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The Chaoswar Saga #3
Magician's End
The final volume in the epic Riftwar Cycle.
The dragons are calling...
Civil war is tearing apart the Kingdom of the Isles, for the throne lies empty and rivals are converging. Having spirited his beloved Princess Stephane safely out of Roldem, Hal -now Duke of Crydee- must turn his attention to the defence of the ancient realm so that a king can be anointed by the Congress of Lords, rather than by right of might.
But the greatest threat may well lie out of the hands of men. Somewhere in the Grey Towers Mountains something not of this world is emerging. It will require that alliances be made between mortal enemies if disaster is to be averted.
Elves and men must stand together, ancient heroes must rise again, dragons must fly and Pug, Magnus and the other magic-users of Midkemia must be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice if the whole world is to be saved.
The dragons are calling...
Civil war is tearing apart the Kingdom of the Isles, for the throne lies empty and rivals are converging. Having spirited his beloved Princess Stephane safely out of Roldem, Hal -now Duke of Crydee- must turn his attention to the defence of the ancient realm so that a king can be anointed by the Congress of Lords, rather than by right of might.
But the greatest threat may well lie out of the hands of men. Somewhere in the Grey Towers Mountains something not of this world is emerging. It will require that alliances be made between mortal enemies if disaster is to be averted.
Elves and men must stand together, ancient heroes must rise again, dragons must fly and Pug, Magnus and the other magic-users of Midkemia must be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice if the whole world is to be saved.
638 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
318 people are currently reading
5068 people want to read
About the author
Raymond E. Feist
280 books9,401 followersRaymond E. Feist was born Raymond E. Gonzales III, but took his adoptive step-father's surname when his mother remarried Felix E. Feist. He graduated with a B.A. in Communication Arts with Honors in 1977 from the University of California at San Diego. During that year Feist had some ideas for a novel about a boy who would be a magician. He wrote the novel two years later, and it was published in 1982 by Doubleday. Feist currently lives in San Diego with his children, where he collects fine wine, DVDs, and books on a variety of topics of personal interest: wine, biographies, history, and, especially, the history of American Professional Football.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 457 reviews
January 15, 2021
I’m glad I finally finished this epic saga. One I’d been working through since my early teens. There were a couple of good moments in this finale, but overall I found it a struggle to get through. Ever finish a series for the sake of finishing it even though you aren’t enjoying it? I think my interest started waning after Talon’s trilogy. That’s the point where the merit of every new character introduced had to to with which infamous character from the original Riftwar books they claimed lineage too. They were likable enough, but very superficial. I felt myself become more and more disconnected with each trilogy (because, yes, it goes on like that for a few trilogies... all of which I slogged through).
At the end of the day, I’m proud of myself for finishing a saga that helped shape my love for fantasy (in the early books), but am equally excited to be finished for less flattering reasons. I will definitely be rereading earlier chapters of this saga, but maybe will skip these last bits. :)
At the end of the day, I’m proud of myself for finishing a saga that helped shape my love for fantasy (in the early books), but am equally excited to be finished for less flattering reasons. I will definitely be rereading earlier chapters of this saga, but maybe will skip these last bits. :)
July 2, 2013
Something occurred to me in the run up to the release Magician’s End. It has been 15 years since Feist released a really good book.
Of all the books published since Shards of a Broken Crown, only those focussing on Talon manage to surpass being okay. Everything since has been a steady decline; a trend that Magician’s End just barely bucks. But then, given the editing and continuity problems in A Crown Imperilled, further decline was difficult.
It was reading Feist’s long awaited finale that made me realise what the problem was. Magician should have ended quite some time ago.
That’s not to say that Feist should’ve stopped writing, or even that Pug needed to die. He just needed to take a back seat.
This epiphany came about halfway through Magician’s End when I realised that, of the two parallel story lines, I was only enjoying the one focussing on the young ConDoin nobles’ foray into political strife. Meanwhile, the Magicians followed the same old path; go somewhere new, see something strange, have someone impart them with the requisite knowledge.
This process is so laden with exposition that there’s no room for the characters to be interesting. It’s a problem that’s only exacerbated by the longevity of these characters. Inevitable character growth has nearly smoothed over all character foibles to leave four intellects almost entirely focused on the task at hand. Even Nakor is reduced to mere remembrance of past mischief.
