Beyond World's End

Bedlam's Bard #4

by Mercedes Lackey, Rosemary Edghill

This is your soul on drugs...
After the events chronicled in Bedlam's Bard, world-saving bard and magician Eric Banyon moves into his new New York apartment hoping to settle down to the quiet life. No such his building is a safe-house for a group of occultist Guardians protecting the city from supernatural evil. And there's a new evil for them to quard against....
When unethical drug researchers discover that they can induce amazing mental powers using psychotropic drugs, they begin planning to raise a drug-enslaved army of mercenaries and grow very, very rich. But this gets the attention of Aerune mac Audelaine, lord of the dark Unseleighe Sidhe, who hopes to use the drugs to break through to the human world and feed on the suffering there. Both plans will bring terror to the world -- and both are threatened by the very existence of Eric Banyon.
With his possibly loyal companions -- a beautiful elven half-breed and a gargoyle -- Eric heads for a three-way battle of wizardry that will determine Gotham's fate -- and his own.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy, Contemporary, Elves

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.

"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.

"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.

"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:

"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."

Also writes as Misty Lackey

Author's website

Reviews

[Viridian5 · Rating 1 out of 5]

When this third book in the Bedlam's Bard series came at last (nearly ten years after Summoned to Tourney), only with a new co-author, Rosemary Edghill, on board, I had high hopes, especially when I read from the summary that Eric now lived alone in New York City.

Damn, did I get my hopes dashed hard. The Nightflyer possession? Cured now. Between books two and three. I wanted to see this, thank you. Lackey and Edghill don't bother to say how his problem was fixed either. The elves had finally bothered to train Eric in his Bardic abilities. Between books two and three. The threesome of Eric/Beth/Kory had broken up. Between books two and three.

When Beyond starts, Eric's trained in his Bardic abilities, rich, and moving into an apartment in New York City alone after an unknown amount of time spent Underhill. Time has passed faster in the real world, though the authors haven't said how much time. I assume they did this to account for the gap of time between the publishing of Summoned to Tourney and Beyond World's End, but I don't know if I'm right about the length of time they intend. The threesome broke up due to a mutual feeling that they'd drifted apart instead of Eric getting a much needed epiphany. Beth's pregnant with Eric's child as his gift to her and Kory, since they can't have children on their own. My reaction: "Huh?"

Despite being a set-up book to the series' new direction, nothing much really happens in Beyond World's End. Part of the problem may be that the authors spend 15 pages talking about Eric's apartment. What he has in it, since he's rich because the elves can ken as much gold as they want. Good thing they haven't crashed the world's financial markets yet, huh? Everything feels shallow and rushed, and Ria's return doesn't merit anywhere near the emotion it should have. I ended the book feeling very let down.

But I'll give it some slack, figuring that Beyond World's End was a transitional book. New co-author, new direction for the series. I'll see how the next book goes.

[Tommy /|\ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a bad third book in this series of Urban Fantasy from Mercedes Lackey. However, the plotline is thin and threadbare in many places -- enough there that one won't notice too much on first look, but close inspection really shines through on that point. The character growth of Eric Banyon is stale halfway through the book, but the character development for Ria is stellar throughout. There are nods to her "Elves and Fast Cars" urban fantasy and her Diana Tregarde series throughout -- but the Guardian characters are mere hints and placeholders towards Tregarde, and the "Elves and Fast Cars" gets some cursory nods in places.

All in all, I was firmly disappointed in this effort from Mercedes. The plotline is not at all what I've come to expect from her, and the character development is slightly shaky when compared to the two earlier novels in this series, and her "Last Herald Mage" series in her Valdemar world. There's enough here to call the book an "average" read, but not enough to whet an appetite for those who enjoyed "Knights of Ghosts and Shadows" and "Summoned to Tourney" previously.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. I was incredibly disappointed after liking the beginning of the series so much. I don't know if it was the new co-author, but I don't think so. The story was formulaic -- very similar plot to her previous novels -- and depressing. Although both stories had evil geniuses who were VERY evil, this story was totally devoid of hope. Yes, there are sadistic evil people out there -- but I believe that they are few and far between, and that everyone does has some good in them, even if it is ignorant and misguided. The author's themes are very played out and the book was a boring disappointment. I think the author needs some hugs and quite a bit if therapy to work out whatever issues she developed from being picked on as a child.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so loving these Bard tales!

