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Bardic Voices #1-3

The Free Bards

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Rune, Robin, and Nightingale—
Together They Will Save Us All
(If we're very lucky...)


Rune: She ran away from an abusive home to become the greatest violinist her world had ever known—and when The Ghost of Skull Hill tried to stop her, she played him to sleep!

Robin: No mean musician herself, she must make her own visit to Skull Hill—to recruit the dreadful ghost to their cause.

Nightingale: Alone, she could accomplish nothing. So she joined forces with T'fyrr, a strange nonhuman with the face of a raptor and the voice of an angelic choir.

This unlikely set of heroes had the daunting task of saving the King—and through him the Gypsies, Free Bards, and non-humans of the twenty kingdoms. Fortunately, their opponents had no idea how potent a weapon music could be....

712 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

9 people are currently reading
639 people want to read

About the author

Mercedes Lackey

441 books9,532 followers
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

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5 stars
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291 (18%)
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Megan.
298 reviews15 followers
October 22, 2015
I read these stories many times as a teenager and I love them just as much now as I did then. The last one may be my favorite, though! Love the idea of the Freehold SO much.
Profile Image for Megan.
617 reviews7 followers
July 4, 2016
The Free Bards is a collection of three different stories (novels? novellas?) featuring the same world and general cast of characters, with each story focusing on a different bard couple. Therefore, it only seemed right to rate and review each story separately.

"The Lark and the Wren" - **

The main problem with this story is it is so BORING. The heroine, Rune, is boring. There is nothing special or interesting about her aside from the fact that she has musical talent. She's not utterly helpless, but she doesn't really have much agency, either. She's sort of buffeted from one plot point to the next, and she needs a truly massive network of friends and connections to keep her life from falling apart. She does have two big moments-- when she plays for the Skull Hill Ghost and . Unfortunately, since neither of them actually come at the climax of the story, they come across very underwhelming. The Skull Hill episode, in particular, really suffers. That there is such a thing as the Skull Hill Ghost isn't even hinted at (despite true wearying loads of info being dumped) until Rune makes her boast. The reader isn't remotely frightened for her, because all we get are a few quick sentences about some people dying once upon a time, and then she's there. We got far more about her mother's fashion preferences. Besides, it's so early in the story that the reader never imagines she could die--and wouldn't care if she did.

There's no real plot arc to the story. The first half is concerned with Rune's attempt to become a Guild Bard--meandering into typically Lackey ramblings on civic organization, prostitution, organized religion, and even a lecture on paying taxes, but once that thread resolves itself, the story begins to resemble an ad hoc D&D campaign with a party made up entirely of bards. A good cleric asks the party to investigate an evil one. Shenanigans ensue, and then are resolved. The party tries to make camp, but are waylaid by magical beings. The party goes shopping, where they encounter a pickpocket who is actually a plot hook to a larger quest...

Lackey tries to avoid cliches, but she spends so much time explaining everything to DEATH that even the things that she does that might be interesting aren't. A usurping king that's actually a better ruler than the rightful one? Neat. A twenty page lecture on the ethics of governing? Not so much.

The best I can say about this book is that the characters and story are bland, but not irritating, and the bias against Christianity stays mostly in check. I could rant and rave about the double standard in the way Rune's "slutty" mom, Stara, is treated in comparison to how the book treats actual prostitutes, but I won't.


"The Robin and the Kestrel" - *

...Because I'm trying to save my ranting energy for this story.

This story was SO bad I almost didn't finish the entire book over it. I thought about chucking the book across the room and never picking it up at least eight different times. But then, I thought about how much I wanted a whole and accurate view of it in order to write this review and I persevered.


"Gypsy Robin"/ Gwyna, the heroine of the story is ridiculously unlikable. As a minor character in "The Lark and the Wren," she was fine, but here her selfishness, callousness, and recklessness are on full display. She makes no bones about the fact that she has no use for anyone who's not either a Gypsy or a Free Bard and doesn't feel any compulsion to help anyone who doesn't fit into those categories either. Within the first ten pages, she's told a startling number of lies--some that are pointless, some that are downright dangerous--in order to intimidate and humiliate bullies. She shoots down her husband for questioning her actions and withholds information from him into order to manipulate him into agreeing to a foolish choice of action. The reader's also "treated" to her internally wishing that a snobby biddy's husband would "beat her senseless" and that said husband had been frightened into impotence. Our heroine, ladies and gentlemen.

