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Bedlam's Bard #6
Mad Maudlin
Eric Banyon, better known as Bedlam's Bard, has just discovered that he has a younger brother named Magnus whom his parents have kept secret from him. Just as Eric did years ago, 17-year-old Magnus has run away from home to escape his disfunctional family. Determined to find him, Eric finds himself caught in a desperate race against time. Young homeless children in New York have created a bizarre mythology about a demon called Bloody Mary who preys on young children-and somehow Bloody Mary has taken on an independent life and now stalks the streets of the city. Eric's friends, the Guardians seem powerless to stop her. Anyone who sees her is marked for death. And Magnus has seen her. . . .
538 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
23 people are currently reading
1011 people want to read
About the author
Mercedes Lackey
432 books9,562 followersMercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.
"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.
"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.
"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:
"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."
Also writes as Misty Lackey
Author's website
"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.
"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.
"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:
"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."
Also writes as Misty Lackey
Author's website
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 22, 2020
Okay, I already need to re-read this series. I gotta buy it!!
March 2, 2014
Eric Banyon, better known as Bedlam's Bard, is finally about to graduate from Julliard and enter the Real World and so, with the help of a psychiatrist who specializes in the problems of magicians, he's finally coming to terms with his past. But a spur-of-the-moment trip home to Boston to visit his parents brings him more trouble than even Eric thought possible.
Meanwhile, his Bardic apprentice Hosea has discovered that the young homeless children in New York's shelters have created a bizarre mythology about a demon called Bloody Mary who preys on young children - and somehow Bloody Mary has taken on an independent life and now stalks the streets of the city.
And for some reason, she's after Eric as well.
August 13, 2016
Enjoyable urban fantasy by someone who knows how to write it in her sleep. Eric Banyon is trying to figure out how to deal with his bad parents, whom he hasn't seen in a decade or more. Meanwhile, his apprentice Hosea is trying to understand about the Bloody Mary who haunts the homeless children he meets and they both must battle the typical evil protagonists in this kind of book: preachers and New Age cultists. It's not a deep read, but the characters (well, the good ones) are very likeable.
August 11, 2015
A lush and fascinating story, despite the few geographical gaffes. I really like the ongoing characters and look forward to more about the new ones.
August 8, 2022
This wasn’t a bad book, but I think it’s starting to feel like this series is just retreading the same themes and ideas. We’ve got street children, and scary government agents, and a threat from an elf, and in general there’s some new stuff here but it doesn’t feel quite different enough from what came before.
When I read the back cover blurb and saw Eric was going to visit his parents in Boston, I expected that this would be a story split between Eric in Boston and Hosea in New York. Instead, the trip to Boston is fairly quick and serves less for Eric to have a confrontation with his parents and more for him to discover the real plot - he has a younger brother. Eric ran away when he was 18, and now it turns out that his parents had another son not too long after. They forced Magnus into being a classical musical prodigy too and the boy has run away as well. But this time, he’s just 17, and thus he’s not quite as equipped to survive on his own, so Eric decides to try to track him down.
Magnus is hiding out in a condemned building in Manhattan, along with two other kids tying into some of the other plot threads that make up the book. There’s Jaycie, the secretly an elf kid who’s run away from home because he’s afraid of what his Unseelie prince father will make him become when he grows up. And there’s Ace, aka Heavenly Grace, a teen girl with magical singing abilities that her father has used to become a TV preacher, who’s also run away out of fear of how her abilities have been used. The kids are fun characters, but they also feel a bit reminiscent of series regular Kayla, and in this book at least there isn’t too much chance to explore Magnus and Eric both discovering they have a brother they never knew about.
The plot isn’t content with just these aspects and also weaves in yet more threads. The homeless kids of New York are haunted by tales of Bloody Mary, but these stories seem to be all too real when a series of corpses surrounded by mirror shards start to show up. Jaycie’s elven Protector is looking for him, while the Paranormal Defense Initiative created by Aerune are rounding up mages so they can try to summon elves. And there’s a cult lead by a man calling himself Fafnir trying to make trouble for the Guardians.
Most of the plot threads do manage to intersect by the end of the book, and it’s clear that the ones that aren’t actually wrapped up at the end will be handled in the promised sequel. But it leads to the book feeling a bit overstuffed, and I found it hard to be equally interested in everything. I especially found myself bored by the cult and government plots, even if the latter clearly resonated with the authors even more in the early War on Terror days. The stakes of a lot of the plots are also smaller and more personal, which isn’t itself bad but does feel like a shift from the larger scale saving the city or even world stuff in previous books. I also found myself frustrated that Eric gets taken out of the action for a large chunk of the book in a way that seems like it won’t have any long term repercussions.
