Foundation

Foundation by Mercedes Lackey
Valdemar: The Collegium Chronicles
ISBN# 978-0-7564-0524-3
Available now
Published by DAW Books/Penguin Group (USA)
Format: hardcover, 340 pages
Genre: fiction, fantasy

Unless you live under a rock you've had to at least hear of Mercedes Lackey. She is one of the most prolific authors out there. All of her books fall in the fantasy genre, but they cover just about every sub-genre you can think of. If you're into high fantasy you can try this series or the Obsidian trilogy. If urban fantasy is more your thing her Bedlam's Bard and Diana Tregarde Investigations series are excellent. She's also collaborated with Larry Dixon (her husband), Andre Norton, Rosemary Edghill, James Mallory, and Roberta Gellis just to name a few.

I would have to say that her most beloved and longest running series are her Valdemar books, which this book belongs to. There's around 30 books set in the world of Valdemar, more if you count the anthologies, but most of them are written in trilogies and while they're all set in the same world one trilogy doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the next one so read only what you want. The running theme in this series has always been Heralds and their Companions. Heralds are the policing and peacekeeping force of Valdemar and Companions are horse-like in shape, but think more like humans. Companions choose Heralds, never the other way around, and connect all the Heralds to one another through Mindspeech.

This book is your standard Heralds of Valdemar fare, just as enjoyable as the rest of the books but nothing really stands out as new or different. Mags is a 13 year old orphan who's been made to work in a gem mine almost since before he could walk. All he and the other orphans get for their efforts is threats along with barely enough food to survive and threadbare clothes that aren't even fit for the rag pile. When Mags is finally "chosen" by the Companion Dallen his whole life changes. It takes a long time for him to believe that the owner of the mine isn't coming after him and even longer to believe that people can be trustworthy. The Bardic, Healer, and Herald Collegiums are just being built in Haven so there's a lot of confusion and a lot more to be sorted out between the three disciplines. Mags ends up meeting some very important people and is soon working for the King's Own (Herald) keeping an eye out for trouble on the collegium grounds. He ends up watching the foreign emissaries that are acting very strangely. As it turns out the foreigners are the least of their worries when Mags' friend, Bear, goes missing during a blizzard.

I liked this book well enough, but the Valdemar books were the first fantasy I ever read so I may be a bit biased. It's pretty clear that this book is mostly set-up for the rest of the series, we learn all about Mags, but there's no detail about the emissaries who end up just slipping away during the night. Mags also comes across an alien, evil intelligence once, but there's not much detail there either. We'll have to wait for future books to see just what the hell is going on. If you grew up reading these books, welcome back and enjoy. If you're new to the world of Valdemar there are better books to start with, find them here.

Zhye