Things don't improve when the story gets going. Robin and Kestrel make their way to a city where an evil Bishop is fanning flames of hatred towards musicians and non-humans. Mercedes Lackey's utter disdain for organized religion in general and Christianity in particular is on full display here, and it's not a pretty picture. At least in her Valdemar books and other series, she has the decency to create fictional religions to vent her spleen on. Here, she blatantly steals and twists actual doctrines and pieces of scripture. Since it's a fictional world, she can also, of course, make it so that things like good or morally neutral magic exist, proving the Church wrong.

Robin and Kestrel infiltrate the city by becoming purveyors of "God-stars." The initial description of them emphasis both how simplistic they are, and also how Robin and Kestrel's hands are used to working with instruments, not wire and thread. Later on, however, we find that not only has no one else thought of making these before (despite them being an apparently well-known enough symbol that it occurs to a not-remotely religious Gypsy), but that the copies that soon pop out from local stalls are inferior (despite Robin and Kestrel having zero experience as artisans). This sort of contradiction (which could have been avoided or at least minimized by Lackey not trying to explain EVERYTHING), is especially rife in this story, although it crops up in the others as well.

Unlike the couples in the other books, Robin and Kestrel start the story married. Instead of falling in love, Lackey seems to be going for a "after the honeymoon" approach to their relationship. But as the story exposes more and more of Robin's character flaws and her and Kestrel's differences (Kestrel's an idealist who prefers to stay out of trouble and out of the spotlight, and Robin is an egocentric pragmatist who can't resist showing off or tweaking the nose of authority figures.), their relationship becomes strained. SOME of the specific conflicts between them are resolved, but the basic philosophical and personal differences are not, leaving the reader wondering just how long their marriage will last after the story ends.

Last, but not least (okay, it's probably least), "The Robin and the Kestrel" furthers weakens "The Lark and the Wren" by cheapening Rune's visit to Skull Hill and by dragging the "all the people in Rune's town are backwater scumbags" to the breaking point.

The one thing I will say in the story's favor is that Kestrel is a sweetie, and I loved that his stutter didn't ever get magically solved. He learned some coping techniques, but it never went away.

"The Eagle and the Nightingales" - ***

This story had the unenviable task of convincing me it was worth slogging through "The Robin and the Kestrel" for, and it mostly succeeded. Nightingale was an intriguing heroine, one with a distinct voice and personality. T'fyrr, introduced in previous stories, was also refreshingly different. I liked the slow, teasing build of their characters re-encountering each other, and the gentle, supportive dynamic they had. Once they got together, their relationship accelerated a little rapidly, but not too jarringly.

Although more interesting and enjoyable than the first two stories, "The Eagle and the Nightingales" still suffers from info-dumping, over-explained characterization, and from having the same freaking conflict as the first two stories. Oh noes, another evil Church-guy talking smack about non-humans and non-guild musicians! Still, far and away the best of the lot, although that's really not saying much at all.
Profile Image for Laura.
1,936 reviews27 followers
September 10, 2019
It's been many years since I read this series. I read them when they originally came out. I was reminded of them when a friend was playing a bard for D&D and needed some inspiration. I dusted these guys off and lent them to him. Then I re-read them.

I'd forgotten most of the storylines. Rune was my favorite but I was agreeably surprised by the rest. It's a bit too pat but I enjoy the stories.

On to the next book set in Alandra!
Profile Image for Elizabeth Smock.
6 reviews5 followers
January 2, 2022
I love Lackey's fantasies, so I adore this one! The characters are fun, the environment is enjoyable, and the storytelling is Lackey as usual--well-written, well-woven, and warm. This book is an old friend.
Profile Image for Robert.
13 reviews6 followers
February 26, 2015
I've loved this book, a collection of three "Free Bard" stories. Of course my gf got me hooked unintentionally when she got me to read Mercedes Lackey's "Fiddler Fair" and I found myself loving the story of Rune. In this book the three stories focus on Rune who sings to sleep (not really) the Skull Hill ghost, Robin & Kestrel (who we meet via Rune's tale) who deal with a troublesome false prophet, and Nightingale who must find out what's wrong with the High King of the 20 Kingdoms. The stories have a common thread and are, for the most part, a progression of the same common thread taken from different perspectives over time.

