I keep reading Lackey's new books because of some misguided sense of author loyalty. I realized a while back that I'd fallen out of love with her writing. Her characters are too one-dimensional, her plotting is cliched and at times forced, the endings are rushed, and her main characters all appear to be variations on the same theme. However, I had enjoyed The Fairy Godmother because it was fresh and original. I was therefore looking forward to this one. It was a let down. All of Lackey's faults

3.5 starsThis was not my favorite book of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, but it wasn't my least favorite, either. The blurb made me think that One Good Knight started out with a dragon chomping on virgins, but in actuality it takes a while to get to that part of the story. There is more going on in this kingdom than meets the eye, as Andie discovers. The twist as the end of the book was cute, unfortunately I already knew about it. I can't remember where I saw the spoiler, but I'm sure it was my own

One Good Knight takes place in the Five Hundred Kingdoms world established by The Fairy Godmother. Lackey writes an engaging retelling of the Andromeda sacrifice. Andie, our main character, is a pretty standard Lackey heroine: Spunky, smart, overlooked in intelligence & beauty and yet loved by her commoner friends. Oh yah, and has a mother who secretly hates her and has a dark secret.At the same time, I don't mind the cliches as much as I would otherwise as Lackey has established that she's pl

After reading and loving Lackey's "The Fairy Godmother", I was a little hesitant to continue the series since so many reviewers seemed to have some major problems with the second installment. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book held my attention almost as much as its predecessor.While I must agree that plot elements can be a little predictable and that sometimes the main character's inner dialogue has a tendency to repeat itself, overall I found the kingdom of Acadia and its inhabi...

The first half of this book was pretty good, but boy did it go downhill very abruptly. Suddenly, the story is riddled with plot holes, instalove, and the same things getting really over explained.The thing that bothered me the most was this: the main character meets a guy who is all “don’t fall in love with me!” But she blatantly admits (in internal dialogue) that she’s falling in love with him. He turns out to be a girl in disguise, and the fact that the main character was attracted to her when...

#22 of my #20for2020tbrchallenge, to read 20 TBR books in the year 2020I've seen some reviews that say this can be read as a standalone, but I highly recommend reading at least the first book (after which you can skip around) for foundational knowledge of the Godmothers and The Tradition, which is magical force combined from folklore, fairy tales and legend that acts upon people by pushing them to fill stereotypical roles and reenact stories for good or evil. Godmothers can magically manipulate

I've only read two of them but I dont think I'm going out on a limb here by saying that this series is freaking adorable. I cannot help but to compare them to Jim C. Hines Princess series because this is awesome for being the exact opposite of that series (which is amazing by the by the way and if you haven't read it you should). This time we find ourselves in the kingdom of Acadia where an evil magician and Queen are using magic to line their pockets. Of course the Kingdom has no Fairy Godmothe...

So much fun. I would really have loved the series when I was an innocent young teen lo these several decades ago. Then the little bits of awkward writing mechanics and occasional errors & inconsistencies wouldn't have bothered me at all. I would simply have been enchanted by fascinating world-building and all the different characters, many of whom are females who are strong and smart and wicked and lazy and etc. in all sorts of different ways.I'm becoming such a fan of Lackey I plan not only to

This, like Fairy Godmother was a good, light read. I enjoyed the story line, watching Andie discover her strengths and trying to guess at what the Queen’s endgame was. The romance was alright. I saw it coming and felt very neutral about it. I think that the romance, which was also not the main focus of Fairy Godmother, was developed abit better in that book. I found myself speeding up the audio a few times with this book, waiting for something to happen next. I also think I laughed a bit more w

2.5Andromeda, Andie, is the Princess of Acadia; however, at the age of 19 she is not treated like a Princess. Her mother pushes her to the side and does not give her any responsibilities until Andie searches out more responsibility. This leads her to uncovering some odd occurrences that have been happening throughout the Kingdom. Around this time the Tradition seems to step in and the Kingdom is plagued by a monster with no Champion to save them.This book was meh. It was really hard to get into

This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.Princess Andie is intelligent, waif-like beautiful and has just turned 19. Her mother however isn't ready to see her as an adult, and would rather she was confused and silly with conventional beauty. When Andie finally gets a real 'job', she uncovers things that were probably better off hidden. Andie becomes a liability very quickly - as a virgin...

Andromeda is a princess, and is very smart. Her mother keeps her at a distance and doesn’t really want her learning too much, including how to govern. When the kingdom is threatened by a dragon, they decide to offer sacrificial virgins to appease it. I mostly enjoyed it, but it was a bit odd and had a definite weird ending. I’m not sure if I want to continue the series, but since they all seem to be about different characters, I think I will. I think the series is really just the same “world”.

I love this series of books. Playful and well written, but also insightful and inspiring. I find myself stopping to ponder the words, while enjoying the narrative and the characters immensely.

