A Darkness at Sethanon, By Raymond E. Feist

It’s one year since Arutha returned from his quest and cured Anita of the deadly poison. With one thing or another (new-born twin boys being part of it) he’s almost managed to forget that Murmandamus is still a threat. Almost, because the Mockers tell him that the Nighthawks are back in Krondor, most likely trying to kill him again. For Murmandamus will stop at nothing to kill Arutha, for once he is dead, Murmandamus will be able to carry out his evil plan, free of impediment. And it is an evil plan, for it involves the end of life for every creature living on Midkemia, and the return of an ancient evil that many have thought long destroyed.

Now this is the book that I wanted during Silverthorn. Silverthorn’s more like a prologue than a book. It’s long enough to be a book, but in terms of the series its importance is very minor. I know we all love Anita but she could have died without the plot being seriously impacted, for there was no need to add in another book. But this one definitely deserves its status. A Darkness at Sethanon is certainly a ‘fate of the world’ book, and even ‘fate of the worlds.’ For this evil is so evil, that it threatens every world, and not just Midkemia. I would like to name that evil, and some of you might even be able to guess it, but I won’t spoil it for the rest of you. Lets just say it’s really spiffy.

Feist certainly pulls out the stops on making this book hard to predict. He does things I wouldn’t expect, characters show up in a surprising fashion, and it’s exciting! I will have to go on in a slightly spoilery manner for a bit for the rest of the paragraph, because this is too good to keep silent about. We get to meet Black Guy! We’ve heard about him, and heard about him, and now we get to meet him. He was kind of a strange character before, because we never got to meet him. We only had hearsay, and all of that was bad. He was momentously important to the plot of the first two books, and we never have a scene with him. Interesting, isn’t it? I wasn’t expecting him to show up, but he does, and brings a cool city along with him. And it explodes! We get to have an exploding city! I just wish I could see that on film.

A Darkness at Sethanon is not the best book in the Riftwar Saga, but it is not the worst. I would put it on par with Magician: Apprentice, just below Magician: Master. And as this draws the Riftwar Saga to a close, I would advise all of you to find yourself copies of it to read, for although it has its generic moments, Feist conquers them with good skill and opens up a new world for us to explore. And that’s always good fun.

Silverthorn, By Raymond E. Feist

A year after the defeat of the Tsurani and the ascension of Lyam to the Kingship, Arutha to Prince of Krondor, and Martin to Duke of Crydee, things are starting to settle down. At least, enough for Arutha to make plans to marry Princess Anita. But life is not as smooth as many think, just ask Jimmy the Hand. As a master thief he sees all kinds of dark plots, not the least of which is the attempted assassination of Arutha, which leads them all into a swirl of intrigue and danger. For on the day of Arutha’s wedding, Jimmy foils another plot to take Arutha’s life, but only by misdirecting the crossbow bolt to hit Anita instead. If it was only the wound, Anita could hope to recover quickly, but there is poison at work which will steal her life unless a cure can be found. The only clue Arutha has is the name of the poison: ‘silverthorn.’ Because of a strong magic laid upon Anita by Pug, she now exists between moments, waiting until Arutha can return to her with the cure.

Oh, you foolish people who thought the Riftwar Saga was over, but no! It has returned again! And brought back with it a most engaging character whom we have seen briefly before, by the name of Jimmy. I don’t think I’ve ever read of a thief as a main character that wasn’t clever, quick, funny, etc. I don’t think authors can write them any other way. Not the least of which reason is the fact that only certain people are attracted to/are good at that profession, and so a stereotype is born. That aside, Jimmy does his part well carrying the plot forward, and lets us in for a great long running joke. ‘Well, you still need a Duke of Krondor.’ You’ll just have to read it to see why that is so good. And though Arutha is the main character and everyone is trying to kill him, he doesn’t seem to accomplish half as much as Jimmy, except nearly getting killed a lot.

Silverthorn doesn’t seem to have much to do with the rest of the Riftwar saga. Except for the fact that it is indeed the same world, same characters, and takes place only one year after the last book ended, I thought the Riftwar with the Tsurani was over. Unless Feist is trying to refer to something else, and in that case…Sadly I don’t think Silverthorn is as good an effort as Magician: Master, despite the fact that I like what goes on in it. A for effort, B for execution. In the sense that it feels like the fate of the world should hang on a plot’s shoulders, but all we’re doing is finding a cure for Anita. Which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but the fate of the world is more interesting. It’s fun enough to read, but not much else.

Magician: Master, By Raymond E. Feist

The war between the people of Midkemia and the Tsurani has been stretching on for over six long years. There have been many casualties on both sides, but the truth is that the Tsurani have more resources and are slowly winning the war. But the Midkemians will not give up without a fight. One man well known for his battle prowess is Tomas, Pug’s old friend. For when he first donned the enchanted armor the dragon gave him, he started transforming into something the world had not seen since the Chaos Wars. A deadly force unfettered by anything except for Tomas’ own humanity and the strivings of those around him. The Valheru were terrible and without mercy: to unleash one once again on the world would be to cause its utter destruction. But for now the evil sleeps restlessly, allowing Tomas to protect that which he cares about. But Tomas is not the only one trying to protect the world; even though Pug has long since been captured by the Tsurani he has not forgotten his home, nor his wish to help end the war. For although he has been a slave for six long years, hiding his magical abilities, the truth will out and soon he must train to control his magic, for the fate of two worlds rests on his abilities.

I love melodramatic summaries. I can’t seem to escape them. So I give in to the inevitable and embrace the horrific corniness of it all. After all, this is fantasy, and that is why I read it.

Tomas was certainly an interesting character in the last book, just starting to come into the dragon’s gift. But I couldn’t really say anything about him, as he didn’t pertain to the plot much in the last book. But he certainly comes out in spades in this one, and I think manages to be more interesting than Pug sometimes. Probably because he’s got more issues and dark personalities are always more intriguing. And the fact that Pug doesn’t seem to do much in this book, other than show us some interesting things about Kelewan, explode things with his magic, and give speeches. Not too many speeches, but he seems to do more talking than anything. He’s changed a lot from the impetuous keep boy, but Tomas has certainly turned out more interesting.

There were some definitely cool scenes to read. The history of Kelewan was very good and very interesting to see take place. The Straits of Darkness was definitely fun, as was finding out about the trio of brothers. Common device with the whole unknown parentage thing, but done well in regards to the end, although ‘civil war!’ was overdone a bit in my opinion. Every three pages near the end was saying, ‘if we do this, civil war will happen!’ A bit much. And Feist continued in his tradition of making the beginning of each chapter a blank statement, but it annoyed me less this time around. Hopefully he’ll grow out of it in time.

All in all a very satisfactory read, with good characters, interesting plot, and magics diverse. I’ll give good marks to it and to Feist for coming up with this world.