Book 48: Brightly Burning

This is one of Mercedes Lackey’s rare standalone Valdemar novels, and it’s not a reread.

I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but I certainly didn’t think I’d enjoy the book as much as I did. Lavan Chitward, called Lavan Firestarter and then Lavan Firestorm, seemed like a vaguely imperfect Vanyel clone at first, but the kid grew on me. I think this was because he had very evident character flaws, and he didn’t spend too much time whining the way Vanyel did. Also, the fact that he was unfortunate enough to be life-bonded to his companion made him interesting.

The book tells the story of Lavan, who hates the famed city of Haven where he has to move with his family, to advance his parents’ careers. Lavan doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, so he’s sent to a school for younger sons of merchant and crafter families. The school has a very Lord of the Flies vibe to it, with the older boys beating and humiliating younger students. Lavan manages to avoid their punishments until one day he can’t. He’s taken to be flogged, and then his dormant talent for firestarting wakes in him and he sets the building on fire. Very shortly after that, he’s Chosen by a Companion, which means he’ll get to become one of the honored Heralds of Valdemar, which is a good thing because Valdemar’s about to be at war.

I kind of agree with a review I read of this book. I felt like Lackey could have improved her pace. It’s like, we’re going along happily at a normal pace, through the trials Lavan undergoes before he gets Chosen, then his heraldic training, and then, oops, we have to end the book sometime soon. Let’s send a sixteen-year-old boy to the middle of a war situation.

Also, I really really wasn’t very impressed with Lackey’s adult heralds. I thought that, overall, they didn’t do a very good job of handling someone like Lavan. He was alternately given too much special treatment (the king himself takes a personal interest in him) and yet, they decide they have to send him, basically still untrained, into a war situation near the end of the book. They don’t even bloody tell him he’s life-bonded to his Companion. I don’t know… I think, were I him, that’s a bit of information I would find useful.

Oh, well. Thinking about Lackey’s gaping plot inconsistencies is generally never a good idea. Despite all the said inconsistencies, I’m still a sap, and I cried at the end. Which is all it takes for me to find the book satisfying.