Raymond E Feist

[Zareen Zapata]

Thisis a series of posts about fantasy novels that I love, or loved, and that really got me into fantasy. Some of them have not really stood the test of time, some I grew out of, and others are still great. But all of them fed into how I came to love fantasy and how I perceive the genre.

Daughter of the Empire remains one of my favourite fantasy books. While I loved and always will love Magician, Daughter offered me something that was truly new and opened up a new vista on the possibilities of fantasy.

I only recently began the Riftwar series, starting with Magician and following the recommended reading order at -feist/reading-order/alternate. The original trilogy I enjoyed but as too often is the case, I found characterization limited. It was as if Feist only made a half dozen character sketches, mostly male, and all characters were those sketches with various names.

Not sure, but I just got a copy of "At the gates of darkness", I don't normally read fantasy stuff and it got quite a bad rep on amazon. Is it any good/worth reading?

If you haven't read any of his other books, they go in series so read Magician first.

In the four books Feist managed to make me feel there was something at real stake in the upcoming war, and not the destruction of the world by demons, just the invasion. It got to the point where I truly dreaded the Saur turning up. I think this has a lot yo do with Rise of a Merchant Prince. Taking a back step from the war porn and showing day to day life of the kingdom really rooted the 'what's at stake' card.

I haven't read the empire trilogy yet so I'll need to give them a go. I've read everything else though and loved certain parts of all the books. I have to say Magician though because it's what started the whole obsession.

Made a point of trying to get them all in hardcover. To date I've got 25 Feist hard covers including a nice 20th anniversary Magician Deluxe Edition which is still in the original plastic and hasn't been opened!

Everything else after the Serpentwar Saga became stale for me. I think Feist just writes for money now and not as a passion anymore. He has being releasing a book a year since 1998. I'd prefer it if he took his time and put some love into his books. Any Pug chapters are awesome, i have no love for all these new characters. Feist just keeps killing characters as soon as you build a relationship with them. Feist even destroyed a world!

Hmm guess im going to kmart tomorrow.

Empire trilogy is the only 3 books written by Feist that I have not read, yet getting rave reviews right here, Guess I know whats next on my reading list, Might read magician first though because its just epic.

I liked the way he went away from the more vanilla heroes though, and gave you someone that was clearly damaged as well, being out for profit and womanising. Up until Roo (not my fave character either BTW) you could pretty much guarantee that any main character was either all good, or with a heart of gold under a slightly rough exterior.

Have to admit though, my respect for Feist as an author took a major dump when he did the 'make$$$' thing by sticking his name at the top of books written by others (Jimmy the hand etc.). Cool that you want ot support up and coming authors, but don't try to con fans that you have written a book that you haven't.

ve to admit though, my respect for Feist as an author took a major dump when he did the 'make$$$' thing by sticking his name at the top of books written by others (Jimmy the hand etc.). Cool that you want ot support up and coming authors, but don't try to con fans that you have written a book that you haven't.

I do agree with others, I'd like him to spend some more time on his books and really flesh out something amazing with the last 2. Unfortunately he is already close to submitting A Crown Imperiled. Hopefully the last book is a nice long monster along the lines of the page count of the combined Magician books (Apprentice & Master).

Halfway through AKB, taking it slow lol. Trying to drag it out a little as well all know its gonna be another year or longer until we're reading A Crown Imperilled.

So far, so most excellently good.

I finished reading A Kingdom Beseiged last night, it was pretty good and I'm looking forward to the next installment, which has already been finished I believe but won't be released for 12 months or so.

Once again though Feist leaves Tomas out again, but I'm hoping the way the end of the latest book set things up, Tomas will make a strong return. I've always hated the way Feist has treated him, to me he was just as an important character as Pug was when the whole series started, yet we hardly ever hear of him and when we do it is only fleeting moments. Feist really should write a prequel series dealing with the Chaos War era

I just really wish Feist lets Tomas comes into his own and unleash more of his Valheru heritage, especially as you say his antithesis in Draken Korin has been reborn. I wonder if any other Valheru will make an appearance, especially with the Pantathians schemeing again.