More telling than showing and a slower pacing than the brilliant first, but still engaging. I haven’t put down my kindle in hours. On to the next.

One Good Knight / 978-0-373-80260-9I rather enjoy the Five Hundred Kingdoms books - starting with "The Fairy Godmother" and continuing to the recent fifth book "The Sleeping Beauty". The tales are something of a mixed-up fairy tale due to the unique backstory: a powerful and impersonal force called The Tradition constantly tries to impose "fairy tale" logic on people whose lives loosely fit the structure of commonly told fairy tales, and Godmothers and Champions devote their lives trying to faci...

As fairy tale retellings go, this was fantastic! Lackey breaks many of the fairy tale tropes by shamelessly mixing and merging many well-known stories in the grab-bag of her Five Hundred Kingdoms. She's done an excellent job of building a world that allows her exactly that freedom, paying homage to the original tales and using them to inform and guide her characters' actions as they re-craft the story for themselves. I enjoy self-aware stories, where the characters exhibit the intelligence to kn...

It's sometimes difficult to write a review of a book in a series, because you don't want to reveal anything from the books before. So while I could gush on and on about how awesome it was to see familiar characters in this book in detail, I'll.. spare you the detail and just say that One Good Knight solidified my love for Mercedes Lackey.Seriously, y'all, I have so much fun reading these books.I think, in a way, this book was almost better than the first... because it didn't require as much sett...

This was a drastic improvement over the first in the series of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. Almost none of the problems I had from the first novel were in this sequel, and it was vastly more entertaining to read than The Fairy Godmother. Instead of focusing on the "Cinderella" fairytale, the second book is about the Greek legend of the Andromeda sacrifices in a small, poor Kingdom with no Godmother.First on the list of vast improvements is Andromeda herself. Andie is the main character and is actu...

(view spoiler)[Bookwyrm. /sniggerThat was inspired. XD (hide spoiler)]This started out so Boring... so Boring, that I had to capitalise it. There was just so much world-building (in this Greece-like corner of the Five Hundred Kingdoms), and exploration of Andromeda's (or more affectionately known as Andie) life that that first half of the book at least, DRAGGED on. I appreciated that Mercedes Lackey had used Andromeda (and her mother, Cassiopeia) as the basis of the story, and felt that it was a...

This book hovers between two and three stars, simply because I found the plot and characters to be rather boring. The characters are all two-dimensional, predictable, and stereotypical, and the hastily contrived romantic ending added nothing to the novel.The real draw of this book - why I liked it despite myself - was "The Tradition," which is a magical force that acts upon the residents of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. Essentially, the Tradition requires that people act as it wants them to: freed

I've seen a number of reviewers not pleased with One Good Knight. When I read it myself, I had mixed feelings about it. My mind has been switching from liking to not then liking it again, and then not...again. By the ending I was really confused. I enjoyed reading the book, don't get me wrong. I was really pleased to see this take lesser pages than Lackey's other books that tended to be so descriptive. I also found the characters very likeable and the twist with regards to the champion was reall...

I've been on a Mercedes Lackey kick for the past year or so, and it's always a little disappointing. The problem when you crank out 50+ books is that you tend to sacrifice quality for quantity.Despite this, I love her stories (if not the actual writing). Especially this series. She actually takes a really interesting premise - people forced to adhere to archetypes (from myths, fairy tales, and fables), and makes an engaging story. Could it be more awesome? Yes. Is it pretty good anyway? Also yes...

This was an enjoyable book, but hindered some by the fact that I read it after book #3. So I knew one of the major plot twists before the book was barely more than half-way through.However, it is a fun read, and I do enjoy seeing how Lackey tweaks traditional fairy tales to create these stories. I might have given it a 3.5 star rating if that was allowed, but 4 is close enough.

Another happy and quick read. Still takes place in the Five Hundred Kingdoms (as the series name suggests). Elena & Alexander play a crucial part, but don't expect to see them appear much in the story. Otherwise fun and still refreshing, plot isn't as jam-packed as the Fairy Godmother, but I'm glad that it's quite different. Look forward to reading more in the series.

The author takes The Tradition, stands it on its head, gives it a spin and serves up a deliciously clever story. The Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms are a treat. I wish there could be five hundred tales, one for each kingdom. I hate to think of the series coming to an end.

I'm still very much fascinated by the Tradition and the challenges it brings the heroes (and bad guys alike). I find it very interesting to try and guess how I myself would work around the Tradition. That makes for a good brainteaser while reading the fluffy stuff.

12/7/17 $2.99 for Kindle.

Although I'm not a Mercedes Lackey fan and didn't actually like this book...It's a bestiality romance novel! That's worth a few bucks just for the shits and giggles factor.

Oh, now this is a funny twist to Sir George and the dragon...and, again, I do love a woman who doesn't sit cowering in a corner...you go, girl!

Not as immediately engaging or even as fun as the first book, but still good enough to maintain my interest in this series.