I can’t help but examine the oath Pug made at the end of The Serpentwar; to work behind the scenes for the greater good. Look at the initial results. Throughout most of Talon of the Silver Hawk the Magicians and the Conclave are remote. Talon’s naïveté, position as a pawn and lack of magical talent result in a story focused on how one character’s quest for revenge nearly destroys him. The battle of good vs. evil becomes secondary.
I keep imagining a similar approach to the Chaos War saga. Kingdoms and nobles blindly playing at politics; the reader almost as unaware as they are to the machinations of greater powers. The mystery of how Jim Dasher manages to get about so quickly and know so much of what’s going on. The mad scramble as mundane powers struggle to survive and capitalise on cataclysmic events. It’s the story I wanted to be reading.
The Empire Trilogy was Mara’s story. The Krondor Trilogy told us the story of Jimmy and Locky’s friendship. The Serpentwar Saga belonged to Eric and Roo. Looking back, the original Riftwar trilogy was Pug’s story. Even if he did have to share it with Aruthra, that didn’t mean he had to step on everyone else’s toes.
Taken from http://seamusquigley.tumblr.com/post/...
Of all the books published since Shards of a Broken Crown, only those focussing on Talon manage to surpass being okay. Everything since has been a steady decline; a trend that Magician’s End just barely bucks. But then, given the editing and continuity problems in A Crown Imperilled, further decline was difficult.
It was reading Feist’s long awaited finale that made me realise what the problem was. Magician should have ended quite some time ago.
That’s not to say that Feist should’ve stopped writing, or even that Pug needed to die. He just needed to take a back seat.
This epiphany came about halfway through Magician’s End when I realised that, of the two parallel story lines, I was only enjoying the one focussing on the young ConDoin nobles’ foray into political strife. Meanwhile, the Magicians followed the same old path; go somewhere new, see something strange, have someone impart them with the requisite knowledge.
This process is so laden with exposition that there’s no room for the characters to be interesting. It’s a problem that’s only exacerbated by the longevity of these characters. Inevitable character growth has nearly smoothed over all character foibles to leave four intellects almost entirely focused on the task at hand. Even Nakor is reduced to mere remembrance of past mischief.
I can’t help but examine the oath Pug made at the end of The Serpentwar; to work behind the scenes for the greater good. Look at the initial results. Throughout most of Talon of the Silver Hawk the Magicians and the Conclave are remote. Talon’s naïveté, position as a pawn and lack of magical talent result in a story focused on how one character’s quest for revenge nearly destroys him. The battle of good vs. evil becomes secondary.
I keep imagining a similar approach to the Chaos War saga. Kingdoms and nobles blindly playing at politics; the reader almost as unaware as they are to the machinations of greater powers. The mystery of how Jim Dasher manages to get about so quickly and know so much of what’s going on. The mad scramble as mundane powers struggle to survive and capitalise on cataclysmic events. It’s the story I wanted to be reading.
The Empire Trilogy was Mara’s story. The Krondor Trilogy told us the story of Jimmy and Locky’s friendship. The Serpentwar Saga belonged to Eric and Roo. Looking back, the original Riftwar trilogy was Pug’s story. Even if he did have to share it with Aruthra, that didn’t mean he had to step on everyone else’s toes.
Taken from http://seamusquigley.tumblr.com/post/...
October 8, 2019
Eleven years ago on a flight back from Florida I opened a book that I bought in a store on the way to the airport. By the time that 9 hour flight finished I had read that book in its entirety and I had discovered the beginning of a passion for all things fantasy. That book was called Magician.
Since that flight I have read every book written by Raymond E Feist that is set in the Midkemia universe and I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride. More than once I have reread the series and a couple of months ago I started again so that I would be ready for this final book.
I was both eager and nervous about this final outing for in his more recent novels I have seen the quality of Mr Feists work take a noticeable dip and nothing would pain more more than to say goodbye to Pug and Tomas in a way that was anything less than epic. I need not have worried.
This novel was a perfect example of the series as a whole. There was a great deal about it that was not special and at times a little dull. The civil war in the kingdom acted as distracting noise to me when going through this book and I sped through those pages trying to get to the meat of the story and the characters that I have come to love over the past decade of my life. I realised as I was reading this how apt this was as Raymond E Feist's series have always contained works that were less than special and bordering on mundane. But interspersed amongst those books were an equal number of moments that were so epic that they out shone the low points.
