Lackey, Mercedes. “Magic’s Price” (1990)

Overall Quality 4.0 / 5.0 (recommended)
Gay Content 3.5 / 5.0 (protagonist, several major characters, and several subplots gay)
Gay Positivity 1.5 / 5.0 (may not be explicitly anti-gay, but filled with negative stereotypes)

Summary

Set about ten years after “Magic’s Promise,” Vanyel is stretched thin as one of the few remaining Herald-Mages. The King’s failing health has also required Vanyel to serve as a stand-in for the monarch. However, a temporary solution to the King’s chronic pain is found in a young Bard trainee named Stefen, who has the peculiar magical talent of relieving pain with his music.

Stefen falls for Vanyel almost immediately and sets about trying to seduce the older man. Vanyel, although attracted to Stefen, resists the Bard’s advances, fearing that anyone with whom he’s close is at risk from his enemies.

Meanwhile, the threats against Valdemar are growing – to the south, in Karse, a Prophet-King has staged a coup and raised an army of anti-magic fanatics. And a mysterious threat from the north emerges in a serious assassination attempt against Vanyel’s parents – to which Vanyel falls prey.

Then this mysterious threat begins targeting the last remaining Herald-Mages.

Narrative

In some ways, this is the best book of the trilogy. In others, it’s the most disappointing.

I have stated in my reviews of “Magic’s Pawn” and “Magic’s Promise” that this trilogy is far more character-driven than plot-driven as a study into the life of Vanyel Ashekevron, the last Herald-Mage of Valdemar. That remains true in this novel as well.

Although it’s a fast-paced, action-filled adventure, the plot is relatively bare, linear, and undeveloped. It’s rather like a garden that hasn’t grown to maturity yet; there’s definitely plant life, but it lacks the verdant overgrowth of a garden cultivated over the years.

Concurrent with the bare plot comes a moral system that’s a little too pat. In this sense, the story is almost cartoonish. There’s very little moral ambiguity in the novel. We find interpersonal tensions over things like, will Vanyel’s parents accept him as a gay man, or will Vanyel take Stefen as a lover despite his concerns?

But the central conflicts are not only undercooked but overly simplified, and the confrontations between the good guys and bad guys are pretty much just that. A bad guy shows up, there’s a confrontation with the good guy, and then there’s the aftermath (as a rule in Lackey’s books, the good guys win, but usually at terrible personal cost).

Characters

I found Vanyel to be less likeable in this book than previous volumes. He was more arrogant, though not in an obvious “look at me, I’m so powerful” way. Rather, devotion to duty can grow into its own form of arrogance: “look, I’m needed to do all this good. I can’t think about you, or even my own needs, because I’m all about service to country and doing good in the world. See? Look at all the good I’m doing.” My belief is that everyone has his or her place in the scheme of things; and because we cannot predict the future, it is useless to second-guess the present. I grew weary of Vanyel’s moral superiority, soft-edged though it was, and of the assumption of a world that is clearly divided into unambiguous good and evil.

It’s dark fantasy, but without the plot or moral depth and breadth of a fantasy work like George R.R. Martin or Melanie Rawn. And then at the end, his character changes quite a bit – it’s quite ugly as he becomes obsessed with vengeance for the deaths of his fellow Herald-Mages, to the extent that he treats both Yfandes and Stefen with disregard and sometimes outright contempt.

Does it make sense within the context of the story that he might fall into that personality pattern. Absolutely! Should he have pursued Leareth, who has proven himself a terrible threat to the protectors of Valdemar, with all his resources? A resounding yes! In fact, it could have been a fascinating story thread. I’ve said repeatedly that this trilogy is more character study than action-adventure, and I would have enjoyed follow Vanyel’s mental and emotional healing from this obsessive, angry, raging, unhealthy mental state. It’s the why that matters – and why does matter in a moral universe. This thread could have turned into a powerful thematic subplot. But that’s not what happens. Vanyel does goes through a healing process wherein his obsession changes from lust for vengeance to pursuit of justice. Or so we’re told. This plot thread happens so quickly at the end of the book, it’s never really explored. It could have very interesting, but ultimately it was just disappointing.

It doesn’t help that Vanyel never has a good antagonist. He comes closest in this book because the reader senses Leareth’s presence in the story long before we ever meet him. But Leareth is still just a caricature. Because I’ve read more of Lackey’s books, I know there’s more to this character than meets the eye – he’s part of a story thread that spans virtually all her books – so there’s definitely the potential that more could have been made of him. As it is, he doesn’t even really need a name. She could have just called him Bad Guy. It should be noted that her description of him is fully and completely stereotypical for a fantasy villain. Nothing surprises or intrigues. Disappointing.

