Last Herald-Mage-The Last Herald-Mage (Deluxe Hardcover)

This first-of-its-kind deluxe edition collects all three novels in the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed trilogy that established Mercedes Lackey as a master of fantasy and featured one of the genre’s first openly gay male protagonists. With an elegant new cover in a shimmering metallic finish, designed sprayed edges, a foil case stamp depicting the national crest of Valdemar, and the Vanyel novella "Uncivil Blood," The Last-Herald Mage is the perfect gift for returning fans and new readers eager to delve into a foundational piece of fantasy history. Vanyel Ashkevron, the eldest of his brothers, is an utter disappointment to his father. Unlike the rest of the Ashkevron sons and cousins, he has no interest in any of the skills that are vital for a Border estate, such as horse breeding, estate management, or, most crucially, combat. The only thing he has any interest in at all is music: he wants to become a Bard. His father wants the estate Weaponsmaster to beat that nonsense out of him—literally, if necessary. And when the all-too-inevitable broken bones occur, in desperation he sends the youngster to his Aunt Savil at the Heralds’ Collegium at the palace of Valdemar itself, hoping that she can “cure” him. Instead tragedy awakens his latent magic, and by the time his powers, raw and unmastered, are released on the world, it may already be too late to avoid calamity on a truly devastating scale. This is Vanyel’s story: a boy who dreams of making music, he will grow into Valdemar’s greatest-ever Herald-Mage. Along the way Vanyel will confront war and grief, dark magic, and the heaviest loss of all—the loss of his one true love. He must reconcile with his destiny, with his heart, and with his very soul. For the fate of the world lies on Vanyel’s shoulders, and if he…