#owlknight

Owl Mage Trilogy/Mercedes Lackey Review

Summary: Darian is apprenticed to a venerable wizard when his hunter and trapper parents disappear into the forest never to be seen again. But a sudden twist of fate will change his life forever, when the ransacking of his village forces him to flee into the great mystical forest. It is here in the dark forest that he meets his destiny, as the terrifying and mysterious Hawkbrothers lead him on the path to maturity.

Review: The second book was the best of the whole trilogy. I wanted more from the first book (probably because I went into it expecting it to be more like the previous trilogy) and the third book had a weird timeline, but the second book and the beginning of the third book were less rushed and better. Pros: -Keisha and Shandi and their relationship. They're sisters and best friends who are very unlike each other. Shandi is the "girly-girl"-she has a lot of friends, loves embroidery, is ready to do what's expected of her and settle down with a husband. Keisha is the "not like other girls"-she doesn't have any friends, she is prickly, doesn't really plant to get married, has a profession. And neither of them are put down by the author or each other! -Also neither of them fits the stereotype exactly. They both have things (Keisha much more) that are "girly-girl" or "tomboy" stuff. -I really liked the thing with the dyheli and their morals. Cons: -A lot of people got POVs that honestly didn't need them. I felt like because of this we didn't really get a feel for Darian's character (weirdly enough, I think we did get Keisha, especially in the second book). -Steelmind's and Shandi's ship is super weird. They didn't talk to each other at all before the third book and hardly in the third book but suddenly they like each other.

The last installment in this arc, Owlknight was good but also a little of a mixed bag for me. Keisha and Shandi both drove me a bit mad. Keisha with her "Darian won't love me for long because I'm not a meek housemaker" and Shandi with her "I don't care about these people, we NEED to tell the others what is going on even if the magic will be like fireworks on a dark night to that enemy mage and will bring them crashing down on this innocent tribe". It's alright to be afraid but to disregard an entire tribe's safety because of it? That is too much.

Traveling out of the Vale and visiting all the different tribes and meeting the other totem spirits was fun though and it was a nice break after being mostly Vale locked in Owlsight.

Read: March 18th - 24th, 2026