Book Review: “Elvenborn” by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey

This is the third novel in the Halfblood Chronicles series. It is set in a realm where Elves came from another world and conquered the humans they found in their new world. The dragons also came from elsewhere, but they usually restricted themselves to spying and the occasional prank. This story follows a character that is new to the series, Kyrtian V’dyll Lord Prastaran. His family is unusual in the fact that they have never made the humans on their estate into slaves, and he is unusual because he studies tactics and military strategies. The story revolves around him as he gets pulled into the politics of the Elven Lords by his cousin, who hates Kyrtian, and his skill as a strategist and tactician. It ends with Kyrtian extricating himself, somewhat, from the dangers of political involvement, and assisting Leshana and the Wizards in their efforts to change the way humans are treated by most of the elves.

Leshana, the Elvenbane, and title character from the first book plays a significantly smaller role in this book. The same is true of Keman, Lorryn, Mero, and the others that were important in previous books.

This is a good book, and works just fine as a stand alone novel. It follows on the events in the previous novels, but the important points are all explained when they come up.