Changes by Mercedes Lackey

   This book is set in the realm of Valdemar and is the third installment of the Collegium Chronicles. The main character is Mags, a former mine slave, who was Chosen to become a Herald in the first book of the series. The first book (Foundation) deals mainly with the consequences of him being chosen and making friends with various other trainees. The second book (Intrigues) has slightly more action and, you guessed it, intrigue. Diplomats coming from an unspecified country are being haunted and some of them seem to be going mad. The “hauntings” are later found out to be a couple of pranksters. As anyone who has read any of the previous Valdemar books know, mages cannot go to Valdemar because something drives them mad. This stays true in the second book when during a huge, unexpected blizzard the now completely mad mage kidnaps one of Mags’ friends and tries to use blood magic to make whatever is watching him go away. In a fit of heroics, Mags acts as decoy while his friend is rescued and the mage is killed. The book ends when the “diplomats” are discovered to have escaped in the confusion and are hiding somewhere in the city. This sounds like the perfect place to begin the next book, right? Apparently it wasn’t.

   Changes begins in the middle of a game called “Kirball.” This game is basically half-polo, half-soccer. This game was introduced in one of the short story anthologies and if you haven’t read the short story, you would start this novel completely confused. The rules are barely mentioned and the moves are half explained at best. Kirball is a fast paced game and hard to follow on the written page. This sequence at least could have been left out in favor of a better explanation of the game. After the game, the book concentrates on Mags with the King’s Own teaching him more about being a spy and going undercover. They find someone who may be linked to the diplomat/assassins in the summer after the second book. Things take a turn for the worse when the assassins appear to be after Mags and his friends and not the King like every one assumed. No one can figure out why they’re after someone who is not highly placed in the government. They spend the whole book trying to figure this out and still don’t manage it, paving the way for book number four.

   This book takes place what feels like forever after the second book or that this is actually the fourth book in the series and I missed the one in between. The characters refer to events that happen between the second and third books that make it seem as if a year or more has passed but then refer to events in the first book as “last spring.” The ages of the characters are also murky for me because of this whole time line confusion. Also Mags has been trying to discover the identity of his parents since he was an orphan. Early in the book, he says he has proof his parents weren’t bandits, then later wishes he had proof that his parents weren’t bandits. It’s like Mercedes Lackey had completely forgotten what she wrote earlier. There were even typos! Typos! Not just one either but the closer to the end, the more often they popped up. Where was the editor?! This is the kind of thing that drives certain people crazy because they have to listen to me yell at my books. I will probably never read this book again and I sure won’t buy any of her new books without checking them out from the library first and coming from me, that is a sad statement.