Stefen, by contrast, is one character where the simplicity worked in Lackey’s favor. She made a smart move with him, though: she gave him a backstory and then major page-time.

Overall

I recommend this book on the strength of its engaging characters and entertaining love story. Although it contains disappointing elements and retains many of the weaknesses of the previous two books – such as linear and undeveloped storylines, boring villains, etc – it also capitalizes on the strengths Lackey brings to the table, primarily fantastic characterization. It appears including a love story also makes a difference. That’s what “Magic’s Promise” lacked, and it’s definitely the least impressive of the three volumes, while Stefen’s and Vanyel’s burgeoning relationship was definitely the highlight of “Magic’s Price.”

The Gay

(** Major spoiler warning – The following section explains the gay positivity of the book, but necessarily contains information about the ending of the book. **)

Although the situation continues to improve over time, the preponderance of media images of gay folks continue to suggest if you’re gay then (1) you are bad, and/or (2) bad things will happen to you. The most serious forms of these clichés are the gay villain and the gay dies. I would add in the victimized gay as a close subset of the gay dies. All three of these serious negative images occur in this book.

The Victimized Gay

This gets much, much worse toward the end of the novel. In fact, what Vanyel suffers in the final portion of the book is just needlessly over the top. Particularly the sequence after Vanyel is kidnapped by brigands: I don’t understand why that was even included.

“The victimized gay” is the most serious and derogatory issue in this book. “The gay dies” and “the gay villain” are both there (and discussed below), but the book also contains elements which help to offset the negative impact of those cliches. Not so much with “the victimized gay.” From “Magic’s Pawn” until the last page of “Magic’s Price,” Vanyel has led a hard life filled with frustration, tragedy, and pain. And he’s put to the screws in an unparalleled way in “Magic’s Price.” Yes, it fits the context and nature of the story, but (1) did she have to go to such terrible lengths, and (2) the subliminal message is “gay life is bad; if you’re gay, bad things will happen to you.” If the fantasy genre produced more works where the gay characters led successful, productive, happy lives (it’d probably have to be in high fantasy or light fantasy sub-genres; no one leads successful, productive, happy lives in dark fantasy novels), I would not be so quick to point an accusing finger at books like these. But as it is, I find myself increasing exasperated at the cliché of the unhappy gay.

The Gay Dies

Vanyel sacrifices himself through a magical technique called Final Strike; he’s able to defeat the evil Leareth and Leareth’s army, but the assault takes his own life. This after a hard and unhappy life. Sure, this fits the context of the story and Lackey’s writing (she’s not kind to any of her heroes, and plenty of of the straight folks die tragically). It also makes for a great tear-jerker ending, and highlights the sheer heroism and self-sacrifice to which Vanyel has dedicated himself. This is a noble death, saving his country from otherwise certain doom. Plus, Vanyel returns as a ghost to continue guarding Valdemar; he wins a sort of eternal life. But “the gay dies” is still a stereotype, and it communicates on a visceral level that gay life does not end well. This kind of portrayal lacks balance (particularly in the fantasy genre); we find far more unhappy endings for gay folks than happily-ever-afters. And that’s really the crux of it. If we just look at the trilogy alone, it fits, and Lackey is not singling out the gay folks, which is notable and important. But I’m also considering Lackey’s works in relation to the canon of fantasy literature, and overall there’s a balance in the portrayals of straight folks lacking for gay characters. Recall that Tylendel also died, and at the very end of the book, Stefen joins Vanyel. By that point, Stefen is an old man, having lived a long life, and his death is relatively peaceful and easy. Nevertheless, every major gay character in her book thus dies.

The Gay Villain

It is never clearly established that Learest is gay, only intimated by his manner and approach toward Vanyel. He seems to want to seduce Vanyel to rule the world at his side, as if Darth Vader weren’t the Emperor’s protege but his lover. “The gay villain” is the most pernicious stereotype that occurs in the media because it contains the message “gay is bad.” Once again, it wouldn’t be as much of an issue if there were more balance in the portrayals, if we found as many good guys as bad guys. And again, just looking at The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy, the goodness of Vanyel more than offsets the badness of Leareth. But stepping back and considering a bigger picture, it becomes just one more image in an already mountainous pile of gay = bad.

The Gay Positive

Now, having said all that, I want to talk about the good stuff. I don’t want to paint of a picture of a book that’s so homophobic you might as well not bother. In fact, I wouldn’t call it homophobic at all but simply stereotypical and cliched in certain respects. The treatment is extremely sympathetic, and it’s important to note (as I did above) that everything that happens to and around Vanyel and Stefen fits the story’s context and Lackey’s style. That means she’s not singling out her gay characters for the bad stuff, and she’s done a wonderful thing simply by writing a mainstream, wide-release story that centers around a fantastic gay man.