I found the same to be true with this book. The path that Pug and Tomas travelled was by far the more epic and grandiose path in this story. The tale that led to the end of this magnificent series was every bit as fitting as they deserved. Raymond E Feist has a wonderful take on existence and the philosophy behind life and he did a brilliant job in this book of summing up just how big a role these two men have played in this story.
At times when reading this book I remembered moments in Magician, the very first novel of this series, that seemed to have seamlessly lead to the final battle. Whether by accident or design it felt like fate and made the skin tingle as everything finally fell into place and the story reached an eventual conclusion.
I do not count what I consider to be the lesser story (the civil war and the battle for the crown of the kingdom) to be a major flaw in this book as without such lows the highs would not seem so great. Contrasted with that lesser story, the greater story shone all the brighter and it is by far the best ending I have ever read for a long-running series (that includes both the Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth Series that were great in their own right).
The one flaw that will niggle at me with the book was the slight vagueness to the fate of Pug and the open-ended epilogue of this novel. It left me with a question in mind which robbed the book of the finality it was so powerfully driving towards. But that is a small flaw in an otherwise great novel.
So many times a great series is ruined by a poor ending, but not here. So if you are a fan of Feist's work you won't be disappointed. But if you haven't ever read any of his novels then I urge you to pick up Magician today. It will be a long ride until this final instalment but when you close the back cover on Magician's End, you won't be disappointed.
Since that flight I have read every book written by Raymond E Feist that is set in the Midkemia universe and I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride. More than once I have reread the series and a couple of months ago I started again so that I would be ready for this final book.
I was both eager and nervous about this final outing for in his more recent novels I have seen the quality of Mr Feists work take a noticeable dip and nothing would pain more more than to say goodbye to Pug and Tomas in a way that was anything less than epic. I need not have worried.
This novel was a perfect example of the series as a whole. There was a great deal about it that was not special and at times a little dull. The civil war in the kingdom acted as distracting noise to me when going through this book and I sped through those pages trying to get to the meat of the story and the characters that I have come to love over the past decade of my life. I realised as I was reading this how apt this was as Raymond E Feist's series have always contained works that were less than special and bordering on mundane. But interspersed amongst those books were an equal number of moments that were so epic that they out shone the low points.
I found the same to be true with this book. The path that Pug and Tomas travelled was by far the more epic and grandiose path in this story. The tale that led to the end of this magnificent series was every bit as fitting as they deserved. Raymond E Feist has a wonderful take on existence and the philosophy behind life and he did a brilliant job in this book of summing up just how big a role these two men have played in this story.
At times when reading this book I remembered moments in Magician, the very first novel of this series, that seemed to have seamlessly lead to the final battle. Whether by accident or design it felt like fate and made the skin tingle as everything finally fell into place and the story reached an eventual conclusion.
I do not count what I consider to be the lesser story (the civil war and the battle for the crown of the kingdom) to be a major flaw in this book as without such lows the highs would not seem so great. Contrasted with that lesser story, the greater story shone all the brighter and it is by far the best ending I have ever read for a long-running series (that includes both the Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth Series that were great in their own right).
The one flaw that will niggle at me with the book was the slight vagueness to the fate of Pug and the open-ended epilogue of this novel. It left me with a question in mind which robbed the book of the finality it was so powerfully driving towards. But that is a small flaw in an otherwise great novel.
So many times a great series is ruined by a poor ending, but not here. So if you are a fan of Feist's work you won't be disappointed. But if you haven't ever read any of his novels then I urge you to pick up Magician today. It will be a long ride until this final instalment but when you close the back cover on Magician's End, you won't be disappointed.
September 13, 2013
This and my other reviews can be found at http://amethystbookwyrm.blogspot.co.uk/
Thanks to Edelweiss and Harper Voyager for giving me this book to review.
