{"id":18084,"date":"2013-02-18T22:36:35","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T02:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=18084"},"modified":"2013-02-18T23:01:26","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T03:01:26","slug":"stand-out-author-mercedes-lackey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=18084","title":{"rendered":"Stand-out Author: Mercedes Lackey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I’m doing a series on authors on my 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a> List who have appeared on my lists before. There’s one author left with a total of 5 Sonderbooks Stand-outs, Mercedes Lackey.<\/p>\n

I remember I read some of Mercedes Lackey’s books before I ever started writing Sonderbooks in 2001. The only one that stood out as exceptional to me was Firebird<\/em>. That one’s a fairy tale retelling, so perhaps it’s not surprising that when Mercedes Lackey began her Tales of the 500 Kingdoms<\/em> — all playing off of fairy tales — that’s when she consistently got counted among my favorites. I’ve always enjoyed fairy tale retellings, and I love<\/em> these. So often, they point out what’s odd about the fairy tale, and play off the Tradition with humor and insight and a whole lot of fun.<\/p>\n

All of the five stand-outs are from the Tales of the 500 Kingdoms<\/em>. The first one, \"\"<\/a>The Fairy Godmother<\/a><\/em>, sets the stage for all the rest. Apparently, I was still holding out when I first read it, since it wasn’t a 2004 Stand-out. But with the next book, One Good Knight<\/a><\/em>, she hit the 2006 Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a> at #3 in Romance Fiction.<\/p>\n

In my 2007 Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a>, she ranked even higher with Fortune’s Fool<\/em> at #2 in Fantasy Fiction. (That was the year I didn’t get all my reviews of stand-outs written.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I remember I liked the books so much, I purchased the next book, The Snow Queen<\/a><\/em> — and then neglected reading it because it didn’t have a due date like all the library books I had checked out. When I finally got around to reading it, it was a 2011 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>, coming in at #4 in Fantasy Fiction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This past year, I decided it was time to catch up on the series. (Of course, I was sad when I had done so. I liked knowing there was another one of the books out there I could read.) Both were 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a> in Fantasy Fiction, Beauty and the Werewolf<\/a><\/em> taking #2, and Sleeping Beauty<\/a><\/em> at #3.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This series doesn’t necessarily have to be read in order, though you might want to start with The Fairy Godmother<\/a><\/em>, which lays the groundwork. But they are all so much fun, you won’t want to miss any!<\/p>\n

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