A Crown Imperiled (The Chaoswar Saga #2) by Raymond E. Feist

May 02, 2013 Bob Milne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-epic

With this, the second volume of The Chaoswar Saga and the second-to-last volume of the entire Riftwar Cycle, Raymond E. Feist doesn't necessarily advance the story, but instead elaborates on the significance of the events in A Kingdom Besieged, and builds some necessary (and much-appreciated) depth on the part of the characters. While it left me impatient to move on with the story, to advance things towards the ominously titled Magician's End, it was largely satisfying in terms of securing the o...more With this, the second volume of The Chaoswar Saga and the second-to-last volume of the entire Riftwar Cycle, Raymond E. Feist doesn't necessarily advance the story, but instead elaborates on the significance of the events in A Kingdom Besieged, and builds some necessary (and much-appreciated) depth on the part of the characters. While it left me impatient to move on with the story, to advance things towards the ominously titled Magician's End, it was largely satisfying in terms of securing the overall story arc.

A Crown Imperiled does three things exceptionally well. Number one, it reestablishes the Conclave of Shadows as a force to be reckoned with, giving them not only power, but a purpose. The period of mourning their losses is over, Pug is invested in the fate of Midkemia once again, and Magnus seems finally positioned to fulfill the critical role his family legacy has so long demanded. More than that, the psudeo-resurrections of Miranda and Nakor that had me groaning at the end of the first book are not only explained, but handled exceptionally well. The scene in which Pug is confronted with a demon who carries all of his dead wife's feeling and memories is one of the strongest emotional moments Feist has ever written.

Number two, the book sheds some light on those subtle political coups taking place across the land. I felt they were really underplayed in the first book - introduced and hinted at, but left very vague in terms of exactly what was happening any why. Here, we see that aspect of the tale really expanded upon, elevating a lackluster minor plot thread to a level of significance worthy of Midkemia's final chapter. Hal, Martin, and Brendan are drawn back into the heart of the conflict, elevating their tangential adventures into something as relevant as they are exciting. The entire flight sequence with Princess Stephané is probably the most exciting, swashbuckling event the series has seen in quite some time.

Number three, the book has some big . . . and I do mean BIG . . . moments. I won't spoil them here, other than to say there is a scene with dragons taking flight that has me grinning with excitement, and a world-ending cliffhanger that had my jaw dropping to the floor. It's not as strong of a book in terms of plotting as the first, but it does pull things together nicely, setting up what will hopefully be a fitting conclusion to the Riftwar Cycle.

Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins(less)

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Jun 08, 2013 Colin Mobey Mobey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Whilst I've enjoyed the last few of Feist's books, they have been slightly underwhelming. More comforting that exciting. A Crown Imperilled (and its predecessor A Kingdom Besieged to a slightly lesser extent) seems to be a return to form. But (and its an annoying but) it seems to be because Feist is falling back on previous character types. Nothing has come close to the 'magic' of Pug, Thomas, Arutha and Jimmy the hand of the original trilogy, and it's as though Feist has realised that. So whils...more Whilst I've enjoyed the last few of Feist's books, they have been slightly underwhelming. More comforting that exciting. A Crown Imperilled (and its predecessor A Kingdom Besieged to a slightly lesser extent) seems to be a return to form. But (and its an annoying but) it seems to be because Feist is falling back on previous character types. Nothing has come close to the 'magic' of Pug, Thomas, Arutha and Jimmy the hand of the original trilogy, and it's as though Feist has realised that. So whilst we don't get much Thomas (I feel he is saving that for the last book) we get plenty of Pug and the other "tyoes" - Arutha (a mixture of the young Hal and Martin ConDoin) and Jimmy (as Lord Jim). But it works.
The story plays a part. The usual political shenanigans, plus some sieges, usual spy work and magical goings-on. But it feels like its coming apart. That finally, whatever it is that is out there that has been a constant threat to the conclave, is finally getting its act together. And in a way that will test the people we have become so familiar with.
The writing also seems a lot stronger. Some of the previous books have been sorely missing a strong edit, and on occasion the writing style has appeared lazy as though Feist's heart wasn't in it. Not so here (although to be fair there are a couple of sentences that didn't make sense, so I'd still say he needs a better editor).
As you've probably guessed, you should not start with this book, or even the previous one. Both a strength and weakness of where this story goes, the history entwined in the characters actions and what is inevitably coming requires an understanding of what has come before. It's not just that you wouldn't understand certain things and references, I'd argue that you would become frustrated if you weren't aware of most of the backstory. So be warned,
But I'm glad I've stuck with the story. Magician is still one of my favorite books, and based on this final trilogy so far, I'm looking forward to the conclusion.(less)

