Mercedes Lackey

[ArtAngel]

Oh yes, I adore these books. I've read about three quarters of her stories. My favorites are anything Valdemar and the Obsidian Trilogy. I was a tad disapointed in "The Pheonix Unchained", it's a good story but a child's story in comparison to the Obsidian Trilogy.

[Patti L.]

I haven't tried that group, I think too many inconsistencies creep in when she has co-writers.  The one she wrote by herself that most disappoints me is "The Black Swan".  Cardboard villan.

[ArtAngel]

Yeah The Black Swan was nowhere near her usual standard. But you should get the Obsidian Trilogy, it is absolutely awesome.

[Zealith]

I never managed to get more than a chapter into the first in the Obsidian Trilogy.
I'm ready This Rough Magic right now, and it's just as intricate and interesting as In the Shadow of the LIon.

[Cerulean]

I really liked the first book in the Obsidian Trilogy and liked the second okay, but the third one came out (or seemed to) so much later that I'd forgotten everything that happened and so didn't read it. Plus I read some so-so reviews on Amazon.

[jenglows]

 Anyone want to recommend their favorite book to me?  I haven't read her and I want to start with something really good

[Demeter]

Glow - it really depends on what you are in the mood to read, she's got a wide range.

I love her elemental mage series - especially Phoenix and Ashes and the Serpent's Shadow.  You can tell right away with Phoenix that it is a retelling of Cinderella, but I read all the way through Serpent without knowing it was a fairy tale... I had to go back and think about it after I read Phoenix... it's obvious when you know that it's a retelling, but the fairy tale does not, in any way, get in the way of a good story.  The "Elemental Mage" part means that the magic in these worlds are based on fire, water, earth and air.  Each mage has a different affinity. Lots of spirit creatures around... good stuff.  The only one I didn't really like was The Gates of Sleep (Sleeping Beauty)

Personally, I also enjoy her 500 Hundred Kingdom series - more fairy tales all mixed up, but they don't appeal to everyone. The Fairy Godmother is, so far, the best (though my mother preferred Fortune's Fool)

Now, what Lackey is best known for is the Valdemar series, which is WONDERFUL.  Valdemar is a kind of Utopia. With these cool beings that look like horses, but are actually called Companions.  If you want to read it all chronologically within the world, you can start with the Gryphon series (Black, White and Silver Gryphon) but I think you'd actually do better to read them in the order they were published, which means starting with the Arrows of the Queen.  If you don't mind a young girl protagonist, I think that's the best way to see this world unfold... you get to meet Talia, a sheltered young girl, and learn with her about these Companions. Lackey does a nice job with 'coming of age' stories, and there are some very nice ones throughout the Valdemar books.  She grows up as the series evolve. Most likely, you'll see a timeline published in the book, but basically  you want the Heralds of Valdemar books (1-3); Winds of Fate (1-3) and there are some good duologies and a stand along that go along with them.

If you want a sword and sorcery, chicks rule and kick butt sort of book, start with the Oathbound and Oathbreakers, then either go back to the Heralds Trilogies, or read By The Sword, which is about the daughter of Oathbreakers characters...

If you get sucked in to the Valdemar books (and I sure enjoyed it!) I think it's best to read them in the order published, but you can pretty well take your pick from the timeline - and see what's available in your library - or at your used book store

[Zealith]

What ever you do, do not start her valdemar books with Firestorm, it does practically no explanations of the world. The last Herald Mage trilogy, The Black Gryphon or the White Gryphon are my favorites. She writes just about everything, which specific part of sci-fi/fantasy do you like?

[jenglows]

sword/sorc with heroines,  mystery crossovers, whatever.  I'll read just about anything if it's well written and entertaining ( I'm a book slut )

[Zealith]

Maybe you'd better start with OathBound and Oath Breaker. There is also a collection of short stories for that trilogy. Any of her valdemar books would also more or less match sword/sorc with heroines.

[charmed]

I like most of the book in her Elves on the Road Universe, which has 3 series: Bedlam Bard, Serrated Edge and Diana Tregarde. This will tell you more.

I agree with Demeter about the Elemental Mage series; I never got into Valdemar or any of her more traditional fantasy stories.

[Zealith]

I loved them all, though I haven't managed to work my way through one of her co-authored series and Sacred Ground.

[Patti L.]

And this is where tastes can differ.  I read the Valdemar of all sorts, including the Oathbound, Oathbreaker, & Oathsister collections, which do impinge on Valdemar.  I did read Sacred Ground, although it didn't stick with me particularly well.  The co-written things like the Obsidian, I haven't gotten into, nor the Elizabethan era elves.  The Bedlam's Bard, SERRAted edge, and Diana Tregard I've read.  My main problem with Diana was the loving attention she gave to evil.
At one point she was saying Diana had been victim of an airlock accident on Babylon 5 & we wouldn't see her again, because people were trying to re-create the evil magical spells she made up.  She figured she could get away from that/away with writing more in that world by connecting it with the elves.

[charmed]

I haven't gotten into, nor the Elizabethan era elves.  The Bedlam's Bard, SERRAted edge, and Diana Tregard I've read. 

The Elizabethan ones didn't do it for me either but the rest of the series I enjoy very much. 

[Patti L.]

I'm also not thrilled when she tries to do re-tellings.  She does some all right, but others are not to my taste.  As I mentioned earlier, "The Black Swan" had a cheap cardboard villan.  And I couldn't get into Phoenyx, nor Gates of Sleep.  I didn't really see what fairy tale she was trying to re-tell in the one with the half-Indian female doctor, so I didn't have a problem with it, & Fire Rose came in on Elemental Masters with a fairly light nod toward "beauty & the beast", in my opinion.  I also wonder why she insists on sticking the rest of them in Europe rather than America, & during the end of the Victorian era.
But there, that's just me.
I'll note there's a section in one of the Honor duology about Albrecht (In Valdemar) where she, like Our Hostess, perpetuates the "glass sags as it gets older" myth.