To finish out The Mage Wars trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon, I finished reading The Silver Gryphon (fantasy, 400 pages).

“A dozen years of peace have passed in the city of White Gryphon – but the inhabitants of this hard-won haven have not forgotten their struggles, and have trained an elite guard force, the Silver Gryphons, to protect their city. Skandranon, the Black Gryphon, and Amberdrake the healer, have settled into quite, comfortable lives. But things are not so tranquil for Silverblade, Drake’s daughter, and Tadrith, Skan’s son. Anxious to prove themselves, and despite their parents’ very real concerns, they have enlisted in the Silvers. After two years of rigorous training, Blade and Tad are finally given their first solo assignment – a remote guard post in wild, largely unexplored territory. Everything seems auspicious as Tad and Blade set off in the air, but three days out from White Gryphon disaster strikes – the two young guards plummet from the sky to the deep jungle below, struck down by an unseen enemy. Lost and badly injured, the desperate partners take stock of their situation: all their spell-fueled equipment – including their only means of communication – is inoperable, drained of all magic. But their troubles are just beginning. For in the dark of the tropical rain forest which surrounds them waits a nameless terror which even their fathers could never have envisioned.”

This was probably my least favorite book in this trilogy. I think part of my unhappiness for this book stems from the same unhappiness I found with the first book and that’s all about the mandatory het-pairings. When we first meet Silverblade, she’s the opposite of her parents and on purpose. She wants to be a fighter, a scout, an adventurer – someone who makes her own way and protects others from threats they may not see coming. But then she becomes like so many characters before her with a romantic and sexual subplot that takes over a good portion of her story. Many of her conversations revolve around an attractive man instead of talking about her and Tad’s situation.

While I did enjoy the resourcefulness of both Tad and Blade in this story, and how their actions showed a very keen understanding of survival situations in hostile areas, I found the references to Blade’s romantic interest annoying. I think that stems a lot from my exhaustion with every story having to have a romantic or sexual subplot and also with how much of your brain and body are focused on just surviving when you’re in a hostile survival situation. Maybe it’d be different if the wyrsa weren’t hunting Blade and Tad and they’d just have to hang out with the wreck of their equipment long enough for a rescue to take place because boredom in that situation is very real.

Anyway. Just because of the forced, mandatory-for-that-time het relationship, that bumps this book from a low three to a high two on my rating scale. I’m glad I own it but this is exactly why I haven’t reread this trilogy for decades

Lackey, Mercedes and Dixon, Larry. The Silver Gryphon. DAW Book Collectors, 1996.