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May 20, 2013 Clay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-fantasy

I’ve been with Raymond Feist and the world of Midkemia almost the whole ride since 1982, and with the publication of “A Crown Imperiled” (Harper Voyager, $27.99, 469 pages), he is one book removed from wrapping up the saga of Pug the magician and the battle against the undefined evil known as the Dread.

“A Crown Imperiled,” which is book two of the Chaoswar Saga, is book 28 of the Riftwar Cycle, which actually began in the mid-1970s as a role-playing game at the University of California at San Di...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Jason Kahn rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had read a lot of negative comments about this book, mainly regarding editing errors and typo's, which is why I waited until it was available on kindle for a cheaper price. Having read it, I can understand some of the complaints. There were some obvious mistakes, words missing here and there, etc. And also some places where the scene shifted in ways that simply did not make sense. This might have made a difference if it were the first or second book in the series, but it's like what, the twent...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Marcus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First Off, Just to get it out the way. There was a LOT of errors in this book, I wont take the time to write them all out as I've seen other reviews doing, but yes the editing in the book is terrible, and I do hope some people get fired because of it.

Unlike other readers, I'm quite new to the world of Midkemia, But I've read them all quite recently and have it all fresh in memory. I really like how they have followed 'Hal' throughout the book, and always enjoy the references to their ancestors...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Brandon Zarzyczny rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book, but I found a big problem with the writing/editing of it. I believe that Raymond E. Feist somehow swapped two of the characters (Pug and Magnus) for an entire chapter. In Chapter 4 page 77-101 the characters Pug, Amirantha, and Sandreena are exploring the home island of the Pantathians (snake people). The chapter ends with a smallish cliff-hanger: "Pug took only a single step outside: confronting him was a completely unexpected sight. Six tall pillars of light in a di...more I really enjoyed this book, but I found a big problem with the writing/editing of it. I believe that Raymond E. Feist somehow swapped two of the characters (Pug and Magnus) for an entire chapter. In Chapter 4 page 77-101 the characters Pug, Amirantha, and Sandreena are exploring the home island of the Pantathians (snake people). The chapter ends with a smallish cliff-hanger: "Pug took only a single step outside: confronting him was a completely unexpected sight. Six tall pillars of light in a diamond configuration stood in the middle of the garden. From each a faint humming, almost musical, could be heard.
`Sven-ga'ri,' said Pug."

The reader next sees Pug in Chapter 6 from page 138-144 on Stardock Island with no explanation to what happened with the Pantathians. Actually here I thought I'd screwed up, as at the end of the chapter Pug explains that he's sending Magnus to the island to check it out, something I skipped when I was reading. However, when I continued examining the book, I realized that it was possible that the little part in chapter 6 was added to try to make sense of the mix up earlier. So I'll continue, the next time we go back to the Pantathian Island it seems to pick off right where the 4th chapter ended in Chapter 15 page 308.: "Light exploded. The blinding display was accompanied by a thunderous boom that caused both Amirantha and Sandreena to flinch and fall back a step. Magnus stood outlined in the brilliance of an oval of light that had formed before him, his hand in front of his face, shielding his eyes." To me, this reads as the follow-up to the previous cliffhanger, especially since there is no set up, and this is actually the first time we see Magnus in the book.

A little after the previous quote, Magnus teleports Amirantha and Sandreena to the Academy so they can inform Pug about what's been happening on the Island of Snake-Men. This in itself was strange, but then it gets even stranger when they talk to Pug and he has no idea what had happened previously on the Pantathian home Island. On page 319: "'We found Pantathians, Pug, but unlike any we've met before according to Magnus.'
`Really?' said Pug leaning back in his chair. `At this point nothing should surprise me, but say on.'" Amirantha explains a little bit about the Pantathians here, but then he continues by explaining the story from the beginning to Pug, the person that was with him the entire time: "'Demons?'
`Let me start at the beginning.' Amirantha began, briefly telling of their travels to the Isle of the Snake Men, then in detail after the battle with the demons.'" Why would Pug need to be told about the entire adventure on the Pantathian Island when he himself was there? If as the few sentence said, he was there but then came back and sent his son Magnus in his stead, Pug would instead only need an update about what happened after he left.

