Mercedes Lackey: The Hills Have Spies
Jun. 18th, 2018 09:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bibliogrammaThere’s just something about Mercedes Lackey’s books - particularly her Valdemar novels - that picks me up when I’m in a bad way. So, finding myself in the middle of a nasty, smog-filled heat wave, it only seemed appropriate to dive into the latest of the Herald Spy novels, The Hills Have Spies.
It’s been some time since we last read about Mags, the orphan boy who grew up to be a Herald and the King’s chief spy, and his beloved Amily, now the King’s Own Herald. They’ve been married long enough to have three children, with the oldest, Peregrine (Perry for short), now 13 years old and showing great potential for following in the family occupation.
When the head of the Herald’s Circle receives word from an old friend, semi-retired Herald Arville, that there gave been strange disappearances in the region around the Pelagirs, Mags decides that he should go check it out, and bring Perry along with him, partly as a training mission, partly just to get to know his growing son a little better. So, disguised as prosperous traders, the two set out to see what, if anything, is going on in the wild places on Valdemar’s western borders.
This being the Pelargirs - though a part of them without a Tayledras Vale nearby - Mags and Perry encounter a variety of the non-human species, from unchosen Bondbirds to dyheli, and Perry meets and bonds with Larrel, a neuter kyree, who joins them in their search for the missing people, or at least, for whatever caused their disappearance.
But once they discover what is actually happening, the investigation becomes a trial by fire as Perry infiltrates the stronghold of a Serious potential threat to not only Valdemarians, but to the dyheli and kyree communities living nearby. In the guise of a simple-minded dog-boy, Perry uses his gift of Animal Mindspeech and the spycraft learned from his parents to find the information that Mags and his allies will need to deal with the threat. It’s standard Lackey storycraft - fast-paced adventure with magical horses and telepathic birds and nasty Mages and things that can’t always be explained, and a comforting ending where good actually does prevail, though not without cost, and doing the right thing has an eventual reward.
Mercedes does this kind of thing - the coming of age through danger story - very well, even if her approach is somewhat formulaic. If you’re in the mood for something entertaining and exciting, without too much ethical complexity to ponder, it’s a formula that works. Her positive characters, human and non-human alike, are easy to identify with, and while her major evil characters are often stereotypes, well, there are some things that are always the same at the bottom, and human callousness, greed and cruelty do tend to repeat themselves again and again. And it’s nice to see the good guys winning.
It’s been some time since we last read about Mags, the orphan boy who grew up to be a Herald and the King’s chief spy, and his beloved Amily, now the King’s Own Herald. They’ve been married long enough to have three children, with the oldest, Peregrine (Perry for short), now 13 years old and showing great potential for following in the family occupation.
When the head of the Herald’s Circle receives word from an old friend, semi-retired Herald Arville, that there gave been strange disappearances in the region around the Pelagirs, Mags decides that he should go check it out, and bring Perry along with him, partly as a training mission, partly just to get to know his growing son a little better. So, disguised as prosperous traders, the two set out to see what, if anything, is going on in the wild places on Valdemar’s western borders.
This being the Pelargirs - though a part of them without a Tayledras Vale nearby - Mags and Perry encounter a variety of the non-human species, from unchosen Bondbirds to dyheli, and Perry meets and bonds with Larrel, a neuter kyree, who joins them in their search for the missing people, or at least, for whatever caused their disappearance.
But once they discover what is actually happening, the investigation becomes a trial by fire as Perry infiltrates the stronghold of a Serious potential threat to not only Valdemarians, but to the dyheli and kyree communities living nearby. In the guise of a simple-minded dog-boy, Perry uses his gift of Animal Mindspeech and the spycraft learned from his parents to find the information that Mags and his allies will need to deal with the threat. It’s standard Lackey storycraft - fast-paced adventure with magical horses and telepathic birds and nasty Mages and things that can’t always be explained, and a comforting ending where good actually does prevail, though not without cost, and doing the right thing has an eventual reward.
Mercedes does this kind of thing - the coming of age through danger story - very well, even if her approach is somewhat formulaic. If you’re in the mood for something entertaining and exciting, without too much ethical complexity to ponder, it’s a formula that works. Her positive characters, human and non-human alike, are easy to identify with, and while her major evil characters are often stereotypes, well, there are some things that are always the same at the bottom, and human callousness, greed and cruelty do tend to repeat themselves again and again. And it’s nice to see the good guys winning.