One mystery that has surrounded the Valdemar books, written by Mercedes Lackey and sometimes co-authored with Larry Dixon, is where the Companions came from. Companions are celestial beings that took the form of pure silvery-white horses with immortal speeds that never tire. They Choose (with a capital C) individuals with worthy hearts, no matter that person’s wealth or status, to bind together and then serve as Herald and Companion to protect the kingdom of Valdemar.

In case you’d forgotten, I have read every single Valdemar book written by Lackey (I tried one of the fanfiction collections she edited but didn’t like the inconsistency). And, Lackey is still writing! She finally (finally) wrote a trilogy that goes back to the beginning with Baron Kordas Valdemar, whose family helps his barony escape an evil empire you could compare to what Hitler organized, and relocate to a remote landscape. In this third book of the trilogy, the people arrive in a place they will develop and call Valdemar, and after ten years, it is an official place. But, where the heck did the Companions come from??

The council of Valdemar decides Kordas can’t keep running things as a baron; future relationships with other nations wouldn’t respect a land without recognizable governing bodies. Against his wishes, Kordas becomes king and decides “… being royalty would be just the same as they’d already lived, only with better hats.” While Valdemar faces no threats, Kordas overthinks his nation’s future. He knows he’s ethical and principled, but humans are flawed: “While he lived, there would be no tyrants on his throne. And Restil [his eldest son] was of the same cut as he was. But what about Restil’s heirs, and his heirs’ heirs? What about usurpers, and manipulators, and . . . things we can’t even conceive of now?”

Lo and behold, Kordas hears a voice; the Companion that has Chosen him appears, as do a few dozen others. Some folks are Chosen, like the kingdom’s heir, Restil; Kordas’s wife, Isla; a guard, a few mages, etc. Some Companions do not Choose anyone, and we’re told it’s so they can watch a few young teens and Choose them when they’re older, if their attitudes toward service in the name of good are not corrupted. Later, the Companions will mate, meaning only these first Companions were born of the grove where they appeared.

One thing I love about Lackey’s Valdemar books is they are always on the side of good, and the point of the Companions is to guide humans through tribulations ethically, and encourage bravery. They are about love with boundaries and caring for the oppressed. As many reviewers on The StoryGraph mention, and I concur, jumping into a new Valdemar book is like going home. Although it’s been a few years since I did the #ReadingValdemar project with another blogger, I was amazed at how much I remembered about Lackey’s universe, information I’ve collected over forty novels.

There are a couple of negatives to the novel Valdemar. Once the land of Valdemar is established (before they become a kingdom), everyone — from the poor to “highborn” — realized that there aren’t enough people to be personal servants for those who were upper class in the duchy they fled that was going to be seized by the Hitler-like emperor. There is no fabric to make fancy dress. The focus is building construction and food. Therefore, I wonder why Kordas allowed everyone to continue with class distinctions. Why not declare Valdemar a place where each person can contribute, and that their births do not dictate their futures? In a sense, Companions do level things out, Choosing both the impoverished “nobodies” and royalty alike.

Secondly, Lackey seems to struggle with creating a conflict that isn’t nation-destroying-evil incarnate. She tends to write some powerful mage who uses dark magic (meaning it’s created through human blood and suffering) that is going to wipe out Valdemar, and really, it’s the same problem the folks over at Marvel have. The villain destroys a city. The city rebuilds. The villain is going to blow up the planet. The villain is going to control the universe, etc. The stakes are so high all the time that it gets hard to care about the conflict because when the writers just allow the cities, planet, etc. to be rebuilt by the next movie, and everyone has moved on, there are no stakes at all.

*This is the final novel in the Founding of Valdemar trilogy. You can read my reviews of the first book, Beyond, and the second book, Into the West.