Owlknight (The Owl Mage Trilogy Book 3)

This book was purchased as a replacement for one that was lost. It came on time and in excellent condition.

Disclaimer: I love Mercedes Lackey. I love Valdemar. I love the heralds. I'd sell my mother to *be* a Tayledras. So you may not consider me impartial. I've read and reread them all so many times over the years that I could probably start quoting from them. The Owl Mage trilogy is no exception.I should start by saying that books 1 and 2 in this trilogy ( Owlflight (The Owl Mage Trilogy)  and  Owlsight (The Owl Mage Trilogy) ) are five star books in my opinion. I enjoyed Darian and Keisha's separate stories, I loved the magery lessons, I was so pleased to meet up with Firesong and Silverfox again...I treasure both those books.I'm a tad less enamored of this one. It got off to a good, if a bit slow, start with a lengthy glimpse of how all the peoples from 1 and 2 coexist, and though many would probably call it too mundane or unexciting, I found the beginning comfortable and relaxing.The big reason I'm giving it four stars instead of five is the plot: once the lengthy beginning started to wrap up and we got into the meat of the story, it just got a bit too implausible for me. I realize that's a bit rich considering it's pure fantasy with magic and gryphons and spirit horses and all, but...my credulity didn't start to stretch until we got to this book.***(Spoilers ahead)So after 10 years, Darian finally decides he can't function without figuring out whether his parents are alive or not? After 10 years and no signs of hope, he's QUESTIONING whether his parents are alive? He just happens to come upon a vest made by his mother and finds out where to look? And he suddenly starts getting visions from the barbarians' totemic spirits - including one for a clan even the Ghost Cats have never heard of? And the visiting herald decides to tag along even though she's been stationed at the embassy? And once they made Darian a knight AND a Ghost Cat AND whatever else they decided he should be in charge of, nobody even blinks when he decides to take off on a lengthy and extremely dangerous quest?Really?Now, these questions are all answered in the book. I'm not saying that Lackey didn't do a fine job of connecting the dots, because she did. What is less fine is the fact that the answers are a little too...pat. Too cursory. One surprising twist, or maybe even two, would be just fine with me, but all these things just falling into place kind of smack of laziness. And what makes me most upset about the whole thing is that if Lackey had exercised her magnificent talent just a bit more, she could have set these things up a bit better and had PLAUSIBLE explanations for why things played out the way they did. But as it is, it's like the hand of God (in other words, Lackey) decided that things were just a little too serene in k'Valdemar and rushed into a solution without really thinking it through.***(End spoilers)Those are pretty vocal complaints for a four star book, I agree. I don't want to leave you with the wrong impression: I have read this book more than once, will most certainly read it many more times. I got choked up at the ending and enjoyed the whole journey. It's just that I would have enjoyed it more if it had been written with a bit more deftness. I still recommend reading it - especially if you've read the other Owl books! - I just don't want to give the impression that it contains the same artistry that we know Mercedes Lackey is capable of.

I loved tbis book when I first read it some twenty years ago and it is just as good now. Darien has grown up to become everything the previous two books set up. When he finds evidence that hos lost parents are still alive he embarks on a quest to find them. He faces danger fear and distance but never gives up. An altogether very satisfying end to a great trilogy .

Darian, thought orphaned and reared by his village, adopted by the tayledras, a forest people of Valdemar, and brought into magehood by the legendary mage, Firesong, matures fully in Owlknight. His maturity and accomplishments earn him knighthood in his own people,through his sponsor, Lord Breon and full membership in the Ghost Cat clan.In OwlKnight, Darian discovers that his parents, long thought dead, may have been caught in a "change", a national phenomenon that relocates one part of the land to another site. Along with his soon to be life partner,the village healer, Keisha, her Herald sister, Shandi and several of their closest friends, he set out to try to find his parents and therein lies the story.Darian's tale is a wonderfully enjoyable trilogy with a satisfactory ending but, for most enjoyment, start reading at the beginning with Owlflight and Owlsight rather than here with Owlknight although each book is nicely selfcontained

A nice conclusion to this trilogy. I just wish it had a more thorough epilogue! Too many danglingDetails. A fun adventure on the whole, with good character development.

I have loved this book since I first read it in hardback. The plot is great (as are most of Mercedes Lackey's books).What concerns me is that the Kindle version appears to have been scanned and published without having been proofread. Multiple typos and formatting errors have crept in in that process. It's very distracting to be jerked out of the story by misspelled words and inconsistent formatting.

It's every bit as good as Lord of the Rings. I haven't read the written books yet, but the type of story is similar. Just Great and very satisfying.

I love Mercedes Lackey. Her world of Valdemar is unique and rivals any others.

A reasonable culmination to the series however I felt that the story itself was rushed in parts so that the series could be concluded without a further book.

I just love this story engaging with this book is a wonder , This is something good reading. I have reached another end HAPPY time

This is a great addition to the Valdemar series - with some interesting insights into Tayledras life. Darrian's development throughout these novels from sulky adolescent to accomplished adult is a pleasure to discover.

Excellent end to this series, I think Darian is one of my favourite Mercedes Lackey, Valdermarian characters, though the Epilogue could do with being longer!

The third book about Darian is not my favorite. The storyline is easy to follow, but I miss the character development. This has more "angsty teen" type feel to it and it gets boring after awhile. Still its a good book to read while relaxing or travelling.