This is the final book of the series, in which the Kingdom of the Isles has been plunged into civil war by the death of King Gregory and the reluctance of the Congress of Lords to appoint his successor. Hal, Duke of Crydee, and his brothers Martin and Brendan, along with Jim Dasher Jamison and his grandfather Lord James are trying to prevent hostilities breaking out. At the same time Pug, Marcus, Nakor, as reincarnated by Belog, and Miranda, as reincarnated by Child, have been caught in a trap by the Adversary, and have been transported to a higher realm, and may not be able to return to save Midkemia.
Magicians End is a fitting finale to this epic fantasy series, which has spanned 30 years and 30 books consisting of series, collaborations and even a game tie-in series. The epilogue will be appreciated by those who have read and enjoyed the first book Magician. Magician’s End is a very hard going book and feels much longer than it actually is; however, if you are a fan of the series DO NOT miss this book, as it ties up all the loose threads from throughout the rest of the series, whilst leaving the ability for a sequel series if Raymond E. Feist decides to.
My favourite characters are Pug and Thomas, as we have seen them grow and develop throughout the whole series, from youth’s entering into apprenticeship, to the Greater Path magician Milamber and Ashen-Shugar, to the Duke of Stardock and consort of the Elven Queen, to what they are today.
I would only recommend Magician’s End to those who have read and enjoyed the rest of the series, but would recommend this series to those who enjoyed King’s Blades by Dave Duncan, and the Belgariad by David Eddings.
Thanks to Edelweiss and Harper Voyager for giving me this book to review.
This is the final book of the series, in which the Kingdom of the Isles has been plunged into civil war by the death of King Gregory and the reluctance of the Congress of Lords to appoint his successor. Hal, Duke of Crydee, and his brothers Martin and Brendan, along with Jim Dasher Jamison and his grandfather Lord James are trying to prevent hostilities breaking out. At the same time Pug, Marcus, Nakor, as reincarnated by Belog, and Miranda, as reincarnated by Child, have been caught in a trap by the Adversary, and have been transported to a higher realm, and may not be able to return to save Midkemia.
Magicians End is a fitting finale to this epic fantasy series, which has spanned 30 years and 30 books consisting of series, collaborations and even a game tie-in series. The epilogue will be appreciated by those who have read and enjoyed the first book Magician. Magician’s End is a very hard going book and feels much longer than it actually is; however, if you are a fan of the series DO NOT miss this book, as it ties up all the loose threads from throughout the rest of the series, whilst leaving the ability for a sequel series if Raymond E. Feist decides to.
My favourite characters are Pug and Thomas, as we have seen them grow and develop throughout the whole series, from youth’s entering into apprenticeship, to the Greater Path magician Milamber and Ashen-Shugar, to the Duke of Stardock and consort of the Elven Queen, to what they are today.
I would only recommend Magician’s End to those who have read and enjoyed the rest of the series, but would recommend this series to those who enjoyed King’s Blades by Dave Duncan, and the Belgariad by David Eddings.
March 29, 2020
This was the very last book in the entire 31-book Riftwar Cycle that I’ve been reading for months! I think it was a mostly-satisfying conclusion. There weren’t any big surprises. Not everybody comes out alive at the end, which also wasn’t a big surprise. There were some slow spots, but it mostly held my attention well.
As I had mentioned in some of my reviews, the early books in this series are the ones that introduced me to fantasy as an adult and got me addicted to the genre. This was 20+ years ago when I was in my early 20’s. At the time, only about half of the books had been published and I never went back to it after reading everything that was published at the time. I now have a lot more fantasy under my belt, and can see some of the flaws in these books that I didn’t notice back then, but I still really enjoyed going back and revisiting this series, and this time seeing it through to the end.
There are certain things the author does a really great job writing, and they tend to be the types of things I enjoy in stories. He does a really great job of writing noble, loyal characters who are trying to do the right thing and will sacrifice for the greater good. He also does a great job of writing camaraderie between characters. Although his books aren’t uproariously funny, they do have a smattering of humor, particularly in the dialogue, that helps make them enjoyable to read. He does a good job of writing battles so that they remain interesting and not too repetitive, and a pretty good job with political intrigue as well.
