Rating: 
Summary: Not Raymond Feist's best effort. . .
Review: Let me preface my remarks by saying that I consider Raymond Feist one of the greatest contemporary writers of the fantasy of intrigue, along with George R. R. Martin. Mr. Feist's characters tend to possess a little more humor than Mr. Martin's, but that in no way detracts from the gravity and intensity of the stories. I dedicated most of the fall of 2000 to reading all of Mr. Feist's "Riftwar" novels, including the "Empire" trilogy that he co-authored with Janny Wurts. I thoroughly enjoyed every word I read and have recommended these books to at least a half dozen of my friends. . . So, why is this beginning to sound like a mea culpa?? Because, even though I enjoyed this book for what it is, an enjoyable yarn and a good read, I cannot call it one of Mr. Feist's best works. The first two books of the "Riftwar Legacy", "Krondor: The Betrayal" and "Krondor: The Assassins", worked as two connected parts of the same whole. "Krondor: Tear of the Gods" picks up on the same story line and introduces a new main character in the magician Jazhara, but instead of advancing the series and wrapping it up, as I had thought it was going to, it leaves us hanging for, guess what, another sequel. The same hook that began this book remains at the end, with no resolution, just with more red herrings thrown in. I realize that should not be a bad thing, but I'm beginning to fear, just a little bit, that Mr. Feist might just be teetering on the brink of becoming, gasp, Robert Jordan. It almost seems that Mr. Feist has lost his direction in Midkemia and is afraid to let go of the world and the friends that he has created, and, who, up to this point have been faithful and endearing. We have been to Midkemia during the time of the Riftwar in the original series. We saw the alternative view of the Riftwar in the "Empire" series. We have seen the aftermath of the Riftwar and saw the younger characters grow up in the stand-alone Riftwar novels, "Prince of the Blood" and "The King's Buccaneer". We saw the final barriers to peace in a future Midkemia shattered as the ancestors of the Riftwar conquered all in the "Serpent War" saga. A successful PC game, "Return to Krondor" was spawned by the Riftwar phenomenon. Perhaps the weakness of this book can be explained by the fact that the novels of the Riftwar Legacy are patterned after a game. Perhaps I should consider it remarkable that Mr. Feist has managed to squeeze three decent books out of a game and leave it at that. After all, every other attempt at turning a game into literature has been wretched. Raymond Feist is a major talent and will remain one of my favorite writers. I am confident that a man of his talents can step out of these temporary doldrums and produce more masterpieces of fantasy. I truly hope that the next installment of the Riftwar Legacy is indeed one of those masterpieces and it will manage to shut up a fool like me!!!
Rating:
Summary: A stilted plot ruins a potentially good book...
Review: As other reviewers have noted, the book follow the computer game "Krondor: The Betrayal" fairly closely. The structure that is acceptable in a computer game is not acceptable in a book. The book follows a very predictable, repeated, buildup, climax, denoument that you normally see in an episodic video game. I have read and enjoyed most of Raymond Feist's work, but this one was subpar and overall, not extremely interesting. I only hope his next works are better, as he is truly one of my favorite authors.
Rating: 
Summary: A fitting finale to this trilogy
Review: The race to gain the holiest relic of Midkemia, the Tear of the god, is on between the malevolent forces of Sidi vs. the magician Jazhara and his side. If the evil sorcerer Sidi gains the gem, he will control Krondor because the Tear enables the possessor to communicate with the Gods. To do so, Sidi sends a killing machine, Bear the Pirate, to bring back the gem. Jazhara and his cohorts sail to keep the gem safe. However, with Krondor's strongest protectors out at sea, criminal mastermind Crawler begins his plan to wreck havoc on Krondor. Time is running out as the two frontal attacks leave Krondor in jeopardy. The heroes must stop Bear, gain control of the Tear of the Gods, and return in time to prevent the Crawler's bloody massacre. KRONDOR: TEAR OF THE GODS is the third fantasy tale in Raymond E. Feist's Krondor series. As with THE BETRAYAL and THE ASSASSINS, the story line is non-stop action and adventure on an epic scale. Sub-genre fans will fully enjoy Mr. Feist's fantasy feast, as the gifted author knows how to spin quite a tale. References to the first two books might slightly confuse new fans, who should read the first two books in order before trying this one to enhance the flavor of a cleverly designed plot. Still, this tale for the most part stands alone as a well-written novel that will provide much enjoyment to its readers. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disapointed
Review: I've read every book writen by Raymond E Feist, and enjoyed them all. Unfortunately I found "Tear of the Gods" to be his weakest work. It was overly predictable and lacked the character development Feist excels in creating. A complete disapointment.
