Elvenborn

The Halfblood Chronicles #3

by Andre Norton, Mercedes Lackey

In this long-awaited new novel in The Halfblood Chronicles, fantasy greats Norton and Lackey tell the enthralling story of the reclusive elvenlord Kyrtian, who emerges as a hero in a world torn by politics and war. When his cousin, Aelmarkin, tries to prove that Kyrtian is unfit to run his estate, the plan backfires, and soon Kyrtian, who doesn't share the venal, greedy nature of his cousin, finds himself with more power than he ever wanted.

Like his father before him, Kyrtian has always treated the humans on his estate like servants, instead of enslaving them as other elvenlords do. His father's legacy also leads Kyrtian to learn ancient military skills long since lost to elvenkind through the carelessness of the elvenlords. Kyrtian's rediscovered knowledge piques the interest of the current elvenlords, and soon Kyrtian finds himself appointed the new commander of the army, to the relief of his ruling peers.

For the sons of the most powerful elvenlords, the Young Lords, have rebelled against their fathers and are waging war. But by taking advantage of both the privileges of his new command and the help of some unexpected new friends, Kyrtian finally gains the resources to embark on his own, personal quest--resuming his father's search for the Great Portal, the magical doorway through which the original elvenlords entered this world.

As war rages between some sons and fathers, Kyrtian searches desperately for his own lost father, hoping to uncover not only the mystery of his disappearance, but also the secret behind the origin of elvenkind.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, High Fantasy, Elves, Magic

471 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 24, 2002

About the author

Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third and final book of this series. We are introduced to a new elf lord that isn't a jerk to his human slaves or involves himself with the political maneuverings of his race. He is soon dragged into it against his wishes. Meanwhile our heroes from the first book are still preparing for the eventual war.

I liked this book but my enjoyment was a little skewed which I will explain in a moment. Once again we see how the elves are not the usual portrayal you see in fantasy. They are the bad guys in this universe. While political machinations are not usually my favorite topic I thought the authors kept me interested throughout the book. I enjoyed the contrast between our newest elf character and all the other elves. Now I will explain why my enjoyment was skewed and it probably isn't fair to this book. Goodreads has this listed as the final book which it is. I was expecting a resolution to the plot. Instead we are adding more plot lines and while reading I thought there is no way this is going to be all tied up. It turns out I was correct as I started looking at reviews. The author passed away and never had a chance to complete the story. So I went into this book expecting the big grand finale when it was never intended to be that. This did affect my enjoyment of this book.

The first book was amazing and I loved it so much. Unfortunately the time in this universe will never see a conclusion and it left me feeling incomplete. If there was a next book in this series I would probably give this a four star rating. But due to unforeseen circumstances this is the end of this story. I have to lower my rating as this book is not the end and leaves the readers unsatisfied in that regard.

[lyybravo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let not this cheesy cover fool you! Published only a few years before the legendary Andre Norton died, this is the final episode of a trilogy started long ago. For those tired of immortal, wise, nice elves, this is refreshing - the elves are the bad guys. Altogether a nice, relaxing read. I'd recommend the whole Elvenbane series for any fantasy/scifi lover.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the fantasy genre there are two types of elves.

The first type are short, tend to wear lederhosen, love to sing songs as they hang around workshops or gardens, are very loyal and diligent, and often have an amusing accent and amusingly odd shaped noses.

The second type are tall, thin, pale, and gorgeous, well dressed, good archers, very good at magic, and very well assured of their high ranking social status.

The Halfblood chronicles take the second type of elves to a whole new level. In this series elves rule a Middle Earth type setting. Elves are the masters, humans are the slaves, and intelligent, magic welding, talking dragons live in secret, worried about exposing themselves to the magic that the elven kind weld.

For the most part the elves treat humans as animals, but they also like to make harems of the prettiest humans. They try and regulate human breeding, because a human with human magic combined with an elf with elven magic results not in a doubling, but a squaring of magic - but occasionally a half-breed escapes their purges. The plot revolves around a half elven / half human who was born and managed to elude death. She was raised in secret by the dragons, and wrecks havoc on the elves when she comes of age.