There are also things the author isn’t so great at writing. Females and romantic relationships would be high on that list. Although he occasionally managed to make his females interesting, for the most part I found them generic. In his earlier books especially, female characters showed up mainly to support the men and to give them somebody to occasionally glance longingly at, or to worry about, or to admire. In later books some of his females took on a little more personality, but they had a tendency to be either super sweet and supportive, or temperamental and irrational. There was also a frequent implication that anybody who wasn’t married was really a miserable person who hadn’t found their true reason for living yet. I found it particularly frustrating when a favorite character who had been living a full and productive, if rather dangerous, life as a single male suddenly encountered his soul mate (whom he promptly got engaged to later that day) and we were told he’d actually been miserable all this time and only now was he truly happy. Blech! :p
An exception to my above comments about his writing of females is the early trilogy he co-wrote with with Janny Wurts, the Empire Trilogy, beginning with Daughter of the Empire. It has an awesome female main character who was well-developed and interesting, and I thought it probably had some of the best over-all writing in the entire series. I would recommend that subseries to fans of epic fantasy without reservation, whereas I would be more reluctant to recommend the rest of the series unless the person were fond of older, classic fantasy and had minimal expectations for well-written females. The first subseries is still my favorite of his solo work though, so it would be a good place for readers to start to see if his writing style works for them. The trilogy co-written with Janny Wurts is the second subseries but doesn’t rely on knowledge from the other books so one could also jump straight into that.
In his first few books, he created some characters I love and whom I’ve remembered fondly for the past couple of decades. However, quite a bit of time passes throughout the overall series. Old favorites die and new generations are born. When it comes to a long series, I think I prefer the type that stays with the same characters from beginning to end. The newer characters never quite gained the same level of investment from me as the original characters did, although I did very much like many of them. There are some powerful/magical characters who show up in most of the books in one way or another, but these weren’t the characters I was the most attached to and their parts of the stories were often the parts I found less interesting. Those parts often got a bit too philosophical/mystical/monologue-y for my tastes.
The author does tend to recycle similar storylines and character types throughout his books. Since a lot of these were things I liked, it didn’t bug me too much, but sometimes I felt like he was trying to recapture the greatness of his earliest characters by creating descendants of those characters who had similar traits. That always fell a little flat for me and just made me miss the originals more. There was also an attempt to make each subseries even more “epic” than the last one, with each threat or source of problems from the previous subseries actually being caused by some bigger threat in the current subseries. By the end of the entire series, I was having “A Fly Went By” flashbacks – where the fly is being chased by the frog being chased by the cat being chased by the dog, etc. However, I’m pleased to report that the series did not end with an (um, spoiler for “A Fly Went By”?) .
Although I normally prefer to read a large series as close to straight through as possible, I think even I would have benefitted from spacing this one out a bit more, especially in the last few subseries. Despite feeling a bit of series fatigue by the end, I did really enjoy reading these books. In many ways they were comfort reads -- I knew what to expect from them and could count on certain things that I would enjoy.
As I had mentioned in some of my reviews, the early books in this series are the ones that introduced me to fantasy as an adult and got me addicted to the genre. This was 20+ years ago when I was in my early 20’s. At the time, only about half of the books had been published and I never went back to it after reading everything that was published at the time. I now have a lot more fantasy under my belt, and can see some of the flaws in these books that I didn’t notice back then, but I still really enjoyed going back and revisiting this series, and this time seeing it through to the end.
There are certain things the author does a really great job writing, and they tend to be the types of things I enjoy in stories. He does a really great job of writing noble, loyal characters who are trying to do the right thing and will sacrifice for the greater good. He also does a great job of writing camaraderie between characters. Although his books aren’t uproariously funny, they do have a smattering of humor, particularly in the dialogue, that helps make them enjoyable to read. He does a good job of writing battles so that they remain interesting and not too repetitive, and a pretty good job with political intrigue as well.