A little bit later in this chapter Pug teleports to the Pantathian Island to join his son Magnus in studying the Sven-ga'ri construct. Here Pug meets the Snake-Men leader on page 327: "'You are Pug.' the Pantathian said.
`You are Tak'ka,' returned Pug.
`It would be false should I say you are welcome here, but we understand that your son's appearance and now yours are fated and accept that." It is obvious from this quote that this is the first time that these characters have met, yet they previously met on page 93: "'Well, then we have a great deal to discuss; until a few weeks ago, we were ignorant of them. Please, follow me. I am Tak'ka, elected Autarch of Pantathia.' He and his two companions turned and led Pug and his companions deeper into the city."

From the quotes that I listed previously, I have concluded that when Feist was writing the book, he mistakenly wrote Pug into Magnus' role in exploring the Island of Snake-Men. The editors later noticed the problem, but were too lazy to actually fix it as it wouldn't just be a name switch; the character in chapter 4 WAS Pug, not Magnus with the wrong name. So instead they included a paragraph in Pug's actual story at Stardock where he says he's going to get Magnus to teleport over to Pantathia since he's busy trying to convince the Sorceror's council about the coming threat of the Dread (Read this with air quotes: "Yes, Reapers"). The editors just thought that no one would notice or care, but I at least did and it bothered the hell out of me until I could figure it out.

This isn't the only case of sloppy or lazy editing, as this book has probably the most amount of spell-check errors I've ever seen in a published book. There were hundreds of instances of misspelled words that spell real other words, misused plurals/singulars, and general grammar problems. I really can't blame Raymond E. Feist too much, as I really liked this book. It still does feel a little inconsequential, with it really just setting up the next book, but I loved multiple parts of it. My favorite storyline was probably with Hal, Ty, Gabriella, and Stephane, it was one of the smaller parts of the book but I just really enjoyed the action and interplay between the characters. I don't know if the one book a year schedule is just too tight to properly edit a book, or if the editors just don't take pride in their work. Nonetheless, for the next book Feist needs some new editors and/or beta readers. (less)

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Jun 08, 2012 Tincangoat rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was terrible. Not terrible because of the re-hashed story line, but terrible because of the atrocious editing.

I tried to first ignore the errors. Then I tried to remember just to mention the errors in my review. But after a while the errors were too plentiful and my mind too soft. Besides that, I figured no one would believe me, so I grabbed a notepad and started keeping track of a few.

There are many more errors than the ones I list below. I guess there is a big continuity error that m...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Rex rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook-epub, fantasy, fiction, magic, series

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I really loved this book but . . .

*SPOILERS*

I had one major problem with it. First, I readily admit that a friend emailed me a copy of the UK ebook. I'm not sure whether this ebook was a bootled, an ARC, or the actual released version, so my problem may be moot when it's released in the US. Let me start by saying, yes, I plan the buy a copy of this book once it's released in the US, but this friend knows I've been a fan of Feist's Riftwar Saga since the 80's.