A fun read for when your in the mood for some trashy fantasy.

[Tomer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a bit frustrating to finish a trilogy of books, only to find out that the plan was to have more {at least a fourth book Elvenbred} books. Unfortunately one of the two writers passed away in 2005 and it does not seem to be on the printers' horizon. The book continued developing the existing characters, introducing new characters and basically continuing to weave the various machinations and schemes of the various parties, without reaching any large scale assaults {perhaps in preparations for all the buildup}. The ending is quite a tease of things yet to come through, which apparently were planned as various threads still remain open {beware if you are just now thinking of starting the series}.

[Dawn Livingston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again the book opens with a new character that I was meh about at first but grew to really like, an elven man named Kyrtian. Once again, the characters were great, the story was intriguing, suspenseful.

The story has plenty of twists and turns and wasn't quite the page turner as the previous two but only slightly less. The political maneuvering of the elven way of life was not my cup of tea and yet it did add "flavor," it did add more tension, more suspense, a lot more. So I guess for a change I liked politics.

As I got toward the end I was reading as fast as I could, wondering what would happen, how things would be wrapped up. It was a reasonable ending but I felt disappointed somehow and it certainly felt unfinished, that there was more to come. I heard that a fourth book was planned but author Andre Norton passed away. This book certainly felt as if there was meant to be more to follow. Oh how I wish there was. Never read a series that was this good but was cut short. If only there had been another book.

I highly recommend this book, and even more the series in general. This is probably my favorite sci fi series beating even Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series. Maybe. Probably? Anyway, it's fantastic. Read this book, read it again in a few years, buy it so you can do that. If you love fantasy you will love this book.

Oh, this is not a stand alone book. The books follow from one to the next and you lose too much if you read them out of order or as stand alones.

[Tani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Phew. I read this for my r/fantasy book bingo square Second Chances. The goal was to read a book that you weren't really sure you wanted to read, giving it a 'second chance.' In my case, I'd read the first two books in this series, and I felt pretty neutral about them. I didn't think they were bad, but there was something about them that completely failed to click. This third book in the series continues in that trend.

The writing and plotting of this book was good, but I think that my complete lack of interest in the characters drained all of my care from the reading experience. None of the characters ever felt quite real to me, and that's a huge problem considering my reading style is very character-based. I did have brief moments of interest, where I thought that this could be a three star read, but mostly I just slogged my way through.

Either way, glad that's done!

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

3-1/2 stars. I wish this series continued but I have given up hope for that.

[Tanya Rogo · Rating 1 out of 5]

You know those series books that just get worse with each one that comes out? This is one of those. While Elvenbane had interesting world building and characters, this book just plods along. God, it is SO boring. It introduces a lot of new characters (all with wildly long names - e.g. V'Kel Aelmarkin er-Lord Tornal) and basically ignores all of the characters that you've already met. The result is that none of the characters feel particularly well drawn out and it becomes really hard to connect or care about them. There are also a bunch of inconsistencies between the books, including timelines. For example, in the first book Lord Dyran clearly came from Evelon personally (he thinks about whether his late father regrets not following him through the portal and wonders if he is still alive given how dangerous Evelon is). In this book, it talks about Kyrtian great-great-grandfather coming thru the portal and that everyone who came thru the portal is long since dead. Finally, I got so frustrated with Shana as a character. Instead of the smart, rebellious, loyal, brave woman that we met in Elvenbane, she basically spends her time insisting to people that she isn't the amazing mage/warrior that the Elvenbane rumours make her out to be. Finally, if you like conclusions then this is not the fantasy series for you. It was supposed to have a 4th book, but it was never written. I won't say it ends with a cliffhanger - that would make it seem like the book was actually interesting. But it doesn't wrap up anything either. Go read something more enjoyable. You deserve it.

