Bastion: Book Five of the Collegium Chronicles (A Valdemar Novel) Hardcover Author: Visit Amazon's Mercedes Lackey Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0756409446 | Format: PDF, EPUB
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Review
“Returning to her beloved Valdemar universe, Lackey opens her new series at a pivotal time in the history of Valdemar, when the education of Heralds is changing and dangers from other lands are felt in the court and on the training field. Series fans will enjoy the variations on a familiar theme, while enough information is presented for first-timers to discover a world of high adventure and individual courage. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal
“A real page-turner.... Outstanding characters, especially Mags, will greatly please Valdemar fans.”—Booklist
“An enjoyable and pleasant read.... Mags is an appealing protagonist facing challenges (and successes) with which readers will empathize."—Midwest Book Review
"Top Pick! ... A wonderful amalgam of fantasy and character study."—Night Owl Reviews
“An enjoyable and pleasant read.... Mags is an appealing protagonist facing challenges (and successes) with which readers will empathize." — RT Book Reviews
About the Author
Mercedes Lackey is a full-time writer and has published numerous novels and works of short fiction, including the best-selling Heralds Of Valdemar series. She is also a professional lyricist and a licensed wild bird rehabilitator. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband, artist Larry Dixon, and their flock of parrots. She can be found at mercedeslackey.com.
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Books with free ebook downloads available Bastion: Book Five of the Collegium Chronicles (A Valdemar Novel) Hardcover Epub Free
- Series: Valdemar
- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: DAW Hardcover (October 1, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0756409446
- ISBN-13: 978-0756409449
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I've been a fan of Mercedes Lackey since I've been a teenager, and I've all of the books set in the Velgarth world. And maybe that's part of the problem, a lot of the things in this book and in this series has been "done before", and the things that I thought were interesting ideas were glossed over and barely given any notice.
::Spoiler Alert::
I haven't read all of her books very recently so I might get somethings mixed up but here are some things that stuck in my mind when I was reading this book:
Things I didn't like:
1. "Stuck in/snowed in a blizzard while roughing it, while comfortably situated in a "structure/cave". Didn't we see this in "Storm Breaking"? Kinda hard to take it seriously when the other story was a cataclysmic storm reflecting back from thousands of years ago. Also, same thing sort of happens in "Arrows Flight", where protagonists are snowed in a waystation and gifts go rogue or something.
2. "In a cave, being attacked by <something>" Also done (in my opinion better) in "Silver Gryphon", at least those odds seemed impossible. This? Not so much. We have one top-tier assassin, his newly minted assassin-Herald cousin via Mindspeech skill transfer, versus a bunch of second-tier assassins that come in waves, like some level on a video game.
3. Not even going to touch the whole Kirball versus Hurlee point ("Exile's Valor"). I'm okay with one Quidditch knockoff serving to train young people in the arts of war disguised as sport to serve the plot, but again, its practically the same thing for the same reason for the same plot device.
3. "Complete mind-sharing because we're getting to the last part of the book and Mags now needs to be a skilled assassin for the book to finish" Oh really?
I admit it, despite the fact that I didn't like books 3 and 4, I gave in and bought this book. I'd been dying for some form of closure, some resolution to the plot that had actually caught my attention in book 1. Unfortunately, it once again pains me to say that Lackey rewarded my impatience with a book that was incomplete and cribbed content from earlier works in the series(again).
Yet again, pieces of the previous books make up significant portions of the book. The majority of the book had no plot. This was a series of events strung together by Mags complaints and disappointments. Mags returns from his trials in Karse, and his return is marked by the return of his mine accent. Nikolas is fairly non-existent in this book as are most of the other characters from books 2-4. For the first time, we lose out on Kirball, in part because the story itself mostly doesn't occur at the Collegium. Be aware that most of the pages discuss journeying over everything else. Think "on the road again" by willie nelson.
During this journey, there are a few conflicts that the reader will find amusing. These are typical conflicts of Heralds on Circuit, who meet with hard headed folks on the outskirts of Valdemar (like Cole Pieters). It is also a nice change to see how Amily functions with a healed leg, and how our newlyweds(Bear and Lena) function without the cloud of gloom caused by their families. It gives the journey a lighthearted feeling which in turn offsets the brooding tone of the actual plot.
The real meat of the story starts late, in about the 200s. It's true, we finally(Finally!) get a resolution with regards to Mags' past. Yes, you read that right, there a resolution! Hurrah! This comes in the form of a villain, that readers either saw coming or will get blindsided by.
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