Stephen reviewed Mage Winds by Mercedes Lackey
Very dark to start with, relatively light by the end
As I get older I find Mercedes Lackey books harder to read. There's lots of very light stuff, long chapters discussing a character's self-worth and whether they deserve love. And then in this one, a lot of discussion of rape and torture (less explicit torture than the first Valdemar trilogy at least).
The first book in particular has the protagonists separate, and Elspeth has a nice travelogue through some lands having tea, while Darkwind is watching his society get screwed. It's very odd. To be clear, I still enjoyed this trilogy, I think this one improves as it goes.
For myself I read all Lackey's books in the wrong order. As someone who read the Mage Wars first, getting the "unspoiled prequel" effect of reading those two in the correct chronological order was very enjoyable. My 2019 read-through was pretty much mixed-up.