Mags and Amily are back in Haven after there year on circuit. Both are ready to settle in with their new adult responsibilities. Mags will continue to apprentice as Royal spy under the tutelage of Nikolas, Amily's father and King's Own herald. Amily will be working as a chronicler in the Royal Archives. They are looking forward to a quiet period in their lives. However, that isn't what happens.

Nikolas is in an accident during which he almost drowns. He dies but is revived by Mags who saw the accident. When he died, his bond with his Companion Rolan was severed and Rolan chooses Amily to be his new Chosen. That makes her the new King's Own which causes all sorts of chaos until Mags straightens out the thinking of the King and the Court. One of the first things the new King's Own has to deal with is a family feud that could cause all sorts of problems in Haven.

The story has a Romeo and Juliet vibe as the youngest daughter of one of the feuding families falls for the son of the other. This leads to a lot of discussion of the marriage customs of the high born in Valdemar which follow a medieval pattern. Young women are given in marriage by their fathers for reasons that have nothing to do with love. There is a lot of conversation about the role of women in this society.We see Mags building his spy network in Haven and get a look at what life is like for the poor too.

Both Amily and Mags are very busy keeping this feud from exploding but are still blind-sided when things they hadn't anticipated happen.

This was a book that was more about social issues and about Mags and Amily learning their new jobs. There wasn't a big political plot in this one. Fans of the Valdemar books will enjoy this one because it explores topics not seen before. ( )

{First of 3 in Herald Spy sub-series/ somewhere in the middle of Valdemar chronology; fantasy} (2014)

I borrowed this book but then I realised I hadn't read Bastion, the last book of the Collegium Chronicles sub-series that precedes this one, so I borrowed and read that first. This story starts with Mags and co. on the same Circuit they were sent on in Bastion but now they're returning to Haven, where Mags gets his Whites as a full Herald. Amily has discovered that she has a Gift, albeit an unusual one. Both of them return to new duties and more responsibilities; Mags will still be helping Nikolas with spying but now starts independent operations. As winter bites down and people come to Haven for the Midwinter festivities, the Heralds will be occupied with trying to prevent a Capulet-Montague type feud (this book has serious Romeo and Juliet vibes) from causing riots in the capital.

I probably (or 'prolly' as Mags would say) shouldn't have read this so soon after Bastion; I have much the same observations. I found the narrative a bit slow, Lackey explains things more than necessary and she sprinkles the place with random italics.

'Now, I reckon if ye think on't, ye'll get why I need all of ye t'be eyes an' ears all over town,' he said, gravely, as if they were adults. Because, really, these children were not children at all, for exactly the same reason that he had never been a child. From the time they had been old enough to walk and talk, they'd been doing some form of work or another. And when they lost their parents - however that had happened - the only way they kept food in their mouths was by their own efforts. There was no 'childhood' for younglings such as these. Only varying degrees of work.
So they understood him almost as well as adults would. They thought ahead, and considered what they were going to do, almost as well as adults.

And although she over-explains obvious things, some simple details are missing; Sedric's Companion is called 'the Prince's Companion' three times in the space of about a page and is never given a name, for example, which is noticeable because the Companions are the heart of the Valdemar chronicles. And, oddly, each of the feuding Houses has a nebulous group of unnumbered and unnamed cousins who all carouse together living in their respective houses but no individuals are distinguished from the crowd; they're are just constantly dismissed as 'the cousins' by whoever is talking about them, whether it's the Heralds or senior (i.e. named) members of their own family.

Essentially this story is Mags continuing on with the next phase of his life, as a Herald, and shoehorns Amily into a more prominent role. On the whole, I thought the story was a good idea but it meanders more than it needs to and bogs down in unnecessary detail.

Word of warning, if you're thinking of giving this to a young reader; there are a couple of intimate (though not steamy) scenes they might not be comfortable with. From what I remember, Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series would suit horse-mad youngsters better and is better written.

(September 2023)
3 stars ( )

It's been many years since I read my first Mercedes Lackey story and for many years I was pretty much obsessive about grabbing each new release at the earliest opportunity (and let's not consider my reaction when one of her books 'disappeared' in a move). There's even several books held together with multiple applications of sticky tape that I can't bear to upgrade due to the associated memories.

I must confess though that lately I've been choosing other authors to spend my immediate dollars on and only purchasing when opportunity arose due to them just not grabbing me as firmly as previously. I picked this particular volume up with a spare audiobook credit and... this wasn't one of my favourites in this universe.

Truthfully I just felt it was too predictable and based on the description I was expecting a lot more intrigue. " a secret, treacherous plot within the royal court to destroy the Heralds" ...hmmm didn't really come across that one - makes me think it's a possible spoiler for the series as a whole. If that's the case though, it would have been nice to see a bit more evidence of it here, even if it's only events that in hindsight I'd say "THAT's what was happening" There may have been a couple but I suspect not that many

It just didn't engage me. I think the fact that last night I picked up my Kindle to read an ebook at the same time I was listening to this says it all. ( )

Better than the last lot. Not quite as much teenage whining as the previous 4 novels. And no bloody kirball - thank all the gods!! ( )

The latest book follows a few months after the last trilogy that dealt with the mystery of Mags. This one does use what Mags has learned about his background to help him with the plot of this one. It reads like a Romeo and Juliet story for the most part until it gets to the ending. And then there is a twist to that standard plot line at the end. Nice thing is you don’ t have to have read the previous trilogy to catch what is going on in this book and you really don’t have to have read previous books to understand what is going on. A good starting point for someone wanting to try this long running series and the plus for long time readers is there is not much of the rehashing of learning to be a herald that that happens in several of the books. ( )