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A review by fletches
Changes by Mercedes Lackey
4.0
So, my basic summation of this is pretty simple: Reading about Valdemar is FUN.
Because there tends to be a big time gap (in the real world between publications AND in the world of Valdemar, in the sense that new series in the mega series can be anywhere on a rather long timeline) I always forget quite a lot- who is active in the world at this time, who are Valemar's enemies, what do and don't they know about their kingdom- in the span of hundreds and hundreds of years, a lot of amazing things about the kingdom get forgotten or rediscovered. Enemies change, alliances change, and interesting characters pop up in multiple series and sometimes it's hard to remember if/where you've seen someone before.
For a series with such convolution, I think its admirable that I enjoy every single darned book in the series so much.
The world Lackey has going on here is incredible in it's detail, intricacy, and consistency. You can be thrown in at any point and recognize it, but every adventure feels fresh. Plus, theres the added bonus of the fangirl thrill when a favourite character from a different point in the series is mentioned or idolized elsewhere (not super common, but not uncommon). I love the growth of this world and it's one of my favourite fantasy places.
In the case of this particular piece of the 5 part series, The Collegium Chronicles, does feel like a middle book. It relies on your knowledge of previous events and advances both the plot and the relationships, but only in a relatively small step. It's an important piece of the puzzle and probably could stand alone if you're new to the series, but I wouldn't recommend that. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed it- I held of reading it for a few days and have just finished it at 4 pm after starting it at 7 this morning- and I can't wait to get my hands on the next one. I am both frustrated and delighted that there's 5 parts to the series when I only expected 3.
The things I especially like about these Chronicles is the exploration of the spy aspect, something we haven't really seen in a Herald before,and the politics of re inventing the system for training Heralds, Bards and Healers. The Collegium is a standard in the later novels and it's exciting to glimpse its birth.
Im enjoying the addition of Kirball as well, although it is a bit of a flaw in the cohesion of the total series, since it doesn't feature in any of the 'later' (but published earlier) novels.
In any case, as always for me, Lackey has a solid and enjoyable read here. I'm a very entrenched Valedemar fan and I don't see that changing. Good stuff!
Because there tends to be a big time gap (in the real world between publications AND in the world of Valdemar, in the sense that new series in the mega series can be anywhere on a rather long timeline) I always forget quite a lot- who is active in the world at this time, who are Valemar's enemies, what do and don't they know about their kingdom- in the span of hundreds and hundreds of years, a lot of amazing things about the kingdom get forgotten or rediscovered. Enemies change, alliances change, and interesting characters pop up in multiple series and sometimes it's hard to remember if/where you've seen someone before.
For a series with such convolution, I think its admirable that I enjoy every single darned book in the series so much.
The world Lackey has going on here is incredible in it's detail, intricacy, and consistency. You can be thrown in at any point and recognize it, but every adventure feels fresh. Plus, theres the added bonus of the fangirl thrill when a favourite character from a different point in the series is mentioned or idolized elsewhere (not super common, but not uncommon). I love the growth of this world and it's one of my favourite fantasy places.
In the case of this particular piece of the 5 part series, The Collegium Chronicles, does feel like a middle book. It relies on your knowledge of previous events and advances both the plot and the relationships, but only in a relatively small step. It's an important piece of the puzzle and probably could stand alone if you're new to the series, but I wouldn't recommend that. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed it- I held of reading it for a few days and have just finished it at 4 pm after starting it at 7 this morning- and I can't wait to get my hands on the next one. I am both frustrated and delighted that there's 5 parts to the series when I only expected 3.
The things I especially like about these Chronicles is the exploration of the spy aspect, something we haven't really seen in a Herald before,and the politics of re inventing the system for training Heralds, Bards and Healers. The Collegium is a standard in the later novels and it's exciting to glimpse its birth.
Im enjoying the addition of Kirball as well, although it is a bit of a flaw in the cohesion of the total series, since it doesn't feature in any of the 'later' (but published earlier) novels.
In any case, as always for me, Lackey has a solid and enjoyable read here. I'm a very entrenched Valedemar fan and I don't see that changing. Good stuff!