[Lissibith · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with the second book in this series, this one distinguishes itself from the first by introducing a new character who I found far more interesting than those we were given in the first volume. In this case it's Kurtian, an elf with the unlikely hobby of drilling his humans in military maneuvers. And as with the second book, this one is at its best when indulging in the unique perspective brought by this new character.

In a great many other respects, this book is competent but not great. The plot makes sense but isn't terribly surprising nor terribly tense. The characters aren't totally flat, but do sometimes seem to slot into trope-ish slots and venture very little out of them. Add to that how the end makes it feel more like this is the first part of a two-parter rather than an independent book in its own right, and this became an unsatisfying but not technically disappointing read.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

After learning in the first two books about the "evil" elves, it's nice to finally meet a few more of the decent sort. The themes of equality and cooperation are much stronger in this book. I found this one much more interesting than the second book because it comes from a completely different point of view than Shana's.

I hope the fourth book comes out!

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say, I'm glad I read these books late. Had I have to wait for this conclusion for this long, I'd have screamed. This last book is awesome. I love how it all came together. This is a fitting ending to a wonderful story. I liked Kyrtian and found him to be very admirable. I highly recommend this book to fantasy lovers.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know if this one is actually worse than the other two, or if it's just that I was so much older when I read it...

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved these books & still so disappointed we won't get to read the final book.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series needs a 4th book....I really enjoyed this book and it just ends when it seems like we are in for a great battle. Is this series going to get another book?

[Fitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first read The Halfblood Chronicles as a young teen; it was in a way my introduction to fantasy. I bought the Kindle editions and reread them before the long-awaited fourth book. Sadly, the series now works for me only as nostalgia.

Even as a tween I found the characters flat, and rereading with a more critical eye has not improved them. The premise—evil elves rule, humans enslaved, a half-blood chosen one rises—is genuinely promising, which makes the execution all the more frustrating.

What I once thought was a fully realized world is shallow. There is no map, so scale and geography are impossible to gauge. Mentions of distant cities, deserts, temperate rainforests, estates, spices, silk, grasslands, mountains, “wild” human tribes, and dragons must presumably span at least a continent—yet characters from wildly different places keep bumping into each other at random.

Trade is mentioned, but there is no real economy, urban centers, or government beyond a vague “great council” that meets somewhere and can sit for nearly a year. Society is reduced to “elves are masters, humans are slaves,” and even that is unclear: how many elves are there? What is the elven underclass between human and elf lord? We never learn. The setting gestures at depth, but never commits to it.

Continuity is worse. In book one, Lord Dyran came through the original portal and elves seem to live thousands of years; by book three, all original migrants to this world are long dead and elves live about five centuries. How long do humans, half-breeds, or dragons live? Elf children are said to be extremely rare, yet many elves have multiple siblings a few years apart.

Magic has no consistent rules: characters forget abilities, perform feats previously called impossible, and fluctuate in power between chapters. The Norton-Lackey collaboration feels disjointed, as if two narratives were never reconciled. The result is a confusing mess of contradictions and editing errors that embarrasses two supposedly professional authors.

The characters are flat. Shana is a textbook Mary Sue: half-elf, super-powered, special destiny, red-haired, green-eyed, golden-skinned, athletic, gorgeous, and constantly praised as a genius. Because the books tell rather than show, her intelligence is demonstrated by making everyone else an idiot—so the heroes smugly state the blindingly obvious while everyone else reacts as if they’ve delivered Nobel Prize–worthy insights. She masters magic in months to the point where she's teaching her teachers, discovers hidden passages and forgotten lore, and is never truly held accountable. In the first book, she arrogantly uses a spell far beyond her abilities to transport herself and a few others into the heart of the wizard stronghold. It works just well enough to strand them there and, worse, leaves a magical trail the elves later use to pinpoint the stronghold, forcing the wizards to abandon it. By the third book, those displaced wizards are refugees living in caves. When elderly wizards dare complain about sleeping on cave floors and hunting their own food, Shana—young, healthy, beautiful, and perfect—tells them to get over it, insisting the elves would have found them eventually, so their suffering is not really her fault. It is the moral equivalent of burning down someone’s house and saying it’s not your fault because it was only a matter of time before it spontaneously combusted because they never replaced the smoke detector batteries. She never apologizes, never faces consequences, and the narrative treats her as blameless. She is gifted with supernatural luck, and anyone who questions her is eventually punished by the story.