This is a great book and very, very readable. I find myself loving the characters Mercedes has created here, Rune and Talaysen most of all, though Robin and Kestrel are also a fun couple, and the first two stories are definitely the strongest of the book. Rune's story was perhaps the most enjoyable for me, though the ending was rather pat for my taste. Robin & Kestrel's story was, I believe, the best of the bunch plot-wise but again, the ending here left something to be desired in that it was too abrupt. Of all of them Nightingale's story was the one I had the hardest time getting engaged in but that too changed and though not up to the standards set before it, was nonetheless a very pleasant read. Taken together the strength of the first two stories alone makes this a great read and a valued addition to my collection.
Profile Image for zjakkelien.
764 reviews22 followers
July 10, 2016
The free bards is a collection of three books: The lark and the wren, The robin and the kestrel, and The eagle and the nightingales.

The lark and the wren
I liked this book. It tells the story of Rune, a girl with musical talent who becomes a bard. She finds out that there is magic in music...
This book has the typical Lackey style, which I enjoy, describing ordinary life in the society she has invented. Halfway through, I felt like too may things were happening and the ending was perhaps a bit too neat, but all in all it was a satisfying read.

The robin and the kestrel
I liked this book less. It takes place in the same world with characters we meet in The lark and the wren. One of those characters stutters and it becomes annoying to read the stutter after a while. The world is not that interesting (book 1 told me enough about it) and the characters are not particularly engaging. Halfway through it did get a bit more interesting, because things were happening, but up until that point, it was mostly about observing what has gone awry in a particularly city.

The eagle and the nightingale
I haven't read this one yet. I might at some point, if only to be able to put this book in my 'read' shelf. But my expectations aren't very high...
224 reviews3 followers
December 31, 2012
In general I love the work of Mercedes Lackey, but this book was difficult. It is a grouping of three books that she has written of the 'free bards', with the stories and characters overlapping. I enjoyed the first story, but hated the second. The main character I found selfish and annoying. As a result it took me Forever to read. It was so bad that I was falling asleep as I read it; not because there was no action, but because I did not enjoy the tale at all. This is very telling to how I felt about the story, because I do not fall asleep while reading. Not unless I have been reading a book for over a day, maybe two, and I cannot read anymore because my eyes have become itchy and blurry. I was so tempted to stop. I had another book I was eager to start. But I had started this book and was determined to finish. Finally "whew" I did finish the second book. The ending was really not worth it. The third book is fair, the characters and motives better, but after the raised expectations from the first story, I was still disappointed.
Overall, not a glowing review. Read the first book in the volume certainly, just be wary of the others.
Profile Image for Angela Theberge.
60 reviews
September 5, 2008
Obviously I dig the fantasy which is why I am reading these books none of you would ever be interested in. That being said, this one is a nice and easy introduction into the fantasy world if you're ever interested. It's also 3 books in one so it's a good way to get "hooked" quickly. Think historical fiction with a large emphasis on the fiction!
1,387 reviews5 followers
June 23, 2009
Each story "book" starts slow. There is a lot of "setting up" and the plot is wrapped up literally in the last 2 pages of the book. I got a bit bored with the book. Didn't keep my attention. I did like the stories, once they were complete. I might try one more book by this author and see if the style is the same.
Profile Image for Sara ♥.
1,375 reviews144 followers
abandoned
March 28, 2014
Ehhh... It's cute enough, but honestly, I just didn't feel very motivated to finish. There are too many books I want to read to waste my time reading a book I'm fairly indifferent about. Plus, I got this book because of one scene I heard took place, and I SORTA ACCIDENTALLY skipped forward and read it, and now I don't really feel like I need to read any of the rest of the book. *shrugs*
Profile Image for Mandy.
122 reviews2 followers
January 13, 2010
I really enjoyed reading this one. Three books all in one. Another series of stories involving magic. This time the magic works through music.
The characters are quite delightful - not all are human either, which adds to the interest.
Profile Image for BookAddict  ✒ La Crimson Femme.
6,917 reviews1,439 followers
January 8, 2011
I read this when I was in high school. It's definitely a book I enjoyed. The magic with music intrigued me. Totally different than any other book I've read. Ms. Lackey has some great creative world building.
191 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2008
Again more Bardic Magic. So good. Music and magic...what could be better?
27 reviews3 followers
March 23, 2011
I enjoyed each one of the Free Bards books (here in one big volume). If you like a touch of fantasy in a believable setting, these would be great books to try.
140 reviews
April 11, 2011
The last of the three novels was the best.
Profile Image for Sean Martin.
157 reviews4 followers
September 17, 2011
As a musically-inclined teenager, I really loved these books. I don't think I'd enjoy them so much now, but I have very fond memories of them.
Profile Image for Eric Steele.
45 reviews
May 3, 2016
I love it really engaging I have read it dozens of times.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews

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