TBR Challenge: Mercedes Lackey - Magic's Pawn

Though Vanyel has been born with near-legendary abilities to work both Herald and Mage magic, he wants no part of such things. Nor does he seek a warrior's path, wishing instead to become a Bard. Yet such talent as his if left untrained may prove a menace not only to Vanyel but to others as well. So he is sent to be fostered with his aunt, Savil, one of the famed Herald-Mages of Valdemar.
But, strong-willed and self-centered, Vanyel is a challenge which even Savil can not master alone. For soon he will become the focus of frightening forces, lending his raw magic to a spell that unleashes terrifying wyr-hunters on the land. And by the time Savil seeks the assistance of a Shin'a'in Adept, Vanyel's wild talent may have already grown beyond anyone's ability to contain, placing Vanyel, Savil, and Valdemar itself in desperate peril...

Comment: One more month gone, just like that! No wonder one feels time is passing by...

For July, the TBR post theme is "what a wonderful world" and my mind went immediately to fantasy, which doesn't have to be synonym with wonderful of course, but often it can be. My choice was simple; I have heard many good things about this author and I had added this to my TBR because it would feature a LGBT character, at a time I was super focused in reading stories which would include the theme. Thus, the mix of fantasy and of wonderful in this world sounded promising.

In this magical world, Vanyel is a young man who feels misunderstood by those around him. He isn't interested in the things his siblings are but he is still his father's heir and he knows expectations are on him. His life is pretty much organized into what his family hierarchy demands of him, but his true dream is to become a Bard. When he defies the norm in combat against someone his father trusts, he is sent away to his aunt Savil, a Herald Mage of Valdemar, who has magic and powers and who might teach Vanyel while he stays with the mages.

Vanyel isn't too happy with this, but he prefers to go than to get into more disputes he won't win, although he is wary since his aunt in the past had said he didn't show evidence of having magical ability. Things change when he meets Tylendel, another student, and someone who changes his whole world. The problem is that magic can have another side, one people might not control, and events will lead to Vanyel discovering precisely what happens when magic is out of control...

I suppose I can say this was, indeed, a wonderful world, but perhaps - to me - not exactly with the positivism one tends to think of when we associate the word wonderful to good things. I say this because this story didn't end up being as great as I expected, both when it came to my personal imagination and due to the accolades given to the author. Perhaps I have not chosen the best book by her to have that impression, but the overall tone of the story was not as captivating as I thought it would be.

Vanyel is, for all purposes, described as being slightly arrogant or entitled and I struggled to like him in the beginning. I can understand he feels his family, well his father in particular, doesn't respect his wishes to develop his musical skills and become a Bard, which apparently is important enough in this fantasy world. A lot is set on him becoming a lord like his father, and he knows others only are his friends because of who he is and not for himself. This makes him also hide a little beneath this facade of haughtiness, which might drive some people away.

We also learn, at some point, that his father might have pushed him even more towards a reality in which he will be a lord and such, by making him practice weaponry skills, and fighting skills, which he doesn't care for, because he suspects Vanyel might not like girls, and this way he would not be as easily exposed to less manly things, such as music I suppose, and, therefore, to other boys and men who might be like him. I mean... I guess this might make sense for the world in question, and for the characters' personality but it certainly put me off and I wasn't as interested in the story from them on.

As it happened with other books, the writing style also affected my perception of the story. Things are told in a direct way, but not in one I'd say is engaging, and adding this to my lack of interest and the more boring sections where nothing was really happening made reading the book sometimes dull. When things finally happen, mostly magic related, to turn everything upside down, I confess I felt it was a bit too confusing and the sequence of events hard to imagine in my head.

After the big shocking situation happens, Vanyel is a changed young man and he does discover he has had magic all along, but the way he now must deal with them is quite hard, for he was not prepared for the intensity of the powers, nor is he skilled enough to deal with them nor with the consequences of using them. This part did interest me more, and I also liked he had a Companion, magical horses who can bond with a magical human, and they helped each other. But the plot seems to be going in the direction of Vanyel being set up for something due to his powers and I'm not really curious about that.

I've seen reviews by some readers who claim this was groundbreaking for its time (published in 1989, I was 4 year old) and I can see that, and perhaps, again, I'd have loved it more had I read it when I was going through the hype of the genre, but the truth is that this story didn't seem well written to me. I feel this wasn't engaging and what is being described felt it lacked real importance, which is a shame considering the amount of angst and drama that keeps happening.

I suppsoe I can also say I'm perhaps not seeing the story as it was intended, but I thought this would be so much cozier, not in the sense everyone only does humble, quiet tings, but the sense of cumminity, of family, of life... I was hoping for something more like that, but so complex that I would not even notice the pages turning. It is also possible this does happen more along these lines in other books in this world, but now I'm not as invested in finding out, which means this wonderful world wasn't as wonderful as I wished.

Grade: 6/10