The villains are mustache-twirling; the heroes are pure and enlightened; moral dilemmas are avoided by convenient deaths. The dragons are supposed to be wise and egalitarian, but mostly read as petty, elitist, and indifferent to non-dragons. No one grows; the good guys are simply born with modern, enlightened views despite a toxic culture.

The plot meanders through irrelevant detail—100+ pages on making infant clothes, a chapter on a stranger checking into a caravanserai and eating lunch, Shana reading history books alone, nearly two whole chapters on an elf girl getting dressed for a ball, an elf general reading history books alone—while action happens off-page or via time skips. Time skips are so jarring that Shana’s age ranges anywhere from seventeen to thirty by book three. Stakes feel low because threats vanish through luck, deus ex machina, or new lore-breaking devices. We are told characters are fighting for their lives, but by book three the conflict is presented as so one-sided in the heroes’ favor that tension never builds. The series ends unresolved on a cliffhanger, setting up more characters and contradictory lore, which was the last thing it needed.

Overall: a good premise with poor execution. Editing errors, weak worldbuilding, inconsistent magic, nonsensical pacing, and mediocre writing make this an inferior addition to fantasy. It will always be nostalgic to me, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

[Lissa Notreallywolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Kyrtian as I listened to this book, because he was a reluctant hero, balanced between athlete and scholar. One of the best parts of the bok was his researches in the library, where he has to sort all the books and manuscripts unshelved by the occupying Younger Elven Lords. In order to locate his father's research into the Elven entry Portal, he determines that it is the handwritten mansucripts, the journals that are pertainent, and then he is able to cull them by the historical period. As someone who has worked in libraries effected by eccentric systems of organization and the ocassional earthquake, this was highly amusing. It was also an echo of Shana's work in the original Citadel where she discovered important things in marginalia. Never too early to introduce scholarly tactics to younger readers. Or emphasize the important power of history, which is a major thrust in this book.
The temptress, Trianne (? I heard these books, rather than reading them so the characters names are merely spoken rather than spelled) I found to be an interesting concoction of ruthlessness. She's poorly matched by Kyrtian's second cousin, except in their mutual contempt. And like all the bullies in these books, they seem to meet just ends. As does an elderly asshat from the Second Citadel. Those who will not change, or seek power are to be shed, unless like Maya they remain chained, collared. I don't know what this says about justice in Lackey's worldview, but apparently she doesn't find much interest in the story of the author of Amazing Grace in terms of abolitionist conversions. I find this series to be more like other works of Lackey than of Norton, it is overwritten in the sense it tells the story, but doesn't really invite one into the story.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a hortible end to the series... was it even intentional or were the authors thinking there might be a 4th book because it did not feel like all the loose ties were tied up at all, in fact more loose ends were made...

First book was great! Second book was good/okay and third book I had run out of patience lol

It was soooooo boring!!!

The story sucked.

The writing was decent from sentence to sentence. I kept trying to get into it but I was just so meh I kept getting distracted. I never once felt immersed into the book. It was definitely not an escape.

Instead of building of the main characters from book one or even book two it went off on a whole other tangent of new characters and the 1st/nd book characters were barely even in it. This book literally could have been a stand alone novel lol or at least standalone but in same universe or something but to make this the trilogy ending book was quite honestly shameful. I had no care in any of the new characters of this book and I kept waiting for it to change or develop and nothing was happening, it was so frustrating. Each scene that went by I was like... why? lol what's the purpose why am I reading this...?

And the climax ending really should have been the half way point of the book where they realize a few good things and then develop from there for the finale ending... not the finale being that developing plot point...

