4.25 stars. Narrowly escaping a battlefield death, gryphon Kelvren performed an act of heroism that halted the conflict and won the hearts of Valdemar's troops. But his show of newfound power generated a diplomatic crisis. Frustrated by the mistrust cast upon him, Kelvren is effectively exiled, then given a chance to redeem his situation by setting out with an expedition to investigate a disturbance that even the gods fear. What awaits the travelers is a situation none of them could have imagined.

Though I was a fan of the first Herald series, I fell away until recently. returning to the fold with the stories of how Valdemar was founded. I was looking forward to seeing how things had changed with the passage of time in this world. It's also always a pleasure to have a chance to see things from a non-human point of view, re-examining the human characters' perceptions and motivations. And the explanation of how magic works/is understood within Valdemar, as opposed to within other cultures and beings, is fascinating and leaves the potential for countless storylines to spring from these differences.

Having said that, this was a rare case of being over-generous in worldbuilding. The details of the different species and interactions and the societal structure at the Vale were fascinating, but they came at the cost of the adventure. The expedition didn't get underway until the 80% mark, and the book ended abruptly. I remember feeling similarly about other Valdemar books, which never kept me from reading more. Hoping that this first book was a warm-up so that following books can be more action and consequence-heavy.

I was given the opportunity to review an e-ARC of GRYPHON IN LIGHT through NetGalley and DAW Books.

Gryphon in Light takes the short stories about the gryphon Kelvren from the short stories collections and turns them into the first part of a novel about what happened to him, and the aftermath of what was done. It also starts the investigation into the other, unanswered part of the story from the Mage Storms trilogy. In the Mage Storms, they dealt with Urtho's tower. Now, they are going to try to deal with the seat of Maar's power.

Gryphon in Light is an intriguing story with almost non-stop action. It deals with all the cultures that are uniting together on the edge of Valdemar, and brings them together on a quest of importance to all of them. When I hit the end of the book (which ends "To be continued") I kept wishing for the rest of the story. This is one trilogy I am going to find it very hard to wait for.

I love Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series, so I might be biased. I think this was a fantastic entry in the series. I would not start here though you probably could. This is a continuation of the Elspeth books.

Kelvren the Gryphon from the Owl books was a favourite character of mine that is non-human or one of the magical races. His story never felt like it was told fully and we saw quite a bit in the Owl book as well as the short story.

The first bit of this book is the short story that I loved so much from one of the anthologies. It shows for me a huge improvement to the Gryphons abilities and makes them less mystical. I also love seeing other characters as well such as treyvan and hydona. There is just so much good about this first part of kelvren story.

Kelvren is so selfless he thinks of the good of others before he thinks of himself. He even puts his Vale first. He is angry but he also seems to take it all in stride.

I feel a bit angry with what happens as I always saw the K'Valdemar group as a huge big happy family and this has shown me that a lot of them are petty

I really enjoy that after the short story which now is an opening for this book I was so pleased to see the guard first stavern and to finally be able to meet his wife.

There hasn't been much excitement or action but it has a great buildup for a story that you can see building to a climax.

What I like is the new smoke creatures that have been made as I like the idea of something new and it makes the world so much more vivid.

A good book makes you feel something whether is be a good feeling such as happiness or a more negative emotion such as anger. This book made me both at one point or another. While this makes it a good book it is far from one of her best as it seemed like almost nothing happened.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed returning to Valdemar, but this story just didn’t really hit for me. We first meet Kelvren when he is gravely injured. Instead of using his magic for healing himself, he uses it to heal his new friend Hallock so he can return home to his beloved. This leaves Kelvren drained and in worse shape than any gryphon ever has been before without dying. His magical recovery causes him to become unstable to the point of causing magical disasters everywhere he goes, prompting the other gryphons to shun him. Because of their lack of appreciation for his heroism and desire to exile him, Kelvren chooses to leave on a new quest.

I struggled with the entire premise of the story - it felt very contrived. I also could not reconcile what I felt were two opposing aspects of Kelvren’s characterization: in the very first pages he selflessly heals a man he has just met, but later has an ego to rival that of Apollo in the early book of Rick Riordan’s Trials of Apollo series. He truly felt like two completely different characters depending on what the plot needed at that moment. I was also initially excited to see Elspeth and Darkwind again, since I loved them in the Mage Winds trilogy, but in this one it really seemed like they had lost what made them fun characters to read about. I couldn’t sense their chemistry and individuality anymore and was left disappointed.

Gryphon in Light by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon is a delightful return to a much loved fantasy world.

What Made me love this book
-Gryphons! I have always loved the gryphon characters in this world and was happy to be back with them
-references to other trilogies I already love by the author
-Excellent pacing and Dialogue.
What didn't work as well for me
-over reliance on a readers knowledge of other books set in the world make this title a little difficult to grasp for readers new to lackey
Who I would recommend this book for
Fans of Lackey's earlier Valdemar chronicles will enjoy returning to this world and I know I personally will be adding it to my collection.

Gryphon in Light is the first in the newest Valdemar trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. If you're familiar with the world of Velgarth, this new trilogy falls immediately after Darian's trilogy (Owlflight, Owlsight,Owlknight) and features the gryphon Kelvrin.