The positive gay elements include:

• The Gay Hero. And I mean this literally: not only is Vanyel the protagonist, he’s also a heroic character, repeatedly working selflessly literally to save thousands of lives. I hesitate just shy of calling him a positive role model for gay readers because so much badness happens to and around him, but he is a character to look up to. (Full disclosure: when I first read these books as an adolescent, I totally wanted Vanyel to be my boyfriend.)
• The Powerful Gay. A common negative stereotype portrays gay men as weak, vulnerable, mincing little girly-men who easily fall prey to stronger characters. Not so with Vanyel. Not only is he an accomplished warrior and powerful Herald-Mage, he is the single most powerful Herald-Mage. His exploits are literally the stuff of legends. Bad guys beware!
• The Wise and/or Beneficial Gay. Vanyel helps people, even at great personal cost. In other words, not only is he not a villain, he’s not even indifferent or self-absorbed. Although he’s teased throughout all three books for being vain (based on his initial behavior in “Magic’s Pawn“), he is a very grounded character of substantial depth and selflessness. He’s the kind of friend you’d like to have in your life, always willing to lend his considerable powers and influence to help. And in fact, Vanyel’s not the only gay character who brings wisdom and helpfulness to the books. Moondance and Starwind, shamanistic mages from a Native American-esque society, offer great insight and helpfulness. They are powerful healers and teachers. Moondance, in particular, by recanting his personal tragedy when his family and village discovered he was gay, suggests that the tribulations gay people face also give them an opportunity to grow in compassion and wisdom. It’s like taking a negative and turning it into a positive, and it acknowledges that gay experience has the potential to benefit the world, even if the experience is tainted by negativity.
• Gay Pride / Self-Acceptance. Vanyel has made peace with himself by this book, and Stefen has no problem at all. He’s shaych and doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He’s going to sleep with, and form relationships with, whomever he damn pleases. Good for them!
• Gay Triumphs Over Anti-Gay. The major anti-gay force in the novels are Vanyel’s parents, who never quite accept him as a gay man. Even considering Vanyel’s power and heroism, they still, amazingly, feel shame about him. But Moondance helps them to see both the foolishness of that perspective as well as they pain they have caused Vanyel. Narratively, I think this subplot is a little too pat and easily resolved (after a lifetime of shame, his dad says, “Okay, I’m still not entirely uncomfortable with it, but I recognize that I have cause to be proud of you” and Vanyel is suddenly healed of all the negative emotion? Whatever). But thematically, it’s well-placed.
• Innovative Portrayal. It might sound strange for me to praise Lackey for writing an innovative portrayal after complaining at such length about the stereotypes she included. Nevertheless, I have to recognize that she wrote these books as a mainstream author at a time when homosexuality was virtually invisible in the fantasy genre, especially among wide-release works. I give her many kudos for writing these books to begin with.
• Gay Inclusive/Gay Friendly. On a related note to the “innovative portrayal,” the single most positive factor in the trilogy is the fact that it exists at all. I do not want to under-emphasize this. By this point (year 2007), simply including gay content is not sufficient to code it as positive. Hence all my criticisms about the gay content. Homosexuality is visible enough nowadays that simply including gay content isn’t an advance and doesn’t count as a positive. But Lackey didn’t write these books in 2007; she wrote them nearly 20 years ago, at a point in time when gay people were much more commonly defamed invisibility in the media. That is, ignoring gay people, pretending they don’t exist, or under-representing them, contributes to prejudice and negative stereotypes, and that was the case with the fantasy genre as a whole. Lackey broke through that curtain with a vengeance. Not only did she include gay characters, she made them the centerpiece of this trilogy! And further, she did not shy away from their relationships or identities as gay men. Wow. For all my criticisms, a big thank you to Mercedes Lackey!
• Gay Normative. Yes, yes, we find a lot of negative stereotypes and cliches in this book. A lot. And if she had written this book today, I’d be calling foul without belaboring the positive points. But as I mentioned above, she wrote this during a very different period. Lackey – a major fantasy author – initiated an important conversation by introducing a previously verboeten topic into the mainstream fantasy genre. The simple inclusion, and sympathetic treatment, introduced new readers to gay content and said, “Look, we all go through the same ups and downs. Is it really worth the prejudice?” Yeah, she contributed more negative images to the pile, which just feeds the visceral fire of prejudice and derogatory stereotypes, and that’s what I take issue with. But she also initiated the very conversation that might upend those stereotypes and preconceived ideas, and I commend her for that!

Tags: Gay Fantasy