I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Intrigues
by
Mercedes Lackey
fantasy in Hardcover edition that was published by DAW Books on October 5, 2010 and has 328 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Unnatural Issue, "The River's Gift", Finding the Way and Other Tales of Valdemar, Foundation, Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit, Owlknight, Charmed Destinies, Changes, Beauty and the Werewolf, Invasion, Home From the Sea, Dead Reckoning, Conspiracies, Bedlam's Edge, Crown of Vengeance, Redoubt, Harvest Moon, World Divided, Elemental Magic: All New Tales of the Elemental Masters, Sacrifices, Steadfast, Burdens of the Dead, Bastion, Victories, Blood Red, The House of the Four Winds, Games Creatures Play, Closer to Home, Born to Run, Wheels of Fire, When the Bough Breaks, Chrome Circle, Changing the World: All-New Tales of Valdemar, Under the Vale and Other Tales of Valdemar, Arcanum 101, A Tangled Web, Winter Moon, Moving Targets and Other Tales of Valdemar, Elementary: All-New Tales of the Elemental Masters, No True Way: All-New Tales of Valdemar, From a High Tower, Hunter, Closer to the Heart, Silence, A Study in Sable, Elite, Closer to the Chest, Tempest: All-New Tales of Valdemar, A Scandal in Battersea, The Hills Have Spies, The Bartered Brides, Dragon's Teeth, Eye Spy, Breaking Silence, Pathways, Passages, Magic's Pawn, The Black Gryphon, Magic's Promise, The Serpent's Shadow, The Oathbound, The White Gryphon, The Silver Gryphon, Beyond, Spy, Spy Again, Oathbreakers, The Lark and the Wren, The Gates of Sleep, Phoenix and Ashes, The Wizard of London, The Robin and the Kestrel, Oathblood, Take a Thief, Exile's Honor, The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley, Owlflight, Brightly Burning, Exile’s Valor, Sword of Ice and Other Tales of Valdemar, Crossroads and Other Tales of Valdemar, Crucible, Choices, Into the West, Into the West, Sun in Glory and Other Tales of Valdemar, The Fire Rose, The Case of the Spellbound Child
Second in the Collegium Chronicles subseries set within the wider Valdemar fantasy series for Young Adults.
My Take
This is an excellent Young Adult series for kids and adults…hey, technically, I’m an adult, and I love this whole series.
Another great story from Lackey and her Valdemar series. My only quibble is that I don’t feel she worked the depression into which Mags fell well at all. It was so abrupt. Yes, I did feel that Mags had good reason to be depressed. But he had so much support from so many, and he ran much too quickly. Lackey should have built on it, increasing the pressure so it would feel more real.
The Story
Mags has recovered from his rescue of Bear and is amused at the whingeing of his classmates over being stuck inside this past miserable winter. After his upbringing, Mags will never bemoan being warm, fed, and sleeping in a soft bed. Between his schoolwork, the weapons training, riding lessons, his friends, and the spycraft in which the King’s Own is training Mags, he’s never imagined that life could be so good.
The new game the heralds are developing to teach the trainees how to cope in battle is coming along, and Mags has been asked to participate and as moral support for his friends.
At least, until the Foreseers begin to spread the tales of what they have seen. Of Mags and the King bloodied. And Mags discovers that he is probably foreign born. It’s enough to upset most in the Collegium. For others to believe that he is evil. It comes that only Dallen has faith, and it’s not enough.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a similar feel to the first story in this subseries except that it’s a water-spotted green background with swords and masks slanting across it. The “hole in the wall” is of Mags jumping Dallen, quite possibly on that fateful ride. The title is certainly accurate for there are Intrigues aplenty in Collegium.
