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Series · fantasy

Bardic Voices

by Mercedes Lackey

The Bardic Voices series by Mercedes Lackey has 4 known books (4 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with The Lark and the Wren (1992).

Books
4 known books (4 novels)
Published
4
First published
1992
Status
completed
Shelved under
Fantasy
Last checked

Start here: The Lark and the Wren (1992) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of The Lark and the Wren

The Lark and the Wren (1992)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. The Lark and the Wren

    Novel

    The Lark and the Wren is the book that opens Mercedes Lackey's Bardic Voices series, first published in 1992. It's followed in the reading order by The Robin and the Kestrel. It runs 488 pages. The series ran to completion in 1997 across 4 books.

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  2. The Robin and the Kestrel

    Novel

    The Robin and the Kestrel is the second book in the Bardic Voices series, published in 1994. In the reading order it comes after The Lark and the Wren and before The Eagle and the Nightingale.

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  3. The Eagle and the Nightingale

    Novel

    The Eagle and the Nightingale is the third book in the Bardic Voices series, published in 1996. In the reading order it comes after The Robin and the Kestrel and before Four and Twenty Blackbirds. It runs 410 pages.

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  4. Four and Twenty Blackbirds

    Novel

    Four and Twenty Blackbirds is the fourth book in the Bardic Voices series, published in 1997. It follows The Eagle and the Nightingale, closing out a series that ran from 1992 to 1997. It runs 320 pages.

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About the Bardic Voices series

Set in a world where music carries literal magical power, the Bardic Voices novels follow the Free Bards — traveling musicians who operate outside the rigid, guild-controlled Bardic tradition of the kingdom of Rayden, and who use their music to protect ordinary people (and the nonhuman folk the establishment distrusts) from corrupt authority. The Lark and the Wren introduces Rune, a talented but penniless fiddler who wins a bardic apprenticeship through a duel with Death itself, and follows her collision with the guild's rigid hierarchy. The Robin and the Kestrel pairs a Free Bard with a disguised, deposed prince as they travel and perform together while he learns what his kingdom actually needs from him. The Eagle and the Nightingale sends its bardic pair into a war-ravaged land to use music as a tool of literal, magical healing. Four and Twenty Blackbirds closes the sequence by pulling several of the series' musicians together against a conspiracy threatening the fragile peace between humans and the nonhuman races.

Through all four books, Lackey uses the setting's magic system — where a sufficiently skilled performance can heal, curse, or persuade — to explore who gets to define "proper" art and who a rigid institution leaves out, a theme that runs under the series' otherwise adventure-driven plots.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in the Bardic Voices series?

Four novels: The Lark and the Wren (1992), The Robin and the Kestrel (1994), The Eagle and the Nightingale (1996), and Four and Twenty Blackbirds (1997).

What order should I read the Bardic Voices books in?

Publication order. The first two follow different lead characters and can be read in either order relative to each other, but the final two build more directly on earlier events and characters, so straight publication order is easiest to follow.

Is Bardic Voices connected to Valdemar?

No. It's a separate fantasy setting (sometimes called the Free Bards universe) with its own kingdom, magic system built around musical power, and cast, unconnected to Valdemar or Lackey's other series.

Is there a fifth Bardic Voices book?

No. The series concluded with Four and Twenty Blackbirds (1997) and no further novel has been published in this setting since.

What is the magic system in Bardic Voices based on?

Music itself carries real magical force in this world — a sufficiently skilled Bard's performance can heal, harm, or persuade, which is why the kingdom's official Bardic Guild jealously controls who's allowed to train and perform, and why the unlicensed 'Free Bards' who operate outside it are treated as a threat.

Reading order last verified .