In Chapter 4, we encounter Pug, Sandr...more

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May 04, 2012 Gregory rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. OK, so, I don't think I've ever felt the need to include spoilers before (and I'll mention when I'm about to get into them), and I've never given Feist a rating below three stars. But, seriously, he was phoning it in on this one. It's billed as the penultimate book in the Riftwar...Cycle I think it was. And I think maybe he's finally fatigued with the whole Midkemia thing and is just churning these last ones out to be done with a contractual obligation. And before I get to a specific negative cr...more OK, so, I don't think I've ever felt the need to include spoilers before (and I'll mention when I'm about to get into them), and I've never given Feist a rating below three stars. But, seriously, he was phoning it in on this one. It's billed as the penultimate book in the Riftwar...Cycle I think it was. And I think maybe he's finally fatigued with the whole Midkemia thing and is just churning these last ones out to be done with a contractual obligation. And before I get to a specific negative critique, let me say that, overall, I like the epic scope of the plot, but there were also places where he just seemed to be drifting along on the established history of the world and adding nothing new. So, specific negative, typos! Good gods but there were a lot. If it turned out to be an average of one per page I wouldn't be in the least surprised. Some were simply cases of getting the tense wrong, wrong plural vs. singular form, or other simple errors, but some were mangled sentences or, my favorite, and here I'm using a sentence that I made up to illustrate; we brought our the dogs. Both our and the work, just not together, and it's like he was deciding between the two and ended up writing them both, but where's the freaking editor. Even the grammar check in Word would catch things like that, so, what, this wasn't even computer-edited, let alone read by a human editor? Ok, so, spoilers. Multiple continuity errors. The most minor was this (and note, it will also relate to the largest): Pug returns from the Isle of the Serpent-Men, leaving Amirantha and Sandreena to later be joined by his son Magnus, to go see what help they can get from the Assembly. A magician he hasn't met stands up for his cause and before the matter goes to a vote Pug goes up to him and the other magician asks if he is Pug, and it is made clear that they have never met. And then Pug mentions the Conclave to him as a passing remark, and I think what the fuck but I let it go. But then a page or two later he wonders to himself if keeping mention of the Conclave from the Academy (unless that person is ALSO a member of the Conclave) is the right thing to do. And I have another what the fuck moment. But I put it down to this: maybe he's a Conclave member recruited by another that Pug had never met but was aware of. But then in a deus ex machina moment late in the book, that same magician shows up with two others (they are they deus ex machina) and in the ensuing events it is revealed that he is second in line to rule the Conclave after Pug's son Magnus. So, we are to believe that a magician Pug had never met until recently is suddenly so well trusted that he is to lead the Conclave if anything happens to Pug or Magnus? That's not how that first scene played out. And then another. Jim Jamison (whose last name is occasionally spelled Jameson incidentally) returns to Rillanon where his father is basically an invalid, bedridden and under heavy sedation most of the time. There is worry that he may be being poisoned, and mention is made of looking into it. No mention is made of the King's health. Then later in the book, the King is described as being poor of health, not sick, or on his death bed or anything, but explicitly someone who was always frail. Then, in the events immediately leading up to the deus ex machina, it is the king who is described as needing help, so sick he can barely stand, while Jim's father is bellicose, stands on his own, and takes matters in hand. And NO mention is made of the latter recovering or the former worsening. And then following the deus ex machina, the King dies from his weakened state and the events that transpired. But the biggest continuity error, and I said I would be getting back to this, surrounded Pug's visit, with Amirantha and Sandreena, to the Isle of the Serpent-Men. They found devastated Pantathian villages, tracked the destruction to a huge Pentathian city we would later learn was called Pentathia, besieged by demons. The three fight the demons, Pentathians come out to aid them as the battle goes on, the demons are routed, and eventually the three are invited in, discover that the Pentathians of Pentathia are of a type they'd never encountered, meet the leader, get a tour of the city. Pug wants to stay and explore but feels he has pressing business with the Academy as inferred above, so he tells the other two he will send Magnus to stand in for him. Later, Amirantha and Sandreena go to Pug to tell him what they discovered with Magnus on the Isle and the WHOLE thing is described as if Magnus had been in Pug's place. They tell Pug about the fight with the demons, meeting the new Pentathians, what they discovered. Pug reacts like that is interesting news and vows to go SEE IT FOR HIMSELF. And then he does. And then "meets" the Pentathian leader for the first time and so on. I was so flummoxed by it, that I had to go back and reread the earlier part and it is Pug, not Magnus, at the demon rout and first meeting with the Pentathians.

