Closer to the Heart

July 29, 2021
Closer to the Heart Book Cover Closer to the Heart
The Herald Spy, #2; Valdemar #41
Mercedes Lackey
Fantasy
DAW Books Inc.
October 6th, 2015
Hardcover
330
Library
Young Adult

Mags was a Herald of Valdemar. But he had once lived the brutal life of a child slave. When he was Chosen by his Companion Dallen, his young life was saved, and he slowly adjusted to being well fed, educated, and treasured as a trainee in the Herald's Collegium at Haven. Singled out by the King's Own Herald, Mags would thrive in his secret training as a spy. His unusually strong Gift—an ability to Mindspeak and Mindhear anyone, not just others who were Gifted—made him a perfect undercover agent for the king.

 

(via Goodreads)

 

Over halfway done with our final year of #ReadingValdemar, Melanie @ Grab the Lapels and I pick up the second book in The Herald Spy trilogy. The previous book, Closer to Home was an unexpected Romeo & Juliet retelling with a twist (obviously, we’re in Valdemar!). Could this book be another retelling with a twist? It doesn’t seem like it from the synopsis, but there is only one way to tell…

11 books. 12 months. 3 series.
The journey concludes. 


Last time in Closer to Home

In a horrible accident, Herald Nikolas dies momentarily. At this moment, his bond with Rolan is broken and Rolan chooses a new King’s Own Herald – none other than Nikolas’s daughter Amily! Thankfully, Nikolas is resuscitated but has a long road to recovery. As such, Mags, finally a full Herald, takes on Nikolas’s duties as Royal Spymaster. Madly in love and desperately busy, Amily and Mags try to adjust to their new lives. Things should be easy, as it’s the winter court season. …right? Wrong. Court politics quickly entangle both Mags and Amily as they try to keep two feuding families away from each other all winter. A Romeo & Juliet retelling in Valdemar!

The Herald Spy Reviews
Closer to Home — Closer to the Heart — Closer to the Chest


 

Friends. I think Lackey is just writing cozy mysteries now.

Hear me out. Closer to the Heart has all the hallmarks of a cozy mystery! Our protagonists might not be complete amateurs, but Amily certain is an amateur sleuth. She’s learning as she goes. And Mags isn’t exactly a crack detective. But they are both highly intelligent and intuitive, like most Cozy Protagonists. The two work together but separately, respecting each other’s skills and allowing each other the freedom to do their jobs. When they are together, sexy times happen – but always through innuendo and off stage. The crimes are taking place in a socially intimate community, whether amongst the Haven nobility (see Closer to Home) or in tiny villages (see Closer to the Heart). And these crimes are committed by people whose motives are rooted in events that have happened over the course of years or generations.

This means I just read my second Valdemar cozy mystery, and I could not be happier.*

(*I’m counting Closer to Home as the first. And, okay, if this was actually a cozy mystery about a Herald with the Medium gift, THEN I couldn’t be happier. I want to talk to the ghosts of Haven!)

Let’s start with the good: So many characters! And they are all wonderful.

“Where did you find this paragon of a young woman, Kyril?” the Ambassador asked, startled into using the King’s given name.
The King didn’t rebuke him even wit ha look, he merely answered. “The same place we always do; the Companions find them.”

None of this worst-version-of-Skif falls in love with a sexual assault victim cat-woman and has the most toxic relationship ever. Nope! Instead, there are amazing new characters and healthy relationships. Our existing characters thrive. My favorite protagonist is Amily. We get to know Amily much better in Closer to the Heart. She’s kind, quiet, intelligent, and witty. Why does her intelligence stick out to me when ALL Heralds are super-smart? Because she comes at problems sideways while still borrowing from the world she knows. Amily encourages her friend Lady Dia to continue to breed pets for the nobility so Amily can spy through her Animal Mindspeech gift. But she also comes up with a handmaiden school for the “unwanted” women of the nobility: read – kick-ass female spies. This is very similar to what Mags did in the previous book with the orphan children. Thankfully, we didn’t get the same level of detail in the establishment of the school…

I will serve Valdemar. I’m tired of being a nothing, doing nothing, and helping no one. Not even myself.

Despite the depth of the Mags/Dallen and Amily/Rolan relationships growing, the new characters are my favorites. Tuck the simple-minded tinker-genius and his guardian fierce-hearted Linden are the first we meet. They are so unique! And sure, Lackey uses Tuck as a way to explain away all sorts of proper Batman-style gear on Mags/Amily, but I don’t care. I love them. Keira Tremainet, first of the handmaiden-spies is actually a lot of fun. Sure, she’s very Mary Sue, but it’s perfect for the Valdemar universe. I also adore Lord Steveral Jorthun, the previous-previous royal spymaster. He is hilarious – boisterous, fun, sarcastic, and still an exceptional spy. He reminds me a lot of Bruce Wayne, actually.

As [Linden] joined the children, looking into Dallen’s blue eyes and stroking his silken mane with an expression of bliss, Mags was very aware that while he might be Linden’s benefactor and hero, it was Dallen whom she had given her wholehearted worship to.
:As it should be,: noted Dallen. :This is the proper order of things.:

:Quiet, horse.:

But despite all these fun new characters, my absolute favorite “new” (okay, we met him in the last book) character is Coot. Coot is the first of Mags’s orphan spies we met in Closer to Home. He’s very rustic and street smart. He’s young. But he’s so eager. All the best lines in this book come from Coot.

“Come, my lad, and together we shall explore the graceful art of meal service – an art that is seldom appreciated, and invisible when done well.”
“Oh!” said Coot, as Mags went out the door carrying the basket. “Then it’s ‘xactly like pickin’ pockets!”

