Rating: Summary: Tiresome Review: Raymond Feist is a great writer and has produced some milestone fantasy books but sadly lets himself (and the reader) down with this one. I had read the reviews about the game influence on the book, but was prepared to make my own mind up. In the end the reviews were right, this is too one dimensional and is a series of little tasks rather then a flowing story supported by the characters that Feist usually does so well. Best avoided, but if you are a potential first time reader then read the brilliant Magician instead.
Rating: Summary: Disappointing - The Real Betrayal Review: The writing is shallow, the characters two dimensional and the plot weak. These are the good points. I thought this book was written like a video game as I read it. The characters solve all encounters with enemies by killing them, they stumble across items that conveniently help them at the right time without any preamble, they get help or hints from inanimate 'gods'... I didn't know until the end that this was actually written after a game... I have never felt so put off by an author's grasping for dollars... beware the real betrayal... to you the reader.
Rating: Summary: Good, not Brilliant Review: This was the first book that I read by Feist and, though I found it to be enjoyable, it was not a brilliant book. I found that the style of the author was a bit simplistic to tell the truth. However it is still a good book. There are some enjoyable characters, my favourite being Owyen, and the storyline is quick and detailed. Not my favourite book but enjoyable none the less.
Rating: Summary: Krondor the Betrayal Review: Trickery and treachery await you at every turn in the world of Midkemia. When a dark elf betrays his kind, he meets all kinds of other people who doubt his loyalty. He becomes friends with enemies of his race, but he puts that aside and helps to save The Kindom. When a powerful dark elf warlord, who is willing to let thousands of his army die for a simple ploy attacks The Kingdom, a great magician and other heroes are called upon to save everything from a powerfully dangerous artifact. I recommend this book to older and more patient fantasy readers.
Rating: Summary: Wheel of Time This Ain't Review: I was spoiled by the depth and finesse of the Wheel of Time series. This book is full of action, but it seems hollow. The prose is banal, replete with cliche. The characters and cultural context are both very shallow. I am sure the game is great (haven't played it) but the book reads like a 15 year old Dungeon Master's first homemade NPC script. I am sure many readers enjoyed it, and I don't mean disrespect to them, but this is definitely not for me. I will wait for the next WoT book.
Rating: Summary: Formulaic and reads like a computer game Review: The problem with this book is that it reads like a computer game. It lacks depth of character and atmosphere; the conversation is stilted, the achievements superhuman. The plot is formulaic, and obviously leads from fact finding to consequential action. If you played the game (which I haven't) you probably get to "practice" killing the bad guys - if you fail, you can always start again from where you last saved. The game, no doubt, has some level of challenge to it. The book doesn't.I can see what Feist was trying to do here - continue a line of books with what must be one of my favourite characters, Jimmy the Hand. Put James in a tight spot and he'll invariably get out. Tragically, the squire totally lacks any hint of personality in this book and the two sequels. Mr Feist, as a WRITER, could have used a little more imagination to pull the reader into a fantastic story. Instead he follows the rather basic plot line of a simple computer game. Sadly, this sub-series does not improve with time. It gets worse. I'm currently reading book three: Krondor, Tear of the Gods. It's so bad, I'm considering not finishing it at all (which would be the first for a Feist book for me ... I love the guy). The first book and even the second at least deal with elements roughly defined within Feist's series on Midkemia: the Oracle, the stone at Sethanon, dark elves, etc. The third borders on the ludricous - vampires in Midkemia? ... honestly!... Obviously, the game developers took over and Mr. Feist took a back seat in his own world. I'm actually quite outraged that this series was published at all. They should have left it as a game and not bothered with this half-hearted attempt at a book. I've never quite felt so cheated of my money before --- and that is probably Mr Feist's greatest accomplishment in this trilogy.
Rating: Summary: loved it! Review: A very good book thats worth reading after you have read the riftwar series.
Rating: Summary: Entertaining but unsatisfying Review: Since I love Raymond Feist's work and have played Betrayal at Krondor upwards of 9-10 times, I may have expected too much from this book. While it was enjoyable, and I found it entertaining to "read" a game that I had "played," as a Raymond Feist book it is a disappointment. Although I went on to read the second book in the series, hoping things would improve, my initial impression did not change. Raymond Feist's writing added much to the game, but the game did not add much to his writing.
Rating: Summary: Only read this is you're a fan. Review: The only reason I stuck with this book is that I had already read the Riftwar series and really enjoyed it. It was very boring compared with Feist's previous works. I haven't played the game, so that probably didn't help either. The good news is, Assassins and Tear of the Gods (which I am reading now) are very good, so Betrayal is worth a read just as a prelim to the rest of the Riftwar Legacy series.
Rating: Summary: Not too bad.....Not too good either Review: I'm new to reading Mr. Feist's books, so I don't know if I'm really qualified to review this, but here goes. I enjoyed playing the classic computer game, Betrayal at Krondor (even though I never finished it) and I have always been an avid fantasy and science fiction reader. This book seemed a little too much like the game. Suddenly I recognized quests I had been on, characters, and even text taken directly from the game. Lazy? seems to me. Even though I have never read A Darkness at Sethanon, I always liked Gorath as a character, and it was a real letdown when he died. I doesn't feel right when an author disposes of a main character in about five pages whaen he spent two books developing him. Speaking of character development, there wasn't much at all. The closest you got was Owyn talking about his family or Gorath talking about his past. They weren't even as deep as in the game, and thats really lazy if you ask me. I don't claim to be a writer, but i know good books when I read them, and this isn't one of them.
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