Mags is a much-abused boy living in a mining camp, along with many other children. The mine is run by a man named Pieter, and he stints the children who work for him to give to himself and his own kin. Mags has been working for Pieter as long as he can remember, and Pieter's kin tell him he has bad blood, and that no one wanted him, which is how he ended up working the mines.
It's getting later in the year, and the days are growing colder. With only rags to clothe himself in, Mags knows he will have to weave himself foot covers out of hay or straw to protect his feet. But he is just a little better at working his part of the mine, finding good yellow sparklies for the Pieters, and when the time comes to work the sluices above, finding many, many bits of gems. When he first was set to working the sluices, the overseer said he had eyes like a magpie. Eventually, this got shortened to "Mags", and that is the only name he ever got.
One day, Mags overhears the guards talking about some kind of frightening thing coming to the mine. A fellow worker tried to bribe him to slip the older kid some of his "Sparklies" before he leaves, but Mags won't do it. Even though he's had good luck in the mines and earned himself two slices of bread instead of one with dinner, he knows it is death to either attack a Pieters or to steal from him. But when he realizes that a younger boy has found nothing and so must eat his soup without bread, he slips the boy a half-slice of his bread. The younger boy is grateful, looks at him with admiration, and gobbles up the bread.
Soon after, all the children are pulled from the mine by order of Cole Pieters, and a man comes to look them over. Pieters claims to have been starving his own children to feed those who work in the mine, but one look at the skinny, too-small kids shows that to be a lie. The man takes Mags from the mine and introduces him to his Companion, Dallen. Mags has been chosen to be a Herald of Valdemar, and his choosing has shown the King and Queen what sort of abuses are going on in their own Kingdom.
The man, Herald Jakyr, took Mags to the closest guardhouse, and through the nex few weeks fed him and taught him, along with Dallen, so that he would have some chance of learning all the things he had missed while he was mining. He already knows how to read, and Dallen feeds information into his mind when he asks questions, as well as imposing a calm on his mind so that he can be taught instead of panicking or being afraid of everything new. He is also asked to make a record of what went on at the mine, both in winter and summer, and what happened to those children who disappeared. Mags is afraid of going against his owner, Cole Pieters, but in the end, realizes that if he tells his story, he can prevent these sorts of things from happening to other young children, and so he does. But he's suspicious of the claims that the Heralds try to level the playing field for everyone, thinking that some having more opportunities than others is simply the way the world is. It's what he learned, down in the mines.
When he's learned enough, from Jackyr and Dallen, he's brought on to Haven, the Capital of Valdemar. The Heralds have finally grown large enough and numerous enough for the old system of a Herald training an apprentice, to grow unwieldy, and so they must build a college to train their new members. But with the building, the Bards, Healers and servants in the Castle also need their own buildings. So to save time and effort, the King and Queen decide to build all three together and make one Collegium with a number of buildings.
But it isn't finished yet, which means most of the classes are taking place in the Bardic College. With so many students, the already-standing buildings are full almost to the point of overflowing, so Mags is allowed to bunk in the stable, in one of the small storerooms. And so he begins attending classes.
But not everyone is happy with the new way of doing things. Some Heralds are upset that they can no longer train apprentices themselves, and that they no longer know every Herald personally. All of this spills over on Mags one night when a Herald spots him going to his room in the stables, and accuses him of using his room as a place for drinking and wenching. Mags protests his innocence, but the other Herald doesn't believe him. Using his Mindspeaking Gift, he calls for help, and another Herald rescues him from the first. Afterwards, he tells Mags why the other Herald was so angry. But this doesn't make Mags upset, it actually makes him feel more secure, knowing that not every Herald agrees with the others. This makes them feel more human to him and less inhuman, thinking that every Herald's thoughts were in lockstep with the others. He is part of a human organization, and that reassures him.
