Anything With Nothing Edited by Mercedes Lackey

Source: NetGalley – thank you so much to the publisher. I have pre-ordered a copy as well!
TL;DR: I adored this, but I may be biased. Nearly all the stories were winners.

Plot: All varied but each held to the idea of Valdemar where bad things happen but hope is at the end.
Characters: Diverse and interesting, I hope to see more of these folks in my future reading.
Setting: Valdemar is my happy place.
Magic: Companions (magical talking not-horses), Healers, and Bards plus the magic of family? Perfection.

Thoughts:

I’m going to open this up with I might be a bit biased, but I loved this a lot. Valdemar was a world I loved growing up. I read these books semi-religiously. Sadly I haven’t picked one up in a long time, a fact I’m going to quickly remedy after returning to the world with this collection.

These all, for me at least, summed up the world of Valdemar. The stories were a fantastic mix of the best attributes that I remember loving in the world. The world is the same, the Heralds, Healers, and Bards all wander around doing good work. Most importantly, these all seem to capture the idea and what I love in this world. That bad things happen, really bad things. But in the end, hope is there and good shines through. It’s not grimdark, though truly bad things happen. Death and hurt and loss, but there is always some hope or light.

I really personally resonated with one or two of these stories, especially one that chronicled a new Mom being separated from her child and her fight to get back to her. So again, some bias goes into this rating. But I loved so many of these. There were perhaps one or two that I was less excited to read, which is impressive considering how many there are.

This was a read and then pre-order for me. I can’t wait to have a copy of this, and I recommend it for both old and new fans of Valdemar. Give this one a read.

5 out of 5 Companions