Finished a kingdom beseiged the other night ... It wasn't bad but there were a few annoying things throughout the book. Seems to me Feist was trying to create the feeling of 'the good old days' by CONSTANTLY name dropping.

Also in regards to Tomas ... I think the problem with him has been he was made too powerful. Valheru were powerful enough to challenge the gods, so by including him as a main character in any story he'd either nullify any threat, or diminish the awe and power surrounding the Valheru by being challenged by a lesser being. Looks like they've finally come up with a villain powerful enough to avoid those scenarios so I'd say he'll finally have a role in the coming books.

The main thing I get annoyed with his novels is how he names the grandchildren after their forefathers. At the moment I do not know how many Jimmy/Jims/James there are along with Henrys and Martins and...

Objective opinion wanted; I love the feist books pre Talon of the silver thingy. The RIftwar Saga was a contender for the best fantasy series ever, and then he topped it with the serpantwar, plus all the standalones like Honours Enemy, but when I read Talon I saw Feist suffereing from the same affliction that took Tom Clancy. It felt like he didn't care anymore and I was really dissapointed.

OK, well I have pretty much read all the books to date. It really depends how far you have gotten into Talon of the Silverhawk, but the storyline after that book just gets SOOO much better. The book after Talon of the Silverhawk, it pretty much starts straight on just where it ended. The story just shifts completely like you are in another world. That's all I can say without spoiling the books for you. The only problem I had with anything after those books was 'Rides A Dread Legion' Tomas comes back, but it's underwhelming, and the whole thing just seemed to drag on and on and on.

Also, on another note, Feist is going to write another book on the Krondor Tales: Jimmy and the Crawler. I saw an interview saying he wanted to publish another book in that series to finish it off, I think, but yeah.

I just really, really wish there was an easier way of figuring out who is who. At one point there is a James (Or is it Jim?) who's father is Duke James (Or Jim) who's great grand father (or great great great grand father) was the original Jimmy The Hand.

It seems the publishers did not do a good job of editing, there was one chapter that completely confused me as it seems Feist decided to swap Magnus and Pug around at one stage and forgot to re-align the plot.

What I find annoying about these new books is that the editting has been pretty poor. Spelling mistakes, continuity issues from previous books, and in the most recent one, characters in the storyline being flipped around (as the previous poster pointed out, Pug/Magnus was swapped between chapters)

Putting a book together is a collaborative undertaking, but ultimately the responsibility for errors falls to the author. Even if someone introduces an error in production, the author is given the opportunity to read the final manuscript and should spot it. A Crown Imperilled has such an error, one potentially annoying to the reader. In the last stage of production, I inadvertently inserted a much earlier draft version of part of one chapter in lieu of the final draft, which resulted in a continuity gaff. For this I deeply apologise, and will do my very best to not repeat such a mistake. It's the first real gaff in thirty years, and doubly galling because I know how it was supposed to read. Thank you for years of support.

I wish Feist would get a better editor! I've just started A Crown Imperilled and it has continued the trend with the last half dozen or so books of containing heaps and heaps of typos and grammatical errors. Shouldn't happen!

Huge fan of Feist, the Midkemia universe as a setting is fantastic (probably my favourite universe in fantasy), but he's cashing in somewhat. Books keep getting shorter and shorter and that absolutely horrible woopsies in A Crown Imperiled.

Personally I'd have to say Magician and the following Riftwar books are my personal favourite, closely followed by The Serpent War books (I read them before Riftwar), some of the battles in Serpent War were mind blowing the first time I read them...

I never really liked the Empire trilogy, but then again I think the age when I read them (around 16) and going into them with the wrong expectations might have had something to do with that. I went in expecting something like Riftwar and Serpent War, massive battles, magic, and thrilling heroics... and got politics and romance... I should give them a reread sometimes, see if age has helped me gain an appreciation for them.

I can't remember the name, but there was a pair of really good books set between Riftwar and Serpent war published in the early 90s, dealing with the set up to the Serpent War, mainly they featured Jimmy the Hand, and Necko(sp?).

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