There are also things the author isn’t so great at writing. Females and romantic relationships would be high on that list. Although he occasionally managed to make his females interesting, for the most part I found them generic. In his earlier books especially, female characters showed up mainly to support the men and to give them somebody to occasionally glance longingly at, or to worry about, or to admire. In later books some of his females took on a little more personality, but they had a tendency to be either super sweet and supportive, or temperamental and irrational. There was also a frequent implication that anybody who wasn’t married was really a miserable person who hadn’t found their true reason for living yet. I found it particularly frustrating when a favorite character who had been living a full and productive, if rather dangerous, life as a single male suddenly encountered his soul mate (whom he promptly got engaged to later that day) and we were told he’d actually been miserable all this time and only now was he truly happy. Blech! :p
An exception to my above comments about his writing of females is the early trilogy he co-wrote with with Janny Wurts, the Empire Trilogy, beginning with Daughter of the Empire. It has an awesome female main character who was well-developed and interesting, and I thought it probably had some of the best over-all writing in the entire series. I would recommend that subseries to fans of epic fantasy without reservation, whereas I would be more reluctant to recommend the rest of the series unless the person were fond of older, classic fantasy and had minimal expectations for well-written females. The first subseries is still my favorite of his solo work though, so it would be a good place for readers to start to see if his writing style works for them. The trilogy co-written with Janny Wurts is the second subseries but doesn’t rely on knowledge from the other books so one could also jump straight into that.
In his first few books, he created some characters I love and whom I’ve remembered fondly for the past couple of decades. However, quite a bit of time passes throughout the overall series. Old favorites die and new generations are born. When it comes to a long series, I think I prefer the type that stays with the same characters from beginning to end. The newer characters never quite gained the same level of investment from me as the original characters did, although I did very much like many of them. There are some powerful/magical characters who show up in most of the books in one way or another, but these weren’t the characters I was the most attached to and their parts of the stories were often the parts I found less interesting. Those parts often got a bit too philosophical/mystical/monologue-y for my tastes.
The author does tend to recycle similar storylines and character types throughout his books. Since a lot of these were things I liked, it didn’t bug me too much, but sometimes I felt like he was trying to recapture the greatness of his earliest characters by creating descendants of those characters who had similar traits. That always fell a little flat for me and just made me miss the originals more. There was also an attempt to make each subseries even more “epic” than the last one, with each threat or source of problems from the previous subseries actually being caused by some bigger threat in the current subseries. By the end of the entire series, I was having “A Fly Went By” flashbacks – where the fly is being chased by the frog being chased by the cat being chased by the dog, etc. However, I’m pleased to report that the series did not end with an (um, spoiler for “A Fly Went By”?) .
Although I normally prefer to read a large series as close to straight through as possible, I think even I would have benefitted from spacing this one out a bit more, especially in the last few subseries. Despite feeling a bit of series fatigue by the end, I did really enjoy reading these books. In many ways they were comfort reads -- I knew what to expect from them and could count on certain things that I would enjoy.
May 14, 2019
It took me a little time to get into this book and root for it, much like a lot of the Feist books, but even though much of it is either average or slightly above average when it comes to epic fantasy, it does have moments of truly great scope and awesomeness.
This one brings in that REALLY HUGE SCOPE in a big way but it doesn't dominate the story. Most of the story is actually about the civil war in Midkemia and the crowning of the new king, featuring lots of war, tactics, and strategy. Pretty good, but this is still the realm of the average bits. Fun but not totally brilliant. Or I suppose it might be if I hadn't read... 10 or more other books in this series that was much of the same. :)
Let me be fair here. We are having to do homage to the rest of the Rift series in this novel. It's mostly an amalgamation of all the others while recalling a new huge civil war that is STILL small beans in comparison to the BIG action going on with the mages.
Where this really shines is the multiple realms and multiple realities. There are the demon and angelic realms ON TOP of the countless worlds at stake, and the devouring void killing off even the demons are set to make the final battleground on Midkemia.
Enter in all the gods, the most powerful magicians, the Dragon Lords, the lost elves, dark elves, and all the rest of the peoples are involved in this conflict. Even the demons. I mentioned that the scope is big? EVERY RACE in the series is given top billing here.
Best of all is the twists and turns in the worldbuilding. At times it becomes SF in a very cool way. Think the end of Stephen King's first Dark Tower book. Gunslinger. But draw it out and increase its scope and give it to a lot of characters in here. :) I liked it a lot.
My only complaint, in the final estimate, is the lack of total cohesiveness across the full series. Yes, there are lots of themes and certain characters always show up - like Pug and Thomas and a few others - and the Chaos Wars history was nicely developed in the beginning, but the development felt a bit - or more than a bit - disjointed and brought forth in spits and starts and surprising huge leaps that then got pulled back for the sake of the newer generations within the kingdom.
