Foundation: The Collegium Chronicles (Valdemar) [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Mercedes Lackey (Author), Nick Podehl (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2008

Mags had been working at the Pieters’ mine, slaving in the dark, cold seams, looking for sparklies, for as long as he could remember. The children who worked the mine were orphans, kids who had been abandoned, who had lost their parents, or were generally unwanted. But Mags was different. Mags was “Bad Blood,” because his parents were bandits who had been killed in a raid by the Royal Guard. “Bad Blood” because he’d been found in a cradle in the bandits’camp. Blood so bad that no one had wanted to take him in except Cole Pieters. When he was big enough to see over the sides of the sluices he had gone to work at the mine. Mags knew nothing of the world beyond the mine, and was unaware of how unusual his paltry existence was. Then some strangers on huge white horses forced their way past the Pieters family and carried him away to Haven to become a Herald Trainee. Suddenly the whole world opened up for him. He was warm and well fed for the first time in his life, and he had Dallen, his Companion, who seemed more miraculous than an angel. But the world of the Collegium was not all heavenly. There was political upheaval in Valdemar’s capital, for the court had been infiltrated by foreign “diplomats,” who seemed to be more interested in seeding discontent than in actual diplomacy...and Mags seemed to be the only one who’d noticed...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The new Valdemar novel takes place earlier in the kingdom’s history than has any other, set when the Heralds’ collegium was established. At that time, the system of heraldic training was changing from one-on-one apprenticeship to the collegial system used by Healers and Bards, because there were too many trainees for the old system. Some older Heralds weren’t happy with that change, and as all three collegia rapidly grew, there was much rivalry for builders and teachers. Young Mags, an orphan who drudges for a greedy, cruel mine owner, is Chosen and eventually brought to Haven for training, where his goodheartedness and near-total ignorance make him very dependent on his companion. Thanks to court intrigues and an attempt by foreign infiltrators to trick Valdemar to its disadvantage, Lackey makes a real page-turner out of Mags’ and the collegia’s development. Though similar in some ways to both Brightly Burning (2000) and Take a Thief (2001), this book’s outstanding characters, especially Mags, will greatly please Valdemar fans. --Frieda Murray --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Mercedes Lackey is the author of the Valdemar series, including Take a Thief and Exile's Honor. She is the coauthor, with Andre Norton, of the Halfblood Chronicles, including Elvenborn. Some of her other novels include The Gates of Sleep, Sacred Ground, The Firebird, The Black Swan, and The Serpent's Shadow. She lives in Oklahoma.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD Lib Ed; Library edition (October 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423307941
• ISBN-13: 978-1423307945
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,879,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > Books on CD > Authors, A-Z > ( L ) > Lackey, Mercedes

More About the Author

Mercedes Lackey is the acclaimed author of over fifty novels and many works of short fiction. In her "spare" time she is also a professional lyricist and a licensed wild bird rehabilitator. Mercedes lives in Oklahoma with her husband and frequent collaborator, artist Larry Dixon, and their flock of parrots.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing...but readable., October 12, 2008

By 

Susan Fry "moonbunnychan" (Leesburg, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Foundation (Valdemar: Collegium Chronicles, Book 1) (Hardcover)

It's been awhile since there's been a new Valdemar book, and I'd been really eager to read it. Unfortunately, this newest book just doesn't hold up.
Firstly, the writing style is overly simplistic. It almost reads like a Young Adult book. I think it's to try and showcase the main character's general ignorance about the world at large, but since the book is still written in the third person, it brings the whole book down. Speaking of the main character, he's a bit flat....and also seems to be near perfect at everything he does with little struggle. There also isn't much in the way of story...very little really happens. I suspect that's because this is more of a just prologue for more books to come, especially since the ending kind of came out of nowhere and left things unexplained.
The most glaring problem for me though, as a long time reader of the series, are the many places that it contradicts things that are stated in other books, and that even though it's supposed to be taking place hundreds of years in the past (from the "present day" Valdemar reign of Selenay), some things actually seem to be more advanced, and the rest seem exactly the same, as if the passing of time has very little effect.