Although this is the first of a trilogy, it is by far not the first book set in this world. You can certainly read this book first, but there are many, many call backs to every other trilogy set in Valdemar and the surrounding lands. At a minimum, I would recommend reading the Arrows trilogy and Darian's trilogy first if you can. You won't be sorry if you do, Mercedes Lackey had created a world rich in detail, magic, and characters you will want to love and hate.

I enjoyed every minute reading Gryphon in Light. It is a blast reading about Kelvrin and seeing so many characters that I loved making appearances in the book. There are references to every other trilogy, but not direct references to the very few sets of books that have four or more books (like the Collegium Chronicles). I have to admit that I squealed a few times when I saw those bits. I love it when an author can weave their books together with such skill the way Mercedes Lackey does. Her writing will pull you in, hold you by throat, and keep you immersed in some of the best stories written by anyone.

I received an advance copy from DAW and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a longtime Lackey reader, I'm always excited for a new series, especially when it's set in a time period familiar to me in her Velgarth universe. This takes place after the Owlsight trilogy, and familiar faces from previous books (Treyvan, Darkwind, Firesong) pop up, the first two briefly, and Firesong as one of the main supporting characters.

Post-Mage Storms, as Valdemar and its surrounding countries deal with their new world, the country faces a threat from within-- a group of merchants rebelling and claiming a corner of the country as theirs. The book begins with a soldier, Hallock, who's been fighting the mercenaries hired by the rebels, as well as Kelvren, a gryphon who is severely injured along with Hallock in the fighting. During their mutual recovery, Kelvren drains himself of magic to the edge of death, attempting to heal Hallock. When Kelvren is healed by Treyvan, the unexpected happens, and the safest place for him to be isn't a Guard camp, but instead, the k'Valdemar Vale, where healers who are more adept with magic can try to solve the puzzle he's become. But there's a mission to find what's happening at the long-abandoned site of Ma'ar's fortress from centuries ago, and Kelvren and Hallock are enlisted for the mission. Because it's Lackey, this mission of course also involves various intelligent and magical animals, as well as a lone Companion and a company of gryphons from Iftel.

Coming after the recently-published second book in the Founding trilogy, and being the first book in this era of Valdemar in 24 years, this story tied in with both the books of the Queen Selenay era as well as the Founding story, sometimes to the point where the connections felt a little too "see? Like we said in the other book!". But to familiar readers, this feels almost comforting. Yes, I remember the Owlknight stories! Yes, I remember the floating barges! But would I recommend this to people new to Lackey's books? Absolutely not. I needed an encyclopedia's worth of backstory to really grasp things (which I had), and a new reader would be confused. But for Lackey fans, this is going to be a delight.

ARC Copy...promising start to a new series and outing into Valdemar world.Very much has Lackey's world building touch and very nice complex world around the Griffin's society and culture.

First in a trilogy that ends with "to be continued". The gryphon Kelvren is seeking adventure when he winds up badly injured when he rescues a company of Valdemar soldiers and ends an internal struggle.. A wounded Valdemar officer is healed by Kelvren and summons aid for the white gryphon. The injuries damage his use of magic but he's partly healed but is left with unstable magic which results in him glowing brightly. Brought home to the Vale a group is organized to head on a dangerous expedition to the site of a magical disruption threatening them all.

You need to be really familiar with the Valdemar series to even begin to understand who the varied magical creatures that form the expedition are and what their capabilities bring to the adventure. Newcomers would be totally lost with all the various characters and magical animals much less the terrain they've heading through. I enjoyed this book but I haven't read everything in this vast series of books. I was left wanting to read some of then trilogies I missed to understand the characters better. Loved the characters and story but I also have a real problem with the abrupt end of the book so I gave it only three stars. When the trilogy is finished I'm sure it will rate a much higher score.

It's fantastic to be back in Valdemar again! There's a lot of teen and childhood nostalgia wrapped up with Mercedes Lackey's writing, and honestly I appreciate that she hasn't varied a lot of her essential style - she doesn't need to, her books hold up just fine. This was a great start to a new Gryphon trilogy. Kelvrin is impetuous, reckless and brave, and apparently going on a quest. I'll say no more but this was brilliant and I loved every second of it.

Wow! What an amazing beginning to the the newest trilogy in the world of Valdemar. I could not stop reading this amazing book.

The gryphon Kelvren is joined by a cast of old friends and new, to go on a quest to solve a monumental mystery at the center of Lake Evendim the site of Maar's tower during the Mage Wars and the 2nd site of the cataclysm that created the lake itself and set off the mage storms.

I am thrilled to return to the world that is Valdemar! As always Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon bring their signature excellent world-building, magic, wonders and fantastic characters, both human and not, to us in this volume.

I love going back to the Valdemar books again and again and am already eager for the next part of the series.

This is a satisfying read full of magic, wonders and fantastic characters both human and not. Understandably 'Gryphon in Light' does end in a bit of a cliffhanger, since it is a quest trilogy, but it didn't dampen my enjoyment at all.

Mark your calendars for the release date - July 25 2023

I recommend this book and the whole series.

I received this ARC from DAW and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you so much.


#GryphoninLight #NetGalley #Valdemar