Book Review of "Intrigues" - A Mercedes Lackey Valdemar Novel

"Intrigues" is the second book in Mercedes Lackey's latest addition to her popular Valdemar series. Part of the Collegium Chronicles, it continues the story of Mags, a Herald trainee at the founding of the Collegium.

Mags is chosen to be a Herald trainee at a time in Valdemar's history when the Heralds are changing the way they train their new members. Although there's no time line in the front of this book to indicate its position in Valdemar's history, I believe it takes place not long after the Vanyel series.

In the first book of the series, Mags was rescued from slavery in a mine by a Companion, and brought to the Collegium. This book continues the story with Mags having trouble fitting in with his peers because of his childhood experiences. He has difficulty grasping the social facets that the other trainees his age know instinctively. With the help of his close friends and his Companion, Mags is finally settling in when misfortune strikes. The Foreseers have an ominous vision involving the king, and circumstances lead people to believe Mags will be at the heart of it. Racing to prevent calamity before it strikes, Mags has to prevent becoming a victim himself.

Considering that the author has jumped around the Valdemar time line in creating the series, the continuity in this novel works very well. She does well in filling in back story, and the heavy moral sermons that were in earlier novels has been toned down greatly. Ms. Lackey still seems to be as addicted to italics as a teenage girl is to exclamation points; Unofficially, I estimate an average of three italicized words a page. Over the years, I had hoped that she would realize that one's writing should provide the emphasis, not one's font. Another style point I had difficulty with was Mags' dialect. I felt bogged down trying to translate his dialogue into English.

Nevertheless, Ms. Lackey is a good storyteller, and fans of Valdemar have waited a long time for this trilogy. I highly recommend reading the first book in this series, "Foundation," before this one.  You can get it on sale here.  "Intrigues" can be found here.