Conclusion: this book never saw editing at the hands or eyes of a human. I don't think it even got a grammar check. It was just spellchecked and sent to the printer.(less)

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Feb 14, 2012 Kimberly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 17, 2012 Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've been reading Feist's book for a long time, almost as long as any other author. I've appreciated that he's been able to keep Pug around and has maintained certain families as main characters. It lends a lot of continuity to the various novels that span 3-4 generations, and it's always fun when someone's great-grandson references the actions that you've read in a previous book. It's like you're all reminiscing together. While I always enjoy Feist's books, they remain like a really good deli s...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Felix rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Don't know what to make of this book. It started with real
promise taking off from where Part1 ended and developments
were interesting. War between the Kingdom of Isles and
Great Kesh was inevitable given what happened in Part1 and
the whys and wherefores of this war was revealed and it
seemed plausible. Also the adventures of the major
characters from James Dasher Jamison to Hal, Martin and
Ty were fun to read but I felt the book ended abruptly.

I was mystified where the "Rider" came from. No introduc...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Matt B rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great potential to be an enthraling read, however after the first typographical errors, it gets cumbersome. This author is generally a much better read. At least I have some insight as to how crappy his grammar and sense of continuity on his own works are. Leads me to wonder if he was blonde before grey. (no offense to blondes - just perpetuating a stereotype). With better editing it would be a wonderful read instead of the exploration of fifth grade grammar it is. I loved the familiarity, but w...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Alexander Finbow rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of previous Feist books

I enjoyed the book, read it fast and hungrily. It was frustrating to discover so many typos in this book. It was the first printing hardback I read and it really felt like it had been sent to print without any proof reading taking place.

Past Feist books have had maybe a handful of typos, this had so many I lost count. As an editor and writer myself, I know these things can slip through occasionally. But this is well beyond expected professional limits.

Anyone know if the typos were fixed for the...more

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Mar 27, 2012 James rated it 2 of 5 stars

Oh Mr. Feist, how you're slipping. light spoilers ahead.

I am a big fan of Feist's work, and I've read every book in the cycle. But the last six books have had some issues that took me some time to work out.

The biggest problem with this series is the lack of character development. In the earlier books, and even up into the Conclave of Shadows trilogy there is engaging and deep character development and growth.

In the past six books a combination of unoriginal characters and the great reliance of...more

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Jun 02, 2013 Kate Thompson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

When I started the first book in The Chaoswar Saga, I was unaware that Raymond E. Feist had been writing for twenty-five years about the same world and while I loved the first one, minus the grammatical errors every now and again, this one was much, much worse. I can understand grammatical errors if an author is self published however, Raymond E Feist is a New York Times best selling author. He should have someone proofread his books and if they are, they should be fired.

The story line is engagi...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Michael Clifton rated it 4 of 5 stars

With any fantasy series, sooner or later the "freshness" begins to suffer. However, with his Midkemia fantasy novels, Raymond Feist has managed to keep my interest with book after book. Feist has a knack of introducing new characters, reinventing old characters, and keeping you guessing concerning his plots...not such an easy task when considering this all occurs within the parameters of a fantasy series now approaching, what? Twenty years old?

I will admit that the past couple of Feist novels ha...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Alek Dembowski rated it 2 of 5 stars

I had trouble getting into this book. 6 chapters in and I was having difficulty really caring about many of the characters. That changed around chapter 7 or 8 but many of the new characters feel like much older characters slightly re-imagined. At this point the series is proving that history repeats itself, if not in the events, in the characters. James is another Jimmy, 5 or 7 generations descended from Jimmy the Hand, Martin and Hal are very much like aspects of Aruthra and some old friends th...more

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May 03, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Overall, this was a good book, but the cliff hangers and increasingly short books are getting a little bit bothersome. The last couple series, and especially this one feels more like a series of longer novellas that actual novels.

Not that it wasn't a good book - I really enjoyed the story, I just felt like some of the detail was a little anemic. There were so many questions I had and I wanted to know so much more of what was happening in the gaps. I don't want to give away the story, but there...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Brett Boerner rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who has read the prior books in the saga

Shelves: reviewed

First off, the storyline of the book was engaging and it was good to read about some of my favorite fantasy characters as Feist wraps up the final few books of his Riftwar Cycle begun many years ago with Magician. The plot gets deeper and deeper and it has become increasingly obvious that the characters face the greatest challenge ever encountered by Midkemia. I won't go into any details to avoid spoilers, but you'll want to read this book if you care about how this world handles the continuing...more First off, the storyline of the book was engaging and it was good to read about some of my favorite fantasy characters as Feist wraps up the final few books of his Riftwar Cycle begun many years ago with Magician. The plot gets deeper and deeper and it has become increasingly obvious that the characters face the greatest challenge ever encountered by Midkemia. I won't go into any details to avoid spoilers, but you'll want to read this book if you care about how this world handles the continuing conflict.