But despite the amount of time spent at the Collegium, he doesn't have any friends. All that is changed when he meets Lena, a young bard crying over the death of her pet rabbit. Mags helps her bury her friend, and comforts her, and when she is disconsolate at the death of her friend, promises to be her friend. She gladly takes him up on that, and later introduces him to another friend of hers, Bear, a Healer-Trainee. The three of them study together, and Lena has a knack for getting Mags to understand things, so she becomes his mentor as well.
When Lena and Bear go home for the Winter Holidays, though, Mags neither goes with them or leaves Haven. He has nowhere to go to, so he stays in his room and studies and trains. The return of Jackyr, however, provides Mags with some money, and an order to explore the city. Mags does so and meets a man named Soren looking at Topaz jewelry. When the seller says no finer gems can be found, Mags snorts knowingly, and Soren asks him to explain. Mags shows him the flaws in the stone, and Soren uses this knowledge to bargain for a lower price with the seller. In thanks, he takes Mags to lunch, and prods Mags to share the story of his life. Mags does, and the man is saddened, but says he wishes Mags to come to his Winter Solstice Party he gives at his house, or just to drop by, and writes directions on a piece of paper for Mags.
Herald Caellen tells him that Soren is the Guildmaster of the Builders guild and that Mags should make the most of the invitation. Mags soon does, and through his association with Soren, is given a special job- to become a Herald spy, looking out for discontent in the city and being taught how to blend in anywhere by Herald Nikolas.
After the Holidays, Lena and Bear return, but things didn't go well with their families. Bear is being pressed to be married to a girl he has no feelings for, and he is desperate to escape the match. But when one of the foreign diplomats's servants shows all the signs of hysteria and is apparently being haunted by a Ghost, Mags, Lena and Bear are drawn into the mystery. There are no ghosts known to be in the castle, so what could possibly be wrong with the man? And why is their poltergeist-like activity happening around him?
And later, when a winter blizzard blankets the capital in many feet of snow, Mags must find the people lost in the storm around the palace, and then find Bear, who has been missing since the day of the storm. But can he succeed before his friend is frozen by the cruel winter temperatures? Or dies at the hand of something worse?
Mercedes Lackey is someone I have been reading since her first book, Arrows of the Queen. I am completely amazed by how she can suck you completely into a book after reading only a few pages of the story. Within minutes, I was completely invested in Mags' narrative, although I did have to wonder how this would tie in with the Heralds of Valdemar, the story of a small boy in a mine that I wasn't even sure of where it was located, since Mags doesn't know where he is, either.
Reading his story, feeling his triumphs and his helping of the other children made me both sad and happy. Happy that he would help people even in his bad situation, and sad at the conditions he had to undergo. But with the arrival of Jackyr and Dallen, the story's direction suddenly became clear.
If the book has one flaw, I felt it was in how much the story echoed Talis's story. But Talia is a girl and apparently makes friends much more easily than Mags. Also, Talia was Queen's Own, while Mags will never be anything more than a simple Herald. Well, a spying one, anyhow. But both characters are somehow very self-contained and slow to open up to people. If anything, Mags is solemn and almost dour as well. Being raised in a mine, he has never learned how to have fun, or even what having fun feels like.
But the friends Mags makes go a long way towards humanizing him, and with the relatives and friends of Nikolas and Soren, he begins to find the happy child inside himself, and to learn to laugh and play. But he already has instilled in him from the time at the mine the ethics of hard work and dedication to a task. Seeing him blossom and bloom is a most enjoyable part of the book, and seeing him work to save people, and his friends is another enjoyable part.
The book leaves us with a mystery involving Mags's parentage and ancestry, and promises to be fleshed out in the second book, which I am now desperately wanting to read. This is a book that sucks you in practically from the first line, wraps you up in the story, and only spits you out again at the last line on the last page. It may not be a non-stop thrill ride, but it's pretty exhilarating, and leaves you with good things to remember. Read it if you're a fan of fantasy.
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