Mercedes Lackey

The Black Swan, published in 1999, is fantasy author Mercedes Lackey's retelling of Swan Lake. The story is conveyed mostly from the point of view of Odile, the daughter of the sorcerer Baron Eric Von Rothbart. Sections are also told from the perspective of the debauched Prince Siegfried and his mother, the devious …

The Black Gryphon is the first novel in the chronological timeline of the Valdemar Saga by author Mercedes Lackey, although not published until 1994.

Take a Thief: A Novel of Valdemar is a 2001 young-adult novel about Skif, an orphaned pickpocket, who finds a magical horse. Written by Mercedes Lackey, the novel is the third in the Heralds of Valdemar series, and introduces Skif, who appears in the subsequent Valdemar book Arrows of the Queen.