It was nice to see the characters growing more, as Hosea starts to come more into his own as a Bard and Guardian, and Eric goes to therapy. The latter was especially a nice idea. I like the concept of a therapist that specializes in the problems of magicians and magical creatures. It’s something you could definitely build its own story around. And I like the ideas behind the new characters. As I said, they feel a bit reminiscent of ones that already exist, but I’m curious to see how they’re used in the next book.
Overall, I’m still enjoying this series, and I’m glad I’m finally getting back to it and finishing it up. But I’m not as sad as I might be that I’ve only got one book and one short story collection left. I think my favorites in the series will remain the first two novels, which feel like they had a bit of a different vibe than these do, one that I enjoyed more. Still, at least this book does a better job of feeling like a properly complete story with a continuation than two books ago did. I’ll give it credit for that.
When I read the back cover blurb and saw Eric was going to visit his parents in Boston, I expected that this would be a story split between Eric in Boston and Hosea in New York. Instead, the trip to Boston is fairly quick and serves less for Eric to have a confrontation with his parents and more for him to discover the real plot - he has a younger brother. Eric ran away when he was 18, and now it turns out that his parents had another son not too long after. They forced Magnus into being a classical musical prodigy too and the boy has run away as well. But this time, he’s just 17, and thus he’s not quite as equipped to survive on his own, so Eric decides to try to track him down.
Magnus is hiding out in a condemned building in Manhattan, along with two other kids tying into some of the other plot threads that make up the book. There’s Jaycie, the secretly an elf kid who’s run away from home because he’s afraid of what his Unseelie prince father will make him become when he grows up. And there’s Ace, aka Heavenly Grace, a teen girl with magical singing abilities that her father has used to become a TV preacher, who’s also run away out of fear of how her abilities have been used. The kids are fun characters, but they also feel a bit reminiscent of series regular Kayla, and in this book at least there isn’t too much chance to explore Magnus and Eric both discovering they have a brother they never knew about.
The plot isn’t content with just these aspects and also weaves in yet more threads. The homeless kids of New York are haunted by tales of Bloody Mary, but these stories seem to be all too real when a series of corpses surrounded by mirror shards start to show up. Jaycie’s elven Protector is looking for him, while the Paranormal Defense Initiative created by Aerune are rounding up mages so they can try to summon elves. And there’s a cult lead by a man calling himself Fafnir trying to make trouble for the Guardians.
Most of the plot threads do manage to intersect by the end of the book, and it’s clear that the ones that aren’t actually wrapped up at the end will be handled in the promised sequel. But it leads to the book feeling a bit overstuffed, and I found it hard to be equally interested in everything. I especially found myself bored by the cult and government plots, even if the latter clearly resonated with the authors even more in the early War on Terror days. The stakes of a lot of the plots are also smaller and more personal, which isn’t itself bad but does feel like a shift from the larger scale saving the city or even world stuff in previous books. I also found myself frustrated that Eric gets taken out of the action for a large chunk of the book in a way that seems like it won’t have any long term repercussions.
It was nice to see the characters growing more, as Hosea starts to come more into his own as a Bard and Guardian, and Eric goes to therapy. The latter was especially a nice idea. I like the concept of a therapist that specializes in the problems of magicians and magical creatures. It’s something you could definitely build its own story around. And I like the ideas behind the new characters. As I said, they feel a bit reminiscent of ones that already exist, but I’m curious to see how they’re used in the next book.
Overall, I’m still enjoying this series, and I’m glad I’m finally getting back to it and finishing it up. But I’m not as sad as I might be that I’ve only got one book and one short story collection left. I think my favorites in the series will remain the first two novels, which feel like they had a bit of a different vibe than these do, one that I enjoyed more. Still, at least this book does a better job of feeling like a properly complete story with a continuation than two books ago did. I’ll give it credit for that.
March 15, 2021
Wow!
Talk about tangled webs!
There were so many plotlines in this book, that it took me a while to sort it out in my head - but then, I've always been a sucker for that!
The way that the plots wove together so wonderfully made for a brilliant read, and it kept me riveted until the final page - it's no wonder that I find Misty's writing to be so unputdownable!
I'm definitely going to gave to get a few hours sleep, before starting the next book in the series, though!
So, sometime later today, I'll be starting on the next book in the series: Music to My Sorrow!