It's also worth noting that if you've never read a Valdemar book, this is not the one to start with. Most of the other books offer at least some background, information, or explanation of the general aspects Valdemar...this one very much does not, and just assumes that you already know. You particularly would want to read The Last Herald Mage trilogy before this one.

219 of 253 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars *sigh*, October 11, 2008

By 

Anonymous (Houston, TX, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foundation (Valdemar: Collegium Chronicles, Book 1) (Hardcover)

I was 13 when Arrows of the Queen was published, so I've been with Misty for quite a while now. I was really looking forward to this book, but it turned out to be a major disappointment.

In a nutshell: don't waste your money on the hardcover version, and unless you're a big fan of Valdemar, and HAVE to read every book out there, you can probably live your life without having read it and be okay.

The main character of the book is a TOTAL Mary Sue. He's practically illiterate, malnourished, knows nothing at all of the world outside his slavery, but once he is freed and Chosen, he pretty much can do anything he tries to do, and do it better than most other people. Even if he's never done it before. Or even heard about it before. And he does it all in a totally unrealistic short period of time. Oh, and his Gift of Mindspeech is greater than anybody else's, ever. And he has no failings (unless you count his wavering doubt of others/self-doubt as a failing). He is also, apparently, the only one in the ENTIRE Circle who can do what he does, and he does it as a newly Chosen.

If that weren't off-putting enough, the characters in the book play blindman's bluff, and I Spy (and actually call it "I Spy"). The student Healer-herbalist uses pills rather than tea and knows all about heart disease and its causes ("Cut down on red meat..."), there is a mechanical log-splitter, the houses have wall-to-wall carpeting in them and are furnished like houses in the modern world. There are so many references to 20th-century type things.... I don't know how she can put this in a medieval setting. And yet, this is supposed to take place 500 years before Talia.

It's been less than 50 years since Vanyel died, but Stefan died a long time ago from the way it reads.... he should still be alive at this point, however. So should Treven and Jisa, unless something weird happened to them. But I don't think anything did.... Treven was still listed as king, iirc, in the epilogue of Magic's Price. The vrondi are seen as totally mythical, which would not happen in the span of 50 years. Oh, and the Holderkin are alive and well in Valdemar, even though it states in AotQ they only came to Valdemar in Talia's grandmother's time. It's like she completely ignored her own canon, or was just too lazy to look up some simple facts.

And I don't even want to talk about her writing. At least she wrote this from a single POV, and didn't split the chapters up into separate POV. But her writing has just gone downhill from her earliest books. You don't lose talent, though. You just get lazy. And that's how it reads, as lazy writing. It's uninspired and unoriginal, and maybe it's hard to be original in Valdemar after all these years, but to pull modern day tools, games, food (fondue, anyone?), etc. and stick them in Valdemar without even trying to disguise the fact that you're doing so is just laziness. How about creating a brand new Gift that is volatile and dangerous, but absolutely necessary for the crisis at hand, and then have the Companions suppress it from memory (they're good at that). Or something. Anything. But this? I've read fanfiction better than this. I only gave it two stars because it's Valdemar. Maybe I should only have given it one.

I'm just really disappointed with this book.

71 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bildungroman - Again, October 20, 2008

By 

James D. DeWitt "Alaska Fan" (Fairbanks, AK United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Foundation (Valdemar: Collegium Chronicles, Book 1) (Hardcover)

Misty Lackey is capable of writing Valdemar novels that aren't bildungroman - coming of age in Valdemar stories. She is also capable of writing Valdemar novels that aren't seemingly written for 13 year olds. This story is neither. After a promising start - the protagonist is a child slave, working in a mine - the story lapses into the same, tired plot line we have seen in the Owl Trilogy and a depressing number of her other, recent books. Combined with the annoying, frequent inconsistencies and lapses from facts established in earlier novels, and you have a two star mess.

I'm afraid this story will annoy serious fans and bewilder those new to the otherwise admirable Valdemar series. Skip it.