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maggpiebymoonlight's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
iffer's review against another edition
1.0
As another reviewer of a different Mercedes Lackey book wrote, "Mercedes Lackey is the comfort food of fantasy." I agree with this. My problem is, that even with that designation, this most recent trilogy, The Collegium Chronicles, was extremely disappointing.
The plot was slow; there were typos in all the volumes; and all the characters spent too much time whining. The amount of plot that was covered in three volumes should have been covered in one, and the main character wasn't likeable because he was just *too* nice, even assuming that heralds of Valdemar are supposed to be duty-driven straight arrows. Maybe it wasn't that he was too nice as much as that he was boring. Mags starts off as some country bumpkin with a heart of gold, and at the end of the THIRD novel, he's still portrays himself as a nice country boy (but not a bumpkin unless it's useful to disguise himself as ignorant) and you still haven't found out anything about his parents. I guess that the message of the novels is supposed to be that his mysterious unknown past shouldn't be important because he's found a new family and he's going to forge his own destiny, but this wasn't communicated particularly well. Furthermore, no messages, themes or any characterization was conveyed particularly well. In these novels, Lackey tells, over and over again, instead of showing the audience what she presumably wants them to get. Most of the Valdemar novels that have come out after Arrows of the Queen, The Last Herald Mage, and The Mage Winds trilogies have fallen somewhat flat, but these are the nadir. Either Lackey is fresh out of ideas, or she needs more time than her publisher (wanting to milk the Valdemar cash cow) is giving her to write a well-planned story.
The plot was slow; there were typos in all the volumes; and all the characters spent too much time whining. The amount of plot that was covered in three volumes should have been covered in one, and the main character wasn't likeable because he was just *too* nice, even assuming that heralds of Valdemar are supposed to be duty-driven straight arrows. Maybe it wasn't that he was too nice as much as that he was boring. Mags starts off as some country bumpkin with a heart of gold, and at the end of the THIRD novel, he's still portrays himself as a nice country boy (but not a bumpkin unless it's useful to disguise himself as ignorant) and you still haven't found out anything about his parents. I guess that the message of the novels is supposed to be that his mysterious unknown past shouldn't be important because he's found a new family and he's going to forge his own destiny, but this wasn't communicated particularly well. Furthermore, no messages, themes or any characterization was conveyed particularly well. In these novels, Lackey tells, over and over again, instead of showing the audience what she presumably wants them to get. Most of the Valdemar novels that have come out after Arrows of the Queen, The Last Herald Mage, and The Mage Winds trilogies have fallen somewhat flat, but these are the nadir. Either Lackey is fresh out of ideas, or she needs more time than her publisher (wanting to milk the Valdemar cash cow) is giving her to write a well-planned story.
bunnerz's review against another edition
4.0
Ratings - completed series:
#1 Foundation: ★★★★☆
#2 Intrigues: ★★★★☆
#3 Changes (this book): ★★★★☆
#4 Redoubt: ★★★★☆
#5 Bastion: ★★★☆☆
#1 Foundation: ★★★★☆
#2 Intrigues: ★★★★☆
#3 Changes (this book): ★★★★☆
#4 Redoubt: ★★★★☆
#5 Bastion: ★★★☆☆
alpettit's review against another edition
2.0
This is not Lackey’s best work. The story did not flow well or feel cohesive. It wasn’t plausible to me that a trainee would go with another Herald on such a dangerous mission, and be taken out of classes for it. The characters seem to lack depth and complexity, even though we’ve been following some of them for a while. The exception was Mags who grew up enough to fall in love, but somehow after years of education had not improved his diction. Speaking of, this book was poorly edited. Lots of typos.
alannabarras's review against another edition
3.0
My least favorite of the series, just because it felt more like filler than an actual plot in and of itself.
squishies's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
This instalment felt a little stale for me and I think it's because half of the book seems like it's rehashing how unreasonable Bear's family / brother is andhow much Lena is a watering pot showing how big of a douchebag Lena's dad can be.
We get it... their families are a little on a shitty side, but happily both Lena and Bear grows more of a backbone in this book. Thank god. We can finally drop this story line.
Definitely more on the interesting side is Nikolas' tutelage and what they find out.
I've forgotten to mention that there's a lot of food descriptions in this series... Sometimes a bit too much, which made me hungry.
This instalment felt a little stale for me and I think it's because half of the book seems like it's rehashing how unreasonable Bear's family / brother is and
We get it... their families are a little on a shitty side, but happily both Lena and Bear grows more of a backbone in this book. Thank god. We can finally drop this story line.
Definitely more on the interesting side is Nikolas' tutelage and what they find out.
Spoiler
Not fully convinced by the attraction between Mags and Amily. Also, her character is kind of flat and boring.I've forgotten to mention that there's a lot of food descriptions in this series... Sometimes a bit too much, which made me hungry.
giftsintogold's review against another edition
4.0
Lots of intrigue as the primary characters -- Mags, Lena and Bear -- confront challenges from family and foe.
jessicafee86's review against another edition
3.0
Man did those Kirball scenes get repetitive by the end! But overall a fun book with that comfort read feel that I always experience with the Valdemar books.
shogins's review against another edition
2.0
Two big problems: I hate reading stuff written in dialect because it's annoying to decipher and this book suffers from a problem endemic in teen fantasy, wherein they prolong a series so people keep buying books, so the middle books just feel like wheel-spinning: nothing actually happens. There's no resolution!
kikmigi23's review against another edition
2.0
If Mercedes Lackey revisits these characters (which, given the ending of this book, seems likely) I plan on taking her dialect strewn dialogue and flogging her with all the dropped letters, made up words, slurs, and apostrophes. I am SICK of it. I will likely never reread this particular trilogy, and will count on a Wikipedia entry to remind me of the relevant plot points. It's Valdemar, I have to know what happened in the book, but sweet Lord, no one, no one, no one, wants to read paragraph after paragraph of dialect.