The Phoenix Endangered

Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory

Harrier is faced with a challenge – he hates killing, yet is fated to become a legendary Knight-Mage. Tyr, his friend and the hope of the elves, is just as lost and confused. Yet they must triumph over Bisochim, who is determined to wreak the peace of the light.

This novel is a bit unsatisfactory, particularly the ending. There could have been far more fitted into this novel. The journey is long, its filled with unnecessary details between Harrier and Tyr arguing about what to do next and their various character flaws that they know about each other.

I’m not sure of the significance of the missing desert tribe. Yes, they feature near the end of the novel, but they aren’t really necessary as far as I can see. Does everyone else spot the potential conflict of love interest?

I like the Telchi. I only wish there was more of him, and that perhaps he didn’t have to die. That’s the difference between this trilogy and the last one is that people that they care about die more often than not. It should add an element of suspence, but I never really felt attracted enough to these secondary characters to care.

Oh! The height of irony! Bisochim is so desperate to save his people, but instead he finds himself being the element of their destruction. Pretty frustrating for him, I’d have to say. And yet he’s not bright enough to realize that perhaps he’s doing the wrong thing.

I don’t have the third book in this series at the moment, and it’s a bit frustrating for me. I will read it eventually though.