One thing that bugged me about this book that I don't remember being an issue in prior Feist books was a slew of very poor segues between section breaks. There are far to many characters wondering "What is so-and-so up to right now?" and then having that specific person be the POV character in the next section. Sometimes Feist was just trying too hard to be clever and it was kind of corny. For example, the ending of one section said (paraphrase) that "Hal was out of his depth", and then segued to "Miranda jumped into the water."

I would have liked to give this book 4 stars, but the sheer number of typos/misprints/technical errors was overwhelming. I didn't think to actually count them until most of the way through the book, but it must have been at least 40-50 errors throughout. I don't know if these errors are Feist's, his editor's, or the word processing software's errors, but I would think all would be avoidable and worth fixing. Apparently the publisher disagrees, which is very disappointing to me.

You should stop reading now if you don't want to read a list of some of the most common and/or most egregious errors (there are plenty of both). One of the things that made the book most difficult to read was when characters were named incorrectly during dialogue or not referred to at all. It was up to the discerning reader to realize that the speech was actually from a character other from the one named or to decide which character was actually speaking. This only occurred a relatively few number of times, but really should never happen at all. There are a fair number of points where a word is missing or an extra word is inserted into a sentence. This makes the text hard to read and jarred me out of the story, forcing me to have to figure out what was actually meant. For example, "...but one she shared with people like Nakor, Amirantha and Pug was that most of the people she had loved." The end of the statement is missing, and I had to guess that the ending was supposed to be "were dead." Also, "He held a large out." What?!

I think the single most annoying thing I saw throughout the entire book was a single phrase describing mermaids as "buxom beauties from the waste up with fish tales." I actually exclaimed out loud when I read that.

There are numerous other errors, but too many to list. For anyone who takes pride in our language and being able to speak or write with correct grammar and mechanics, this book was ultimately a disappointment to me, even though I enjoyed the story.(less)

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Feb 21, 2012 Eric Leblanc rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was initially going to get a 4 stars from me. It is an enjoyable Silverthorn-style story, where you follow many different characters on their various endeavors that are direct follow-up from the previous book. You get Martin trying to defend the city of Ylith, Hal and Ty escorting a princess in the woods while being harassed by pirates, and the magic users Pug, Magnus, etc trying to understand what the heck is behind all this.

However, this book came down to 3 stars for editing reasons....more This book was initially going to get a 4 stars from me. It is an enjoyable Silverthorn-style story, where you follow many different characters on their various endeavors that are direct follow-up from the previous book. You get Martin trying to defend the city of Ylith, Hal and Ty escorting a princess in the woods while being harassed by pirates, and the magic users Pug, Magnus, etc trying to understand what the heck is behind all this.

However, this book came down to 3 stars for editing reasons. I understand the typos issue, Ray is dyslexic, fine. But can the publishing house not get a good editor for this?? When a native french speaking individual like me spots about a dozen of typos, how come an editor PAID to do it miss those?? And it gets worse.... Chapter 15 gets mixed up in characters, i.e. Pug was investigating an island in Chapter 4 and when we get a follow up of this in Chapter Pug has been changed with Magnus. This is one of the biggest editorial mistake I've seen, and shows quite a bit of carelessness. Ray himself admitted the mistake and was furious about it, he made the change prior publication but his modified chapter didn't make it through. Paperback versions will be corrected but still, this is in my opinion unacceptable from a publishing house. While these can be certainly blamed on the House instead of Ray, there are still irritating things in this books from his own writing, mostly repetitions. For example, on one page Hal "puts an injured princess on his back like a sack of grain" and then 1 page later, "Hal put the princess on his back like a sack of grain". I had the impression he forgot he used the same figure of style before that. Again, in one of the first chapters we get an explanation twice in the same 2-3 pages that Gorath did this and that, and it felt like he forgot he mentioned it the page before.

