In the time since the Mage Wars concluded, one empire has risen up to control most of the civilized world. The emperor of this land has many kingdoms under his control, and under those are various other lords and holdings. One such small and provincial area is the Duchy of Valdemar. While many of the lords of bigger parts of the empire play political games to enhance their favor with their ruler, Duke Kordas Valdemar is content to provide for his people and leave his mark on the empire with his excellent horse breeding. Unfortunately, Kordas, and his father before him, recognizes the downward spiral the empire has been in for generations. The same political games Kordas tries to stay out of could easily lead to someone in-favor with the Emperor replacing Kordas as Duke, and the result would be devastating to his people.
For at least two generations, the Dukes of Valdemar have been working on a secret plan to help save their people from imperial whims, but they rely on just the right kind of magic, and ever since the Mage Wars, magic has been unpredictable at best (unless you are willing to make some deals with demons, that is). When Kordas gets word from one of his trusted mage advisors that they might actually be able to put the Duke's plans in motion, Kordas, his wife and their trusted advisors start to execute the various parts of the plan.
Their hope is to establish a magical gateway with the other end so far from the Empire that the Emperor's search parties could never find them and send through everyone willing to leave. Unfortunately, if this is going to succeed, an established foothold on the far side of the newly opened gate will have to be built and a lot of people will have to be relocated. On top of that, there are bound to be some people of the Duchy that won't want to leave and the last thing Kordas wants is to leave them to be tortured and imprisoned (or worse).
To make matters worse, just as Kordas' plans start to take root, he gets summoned to court and must travel to the capital. While the reason for his visit appears to be just a formality, he quickly finds himself having to play the very political games he hates. To the rest of the Empire, Kordas is a country bumpkin who knows nothing about the rest of the world, but his horse breeding is unparalleled and that is the reason for his and his family's long line of titles. While Kordas works to keep up that act, he finds it difficult as he sees the state of the capital and the people who live there.
It has been many years since his youth spent learning at the Emperor's Court, and it is obvious that a lot has changed since then, and none of those changes pleases Kordas. For one, it appears that all servants in the castle have been replaced with trapped wind elementals called Vrondi, a species that is known for lie detection. Kordas' disgust for the enslavement of the elementals quickly buys him an ally in them, but, as he considers how to free the creatures, it just adds yet another moving piece to his ever-growing complex plan.
Kordas' events in the court are about two-thirds of what happens in Beyond. The chapters that aren't focused on the Duke and the political hoops he must jump through involve his wife, sister-in-law, cousin and the various helpers and mages that are working to make sure the place they are bringing Valdemar's people to is actually hospitable, and by the end of this first book in The Founding of Valdemar, we will see a lot of the groundwork laid down for what will eventually be the great nation at the center of Lackey's universe. That being said, even by the end of Beyond, there is still a lot of work the people of Valdemar must accomplish before they become the beacon of hope they will grow into.
Even if you are only a casual reader of the Valdemar series, Beyond's placement so early in the world's history makes it a great entry point, since you don't need a lot of foreknowledge of the world in order to know who the various players are. If you are a more dedicated reader, then Beyond is a book you definitely won't want to miss, since, even if you know the story of how the nation gets formed and how it will turn out, you will find yourself caught in a few unexpected twists that makes the ride ever so enjoyable. I for one, can't wait to see what happens next in this latest Valdemar trilogy.
