By The Sword by Mercedes Lackey

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Description from BN.com: Granddaughter of the sorceress Kethry, daughter of a noble house, Kerowyn had been forced to run the family keep since her mother’s untimely death. Yet now at last her brother was preparing to wed, and when his bride became the lady of the keep, Kerowyn could return to her true enjoyments – training horses and hunting.

But all Kerowyn’s hopes and plans were shattered when her anscestral home was attacked, her father slain, her brother wounded, and his fiancee kidnapped. Drive by desperation and the knowledge that a scorcerer had led the journey which would prove but he first step on the road to the fulfillment of her destiny.

I’ve read this book so many times I actually need to get a new copy because my copy is falling apart.  I love Kerowyn and you see her in many of the other Valdemar books so if you have read those and wonder how she became who she is, this book tells her story.  Readers see Kerowyn turn from this sheltered young girl into one of the top mercenary in the mercenary guild.

The book is basically broken up into two parts.  The first part follows Kerowyn as she is taken in by her grandmother, Kethry, and retired mercenary, Tarma.  Tarma basically takes Kerowyn under her wing and hones her into a deadly weapon and gives her the confidence to go out and make a living on her own and not depend on a man to take care of her.

The second half of the book is Kerowyn’s entry into a mercenary guild, her rise in the ranks and eventually the job that takes her into Valdemar to meet the Heralds and Companions.  And just maybe will she find true love with a man who views her as an equal?

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