These repetitions wouldn't be so bad, there are few and the story *is* enjoyable. But with the addition of typos and that amazing mistake of Chapter 15, I can't give this book more than 3 stars. There is too much carelessness into it.(less)

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Feb 27, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action, fantasy, war, epic, male-author, 2010s, 2012

So here we are at the penultimate entry in the epic Riftwar saga. I'm glad to see Feist is continuing his return to form with this book being strong from start to finish. Everything is finally starting to come together with (I believe) most of the major players appearing. I'm very glad for the return of Nakor, one of my favourite characters in the series.

The book had some flaws though. It needed a much better editor to go over it with a fine tooth comb. There were quite a few words missing, sent...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Gregory Saunders rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved the continuation of the saga. Great blending of characters and Mr. Feist is still first rate with his story telling and grand imagination. However, I was very surprised at the errors in this book. Many missing words in sentences. But what really got me was the misplacement of the primary character, Pug. Early in the book, Pug travels to the island of the Pantathian's. Later in the book it is his son that has the encounter. I don't want to add any spoilers, but I really surprised at this...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Joe Aguiar rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Crown Imperiled continues the final Riftwar series with the invasion of the Kingdom by The Empire Of Kesh in full swing... or is it, while other forces align whose intentions are yet known. Our heroes are spread about the land either fighting for their lives or fighting to find answers as to who really is in charge of the chaos enveloping Midkemia and what they really want. There are a lot of players in this game both human and supernatural and it is only by Raymond Feist's deft story telling...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely amazing, Hal is brilliant, a truly enjoyable character and I enjoyed going back to Martin seeing him in the same position as Arutha so many years (and books earlier)
The resurrection of two of my favourite characters did make me happy, although it was in the same was as Macros the Daasti I still liked the way that they had the same memories, the same emotions, everything that had appealed to the character the first life was important to them now in their second carnation.
All in all thi...more

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Feb 01, 2013 FantasyWereld rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: volwassenen

en kroon in gevaar is het tweede deel van de laatste trilogie van Feist in zijn langlopende fantasyreeks over Midkemia. De wereld is in beroering gebracht, maar de drijvende kracht achter de chaos weet zich nog goed te verbergen. Een grootschalige oorlog tussen Kesh en het Koninkrijk is gestart, terwijl er in Rillanon en Roldem staatsgrepen worden voorbereid. Jim Dasher moet alles op alles zetten om erachter te komen wie hier achter zit(ten), en dat terwijl zijn spionagenetwerk op slinkse wijze...more

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May 19, 2012 Glenn Zink rated it 4 of 5 stars

Some Spoilers in review!

Feist continues to deliver an interesting story line in his overall arc, and I did enjoy this book and look forward to the last in the series. There have been a number of instances in the last several books where you wonder, though, if he or his editing team have read any of his previous novels lately. Or, indeed, are paying attention to what they are providing in the current novel.

These crop up as name misspellings, or incorrect character references or relationships. Thi...more

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Jun 01, 2012 This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, high-fantasy

I'm not quite done with the book yet (75%), but I already know that there is no way I can give it a higher grade than 2 stars. From a story/plot standpoint I would probably end up giving it 3 or 4 (depending on how the ending turns out), but I've just had it with the egregious internal continuity errors. It's one thing to have continuity slip across books in a series which has spanned about 30 books in over 25 years; it's another to have major internal inconsistencies within a single book, a pro...more I'm not quite done with the book yet (75%), but I already know that there is no way I can give it a higher grade than 2 stars. From a story/plot standpoint I would probably end up giving it 3 or 4 (depending on how the ending turns out), but I've just had it with the egregious internal continuity errors. It's one thing to have continuity slip across books in a series which has spanned about 30 books in over 25 years; it's another to have major internal inconsistencies within a single book, a problem which has plagued his last few books. Some of his major issues have included redundancy (describing the exact same thing twice because he forgot he's already described it) and not remembering which characters were where (like having a character leave a location and then immediately having a character who remained behind have a conversation with the character who has just left). In this book, he takes the character confusion to an entirely new level of sloppiness.

