Into the West by Mercedes Lackey

Into the West
by Mercedes Lackey

ISBN-13: 9780756417369
Hardback: 496 pages
Publisher: DAW Books
Released: December 6th 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Baron Valdemar and his people have found a temporary haven, but trouble could follow on their heels at any moment, and there are too many people for Crescent Lake to support. Those who are willing to make a further trek by barge on into the West will follow him into a wilderness depopulated by war and scarred by the terrible magics of a thousand years ago during the Mage Wars. But the wilderness is not as empty as it seems. There are potential friends and rapacious foes....and someone is watching them.


My Review:
Into the West is a fantasy. It's the second book in a series, and you'll better understand this book if you read them in order. This book also spoiled events in the first book.

Unfortunately, about a third of this book could have been cut or briefly summarized without changing the story, and the pacing would have been a lot better. The beginning dragged as we're told in people's thoughts (not shown, but told) how the people have been making do and using every last bit of resources with nothing to waste. We're told again and again the details about how every part of an animal was used for food, arrows, condoms, etc. We're not just told that they made winter clothing, we're given details about how it was sewn together. Details about how the manure left behind was handled and how a quick-growing grass spell worked (though this changed by the end, when dung wasn't apparently needed any more and even the rain was diverted). The author obviously put a lot of thought into the logistics of how to move thousands of fictional people in a magical world, but I just found this boring. Just say they made winter clothing, not half a page detailing how, especially as it didn't turn out to matter how they did it.

The Baron wasn't very interesting or realistic, either. Despite the first few sentences, he didn't really seem to struggle to change his ways from Empire ways to fully noble and self-sacrificing. He rarely made mistakes (though we're told why about halfway through) and everyone loved him (or got kicked out of the group). He gave himself pages-long lectures about how a wise leader acts. He and others thought about every last detailed reason why certain actions were or weren't allowed (like not letting the tow horses eat while working). He had a full conversation with one group of people and then went to a new group and repeated that full conversation. Things were just repeated a lot. When he negotiated near the end, he made everything extremely complicated in his thoughts, and I just gave up and skimmed that section rather than try to follow his reasoning.

However, Delia's sections were fun as she learned to use her skills and grew into a responsible adult. The sections with the fights against the odd, magical creatures were interesting as the characters had to think fast and experiment to see what would work. There were no sex scenes. There was a fair amount of bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.