remember literally nothing about them except a few bad rhymes, a few vague character-impressions, and a feeling of "squeeeeee bards!!!" so for all I know they may be awful. I read them in like, middle school probably?

[Anya]

Ooooooh. Lmfao. I haven't read that and am apparently thinking of a totally different series/author.

I'm a dope.

are you thinking of the hundred thousand kingdoms by jemisin?

Yuuuuuuup.

[cbhacking]

I'm pretty ambivalent on Lackey. She's not on the (relatively short) list of authors that sounds interesting enough I'd try but then ended up regretting, but that's not a very strong recommendation. I frequently find myself in places with minimal options in reading material (and no Internet) and Lackey is... acceptable. I wouldn't pay for them, but if they're available to read and I'm out of anything else that I haven't read recently, I'll pick up a Lackey before I'll pick up some other generic fantasy novel with no particular recommendations. Take that as you will.

Most of what I've read recently are the bard stories, They're fun in some ways - classic seelie/unseelie elven courts and magic-through-music bardistry and all that... and the stories are still just not that appealing to me. I haven't read as much of her (AFAIK) original settings - one or two Valdemar stories, years ago, that left little impression on me, and the first book of Enduring Flame which was kind of meh - but I don't think the thing that most shapes my opinions of her books are the settings (good *or* bad). YMMV, of course.

[Kappa]

Lackey actually has two different sets of bard stories - the Free Bards set in wherever the hell those things were set, and the other ones with the elves in a modern setting. The elves ones share a setting with some non-bard elf stories too. They're all pretty mediocre as far as I'm concerned, although they contain many isolated entertaining moments.