Rating: 
Summary: Well, one star for the effort.
Review: This book was weak. I mean, really. The story in and of itself was alright, but I felt like I was reading something my 6 year old son wrote (and got a bad grade on) in class. The author is constantly yanking the reader from krondor to other places and back again with out even the slightest hint of subtlety. The characters were poorly developed and predictable, the dialouge was filled with cliche, and the ending left me feeling like i just got ripped off at the used car lot. "After all of this reading...this is the ending i get?" The straw that took this story beyond redemption was Erik's chieftain, Owen, getting killed by an arrow fired off accidentally by one of the soldiers. What a horrible thing to do to a good character! Sure it happens, but.. it was a disappointment in the extreme. If you really want to read some good fantasy, or historical fiction (something action packed!) go read lawhead's song of albion cycle or byzantium (also by lawhead), or warriors of the way by harry harrison. Me? I'm going to go have a marshmellow roast and use this book to start the fire.
Rating: 
Summary: The end?
Review: As this is provisinaly the last book set in midkemia you would think that it would tie up all the loose ends that come from a 10 book series. Not only did this book deliver all it promised and more it left us hanging for hopefully the next instalment in what could end up being called the shadow war. For all those that have enjoyed these books starting with Magician, who could ask for more.
Rating: 
Summary: Feist's formula is as broken as the Kingdom's crown
Review: I feel sorry for those people (including myself) who were suckered into buying the hardback version of this novel. If you truly want to know what happens in this, the conclusion of Feist's Serpentwar Saga, get the paper back...heck, borrow the book from your local library. Over the course of Feist's 10 books set in this world of Midkemia, he has developed memorable characters and a winning formula, then slowly ruined it all with his weak, disjointed plot and incoherence. Developments occur out of the blue, there is no sense of consistency, and the rules of the game are revised continuously according to his whim, giving no sense of history and destroying the foundation that he laid in Magician. The only redemption I could find in this book were the two main characters, James and Dashel, who make the novel bearable enough to complete. All of the old favorites are either dead (Arutha) or uninteresting (Pug, Nakor, Tomas). Feist has lost the edge he displayed in producing Magician, and we are left with the shards of a washed-up writer.
Rating:
Summary: Shards of a Broken Crown
Review: After careful consideration of the whole series written by Feist, this appears to be an unsatisfactory conclusion to the Serpentwar Saga, largely as the ending appears almost out of the blue, leaving so many questions unanswered. In my personal opinion this leaves the door wide open for a continuation of the series at a later date, and, rather than considering this a brutal cash-in on his popularity, it merely opens the field for expansion - afetr all, anyone who has liked his books would not want the author to retire from the profession. The character development is less certain than in the previous three novels in the series, but relies heavily on existing personnel, even killing a couple of them off along the way. The brief encounters with new character generally give the impression that there will be room for further character development at a later stage. Throughout the novel, the tension builds and relaxes, and the reader finds themselves anticipating the next climax almost with a sense of anxiety. The theories on religion propounded in this book are coherent and well thought-out and the story rattles along with nary a pause for breathe. I cannot wait for the continuation of this series!
Rating: 
Summary: Cashing in on Cyber Crown
Review: Firstly I must say that Raymond E Feist is my all time favourite author, he introduced me to the worlds of myth and magic and I have been hooked ever since. I have read all his books and loved evryone of them,unfortunately though I do have to critise this one. Due to the increasing popularity of his books they launched the compatiable computer game. Fine, personally it did not interest me but I am sure it did other people. Unfortunately someone suggested he cash in on the games success and write some books involved with the game. They were awful, and he ruined what could have been an excellent end to a decent saga by desperately trying to interlink these spin off books with the main ones through 'Shards'. Characters and history were suddenly chucked in that had never appeared before in the 8 previous books, it ruined the whole thing. Also the endy was scrappy, almost as if he got bored with the book and tried to finish off a soon as possible. Lets hope he redeems himself with the continuation of Pug etc in the fight against the nameless one and forgets all about his sideline money making venture that is destroying his world for a lot of devoted fans.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre quality for Mr. Feist unfortunately...
Review: It deeply pains me to give Raymond E. Feist anything less than 5 stars, but... To begin with, Shards has quite a few grammatical errors and typos. And in Shards, the characters all seem fairly empty; Miranda sleeping around with everyone, Patrick, the obnoxious spoiled Prince of Krondor...etc. And I really hope that Pug's days are numbered, as he always kills off the main enemy in 2 pages, and can never seem to be hurt. By the way, the book seemingly has no ending. It just stops. Overall, a fair book though.
Rating: 
Summary: Editors Needed
Review: To all those people in previous posts complaining about the editing: Word. I'm an editor by profession, and I've found that all of the books in the Serpentwar Saga have numerous typos, grammatical errors, poor phrasing, and inconsistencies with past books. Whoever proofread and/or copyedited this book should be fired, pronto.
Rating:
Summary: A book that only makes you want more
Review: I really do not agree with all these one star ratings. And let me comment that Pug's wife Katala died and that Miranda is his new love intrest. And if you were to read this and previous books carefully, you would understand why some things did and didn't occur. Such as Pug's new attitude toward the Kingdom. Anyhow, I really like this book and all other books written by this excellent author. Any person who says this or any of his books are bad enough to recieve one star are too picky. you can't expect a masterpiece of a book from any author. My five star rating by no means, means this book is perfect. It does have its flaws. But the flaws are too few to have made me ditch the book.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry, I hate to do this....
Review: But I can't say this was a good book. After all the good lit and the first two books of this series - AND THE ENDING SUCKED!!! I'm going along going - how will this ever end in this many pages and then....(*blah*) I'm not going to read the Betrayal book - he has turned me off - and I've read all his works.
Rating:
Summary: A good plot, bad writing...
Review: As a long-time Feist fan, I must say that the latter two books of this series has been disappointing. Shadows of a Dark Queen and Rise of a Merchant Prince were quite good in character development and it seemed the plot was going somewhere, much like the original Riftwar series. Then Rage of a Demon King and now this book, Shards of a Broken Crown, seem to be hurried and rushed. The previous major characters in the first two books are either killed or marginalized, while new characters and secrets are revealed at an alarming rate. Several story lines are not even fully explained to satisfaction, for example the refugee lizard-riders who were vassals of the snakes-priests. They only appear occassionally, and even in this final book they are given such a short amount of notice one wonders why Fiest used them to start off this series anyways. As for Miranda, I'd say the old Pug wouldn't even look at a two-timing tramp like her. And the Kingdom of the Bitter Sea? After Feist kills off all the old-time heroes all we get in the Kingdom basically rolling over and letting this happen? And Pug just sits around and does nothing? In short, Fiest attempts too much in too little space and strays from the Riftwar-type writing that enchanted readers such as myself.
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