In some ways, it just turned out like a generational serial with some great - but drawn out - epic magic bits. Decent, but I felt like it could have been so much BETTER.
I still enjoyed it. I don't regret reading them. :) But it won't be on my top-favorite lists.
This one brings in that REALLY HUGE SCOPE in a big way but it doesn't dominate the story. Most of the story is actually about the civil war in Midkemia and the crowning of the new king, featuring lots of war, tactics, and strategy. Pretty good, but this is still the realm of the average bits. Fun but not totally brilliant. Or I suppose it might be if I hadn't read... 10 or more other books in this series that was much of the same. :)
Let me be fair here. We are having to do homage to the rest of the Rift series in this novel. It's mostly an amalgamation of all the others while recalling a new huge civil war that is STILL small beans in comparison to the BIG action going on with the mages.
Where this really shines is the multiple realms and multiple realities. There are the demon and angelic realms ON TOP of the countless worlds at stake, and the devouring void killing off even the demons are set to make the final battleground on Midkemia.
Enter in all the gods, the most powerful magicians, the Dragon Lords, the lost elves, dark elves, and all the rest of the peoples are involved in this conflict. Even the demons. I mentioned that the scope is big? EVERY RACE in the series is given top billing here.
Best of all is the twists and turns in the worldbuilding. At times it becomes SF in a very cool way. Think the end of Stephen King's first Dark Tower book. Gunslinger. But draw it out and increase its scope and give it to a lot of characters in here. :) I liked it a lot.
My only complaint, in the final estimate, is the lack of total cohesiveness across the full series. Yes, there are lots of themes and certain characters always show up - like Pug and Thomas and a few others - and the Chaos Wars history was nicely developed in the beginning, but the development felt a bit - or more than a bit - disjointed and brought forth in spits and starts and surprising huge leaps that then got pulled back for the sake of the newer generations within the kingdom.
In some ways, it just turned out like a generational serial with some great - but drawn out - epic magic bits. Decent, but I felt like it could have been so much BETTER.
I still enjoyed it. I don't regret reading them. :) But it won't be on my top-favorite lists.
May 17, 2013
What can I say? What can I possibly say about the final book in this epic saga that changed my life fifteen years ago? God, it's such a bittersweet moment. I feel incredibly sad to know there will never be another book in this series, or even on this particular world, but I am so, so thankful that Magician's End turned out to be so freakin' fantastic. For now, I don't want to read anything fantasy-related for a couple of days, because this book, this series, has been the most important series in the past few years. I can't even begin to explain or write down what this series has done for me, so I'm going to do that at a later stage, when I'll feel less sad.
Magician's End is, finally, a novel that can be compared to Feist's earliest works. It is amazing, it is exciting, it is enthralling, it is thrilling, it is emotional, but most of all: it is an ending. I was quite worried that some storylines would be forgotten or would not be satisfyingly completed, but I was wrong to doubt Mr Feist. His last works were not all that good, but with Magician's End he finally showed why I loved his works from the very beginning. It was a proper ending, and although sad in many ways (I knew some characters were bound to die..), Feist did an amazing job in connecting all the storylines together and give them proper endings.
But in order to understand this novel you have to have read everything Feist has ever written (with the exception of his only non-Midkemia novel Faerie Tale). Seriously. I mean it. There are so many references to earlier stories and characters that you would do the series a great injustice by not reading the rest of them before reading Magician's End. And I sincerely advice you, and everyone, to read this series. It is absolutely perfect fantasy. Midkemia will always be the world I know best after Earth, and I am quite sure that will never ever change. Go read it. May Ishap be with you.
Magician's End is, finally, a novel that can be compared to Feist's earliest works. It is amazing, it is exciting, it is enthralling, it is thrilling, it is emotional, but most of all: it is an ending. I was quite worried that some storylines would be forgotten or would not be satisfyingly completed, but I was wrong to doubt Mr Feist. His last works were not all that good, but with Magician's End he finally showed why I loved his works from the very beginning. It was a proper ending, and although sad in many ways (I knew some characters were bound to die..), Feist did an amazing job in connecting all the storylines together and give them proper endings.