The characters are getting better, and more varied, with every book. The plot lines are getting ever more convoluted, and the scenery is getting better, too.

I'm very much enjoying Eric's journey to maturity as a Bard, and how he has really started thinking more about the ethics of his magic use - despite the occasional lapses, of course.

I'm really loving how the story lines are growing, and connecting more with both elves and humans, and can't wait to see what will happen next!

I'm hoping Eric will be having more adventures, hopefully with Ria, too, in the next book on my shelves in : Spirits White As Lightening.

[Todd R · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd probably give this a 2.3 if possible. It wasn't absolutely terrible, but it wasn't a great reading experience. I like Edghill, so the writing wasn't bad, the content just wasn't the best.
When I have to read about how something looks like castle Greyskull and on the same page how another thing looks like the one in Star Wars, it gets annoying. There were far too many movie references in this book...I counted three on one page. Lazy.
At about 60% the way through I began skimming the narration and detail and going straight to the dialogue - there was way to much 'this is what's happening' and then 'this is what happened'...boring. And the details weren't helpful, alot of filler went into this one.
I would have stopped reading, but Bards and Flute players are few and far between in fantasy fiction and Aerune was interesting. Though even he quickly fell from villainous to flat and boring.

[Rachel Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts with a time skip and Eric going back to Julliard. I'm kind of sad that she broke up the trio of Eric, Kory, and Beth. I thought they worked well together. A lot of new interesting characters were added since Kory and Beth were hardly in this book at all. The two groups of villains also made things very interesting. The climax felt a little lack luster and left me with some unanswered questions. It wrapped up the main plot, I hope that my questions will be answered in the next book. With the book being split between so many characters we didn't see much of Eric's life back in the real world and at school. I would've like to see more of that. I'd like to give it a 3.5 rating rather than a solid 4.

[Flewts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I really enjoy Mercedes Lackey's books. This is the first one in this series that I have read, and it will probably be the last. Ironic, because the main character, the Bard, is a flutist and so am I! There was nothing wrong with the story, lots of action, some clear understanding of music and what it takes to study at Juilliard.

I guess I was not enamored with this book because it takes place in New York City, a place I am not interested in visiting (again), and it involved street people, drugs, and... was just kind of depressing to me.

Thankfully there are many, many, many other books written by Mercedes Lackey, and I'm gonna read them!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review here:

https://jamesgenrebooks.blogspot.com/...

I mean, it remains good reading, even as we again get dragged into the streets with the characters, a theme that tends to happen in any of Mercedes Lackey's Urban Fantasy series.

[Mariska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never Gets Old!

I had to buy the Kindle version because I have worn out a hardcover and 2 paperback copies. Magic and elves alive and well in our modern world is a dream that I wish was true.

[Natty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good series for summer reading by the fire.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

great story without a cliffhanger ending.

[Kathy Sebesta · Rating 4 out of 5]

wrong posting, sorry

[Mona Cashman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listed to this on Audible. It was excellent

[Jeff]

Middle of a series?

THIS IS YOUR SOUL
ON DRUGS
After the events chronicled in Bedlam's Bard, world-saving bard and magician Eric Banyon moves into his new New York apartment hoping to settle down to the quiet life. No such luck: his building is a safe-house for a group of occultist Guardians protecting the city from supernatural evil. And there's a new evil for them to guard against....

When unethical drug researchers discover that they can induce amazing mental powers using psychotropic drugs, they begin planning to raise a drug-enslaved army of mercenaries and grow very, very rich. But this gets the attention of Aerune mac Audelaine, lord of the dark Unseleighe Sidney, who hopes to use the drugs to break through to the human world and feed on the suffering there. Both plans will bring terror to the world-and both are threatened by the very existence of Eric Banyan.