In chapter 4, Pug and two other characters (we'll just call them A & B for simplicity) are exploring an island, where they find some interesting things. In chapter 6, Pug has left to deal with other business and it is mentioned that he has sent Magnus to join A & B on the island for more intelligence gathering. In a later chapter (14?) Magnus sets out to delve into the magic in detail and sends A & B to report to Pug about what they've found. In chapter 15, Pug meets with A & B who go on to discuss everything they found with Magnus...starting with the entire description of the island and all of the stuff they found with Pug in chapter 4!!. Apparently at some point Magnus was supposed to be in chapter 4, Feist changed it to Pug, but couldn't be bothered to remember to fix the later chapters. When Pug then travels to join Magnus, he re-meets a character he'd already met and had a long conversation with earlier in the book.

This is not a hard error to find. It is not a subtle error. It is a gross and obvious smack-your-head-with-a-brick level mistake. Given how bad the last few books have been with respect to these sorts of errors, I am almost amazed he could top them all in this book. Apparently no one at the publisher is bothering to edit the book, at least as a whole, and Feist has become strictly incapable of writing logically consistent tales without overview. Minor errors, typos, and the like, creep into books all the time. But for a book from a well established author from a major publisher to be so completely and utterly mishandled in this manner should be an embarrassment to them both.

In all the talk about self-publishing ebooks, one of the big arguments against has been the necessity of paying good and competent editors. For these books, clearly someone is just pocketing the money.

Update: After finishing the book I discovered that the last quarter contained even more continuity errors and substantially worse editing for basic typos and grammar. Frequently one could find sentences missing entire key words (no noun or no verb...no problem!) (less)

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Mar 03, 2012 Veronica Morfi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bring me the next one rigth now!

In the second book of Chaoswar Saga (and the 29th in the Riftwar Cycle!) we follow the story story right were it felt off in the previous book. Martin is holding Ylith against the Keshian attack that drove him away from his home. Miranda and Nakor are back! Yay, for their return, Nakor is one of my favorite characters, so much fun and crazy. They land in Ylith and after meeting Calis, the elf prince and Arkan, a dark elf trying to stop an uprise of his race, they...more Bring me the next one rigth now!

In the second book of Chaoswar Saga (and the 29th in the Riftwar Cycle!) we follow the story story right were it felt off in the previous book. Martin is holding Ylith against the Keshian attack that drove him away from his home. Miranda and Nakor are back! Yay, for their return, Nakor is one of my favorite characters, so much fun and crazy. They land in Ylith and after meeting Calis, the elf prince and Arkan, a dark elf trying to stop an uprise of his race, they all help Martin with his war. All the while, Martin's older brother Hal has a mission to protect the princess of the Kingdom of Roldem from the right hand of her father, with the help of the princess's lady in waiting and his friend Ty.

On the other side of the world Magnus, Pug, Amirantha and Sadreena discover a Panathian Island, where the snake people are nothing like the vicious ones they have faced through the years. In a city there, they find some weird piles of light, exactly like the alien Sven-ga'ri they discovered a while ago in a mountain to the north. Trying to unravel their mystery they decide to stay there and try to pick the lock that is protecting them.

While all these things are happening we discover that in each of the three Kingdoms the rulers have lost part of their strength and someone else has risen to power. Can the three men be connected and what is the plan behind their plots? Can Jim Dasher and his agents discover what is going on before it's too late?

Needles to say I am a huge fan of Feist's books. I am so in love with the world of Midkemia and the characters inside it that even if he wrote a book about their everyday lifes I'd adore it. So yeah, I loved this book! So so so much! Loved the battle to keep Ylith, the mystery of the Sven-ga'ri and the plot behind the three men rising to power had some very surprising turns to it.

I thought this book would be more about something we learned at the last chapter of the previous book but I guess the author is keeping the best for last, as the next book will be the last in the Riftwar Cycle. The ending of this book was awesome. Simply awesome. I was actually screaming OMG to the book. How on earth am I going to wait another year for the next one? I want it now!

(less)

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Mar 26, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Feist is one of my favorite authors and I always look forward to his new books. His first Midkemia novel Magician is one of the first scifi/fantasy books I ever read and I've been hooked since then.

Unfortunatley this novel is not one of his better ones. The story is still interesting and I enjoyed reading about some of my favorite characters in the series. However, as many reviews will tell you, there are some major editing issues that you will come across. There were quite a few words that wer...more

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A Crown Imperiled (The Chaoswar Saga #2)

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