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Shadow of a Dark Queen (The Serpentwar Saga, Book 1)

Shadow of a Dark Queen (The Serpentwar Saga, Book 1)

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I loved this book. It was a bit clichéd but good fun. And HEY! It's a great fantasy book full of what Feist does best. By the way, the cover of the American book is awful. How come us British get much better artwork?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ther first Feist book I've read....
Review: I'm not one usually for fantasy, but this storyline fascinated me. The importance placed on some characters that aren't even in the book yet, but were main characters in his previous saga, made me want to read the entire Riftwar saga. So that is what I'm doing. Really a good read..

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Expanding my horizons to a new genre
Review: I've always been very skeptical of fantasy novels; however, last week I decided to read one. I always used to read classics like Shakespeare, and Melville and thought fantasy books were trashy novels written in a week. However, after reading this book I've changed my opinion on fantasy. This book was exciting, fun to read an overall fantastic. I consider this a must read for all fantasy readers and for those too much of book snobs (like me) to read a different book once in awhile. I'm now reading the second book in the Serpentwar Saga and enjoying every page of it

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Almost as good as magician
Review: In fact in some ways its better, but being the first midkemia novel magician has that extra point. This is excellent and it truly is a new saga not just a sequel to the riftwar. Erik and Roo are stronger charactors the Pug and Tomas, well Tomas anyway,

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A good start to a decent series.
Review: In the Serpentwar Saga, Feist loses some of the magical grandeur of the Riftwar Saga. The characters are more "common", the focus is on a lower scale. While the Riftwar concentrated on superhuman characters fighting demonic forces, the Serpentwar is more focused on mundane warfare.

One cannot fault Feist for not being creative, however. He does well in that department. The story is quite interesting, even if the execution is not always up to par. With this book in particular, that polarization will be evident.

All in all, a fun read for fantasy beginners. Advanced fans of the genre should check George R.R. Martin's series, A Song of Ice and Fire.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Shadow of a Dark Queen
Review: In the Shadow of a Dark Queen is a thrilling book by Raymond E. Feist. In it a boy becomes a man, a old war is reinvestigated, and an evil older then time itself reappears. The book is suspenseful, and keeps readers on the end of their seats. I give it a five star rating. I thought that it was a wonderful example of sci-fi fantasy. It is comparable with Tolkiens Lord of the Rings. It delighted me and sort of made me feel like I was in the story. Feists books don't give a lot of character depth, but they are fun to read and make you want to be one of the characters. The storyline will not work if you do not read Magician 1&2, Silverthorn, A Darkness at Sethanon, Prince of the Blood, and The Kings Buccaneer. It is overall a wonderful book

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome, as usual.
Review: It is difficult for me to understand the somewhatluke-warm reception the below reviewers havegiven this book. It is vintage Feist, with perhaps a bit more action than usual. I would NOT recommend touching this book unless you have read the Riftwar books, as well as Prince of the Blood and King's Buccaneer (all easily available from amazon.com, a most awesome company). The series is obviously written for fans, and would not be appreciated by those who havent read Feist previously. The setting is pulled right out of the previous Feist books, with little in the way of introduction. The most important background you need for the Serpentwar Saga is "King's Buccaneer", as events in this book continue where KB leaves off.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A pleasant writting style.
Review: Let me warn you that this was the first Feist's book I've read. I don't know the stories before or after this book's events (except what the book itself hints).

Although the book places higher focus in the story than in character development, all characters are credible and have charisma. The story is good and fluid, no dull moments, no rushed parts. All consistent.

Feist writes in a very pleasant way. I guess that even if the story wouldn't worth much, his pleasant writting would make it worth. You'll always be wanting to turn the pages and enjoy the story. In some parts, it'd be like reading an historical fiction, if there weren't magic (very little) and other humanoid races. The fantasy setting it's just a way to give the author freedom to make a good story, not a way to make some spectacular show off.

I recommend this book, without any doubts, to any fantasy reader. I would even recommend it to non-fantasy ones.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Solid, but lacks first class vision
Review: Like many novels these days 'Shadow of a Dark Queen', is a '1st Book of...', but this time, a SAGA no less. The start of what's could have be an ambitious and compelling fantasy project of top American writer Feist. Best known for his 'Riftwar' novels; (of which Magician is practically required reading for any self-respecting fantasy reader) Feist is trying for that long-term, generational, spanning-decades type fantasy novel of which there only been a few which actually succeeded. This worked for 'Magician', making it a classic, but I don't think it has worked too well here. The novels main characters are Eric and Roo, convicted of murder and sentenced to death. After a fake execution, Eric and Roo are recruited into a fantasy version of 'The Dirty Dozen' created by Calis, a man of magical origins. While these two characters are fairly well represented, some, Calis, for example, was almost totally left alone and undeveloped. While you can see great things ahead, 'Shadow', is often slow and fails to provide anything new to the field of fantasy. Some of the best bits, such as the Hall of Worlds with Pug, have been seen in earlier novels. In fact many things are here from previous novels. This is what fans want, but (don't hang me for suggesting it) - it might have been better to develop a new fantasy world to set it in. Using old settings does not stretch a writer's true potential. Fortunately this only became a four volume series (though the last seemed a little pointless, as Fiest desperately rewrites earlier history to explain away the new threat) instead of a five or six volume drag.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Feist of Fantasy
Review: Once again, Raymond Feist has done what few fantasy authors can do well, bring a complex world to life. Eric von Darkmoor and Rupert Avery pick up the gauntlet that was laid down by Pug and Tomas after the RiftWar. S.O.A.D.Q. is a masterpiece in a series of unbelievable books. I haven't been so engrossed since a Darkness at Sethanon. The Panthain serpent priest are back causing trouble for the kingdom. A group of "Desperate " men are assembled to infiltrate the Emerald Queen's army and find out the advancing armies weaknesses. The story unravels as Calis (Tomas' son) leads a group into the midst of an enemy army. The characters are in depth and believable, far from the normal cookie cutter characters of many other series. This book is filled with adventures and battles, as well as Feist trademark humor. It is a must read for any fantasy fan.


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