Rating: 
Summary: dissapointment
Review: i will never read feist again! his work on this series had started out with a bang and ended with a fizz...if anyone disagrees wih me, i would welcome a debate.
Rating: 
Summary: The reader becomes one with the days of magicians & kings.
Review: I am continually captivated with each book as I follow each story & the intricacies of each character's life. James (Jimmy the Hand) was my favorite story & the tongue-in-cheek type humor kept me smiling. In this, his grandchildren are in similar character/form. I could write volumes on why I enjoyed each book as the stories unfolded & of course how much I look forward to the continuations of the sagas, but suffice it to say that if you love fantasy, the entire series is well worth the time one gets swept away from reality.
Rating:
Summary: A fitting end to the serpentwar saga
Review: Many people don't appreciate how R. Feist has handled the serpentwar series by offering offering a different persons overal perspective in each book. The ending volume left a bittersweet aftertaste to the chain of events that took place. This wasn't bad in a sense because it actually mimics the real world. People don't usually live happily ever after. A lot of good people died in this series, and that's life. It would have been nice to see Prince Patrick get fired by his dad, but hopefully there will be another series taking the events in Midekemia even further.
Rating: 
Summary: One shard of books yet to come
Review: Well first of all, Mr. Feist you have done a fantastic job (again) of building the suspense and storyline up to a point where to put the book down drives you to insanity. The story flows smoothly making up for the dismall efort in book 3 -Rage of a Demon King- and the characters all have achance to develop their personalities. With elements of war, politics, fury, frustration, heroics, romance, intrigue and suspense there's not much more you can want in a book. Except maybe for a better ending!!! What happened. Just as the story got good and the suspense was building, bang, slap zap and wow it's like "was that good for you too?" Too much foreplay not enough action. For readers who have read Feist before the story is excellent and there are hints of much more to come. The next book should be very revealing, if Nakors school and the ending is anything to go by. All the characters are there minus Duke James and Gamina, as is the court machinations that have been missing for too long. All I can say is if you liked the Kelewan series for its action and intrigue then you will love this. Feist is back, he just needs to work on his endings. But what is to come? I have "Krondor the Betrayl" but i feel this is a filler whilst something bigger and better is being written. The book overall is very good, but too much build up for too easy an offense and ending!
Rating:
Summary: Good book but ends too suddenly
Review: Mr. Feist must have had a dead line for this book or was not allowed to write a fifth in the series because of the sudden ending to the enemy. Instead of telling us of the battless taken by Erik they are just discussed over diner. The main threat in the whole book is killed in a few pages and whenever pug or tomas are together in the book they are talking about the "nameless one" and trying to figure out what his agents are up to. A good book with a poor ending
Rating: 
Summary: shards of a busted series
Review: this book does not belong in this series. i love feist's work, but shards is just a sales pitch for his new riftwar legacy series(which i'll read). they must mention the "incident" after the riftwar at least ten times in this book. this book should really be considered a separate work like prince of the blood or the king's buccaneer, where new characters are created(nakor,calis,lady clovis) and old ones can gracefully bow out(arutha, martin longbow, amos trask). shards could possibly be a set up to either one or two new series in which pug and his crew go battle evil all over the universe, while jimmy and dash and probably Nakor set things straight in the Kingdom. too bad feist could not end this series better, for it was such a great read. hopefully feist has enough to go on in this mess of an ending to crank out 2 or 3 more series about Midkemia. if he does i'll be willing to forgive him for this rather weak effort to end one of the best series out there.
Rating:
Summary: I miss and miss and miss...
Review: all the bads -- not quite so descriptive when it comes to already known characters. pug and tomas have gotten too strong...description of magic seems nothing less then repetitions of old battles. it looks like a story that would take at least 1000 pages was ended abruptly due to reasons unknown to us readers. -spoiler warning to those who haven't read the book- things are getting desperate, everything is about to fall. poof, 4 most powerful characters in the book jump into the horray and bume...its all over. the evil being which they face is described within 2 pharagraphs, and destroyed within 3-4 pages. i have the itchy feeling that feist was either sick or really tired when he wrote the book, or maybe he let someone else do the job for him and simply did some editing. all the goods -- resurrection of jimmy the hand as dash. it could have been done in a better way, but it was done quite well. the story is in fluid motion as in other works by feist. humor, romance...death. those are the things that make me grab a book by feist no matter how repetitious he gets. oh yes, i really didn't care all that much about the editing mistakes. they will be fixed when the paperback hits the market.
Rating:
Summary: another exciting adventure but too brief
Review: This particular work is just as exciting and involving as the others in the series. The problem(and I have only one) is that the entire thing is too brief. I'm not suggesting that Feist should start writing like Robert Jordan(thank god he doesn't, I would not buy anymore books if he starts) but I my characters well done, not bloody rare. And I couldn't believe it when it was all over. I'm not spending 22 dollars for a 5 hour read is great value but that was a great 5 hours. Thanks Ray, for another great story. And I can't wait to read Krondor the Betrayal.
Rating: 
Summary: Feist fumbles the end of a terrific series.
Review: Having been an avid reader of Feist for many years, I snatched up the last book of The Serpentwar Saga with fervor. Unfortunately, what started out as a wonderful series ended with a flop. The editing was so bad, the book read as if the author was tired of the series and just ready to finish it. The characters of Jimmy and Dash were not well fleshed out, and the battles were won too easily. Eric and Roo, the series' main characters, are not given much time, and Feist succeeds in killing off many of my favorite bit players. I loved the first book of the series, and wished that he had kept the same tone throughout. But Shards of a Broken Crown just does not measure up to the rest of Feist's books. I'm hoping that his next book is a step up.
Rating:
Summary: Feist abandons storyline, readers.
Review: Shards of a Broken Crown is by far Feist's most disappointing work. I have been a faithful reader of all of his previous Midkemia novels, but I doubt that I'll buy more. First, a warning: if you intend to buy this book, this review contains a spoiler or two. The fundamental problem with this book is that it ends before it gets really interesting. The novel shapes up as one involving a long campaign against the remnants of the army from Novindus, and Feist is at his best describing Erik von Darkmoor's feats as the Kingdom troops advance. The trouble is, the entire campaign is rendered pointless. Feist takes his most powerful characters and dumps them in the middle of the fight, and poof! it's over. The army of Novindus is defeated, the evil spirit purged, and Tomas and Pug barely have a hair out of place. Worse, we are treated to yet another cosmic frame shift in Feist's ever-changing religious pantheon. I could rant and rave for pages, but I'll leave it at this: two of the cardinal rules of science fiction/fantasy are (1) you should never make your characters so powerful that they can wipe out anything and anybody, and (2) the willing suspension of disbelief required from sci-fi/fantasy readers requires a universe that is at least internally consistent, if not consistent with the reader's own experiences. Feist violated both of these rules, and in this book he (and his fans) paid the price. It wouldn't be so lamentable if he hadn't been so promising before.
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