Closer to the Heart

This second volume in the Herald Spy series has as a central focus Mags and Amily's wedding. The king wants to use the occasion of the marriage of the King's Own Herald to do some political things. Mags and Amily put Lady Dia in charge and know that all they will need to do is show up. Both Amily and Mags are busy with their day jobs; Amily is learning her role as a the King's Own Herald and setting up a spy network among the impoverished young women of good family who are poor relations of little hope and prospects. Mags is busy working with his own spy network of orphans that he plans to train and put in households where he needs information.

Mags keeps having feeling that something is going to go wrong with the whole wedding. So he show more convinces Amily that the two should just slip off and get married. They won't tell anyone. But if something goes wrong with the spectacle that is being arranged, at least, they will already be married.

And something does go wrong. Someone is trying to force Valdemar to go to war with its neighbor Menmellith. Menmellith currently has a boy king who is in the care of the council and a disgruntled relative has taken the opportunity to try to foster a rebellion. Menmellith is certain that Valdemar is behind the potential usurper because his troops are using Valdemaran weapons. The King and council know very well that they haven't sanctioned this plan in any way. Heralds are sent scurrying including Mags and his new father-in-law to try to find out who is leading and funding these plan.

I especially liked seeing Mags go back to the area where he started his life and get to see what a well run mine that cares for its workers looks like. We also get to see Mags and some of the younger sons of the mine owners get all involved in Kirball.

This was another excellent story about the Heralds of Valdemar. show less

I like the books Mercedes Lackey writes, she is good at creating a believable world and people to populate it. While her writing is not the strongest I do find it engaging ang and enjoyable. I like a series I can live inside of and her books are ones that have characters I feel invested in and a world I believe could exist.

A good solid Herald story - like Closer to Home, and unlike the first Mags series. Amily grows into her new responsibilities, on several levels; Mags does too, despite it meaning him having to leave Amily behind for a scouting expedition. Some very interesting discoveries about people who have been minor characters, and some new characters who are clearly going to be important. And a threat of war looming over all, and driving the story in ways large and small. Yet another kidnapping - lampshaded by Mags complaining about it! The villain is relatively easily defeated, after all - and honestly, the confrontation with his troops afterward was a bit too easy. I wonder if he had some talent that allowed him to sway people so easily? The show more Guard should have known he wasn't really a general. But getting to the position where they could achieve that easy defeat took some serious doing. The Handmaidens are going to be an interesting addition to the series, too, as well as Mags' child army. Fun, worth reading, and I'm looking forward to the next. show less

The formal marriage of Amily and Mags is organised but there are a variety of things going on that are complicating matters. One of them is border tensions with Menmellith where it appears that someone is trying to make war happen. This is more important than the wedding and they have to deal with all of that while Amily learns her new role as King's Herald.

There are a lot of things going on here and the story moves at a cracking pace. I liked it.

This second volume in the Herald Spy series has as a central focus Mags and Amily's wedding. The king wants to use the occasion of the marriage of the King's Own Herald to do some political things. Mags and Amily put Lady Dia in charge and know that all they will need to do is show up. Both Amily and Mags are busy with their day jobs; Amily is learning her role as a the King's Own Herald and setting up a spy network among the impoverished young women of good family who are poor relations of little hope and prospects. Mags is busy working with his own spy network of orphans that he plans to train and put in households where he needs information.

Mags keeps having feeling that something is going to go wrong with the whole wedding. So he show more convinces Amily that the two should just slip off and get married. They won't tell anyone. But if something goes wrong with the spectacle that is being arranged, at least, they will already be married.

And something does go wrong. Someone is trying to force Valdemar to go to war with its neighbor Menmellith. Menmellith currently has a boy king who is in the care of the council and a disgruntled relative has taken the opportunity to try to foster a rebellion. Menmellith is certain that Valdemar is behind the potential usurper because his troops are using Valdemaran weapons. The King and council know very well that they haven't sanctioned this plan in any way. Heralds are sent scurrying including Mags and his new father-in-law to try to find out who is leading and funding these plan.

I especially liked seeing Mags go back to the area where he started his life and get to see what a well run mine that cares for its workers looks like. We also get to see Mags and some of the younger sons of the mine owners get all involved in Kirball.

This was another excellent story about the Heralds of Valdemar. show less

Mercedes Lackey knows how to write an engaging tale, and it's hard to not like any story about Valdemar. I read this book quickly and enjoyed every page. Mags and Amily are growing up and taking on more of their adult responsibilities of King's Spy and King's Own, respectively. They must work as a team, but not always side-by-side.

That said, this one isn't my favorite, and not just because it's in the awkward spot of second book in a trilogy. Parts of it were a little preachy and then there was an plot event towards the end that managed to be both unexpected, implausible, and repetitive of earlier books, all at the same time. The event was so abrupt that I paged back to see if I had accidentally skipped a section somehow. It felt like show more the author wrote herself into a corner and had to dramatically rejigger her story to finish it in the space she had left. The plot resolution was not quite as bad as, "And then she woke up and it was all a dream," but it wasn't a whole lot better than that, either.

On the plus side, we learn a lot about village life in Valdemar, some otherwise-trapped young ladies get the opportunity to become spies, Mags gets to make good use of his mining and his kirball experience, and Amily really shines. And will I read the next book? Of course I will! show less

A good author is always a good storyteller. Mercedes Lackey is well beyond good. She keeps on rolling with some new challenges for Mags and Amily as they grow into their roles as spymaster and the King's Own.