Arrows of the Queen (The Heralds of Valdemar Book 1) by Mercedes Lackey
Talia is a girl of the Holderfolk Unloved and unwanted with no say in her life and her only relief is in reading. When her family decides to marry her off she runs away and encounters a Companion one of the mysterious horses of the Heralds the Queen’s roaming peacekeepers. The Companion takes her back to the Collegium of Heralds were she find he has chosen her to fill the role of Queen’s Own (The conscience of the queen) Unprepared she finds herself trying to unravel a conspiracy to overthrow the queen and destroy the heralds.

I liked this book the story mostly focused on how Talia settles into the Collegium and comes out of her shell to make friends. The story was very engaging and because the book is short had me watching the pages run out and wanting more.

Sanctuary (Dragon Jousters Book 3) by Mercedes Lackey
Kiron and his wing are now safe in the Desert City of Sanctuary but life is getting steadily worse for the peoples of Alta and Tia. As refugees flow into Sanctuary Kiron and the other leaders search for a way to brake the power of the Magi.

I loved this book as I have the rest of the series. The story has an easy enthralling flow to it and the characters are all likeable. The problem was that it was too short and I am left wanting more.

Renegade's Magic (The Soldier Son Trilogy Book 3) By Robin Hobb
Nevare has escaped from being executed in Gettys and fled into the Speck forest with the resolution to serve the magic and save the ancestor trees. What he is unprepared for is Soldiers Boy taking over his body making him an ineffectual observer as his military knowledge is used against his country men and puts the lives his cousin and friends in Gettys at risk. Can he put the two halves of his soul back together and bring a peaceful solution to the conflict?

I had a major problem with this book in that I really disliked the specks, their magic and Soldiers Boy.
What I wanted was for Nevare to break the Specks magic, cut down the ancestor trees and help the road be completed. As it was the book ended with my predicted ending and that made me feel better about the series and actually would have liked it to go on a bit longer as it required a bit more closure in my opinion.

Shadowmarch (Shadowmarch Trilogy Book 1) Tad Williams
King Olin of Southmarch has been kidnapped and when his son Kendrick is murdered the two youngest children the twins Briony and Barrick are made co-regents in a court were they have no idea who to trust. To make things worse the Twilight people fairy folk from behind the Shadowline to the north are preparing for war.

I really did not like this book and had to struggle through it. That majority of the characters seem complete idiots the only likeable character was Briony. The story jumped about a lot and seemed to be going nowhere for most of the book.

Earth Logic (Elemental Logic Saga Book 2) By Laurie J. Marks
To make things worse in war-torn Shaftal a plague has erupted killing both Sainnites and Shaftali. Karis and her family drawn from their self imposed isolation to cure it. But after taking action Zanja is unwilling to return to the passive isolation so she takes drastic action in response to a prophecy in the hope of freeing Karis to take action to bring peace Shaftal.

I found Gay characters relationship irritating as in the first book but the story was really good and the Sainnite characters were very interesting and entertaining. I did find myself skimming the paragraphs analysing their readings of the glyph cards as they were confusing and boring. But on the whole I liked the book and will be buying the next book, as I am eager to know what happens next.