Rating: 
Summary: What a let-down.
Review: The pros: There's a genuinely touching moment with James and Ghanima that takes place near the end of the Battle of Kronder. A wonderful piece of writing in that scene, certainly rare to see in a genre author, and one that seriously brought tears to my eyes.The cons: The rest of the book stinks. I can't believe Feist is the same author who gave us rounded, thoughtfully-developed characters in the Riftwar series. This thing is just a collection of dully-written action scenes separated by occasional conversations between characters who apparently all suffered from a personality-killing disease sometime after Rise of a Merchant Prince took place. You get the sense that Feist just wanted to get this book over with as quickly as possible. Worst of all, these isn't even a real resolution. You have the requisite Big Fight at the end, and then we're left hanging. Oh well, I guess even best-selling authors still have to make a living.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Feist's best, but still an amazing book
Review: Five years ago, I asked my father for a book to read. He hand me Magician:Apprentice. This was the first time I was introduced to the world of Raymond Feist. Since then, every summer, I have reread the entire collection of books from the land of Midkemia, and last summer, I bought this book for my dad, to thank him for introducing me to this world. In my own opinion, this is one of the best of the series. Don't get me wrong; it does have its short comings. The whole deal with the mad gods and lesser gods becomes very confusing, and the nobles are not the ConDoins of past stories. But this is still an amazing book. It is not often that a book can move me to tears---I think its only ever happened once before---but by the time I had reached the end, I was going through tissues. Many books have characters that you often don't care about, but these characters simply draw you in, and you feel what they feel. My final words: Congratulations, Mr. Feist, on another work well done.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy reader couldnt ask for anything more.
Review: Enough sai
Rating:
Summary: It's The Best One In The Series, But That Ain't Saying Much
Review: I actually read "Rage of a Demon King" prior to any of the other books in the "Serpentwar Saga", and have still not read the original "Riftwar". So, the first time I read this book, I had no idea about Fiest's world. As such, I enjoyed "Rage", and felt that, although loaded with cliches and the sudden arrival of huge amounts of plot at inconvinent places, it wasn't a bad book. Imagine my shock, therefore, when I read the other three books in the series and discovered they were AWFUL. There is simply no other word for it; no apparent thought has gone into any of the others. "Shadow of a Dark Queen" is filled with points where the most unlikely events happen and no-one raises an eyebrow, or if they do they have the entire history of a supposedly secret war explained to them over several pages. "Rise of a Merchant Prince" is pathetic in the extreme, filled with needlessly boring detail about marketeering and, frankly, if Roo Avery really was the person depicted - cunning, vengeful and arrogant - and the world of Krondor finace was really as Fiest portrays it - cutthroat and bloodthristy - Avery would have ended up with a knife in his neck no matter how well trained with a sword he was. As for "Shards of a Broken Crown", it is basically just an enormous set up for the Rabbitwar Saga, or whatever Fiest wants to write next. "Rage" is definately the best of a bad lot, and it deserves better company. My advice: read "Rage of Demon King", and then make up the other three on your own, they're bound to be better than the tosh Fiest has thrown out.
Rating:
Summary: A great collection to Feist's already excellent series
Review: <I don't want to say much; read the summary>
Rating: 
Summary: Feist needs some new ideas
Review: Excellent battle scenes, very well described and played out. Unfortunately, the plot is full of enough holes to strain spagetti. And, it is becoming overused by Feist. Every new series seems to be simply about a new "God" that is stronger and more scary than the last. That, my friends, is called lack of imagination. On the other hand, Feist's work with characters is always intriguing. There are few sci-fi/fantasy writers who spend as much time as he in making his characters as real as possible.
Rating:
Summary: Feist Delivers the Coup with Rage.
