Di Maitland's Reviews > Magic's Price

I am rather relieved to say that, despite all expectations, this book did not leave me sobbing in the end. There was a tear or two, but I wasn’t broken. I was glued to the page, though, and have no doubt I’ll be rereading this again soon.

”If I die, I’ll either take him with me, or leave him so crippled he’ll be not threat. So help me, I will protect Valdemar with my last breath, and if there is a way to protect her after my death, I’ll find it.”

Magic’s Price is the final volume in the Last-Herald Mage trilogy, and, at last, we learn the reason for the series title. Set 8 years after Magic’s Promise leaves off, Vanyel is now in his mid-thirties and, with Randale at death’s door and Jisa still young, has had to assume the burdens of leadership. To cope, he separates himself from others and hides behind a blank facade. When Stefen, his nephew Medren’s roommate, becomes key to Randale’s care, however, Vanyel can’t help but admire the young bard and, despite his best intentions, his walls begin to crumble. And then the last of the Herald-Mages begin to die, and Vanyel realises the nightmares of his childhood weren’t the fictions he’d once hoped.

”You are quite alone, Herald-Mage Vanyel.”

We’re told from the start how the series ends: with Vanyel alone, fighting and dying for Valdemar. I was therefore surprised that the ‘end’ forms such a small proportion of the overall book. In the first three-quarters, we’re treated to the joys of a budding romance – visit home to meet the parents and all. And, at last, we learn that Vanyel’s parents are proud of him, and I almost cried for reading it.

”There’s only one way you ever disappointment me and–I don’t know, Van, but–it just doesn’t seem that important when you stack it up against everything else you’ve ever done.

I read most of Magic’s Price with trepidation, fearing what the next page would bring, but I needn’t have. Things don’t begin to pick up until the three-quarter mark. At this point, audiences should be warned that there is an incredibly gruesome on-page rape scene. Meanwhile, the final battle, which I’d been vividly imagining since book one, never actually happened. Well…it happened, but we’re shown nothing more than the opening volleys before we switch perspectives, and then we arrive back too late. I was actually rather sad that Lackey made this choice, though my tear glands thank her.

When we first met Vanyel, he was a boy, and a whiny, broken boy at that. By the end, he’s a man, and more than that, he’s a hero – the true stuff of legends. The transition is incredible to witness, particularly as seen through the eyes of Tylendel and Savil to start, and then Stefen to end.

”I can’t not help. Not anymore, anyway. And it doesn’t matter if anyone knows what I’m doing or not; I know, and I know I’m doing my best. And because of what I’m doing, things are better for other people. Sometimes a great many other people.”

Story and characters aside, I find Valdemar a comforting place to be. It’s a medievalesque world which values virtue and justice, where magical horse-like beings, Companions, choose paladins, or Heralds, who protect the weak and uphold the rule of law. It’s a place I’d be happy living, and one which gives me hope.

The Last-Herald Mage is one of the best epic fantasy series I’ve ever read and I’d recommend it highly. Geographically and politically, it’s not on the same scale as the Stormlight Archive or Wheel of Time series, but it packs its emotional punch and its characters will not soon be forgotten. Next, for me, in the wider series, will be the Heralds of Valdemar, the first Lackey wrote.

NB. For those interested, Lackey has actually written and set to music a lot of the songs mentioned in the Last Herald-Mage series. You can find these on YouTube here.