Talk about tangled webs!
There were so many plotlines in this book, that it took me a while to sort it out in my head - but then, I've always been a sucker for that!
The way that the plots wove together so wonderfully made for a brilliant read, and it kept me riveted until the final page - it's no wonder that I find Misty's writing to be so unputdownable!
I'm definitely going to gave to get a few hours sleep, before starting the next book in the series, though!
So, sometime later today, I'll be starting on the next book in the series: Music to My Sorrow!
October 23, 2018
In the Bedlam's Bard series, after "Spirits White as Lightning".
Our hero, Eric Banyon, is still at Julliard. His apprentice Bard Hosea has been chosen as a guardian. Eric tries to make peace with his past only to discover that he has a younger brother, whom his parents are also trying to turn into a prodigy.
Meanwhile, something or someone is praying on the homeless children of New York.
Our hero, Eric Banyon, is still at Julliard. His apprentice Bard Hosea has been chosen as a guardian. Eric tries to make peace with his past only to discover that he has a younger brother, whom his parents are also trying to turn into a prodigy.
Meanwhile, something or someone is praying on the homeless children of New York.
July 3, 2023
LOVE this character and the books surround his character. Eric discovers he has a little brother and needs to find him. The brother happens to be hanging out with street kids..that includ an elf and a young lady who was forced to use her magical voice to manipulate people. Fun fun fun!!!!!!!!!!!! The magic these two authors have strikes white hot!
January 17, 2022
As I read this book, elements (a few characters, a talking gargoyle) jogged my memory about a previous installment I had read years ago. This novel had a cast of thousands - human, elf, adults, children - on both the light and dark sides. Not all of the story lines were tied up by the end.
November 8, 2017
Good solid storytelling, very gritty and real, one of my favorite urban fantasy series. I highly recommend these.
April 10, 2018
This is the 6th book of this series. I like seeing how Eric and his friends get themselves into, and then out of, trouble.
August 16, 2020
There are elves about. And bards, healers and Guardians. Who is going to come out on top?
May 27, 2022
Full review here:
https://jamesgenrebooks.blogspot.com/...
By far, this is probably the best of the series that these two collaborated on.
https://jamesgenrebooks.blogspot.com/...
By far, this is probably the best of the series that these two collaborated on.
July 16, 2019
The Bedlam's Bard series is one of my favorites. It's set of books that I read again and again. Eric Banyon, a group of Talented friends, elves in New York City, and written by Mercedes Lackey and (beginning with book #4) Rosemary Edghill. It's hard to get better than that (IMO).
The bad guys are really bad (as they are in the entire series) and in this one there are a slew of them, not just one.
Some of these characters are introduced in #4 (Beyond World's End) so I recommend starting the series (at least) there if you aren't going to go back to the first book. I read 4, 5, and 6 before going back to read the first 3 of the books and I'm glad I did it that way. It meant that I got to "meet" a grown-up, more mature Eric before I read the backstory.
The bad guys are really bad (as they are in the entire series) and in this one there are a slew of them, not just one.
Some of these characters are introduced in #4 (Beyond World's End) so I recommend starting the series (at least) there if you aren't going to go back to the first book. I read 4, 5, and 6 before going back to read the first 3 of the books and I'm glad I did it that way. It meant that I got to "meet" a grown-up, more mature Eric before I read the backstory.
July 26, 2016
First read in 2008, again in 2009, and rereading it now.
This offtake on elves deals with loss, addiction, and the effects of power on those not equipped to deal with it. It touches on the plight of the multitudes of homeless children, runaways from unbearable situations, and suggests some possible solutions. Overall, a great book of social commentary.
This offtake on elves deals with loss, addiction, and the effects of power on those not equipped to deal with it. It touches on the plight of the multitudes of homeless children, runaways from unbearable situations, and suggests some possible solutions. Overall, a great book of social commentary.
July 18, 2012
I stumbled into this book without realizing it was the middle of a series, but the story had me hooked so I finished it. Some great characters and good plots involving homeless kids. Now I need to read the beginning volumes of the series.
October 11, 2007
Not as good as "Spirits White as Lightning" but it's still a decent read.
November 29, 2007
read 08.06.05
March 11, 2010
Continuation of the Bedlam's bard series, very enjoyable, love the concept. You really need to start at the beginning of the series.
September 5, 2012
I wasn't very fond of the jumping back and forth to so many different things in the story line, but still a great read.
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September 1, 2013Bedlam Bards, Book 6
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January 9, 2010baen ebook
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews