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After a twenty-year wait, the legendary Halfblood Chronicles reaches its finale in Book Four — written by Mercedes Lackey and Ben Ohlander, in memory of Andre Norton.
The elves did not conquer because they were strong. They fled because something stronger was hunting them.
On the elves' original homeworld, the last great cities stand behind failing shields while monstrous Predators batter at the walls. Lord Haldeen Gatekeeper knows the truth his rulers refuse to face: the creatures are not mindless beasts. They are learning, adapting, and closing in.
Desperate to save his city and the rank he has clawed up from nothing, Haldeen reopens the forbidden World Gate that once carried the elven exiles to a new world. His secret experiment sends a living probe through the ancient portal — and drags back something he cannot begin to understand: Lady Triana, not long ago one of the most dangerous players in the courts of the world her people once conquered.
Triana has survived intrigue, rivalry, and every poisonous game of elven power. She has never survived being powerless. Here, on her own kind's first world, she is no one — collared, stripped of her magic and status, catalogued as a specimen and worked as a slave. The collar her people perfected to break others now closes around her own throat. Her one ally is the creature she names Rock: another captive, chained by the same brutal magic, as trapped as she is.
If Haldeen succeeds, the Gate will open wide, and a starving elven civilization will pour through into the world the exiles once seized — a world now shaken by rebellion, by dragons, and by the very magic they tried to exterminate. If Triana fails, she will remain what her captors believe her to be: a useful sample, a convenient slave, one more body crushed as their world falls to the Predators.
An epic of portal magic, monstrous warfare, forbidden experiments, survival, and impossible alliances, in the tradition of Anne McCaffrey's Pern. Elvenbred completes the saga begun in Elvenbane, Elvenblood, and Elvenborn — at last.
"One of the season's liveliest and, most appealing fantasy epics."—Publishers Weekly
"A brisk, glittering yarn that packs as much action, suspense, and twisting of conventions into one novel as many writers invest in whole trilogies."—Amazing Stories
"I came to this book with no expectations, other than to enjoy a book co-written by Mercedes Lackey. To say that I enjoyed it, is to say that a trip to the moon was a mere jaunt."—Goodreads User Review
"A splendid blend of the talents of two excellent storytellers!"—Anne McCaffrey
"The first half of this book is a perfect case study in how 'telling' versus 'showing' can be wildly entertaining. The authors took a lot of time to build this world... and I found myself devouring the pages."—Niki Hawkes, The Obsessive Bookseller
"A very entertaining premise."—Tim Scheidler, Fantasy Literature
"An intense fantasy that does not leave out the darkside...acknowledging that only a realm showing both bad and good can truly be fully developed."—ThriftBooks User Review
"An entertaining adventure."—Kirkus Reviews
PRAISE FOR MERCEDES LACKEY:"If you are in need of some literary chocolate when you’re having a bad day, look no further than the works of Mercedes Lackey. Try at least one of her books and I’ll bet you, like with any good chocolate, you’ll want more!"—Fantasy Literature
"She has been called one of the 'most prolific science fiction and fantasy writers of all time."—Locus Magazine
PRAISE FOR ANDRE NORTON:"She is a superb story-teller with a narrative pace all her own... Norton slowly unfolds a succession of images that first intrigue and finally engulf the reader."—The New York Times Book Review
"A titan in the world of fantasy novels"—The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Ben Ohlander began his writing career in the mid-1990s, publishing short fantasy stories and co-authoring tie-in novels for popular video game franchises, including Enemy of My Enemy (1995) with David Drake and Wing Commander: The Price of Freedom (1996) with William R. Forstchen. Ohlander has also contributed short works to other fantasy anthologies.