The ending doesn't wrap up anything, I'm just saving you the trouble.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third book of the Halfblood Chronicles was a great read - though, due to it's rather incomplete ending, I couldn't give it the 5 stars it might have got. In fact, it read as though there should have been another book after this one - a book never written, maybe - possibly due to the death of Andre Norton after this one was published?

Whatever the case, it's a shame that there wasn't another book, as this one ended with an intriguing twist to it.

The characters and plot lines, though, were up to Misty, and Andre's, usual excellent standards, and I enjoyed the ways in which each character's problems found a solution - whether that was a good thing for them, or not!

All-in-all, another great book, and one I'll enjoy reading once again, some time in the next few years 😁

[Julie Akeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this series, the fact that the dragons can shape into human form was pretty cool when I first read it. Sad to say more was to have been written but Andre Norton had died and Mercedes Lackey couldn't finish it on her own but nothing was provided that she could. Lackey explained that on her website when I searched for the next book, this ended in a way that suggested more to come. It is a very good series and I can tell which one Lackey was writing even though the books are a cohesive whole. There is a bit of a blend of scifi and fantasy as the Elves had invaded from another world. Lovely work. A fun read.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was my favorite of the series so far. Since a lot of the world building was established in the previous books, there was more of a focus on characters and events, which I liked. Some further world building I would like to see is regarding the exodus of the elves from their original world to the current world and just what happened in those first hours and days and months, and I wouldn’t mind more knowledge about the old world—what it was like, what the creatures and conflicts were, what drove them out, etc. I’m curious to see how they tie everything up, especially since there fill be a new author filling in for Andre Norton (who died several years ago).

[Kay Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kyrtian is an Elvenlord who respects humans as people. He doesn't let the other lords know this. It wouldn't be safe. Politics and military matters combine to put him in charge of an army but he has to be strategic in using this to avoid harming those he wishes to be allies to. By the end of this book he gets to meet Shana and find ways their campaigns for human and half blood independence can work together. It's not a conclusion but there are fewer enemies and more options by the end of this tale.

A good read.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elvenborn is the third book in the Halfblood Chronicles written by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey. And this book, by far, is the worst of the three.

I loved the first book – Elvenbane – and it remains one of my favorite fantasy books of all time. The second book – Elvenblood – was enjoyable, if shallow.

Elvenborn is a new level of terrible. Read my full review here: Elvenborn Review

[Mike Sobyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

left hanging

As Andre Norton is no longer with us, we probably won’t know what happened next. This is a good story in itself but obviously more were to come. If you don’t like incomplete series don’t start this one. I’m a great fan of both Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey. This is up to their usual standard. Exciting adventures good characterisations. I’d recommend to any fantasy reader.

[Georgann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third book of the series was mostly about a new character, but it was still a great story, in some ways better than the first two. Again, I was astonished at how quickly things were wrapped up in the last few pages, and very satisfactorily. I don't think you'd want to read this without having read the previous two.

[Tiffany · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

The beginning was fine, the middle was blah, and the ending was ehh.

I thought it would be better as I liked the second book more than the first but even with the insight here of the elvenlords I was bored.

Also would have like Gel to be with Kaeth since that seemed a better pairing for him but **shrug** wasn't in the cards.

[Catsalive · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best & last book of the trilogy. The downside: The ending leaves you feeling that there is much more of the Halfblood tale to be told but this is all there is, there ain't no more. The upside: That's one less book I have to read.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the story is about an Elvenlord that treats his slaves as servants, and becomes involved with the wizards and Dragons during his search for his long lost father. Good story that involves the other characters into the story in various parts. A book that I will read more than once.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Book 4 isn't written though. This book has a stopping point, but it almost opens it up even further for questions. Worth reading anyway, but painful if you don't like cliffhangers.

[Bonny Fuller-Fells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kyrtian is made Warlord of the elves

He quickly chases the young lords into flight and is told to find the wizards. The wizards plant false info that leads him to the gate of Evelon.

[Chelsey Leehy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the new characters and story. Cannot wait till the next book comes out.