With his possibly loyal companions-a beautiful elven half-breed and a gargoyleEric heads for a three-way battle of wizardry that will determine Gotham's fate-and his own.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Mercedes Lackey, author of the bestselling Heralds of Valdemar and Bardic Voices series, began life as a child and has been attempting to rectify that error ever since. Named for actress Mercedes McCambridge, she has been trying with no success to get the Benz automobile authorities to recognize the natural link between her name and theirs, and offer her the use of an M100 or some variety of high-end sports car for gratis. This, too, has had a distinct lack of success. Other than writing she can be found at various times prying the talons of the birds of prey she is attempting to nurse back to health out of her hands, endangering her vision by creating various forms of Art Beadwork, and cross-stitching dragons, gryphons, and other semi-mythological fauna. At the moment, her hair is red, her favorite color is green, and she is covered by various members of her flock of pet parrots, cockatoos and macaws, all of which are trying to help her type8shgalal-akejbejks9ife.

Rosemary Edghill, after holding the usual array of Weird Writer Jobs, including freelance graphic designer and vampire killer, settled down to a career as a full-time writer. She has written three books in the Twelve Treasures series, urban fantasies about elves and subways, as well as books in genres ranging from romance to mystery. She has also collaborated with such masters of fantasy as Marion Zimmer Bradley and Andre Norton. Of this collaboration, Mercedes Lackey writes, "I needed a new partner for our Bedlam Bards series ... Rosemary was the only possible writer who was sharp enough!" Her web page can be found at http://www.sff.net/people/eluki

Published 1/1/2001
SKU: 0671319558
Ebook Price: $4.00

Baen Free Library Book

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fairly good, though probably not quite as good as it could have been. I found it to be pretty easy to jump in to the plot, even though I haven't yet read any of the previous books. The characters and setting are generally pretty interesting, and I feel like Eric generally has some good character development here. I'm not sure how I feel about Ria. I kinda wish I'd gotten a bit more insight into her character. As it is, it feels like her introduction made her seem too much of a villain, when she's actually position as more of an anti-hero or hero with a greyer sense of morality than Eric. I'm a bit disappointed the Guardians weren't used very much, as they are intriguing characters and could probably easily carry a series of their own. I feel like the plot was generally good, but it got a bit rushed towards the end. I think this is because the book is trying to set up Eric in his new status quo, introduce the long-term threat posed by Aerune, and have a plot about the magic drug, alongside various subplots, and I think this is overreaching a bit for a book of this length. I think the resolution would have been a bit better had there been more time to deal with the drug plot properly, although I'm not dissatisfied with it as such. It just feels like it was a bit too quick and didn't have quite enough build-up, though I appreciate that it did leave some plot threads hanging that will hopefully be resolved in subsequent books. Overall, I enjoyed this enough to want to continue with the series, which I hope will be better in the fifth book. Not that this was bad, but I do feel like the potential of the premise is not quite lived up to here.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happens when a magical group are tainted by drugs? I found this story to be an allegory for those who have high potential yet are destroyed by drugs and alcohol. What I didn't realize back in 2000 just quite how bad the opiates would get to be in the States. Now it is almost 2 decades later. The opioids crisis in the States is interesting because I find that many Asians, specifically Chinese will avoid these drugs. I don't know for how many more generations they will. I just remember my parents telling me how evil the English were with how they hooked Chinese people on opium. The opium war was a bedtime story for me as a child to explain the evils of the English and how we should never trust an English person. Cultural biases are always based in some kind of experience. Apparently my grandparents grew up at the very tale end of this devastation that most Westerners have zero idea about. I digress.

I find that addiction and subverting an entire population in this manner is insidious because it requires the victim to be an active participant. In this story, the fae are active participants and it is brutal to get them out of their haze. I feel for them. I enjoyed the concept and of course, I love the fae element. Ms. Lackey was one of the pioneers of fae paranormal fantasy.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is your soul on drugs...
After the events chronicled in Bedlam's Bard, world-saving bard and magician Eric Banyon moves into his new New York apartment hoping to settle down to the quiet life. No such luck: his building is a safe-house for a group of occultist Guardians protecting the city from supernatural evil. And there's a new evil for them to quard against....
When unethical drug researchers discover that they can induce amazing mental powers using psychotropic drugs, they begin planning to raise a drug-enslaved army of mercenaries and grow very, very rich. But this gets the attention of Aerune mac Audelaine, lord of the dark Unseleighe Sidhe, who hopes to use the drugs to break through to the human world and feed on the suffering there. Both plans will bring terror to the world -- and both are threatened by the very existence of Eric Banyon.
With his possibly loyal companions -- a beautiful elven half-breed and a gargoyle -- Eric heads for a three-way battle of wizardry that will determine Gotham's fate -- and his own.

