From Publishers Weekly
From veteran Mercedes Lackey and newcomer Rosemary Edghill comes Spirits White as Lightning, the fifth installment in the Bedlam's Bard series. Julliard student Eric Banyan has a few basic problems he doesn't like his teacher, he missed his last midterm, he has to train a banjo-playing Bard but he also needs to save the world from Aerune mac Audelaine, lord of the Unseleighe Sidhe, who has resurfaced with another nefarious plan to avenge his beloved's death. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The fifth volume of Lackey and Edghill's Bedlam's Bard series continues the adventures of Eric Banyon, a Julliard student in our world and Sir Eric, knight and bard, in the Elvenlands. It is a collection of subplots flying in close formation, with Eric and his comrades in both worlds initiating a new guardian, discovering how elf and human can produce a child without dark magic, installing a computer system for a dragon, and fighting assorted villains, who this time are mostly bent on revenge rather than conquest. Apart from all those subplots, and perhaps because of them, the book's pacing is uneven--at times fast and completely absorbing; at others, weighed down by pop psychology. The authors are clearly proceeding on the principle that you can't keep a good series down, and this is a good series, though newcomers should retreat to earlier volumes to catch up on established characters. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Eric Banyon has settled into the New York whirl nicely: he's doing well at Julliard, he's made a lot of new friends, he's defeated a lord of the Unseleighe Sidhe...

Aerune mac Audelaine, whose beloved was killed by mortal men, was determined to destroy the human race until Eric, with a little help from his new friends the Guardians, thwarted Aerune's plans and exposed the chemists whose designer poison turned ordinary humans into zombie Mages. The human side of the threat is finished, but Aerune, like the rest of the Sidhe, has a long memory...and a lot of patience. He's also got Jeanette Campbell, former Threshold Black Ops, and the science behind the murder.

Can Eric stop Aerune's latest plan? Only if he finds out about it before it's too late, but between babysitting a visiting Healer, training a banjo-playing Bard, attending his daughter's Underhill Naming ceremony, dealing with a dragon—and trying to survive summer school—Eric's got his hands full. Saving the world has never been more necessary—or come at a higher price.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

From veteran Mercedes Lackey and newcomer Rosemary Edghill comes Spirits White as Lightning, the fifth installment in the Bedlam's Bard series. Julliard student Eric Banyan has a few basic problems he doesn't like his teacher, he missed his last midterm, he has to train a banjo-playing Bard but he also needs to save the world from Aerune mac Audelaine, lord of the Unseleighe Sidhe, who has resurfaced with another nefarious plan to avenge his beloved's death. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA - Marlyn Roberts

This novel is something of a departure for Lackey, who is best known for her series about the Heralds of Valdemar and Bardic Voices. Although the previous two series are pure fantasy, this fifth volume of the Bedlam's Bard series is an urban fantasy, with main characters existing in the contemporary world but possessing an ability to travel to an alternate universe of some type. Eric Banyon, a music student at the prestigious Juilliard school in New York, is also a Bard of an Elven court in the world of Underhill. Aerune mac Audelaine, an Elven lord whose beloved was killed by mortals, is determined to destroy the human race. Eric and his companions, the Guardians, who strive to keep the magical realm from taking over the mortal one, are faced with the task of thwarting Aerune's plans. The novel concludes with the defeat of Aerune by Eric and the Guardians, but not without a relatively complicated plot involving a great deal of travel between the two worlds and explorations of magic's influence upon technology and vice versa. It is not necessary to have read previous entries in the series to understand this one. The reader is drawn effortlessly into the lives of Eric and his friends in both Underhill and Overhill. Recommend this novel to teens who enjoy the urban fantasy of Charles de Lint or Guy Gavriel Kay, as well as to those who enjoy Lackey's other series. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P S A/YA (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2001, Baen, 437p,

KLIATT - Donna Scanlon

This installment in the Bedlam's Bard series brings back Bard Eric Banyon, now a Juilliard student, and many of his friends from the previous novels. The novel also introduces a new character, Hosea Songmaker, a banjo-picking Bard-to-be from Appalachia who becomes Eric's apprentice. The lengthy tale contains several intertwined plots more convoluted than Celtic knotwork. It is impossible to outline them succinctly, save to say that Lord Aerune still wants to avenge his only love's death by destroying humanity, and the rest of the plots manage to tie into this one, however indirectly. The narrative is readable and the writing fairly competent, although the characterizations tend toward the two-dimensional. A firmer editorial hand could have made it leaner. Characters are created and discarded just to make the point that Eric is a GOOD person, adding to the fluff content, and the long-winded explanations of the obvious wouldn't be missed. Finally, the incessant wish fulfillment via magic or money becomes tiresome. Avid followers will snap it up, however, so purchase is warranted for libraries with a following among their readers. (Bedlam's Bard). KLIATT Codes: SA-Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Baen, 502p., Ages 15 to adult.

Kirkus Reviews