This coming-of-age tale from the early days of Valdemar introduces Mags. Mags is an orphan who works in a gem mine far from Haven. When he is Chosen by Dallen his whole life changes.

Mags is taken to Haven where things are changing for the Heralds. A new collegium is being built in the capitol to sit alongside the collegiums for the Bards and the Healers. There are some Heralds who are not in favor of the changes. But an influx of new Herald candidates makes the old system of apprenticeships to Herald impractical.

Barely literate and totally ignorant of any life outside the mine where he was enslaved, Mags loves the new collegium with its regular meals, comfortable rooms, and clothing that aren't rags. But he is still wary and spends most of his time observing others. He does manage to make friends with a couple of other loners - Lena from the Bards and Bear from the Healers.

He makes other friends too among the upper classes when he saves a man from overpaying for a ring. This leads him into spying to protect his home under the tutelage of the King's Own Herald Nikolas whose daughter Amily also becomes his friend.

I enjoyed this story about a young orphan boy who finds a home and a found family to make his own. I like the worldbuilding in the Valdemar novels and enjoyed seeing things in this time period when the collegiums are just being built. Nick Podehl does an excellent job of bringing the story to life. ( )

I had planned not to read any more of this author's books, having found them rather uneven, but this one was a find on the library discard shelf for a nominal sum. Having realised it was book 1 in a series, I decided to try this sample.

The story conveys a slight deja vu feeling, as I had previously read her Arrows of the Queen. Mags is a young boy living a miserable existence who is chosen by a Companion, taken to Haven to start his education as a Herald, and is found to have a maturity beyond his years and a gift for Mindspeech and other things .... However, this version of the same basic story is made more interesting by the Dickensian setting at the beginning, for Mags is an orphan. Along with other unlucky children, he is being used as a slave to mine jemstones. The orphange boss, and the mine owner, is meant to be providing them with a roof over their heads, food and an education, but the roof is a nest among straw in a shed, the food is the equivalent of gruel with the odd bit of burned bread or even dead cat, and the education is learning by rote as one of the owner's daughters leads them in extremely rudimentary lessons in reading and writing. Nevertheless, Mags is smart, has picked up more skill in reading than the owner realises, and is also adept at doing what he needs to do to survive, especially since the owner has occasionally made "examples" by beating children to death and then disposing of their bodies in the mineworkings.

Despite this, all empathy and kindness has not been expunged from Mags, who is now about thirteen from what he can determine: he does give a bit of bread to a younger child who, through no fault of his own, has been unable sufficient jemstones. There is a mystery about Mag's origin: the mine owner occasionally delights in reminding him he is 'bad blood', having been found as a baby at a bandit camp when the bandits were suppressed. He doesn't know his real name having been nicknamed 'magpie' when it was found that he was more adept at others at panning the mine spoils for odd shafts of jems, a name that over time was shortened to Mags.

Following his rescue Mags is bewildered by all the new things he has to encounter, but is reassured by his Companion, Dallen, through their mental bond, and gradually settles into a new life in at the recently founded school for Heralds at Haven. He is there at a time of great change, as the decision has only recently been made to have a Collegium for both Heralds and Healers. Previously, Heralds took one or two trainees and acted as mentors, and healers also took apprentices, but so many youngsters have been Chosen by companions in recent years that it was decided to adopt the model already used by the Bards and have a college for each one. New buildings are being constructed to house them all and the overcrowding in the interim means that Mags is given a cosy room in the special stable which houses the Companions (not the ordinary horses).

At first, Mags' hard earned caution prevents him from making friends though gradually this changes and he is brought into a kind of inner circle around the King's Own Herald and a set of younger people in Haven, who seek to use his gifts to help keep a watchful eye on those who oppose the Collegium. For not all is sweetness and light, as he suspected. As this is only volume 1 in what appears to be a fairly long series, it is not surprising that most of the questions about Mags and about other odd events are not answered by the book's end, but that didn't trouble me. I'm sure Mags' origin will eventually turn out to be signficant and he won't actually be the child of bandits but a child they had abducted.

I found the writing a little clunky at times and Mags is possibly a little bit too perfect. But he is quite an engaging boy with his "uneducated" way of speaking and through him the prejudices of certain individuals are highlighted. The background is also interesting: one reference to Vanje made it clear that this story takes place two or three generations after the "Last Herald Mage" trilogy, and hundreds of years before Arrows of the Queen and similar books. And there was a helpful explanation of exactly what the "eyes" are that magic workers experience watching them - these were a feature of one of the books I read recently, By the Sword, but there was no explanation in that book and I couldn't recall what might have happened in the "Last Herald Mage" trilogy to have caused such a phenomenon.

There is the occasional oddity, such as people enjoying an evening eating fondue, which doesn't appear to fit into the setting, but it was an easy read. I think, despite the odd reference to other people having sexual encounters, that the book is aimed at teen or young adult readership: certainly, there is no romance between Mags and either his female or his male friend. That doesn't affect the enjoyment of what is a simple story of a boy who is developing new skills and confidence and seems to be lined up to be a key player in the future of the Collegium and the Heralds. So I rate this at a workmanlike 3 stars. ( )

I'm not convinced there is a plot. Nothing is resolved. There is hardly a climax and no falling action. A character sketch. Maybe the other book, Intrigues, is actually a sequel? All I know is that it was not a very satisfying read. Did not learn much about the historical Foundation, except that the construction workers worked though the holidays. ( )

I've been disappointed for a while with Lackey's books. It seems like, when she decided to team up with her husband, the general quality level of her Valdemar books dropped significantly, and they began to read like YA titles. Very YA titles. And so I drifted away. I'd read the new ones, be a bit ho-hum about them, and wander off to something else.

I really feel like the first two books of the Foundation trilogy are a return to the writing style of the Arrows and Last Herald-Mage titles. They're not quite as grand -- the first books of a series tend to be the best, in my experience, and Lackey has done some significant exploration of the history and world of Velgarth. That she's able to return to some of the simplicity and grandiosity of the first few books really was a very pleasant surprise.

I just want to say, on the off chance that she checks the reviews for these books, that Lackey was really my introduction to epic fantasy as a genre, and it's really been something I've enjoyed for my whole life as a consequence. I was 13 when I started with the Last Herald-Mage, and it's been fifteen years of absolutely amazing adventures, and through her, I've had my eyes gently opened to some of the more pressing issues of our times. I would not feel guilty giving these books to a young adult in the early teenage years, depending on maturity levels, but also feel as though they're written for an adult.

Either way, definitely worth a read. Writing style and story are on the same level as Brightly Burning, though Mags is not as legendary or as outstanding as Lavan Firestorm -- which is not necessarily a bad thing. I hope I don't have to wait two more years to find out where Mags ends up. :) ( )

The main character was an orphan that mined for gems A police officer knight saved him because of some prophecy, and the police headquarters feel sooo bad for what the kid went through. They didn't save any of the other kids, mind you. Using orphans to mine blood gems is bad, but very lucrative lol. The book did this unintentionally and it was hilariously awful. ( )