**

[Kim Heimbuch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would have probably enjoyed further if I had started from the beginning of the series. It is a unique story line featuring Eric, a bard, and is a character not typically unseen in writing as it might be construed as too feminine for a male character role. Maybe this is what drew me to read this book when my daughter had finished. Eric is bar just recently having relocated into the human realm deep in the heart of New York City just wanting to live a more normal life and to relax a bit. Of course this wouldn't be a great book if this were the case and Eric quickly finds his apartment building isn't as normal as most. When the evil Lord of the elven Unseelie Sidhe improvises a plan to enslave a drugged army and unleash it upon the humans, Eric is tasked with defeating the scumbag and setting things right, but not before hitting numerous crossroads on his adventure.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest - I bought this book because I liked the cover (guy playing magic flute... super intriguing to a teenage flautist), and I was pleasantly surprised. I hadn't read the previous books in the series, though I have now. They're not strictly necessary, and a lot of character change happens between the earlier books and the later ones, but they do kind of help with figuring out what is up with some of the pre-existing relationships.

My main criticism was that I got bored with some of the points of view. In any given book, like to read my favorite character's POVs, and I get bored with POVs where I don't like the character as well. Rare is the story where more than two or three characters can all keep my interest.

Well worth re-reading.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started off great. I hadn't read the first three books of the series, but it included just enough backstory for me to piece things together. It hooked me early, and I really liked the way the story was developing, especially that the main character was working toward some real-world goal and making good personal decisions along the way.
Then it seemed like someone took over writing about 3/4 of the way through. The pacing was shot, there was no emotional build-up to the climax, and no real struggle even took place in the climax. It ruined the whole thing for me.
I may read the sequels at some point, but not if they follow the same pattern.

[cmmeo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fairly good novel from Mercedes Lackey, although just like her other novels too, this seemed to lack a good ending. I actually knew Eric Banyon from a book much later in the series and I think I could say that the development of him and Ria, as characters, I mean, is really visible and fairly satisfying to see. Overall, with the elements of sci-fi from Threshold Labs, thrown in with fantasy from the Unseleighe Lord Aerune mac Adeline and mixed with a little comedy from The Bard himself and romance from his former "lackey," this book is alright and would keep you going for a good while. :)

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of urban fantasy ... big proponate of modern elves, etc. And Rosemary Edghill akaEluki Bes Shahar is one of my favorite authors, as is Mercedes Lackey. This novel, however, isn't one of the best.

SPOILERS BELOW:
more to come

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the fourth book in a series, this book seemed to take a long time setting things up and getting the main character comfortable in his new apartment. Publishers Weekly apparently called this book, "Rollicking...romps quickly from beginning to end." But maybe excised from the quote was "compared to a dictionary. If you read every 10th page, this book".

sigh

I finished it because, horror of horrors, I had nothing else to read!

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think i would have liked this book a lot more if i would have read the first three, but i didnt realize it was a part of series untill i was over 1/2 way throw it, and i cant just stop reading a book. i did like the charecters and the story line though.

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am missing the books between 1 and this, so I felt like I had missed something vital all through the story, but still a good read. I thought the ending was a bit underdone, but hoping that will be tied up better in the next book.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but felt the switching between four character views just didn't quite work. Three, maybe, but four just left it feeling disjointed. And I know this is book 4 of a series (which I have not yet read), but there still seemed to be too much "as happened earlier".

[Jacqueline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extra 1/2 star.

[Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely better. Eric is wiser and ready to move on with his life.

[Azz Lunatic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beyond World's End (Bedlam's Bard) by Mercedes Lackey (2001)

[Doris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had trouble making it to the ending of this book, as it seemed too formulaic, the characters too stunted and the plot too thin.