books: foundation by mercedes lackey

Reading Foundation by Mercedes Lackey, about early Valdemar.



This is the most interesting Companion ever. I don't think any of her earlier books had this much of the Companion's interactions and thoughts with his Chosen before, which is totally compensating for Mags being a Mary Sue, which in Lackey's books, I tend to like anyway (Exception: Karal, but I have a theory on why I hate him that has to do with him being around other Mary Sues over whom he is King of Sues, and I love all the Sues, so trying to outsue my favorites makes me hostile, whereas here, I have no conflicting loyalties).

Anyway, Dallen's interaction with Mags and everyone else is fascinating; he's a lot more proactive than later Companions that I wish I could thump sometimes for being so "NO INTERFERE" when hello, it's not interfering when it's the bare minimum of what a friend would do for another friend in interpersonal relationships, okay? I'm guessing, if Lackey is doing this consciously, that this is because it's so early in the creation and foundation of Heralds as a group that the Companions are compensating for what Valdemar does not yet have in support systems for Heralds. It's actually extremely reasonable and practical and rather useful if the idea is Companions are basically interfering only at the exact level that their trainees cannot take care of themselves, and as a whole, the Heralds (yet) don't have the structure to do that (in the new form). They're changing the system of educating Heralds, and they're apparently pulling a much wider variety of people for heralds, so until the infrastructure catches up, they need more to help them do their duty.

IDK, I like Mags. He's so ridiculously reticent and antisocial it's like watching Seperis' Life, but in this universe, everyone is totally able to compensate for my social anxiety and vague paranoia. Plus, a magic horse.

I may have just found my own personal mary sue here. I mean, i totally get why people would hate him, but holy shit, if he gets persecuted in the second book? I MAY BE IN LOVE. I'm socially paranoid; this is like waving a flag of "YOU WILL FIND THESE THOUGHTS INTERESTING AND SUBSCRIBE TO THIS NEWSLETTER LIKE WHOA".

*hands* I love Mary Sues. They're like a combination of worse case scenario of what you are combined with best case scenario of what you want to be. When that clicks right? It fucking clicks.

Also, Dallen is awesome and if he and Mags lifebond, I will totally support their forbidden cross-species love.

Comments

[ladyvyola]

(set to the tune of Two and a Half Men's theme song)

~Dead dead dead dead dead deaddead dead dead
Dead dead dead dead dead deaddead dead dead
Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaad ah oooooooooh!~

[everbright]

I. Okay, yes. Mags is Your Personal Mary Sue, then, having read the second book. I won't say anything else, but there was lot of navel gazing with Depressive Overtones.

[seperis]

I AM SO THERE.

[venetia_sassy]

I thought Foundation was okay and I liked Mags and Dallen well enough but given the era, I thought the book could have been far more interesting. I loved the idea of a book set during the founding of the Collegium, with all the accompanying changes, and Foundation ... could have been so much better. The sequel is an utter mess. Frankly, I thought it read like a teenager's effort at Valdemar fanfic.

And if Lackey was making a concious effort with Mags and Dallen's unusual bonding, I'd be much surprised. Her utter disregard for backstories, timelines and the rules of her own universe just keeps getting worse. *headdesk* I love her earlier Valdemar books but I've been getting steadily more frustrated with them since Take A Thief and these ... I've borrowed Foundation from the library twice, Intrigues once. I have no desire to buy them.

I'm rather sad about that. I have all the other Valdemar books.*sigh*

[seperis]

I like how she used Dallen hugely, which I think is the deciding factor, but I also read later Valdemar books like I do the novels of Frank Herbert's kids about Dune and badfic in fandom.

Also, yeah, Mags == My Personal Mary Sue. It just hit me when he was freaking out in a social situation and I am like I FEEL YOUR PAIN. It was lowering, yet freeing.

[alas]

I found Mags rather pleasant on the Mary Sue level too but sadly the sequel stomped all over this - I won't go into specifics, but basically all his interactions with other characters become this irrational social nightmare DD:.

[fyrdrakken]

I've been holding off on reading the second book mostly because I wanted to reread the first and I'm not sure what box it's actually in -- but given I've been leaning towards rebuying a lot of my books in Kindle format anyway, I may not bother digging through boxes. I'm getting the urge to dip back into Valdemar.

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

If it doesn't happen you should write fic of it.

[shinetheway.livejournal.com]

Your icon: guh. [grins] That's fucking incredible, honey.

I've sort of lost my starry-eyed Mercedes Lackey love as I got older and realized that, no actually, a lot of her books...kinda aren't good. At all. But this actually has me interested in a Misty novel like I haven't been since Vanyel. [thoughtful]

Honestly, I've loved reading all your reviews, and you've helped me finally figure out why I hated the Magic's Storm series so much. (And also cleared up why I loved them despite all my hate, because: GIANT TALKING MAGICAL SIAMESE CATS. There's no bad thing there.)

[fyrdrakken]

Yes! Giant red-tabby-point Siameses, my favorite color scheme!

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

Spoiler: HE GETS PERSECUTED IN THE SECOND BOOK.

You have NO idea. At all.

Sadly, I believe each author is allowed to publish only one story with implied horsefucking. And Brightly Burning was that story.

I love that Mags is dialled up to 11. He was a literal slave in the mines. ANd everytime he encounters a new social situation, the mines turn out to be worse and worse and worse.

She's very clearly retconning her own universe. I can merely assume that by Talia's time, the isolation of Valdemar from magic, and the inbreeding of the heraldic population just made them dumb. Like the Dark Ages, post Roman Empire. I mean this is an entire society effectively breeding for suicidal youngsters who love horses.

[ascetic-hedony.livejournal.com]

"an entire society effectively breeding for suicidal youngsters who love horses"

I love your brain.

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

I'm rereading Brightly Burning. There will be more. So much more.

[druidspell.livejournal.com]

I really wanted to like Foundation more than I did. I enjoyed the beginning, when Mags first got Chosen. But the rest of the book...I'm a character driven writer, but a plot driven reader, and Mags just wasn't engaging enough to me personally for me to endure more of her dragging the action out even more. I finished the book and felt like nothing had happened. Don't think I'll be buying or reading any more of her books, sadly.

[eponymousanon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the first book is okay but the second book? Insta-persecution, and definitely triggery (non-sexual) content.

Intrigues (book 2)

[kiranovember.livejournal.com]

You're gonna love it!

[arccie.livejournal.com]

Your review may actually entice me to read the early books. Proactive Companion? Totally there.

Even after all the other bigger and more complex fantasy universe I've read in, It's nice to come back to the simplicity (straightforward-ness?) of Valdemar. Plus the way she can heap on the angst is nice. :D