Review: After Shadow of a Dark Queen, I was exited. After Rise of a Merchant Prince, I felt like I could throw the whole series onto the fire and let it burn. Now, with Rage of a Demon King, I have decided that Feist is now the God of Fantasy (No, Macros will not take your title). For those that say that "The Royal Line is dead," You're right. Where the heck is good old Prince Arutha! Patrick needs a good stomp on the head. Also, James and Lysle's final scenes needed a little work. "Oh, by the way, you're my brother, the son of the best thief of all time, and I'm going to have to die and leave you wallowing in your misery." Come on! Macros's return was the biggest surprise. I personally thought that either Nakor or Sho Pi was Macros, but Mr. Feist does have that natural talent of delivering that surprising blow. My question is, What are we going to do with Nalar? We all know that the only people that have had direct contact with him before are Gorath and Owyn in Betrayal at Krondor, so he's still a mystery. All I can say is, I can't wait to get my hands on Shards of a Broken Crown!!!
Rating:
Summary: A very exciting sequel that rivals even Terry Goodkind
Review: I was very much looking forward to reading this book and I wasn't disappointed. " Rise of the Merchant Prince" was a little slow, but still a good read, so I was very interested in the story and plot structure of this book. The excitement went on and on. The characters are very realistic and find myself staying up late at night to read more and more. The demons add a new enemy to Midkemia. I love following the characters of Roo, Eric, Kitty, and Calis. I would recommend an interested reader to start with "Magician", then read the next nine books in order. They go very quickly and you won't be disappointed. Good work, Mr. Feist.
Rating:
Summary: captivating, and certainly worthy of its master
Review: Well, I loved this book. I found the emphasis on aloof, immortal pug fascinating, since he was always my favorite character in the series, and the depth of the plot was truly amazing. I don't know what you're complaining about. Sure, the serpentwar saga is often more aloof and detatched than MAGICIAN, but that's kind of the point - Fiest is trying to portray a world in turmoil and a kingdom whose paradigm is radically shifting in the course of a few years, and, i think, does so admirably.
Rating: 
Summary: Midkemia is finished, kaput, closed down!
Review: I have been an avid Feist fan for a long time, but these latest books not are not only bad, they tear down most of the things that made the original books so great. For example the great and mighty Valheru, the beings that were supreme in all the nations of the universes, are now nothing more than pawns of some mad god called Nalar. Ditto Macros. The great sorcerer that once was is now reduced to the status of a pawn. In fact, the entire story is reduced to nothing more than a few gods fighting one another. Now there is nothing wrong with this (many of the great Operas are based on this) as long as it is the plotline right from the start, and the Midkemia series has definetly not got this type of plotline. And another thing, the author is giving away much too much of the plot. For example, in the original Riftwar saga the basic plot was only revealed just before the end, and even then their were mysteries left. But in these new books, huge chunks of the plot are given away at once. I think that this is Mr. Feist's attempt to continue cranking out the plotline. The way I see it, is that either Mr. Feist didn't like keeping the readers is suspense (the charitable view), or that he is simply trying to make more money (the uncharitable view). The latter view is bolstered by the fact that he is writing a prequel to the Serpentwar series. Now in my experience prequels are only ever written either if the author wants to reveal part of the mystery and history of the world he is writing about, or if he simply can't think out another plotline, and is reliying on the popularity of the old one for the prequel to sell. Sadly, the latter is the most common occurrence, and I haveonly ever witnessed the former twice (Tolkien and Terry Brooks). In my opinoin Mr. Feist is definetely doing the latter. I would think it a very good idea if Mr. Feist would take an example from Janny Wurts, his former Co-author (who, thanks to his latest books has usurped Feist as my favorite author). She never uses a single world or system for more than one story, and the result is that her works are always fresh and interesting to read (by system I mean the way that the world works eg. magic, gods etc). So I think it would be best all round if the Midkemia series was closed down, Mr. Feist took a few years to develop a new world, with an intricate plotline, and then start anew. My honest advice to all serious Feist Fans is not to buy this new series, or not to read them if you've bought them, pretend that the Serpent war was never written, and to enjoy the first five Midkemia books as though they were the only ones, and not to spoil them with these new series. I would welcome a debate via e-mail if anyone disagrees with me.
|