There’s more than the characters, however. First, this book doesn’t feel like it’s particularly connected to Closer to Home from a plot perspective. I like that. I could totally read 3 standalone novels just featuring Mags and Amily. The plot is unique – someone is selling weapons stamped with Valdemar markings to the rebels in a country Valdemar is at peace with… for now. And this someone does NOT have the sanction of the crown. Time to send everyone off to solve the mystery! And when they all head off Lackey doesn’t set us up to figure everything out quickly, easily, or with all our characters together.

“Too many mysterys,” [Amily] thought, as Rolan came down the street to meet her halfway.
“And probably politics as the cause of it all,” he agreed, as she mounted. “It’s always politics, in the end.”

Unlike most Valdemar books, our protagonists are split up. Amily stays in Haven. Nikolas goes to visit the weaponsmiths. And Mags/Kiera/Coot/Lord Jorthun head off to mining country. While each protagonist finds information critical to the plot, not everything they find is. Some information isn’t relevant. Some intrigues they go on are fruitless. This felt so… right. The Heralds have always suffered a bit from their perfection. It was nice to see them struggle a bit. Plus, Mags finally got to confront his trauma from working in Cole Pieter’s gem mines. I’ve been waiting for this since Foundation. This kept me engaged and I kept reading!

He wouldn’t wish ill fortune on the Kingdom, but men who are used to being needed get in the habit of it, and it frets them when they feel they are sitting about uselessly.

Now, is this a perfect Valdemar novel? Certainly not. There are two glaring road bumps for me.

First, the return of Kirball. I won’t lie, I expected that once Mags graduated we’d be done with this sport. Alas. It returns with a vengeance. And the worst part? While it’s a completely plausible plot point, it turns out that its completely unnecessary! A red herring! Ugh. At least we only had to experience one game… I just find these games shockingly dull. But I bet someone who really enjoys Kirball would have liked these scenes, as Lackey uses them to describe how society at large, without Heralds, can play the game. Honestly, I think it’s just polo but with no sticks. Perhaps that’s the point? After all, polo was originally a cavalry training game from Persia… I digress.

There is no one true way. This is how we live in peace with each other. This is how we live in peace with those outside our borders who do not seek to impose their ways on us. And this is the only way we can continue to live in peace.

Second, the ending. Oy. It was just a prepackaged, predictable Lackey ending.  As soon as I read the first line of chapter 16 I rolled my eyes and cringed. Here we go again. More of the same from the Collegium Chronicles. Sigh. Heck, Mags even has a line that calls out Lackey for phoning the ending in:

I’m gettin’ right tired’a this. We gotta stop gettin’ kidnapped.

Cue eyeroll. Amirite?!

And worst of all, the ending is resolved by Amily making an impassioned speech wherein the “bad guys” all reform and head home. What?! At least Amily made the speech and not Mags…

So, no, not a perfect Valdemar book. But I really enjoyed reading 90% of it. I love the characters and how they are growing. I love getting to know the smaller, daily aspects of Valdemar. And I REALLY hope Closer to the Chest is yet another cozy mystery. Fingers crossed!


What do you think?

  • Have you read Closer to the Heart? What do you think of this book?
  • Do you agree with my assessment that Closer to the Heart feels like a cozy mystery? Why or why not?
  • Recommend your favorite cozy mysteries. Bonus if they are fantasy novels!
  • Are you participating in #ReadingValdemar this year? Share your post links below!

7 Comments

  • Grab the Lapels August 9, 2021 at 2:47 pm

    LOL, I never would have thought of these as cozy mysteries because that’s not a genre I keep at top-of-mind awareness, but you’re totally right, especially about all the intimate sections that are off page. When I got to the part about Kirball and realized it had nothing to do with how Mags would solve the mystery, I cringed on your behalf! Even though I liked how he had to figure out how to play and stay safe on a regular ol’ horsey-horse. Did I ask you this before? There’s a lot of Quidditch in HP — what are your thoughts on those game sections?

    I think Dallen is my favorite character. He’s a hungry smart-ass. I can relate.

    • Jackie B August 11, 2021 at 8:09 am

      While there is a lot of talk of Quidditch in the HP books, the portions with Quiddich are fairly small, and often feature the perspective of spectators in addition to Harry. Rowling included Quidditch in her series because she felt like any good boarding school would have a sport everyone rallys around, but she wasn’t a big fan. In fact, she’s on record as experiencing “fiendish glee” when she wrote the final Quidditch match scene. She was so over it. And despite the fact that there should be 3 matches Harry plays in each year, he only plays in 9 of the possible 21 matches throughout his school experience.

      …So yes, I know a lot of people compare Kirball to Quidditch, but it’s not the same. Plus almost every single Quidditch match isn’t really about quidditch! It’s just another setting in which to move the plot forward. Most of the games are cut off early because PLOT.

      Wow, I could go on about this forever. I had no idea.
      … I love HP.

      • Grab the Lapels August 11, 2021 at 3:14 pm

        That’s interesting to know that JKR wrote a whole thing she hated to write but knew it was important for the setting.

  • Grab the Lapels August 9, 2021 at 2:51 pm

    Also, every time I read the title of this book, I get Rush’s “Closer to the Heart” stuck in my head for a few hours. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyhW2v0NDM0

    • Jackie B August 11, 2021 at 8:09 am

      Now it’s stuck in my head too. XD

  • Captain's Quarters August 28, 2021 at 1:10 pm

    So very nice to see a post from ye. Hope the family is doing well.
    x The Captain

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