Rating:
Summary: Okay, nothing special
Review: First let me say I'm a big Feist fan. Second, I have read everything he has written and I have also played the first video game "Betrayal of Krondor". The entire Riftwar Legacy series is a steep drop off from his early works. All the books in this series are very quick, high action stories with characters previously established from the Riftwar series. I think Feist is relying heavily on the reader's memory to help him or her enjoy these books. Feist is taking his two most popular characters, Arutha and James and running them through this really fragmented and ridiculously dangerous story. In this book alone, James will face mercenaries, spies, demons, vampires, and other forms of evil incarnate in the span of about 2 weeks time. This is probably the video game element coming through in the book. Feist introduces a host of new "main" characters in this book (unlike the previous two) and it makes it more enjoyable to read. The problem I have is the new characters are not part of the history we have already read. Because Feist is going back in time with these books, you already know Jimmy the Hand will survive and these new characters will disapper of the face of Krondor, never being mentioned in his later "Serpent War Saga". This whole series is not really adding anyhting to the entire Krondor series as a whole This is what I consider light fantasy. It's a fun, quick read. If you have a good imagination and you like Jimmy the Hand, this book will probably work for you. It is the best one in the Legacy series so far. If this is your first Feist, read the Riftwar Saga first. It is 100x better and it'll put these books in perspective. I hope in the future, Feist writes his books to be read, not played.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, follows the game a bit too much
Review: As a book it was pretty good, but if you loved the pc game, or just played it once you won't find to much that is new. But as a book it was fairly goo, and if you are a feist fan but didn't play they game you will like it even more. I still enjoyed it even though I played the game, but then again I am a big Feist fan...
Rating:
Summary: Very good, but frustrating
Review: I liked the book, surprised at how much he kept to the game's story line... Thought it was going to be different. At least with the book, they didn't keep dieing. (I could almost see it happening and then turn the page and they are alive, I Died a lot in the game... ;) ) Really Fast paced and I was left Screaming for more info. I REALLY want to know who the Crawler is and i want to know if Hilda is who i think she is... :) For those of you who read "shards of a broken crown" you'll know who i'm thinking of (Nakor and his strange idea) CAN'T Wait for the next one... hope we don't have to wait 2 years for it (has it been 2??)
Rating:
Summary: too much like the PC game
Review: This book follows the plot of the video game Return to Krondor almost exactly. As a fan of Feist I am very disappointed that I knew everything that was going to happen because I have played the game. If you haven't played the game it is a decent enough book, however, if you have played the game, save yourself some money and just play it again. You won't miss anything.
Rating:
Summary: Darn good fun
Review: While I wouldn't rate this as the best book Feist has ever written, I always welcome anything written by Feist as I never fail to be enteretained by his work. The story is a bit predictable and even contrived at points and I'm always a little put off by demons and vampires and the clear visions Feist gives of evil. However, I enjoyed reading more of "Jimmy the Hand" and William and the Crawler thing is, in many ways, more interesting than going to other worlds and walking amidst the "city of the gods". I had to buy this via amazon.uk, but it was worth the extra money.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: Our local library had this book three weeks ago so I jumped and was disappointed. Having followed the various series of Feist over the years, I am becoming disillusioned with the quality of writing, plots and characterisation in his Krondor books. Tear of the Gods reads like a second-rate boys' adventure story - laboured, predictable and internally inconsistent particularly with regards to the use or non-use of magic to solve problems in deference to the brute force approach. Subtlety is not part of this book and I closed it with no sense of engagement with the story and felt it added nothing to hte History of Krondor.
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