Mercedes Lackey

The remarkable land of Valdemar, the kingdom protected by its Heralds--men and women gifted with extraordinary mind powers--aided and served by their mysterious Companions--horselike beings who know the many secrets of Valdemar's magical heritage.

Talia, Herald to the Queen of Valdemar, travels to a neighboring realm to investigate a prince's proposal to marry the Queen's heir, but discovers an evil plot to destroy Valdemar.

Evil had cast its shadow over the kingdom of Rethwellan. When Idra, leader of the Sunhawks mercenaries, failed to return from a journey to her home, Tarma and Kethry, warrior and mage, set out in search of their vanished leader.

Granddaughter of a sorceress and daughter of a noble house, Kerowyn had been forced to run the family keep since her mother's untimely death. Now all of her hopes and plans to return to training horses and hunting have been shattered by an attack on her ancestral home, the death of her father, the wounding of her brother and the kidnapping of his fiance.

The first book in the Vows and Honor trilogy unites sword master and sorceress in a quest for revenge in this thrilling epic fantasy. She was Tarma. Born to the Clan of the Hawk of the nomadic Shin'a'in people, she saw her entire clan slain by brigands. Vowing blood revenge upon the murderers, she became one of the sword-sworn, the most elite of all warriors. And trained in all the forms of death-dealing combat, she took to the road in search of her...

The eldest daughter is often doomed in fairy tales. But Bella vows to escape the usual pitfalls. She dons a red cloak and ventures into the forbidden forest to consult with "Granny," the local wisewoman. On the way home she's attacked by a wolf-- who turns out to be a cursed nobleman! Secluded in his castle, Bella is torn between her family and this strange man who creates marvelous inventions and makes her laugh-- when he isn't howling at the moon...

Falsely accused of unleashing evil on nearby villages, Aleksia, the ice fairy and Queen of the Northern Lights, realizing that a heartless imposter is ruining her reputation, sets out to face down a formidable foe.

"Baron Valdemar and his people have found a temporary haven, but it cannot hold all of them, or for long. Trouble could follow on their heels at any moment, and there are too many people for Crescent Lake to support. Those who are willing to make a further trek by barge on into the West will follow him into a wilderness depopulated by war and scarred by the terrible magics of a thousand years ago and the Mage Wars. But the wilderness is not as "empty"...

"Three writers (the others are Eric Flint and Dave Freer) collaborate on this massive concoction of alternate history, high fantasy, and historical romance set in the sixteenth-century Venice of an alternate world in which Catholicism is factionalized, the Hohenstauffens instead of the Habsburgs rule the Holy Roman Empire, magic works, and the grand duke of Lithuania is trying to use that magic against his enemy, the emperor."--Booklist