Gryphon in light

Normally peaceful Valdemar is used to fighting border skirmishes with neighboring Karse and battling demons that arise from eldritch storms, but civil war, even on a small scale, is outside their experience. When Kelvren the gryphon is shot down in the midst of one such battle, far out of reach of healers and heralds, he is reduced to the status of "scary monster" as he slowly succumbs to his wounds. His vast, gryphon-sized ego won't let him go without leaving a heroic tale behind him, however. In his attempts to do good on his way out, he does much more than even he imagined, turning himself into a literal beacon of light and trailing peace and confusion wherever he flies. So he sets off to bring his unique blend of peace and light to a place long thought too dark and dangerous to explore. VERDICT This book begins a new trilogy within the Valdemar world. Readers who discovered or rediscovered Valdemar in Lackey's recent Beyond will find enough links to the events of that origin story to see this later Valdemar as a new but still beloved place, as will regular readers of the series.--Marlene Harris