But in order to understand this novel you have to have read everything Feist has ever written (with the exception of his only non-Midkemia novel Faerie Tale). Seriously. I mean it. There are so many references to earlier stories and characters that you would do the series a great injustice by not reading the rest of them before reading Magician's End. And I sincerely advice you, and everyone, to read this series. It is absolutely perfect fantasy. Midkemia will always be the world I know best after Earth, and I am quite sure that will never ever change. Go read it. May Ishap be with you.
March 2, 2013
I cant really review this as single book. If I did it wouldn't rate 4 stars, but as an ending for characters I have been reading about for nearly 30 years it does.
Pug, Thomas, Jimmy, Nakor, and the conDoin family will always have a place on my bookshelves.
Pug, Thomas, Jimmy, Nakor, and the conDoin family will always have a place on my bookshelves.
October 31, 2014
Disappointing.
This book would have been ok if an editor removed the 250ish pages of metaphysical/astronomical junk that felt like it did not belong.
The best way to describe it is to imagine that scene from the third "Matrix" movie where the architect gives that boring monologue to Neo when they are in the TV screen room.
https://s3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/M9...
This book would have been ok if an editor removed the 250ish pages of metaphysical/astronomical junk that felt like it did not belong.
The best way to describe it is to imagine that scene from the third "Matrix" movie where the architect gives that boring monologue to Neo when they are in the TV screen room.
https://s3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/M9...
March 30, 2023
Riftwar ciklus je konacno procitan! Mozda je mogao i ranije da se zavrsi, mozda je se i previse toga desilo sto je ostalo nedoreceno i nerazradjeno do kraja. Pa i pored toga sto se Fajst junacki trudio da pohvata sve repove i ovu sagu privede kraju na najefikasniji moguci nacin imam veoma jak osecaj da je trecina napisanog bila filer - dobro uigrana matrica ponavljanja slicne radnje i reciklaze likova.
ALI! i pored svega toga ovo je jedan od najboljih serijala epske fantastike! A njegov naslavniji trenutak bila je "The Empire" trilogija.
Sto se ove knjige konkretno tice ona je zaista dobra. Fajst je u njoj upotrebio neke od najboljih trikova fantastike, svo svoje znanje vezano za serijal ci je tvorac kao i veliko iskustvo. Osecam da mu je to sto zavrsava ovaj serijal doslo kao veliko olaksanje. A to se definitivno odrazilo i na sam kvalitet ove knjige. Konacno je povukao neke poteze od kojih je dugo bezao. Bila je cast procitati finale Riftwar serijala, a piscu hvala sto je na kraju ostavio dovoljno prostora za mastanje ne oduzevsi nam privilegiju koraja koji radja nove pocetke a nase omiljene likove nije unistio zarad konacnog raspleta vec u slavu svoje prve knjige - Carobnjak!
ALI! i pored svega toga ovo je jedan od najboljih serijala epske fantastike! A njegov naslavniji trenutak bila je "The Empire" trilogija.
Sto se ove knjige konkretno tice ona je zaista dobra. Fajst je u njoj upotrebio neke od najboljih trikova fantastike, svo svoje znanje vezano za serijal ci je tvorac kao i veliko iskustvo. Osecam da mu je to sto zavrsava ovaj serijal doslo kao veliko olaksanje. A to se definitivno odrazilo i na sam kvalitet ove knjige. Konacno je povukao neke poteze od kojih je dugo bezao. Bila je cast procitati finale Riftwar serijala, a piscu hvala sto je na kraju ostavio dovoljno prostora za mastanje ne oduzevsi nam privilegiju koraja koji radja nove pocetke a nase omiljene likove nije unistio zarad konacnog raspleta vec u slavu svoje prve knjige - Carobnjak!
July 5, 2013
It's hard to write a review of Magician's End without going into a bit of the entire Riftwar Saga. This is not something I wish to do because the saga contains 30 books, of which I have read 27. I started reading the Riftwar books as a teenager and even though I took breaks, always came back to the story to find out what happened to Pug, Tomas, the conDoin family and Jimmy's family. I only skipped Talon of the SIlverhawk because it was so unrelated to the characters I knew and loved already, but after finishing Magician's End, I'm willing to read it now.
Firstly I want to thank Raymond E Feist for the journey through all these years. I also want to thank him for finishing the story. Like many fans I've been waiting for the conclusion of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones and before I found out she suffered from clinical depression, I waited even longer for the conclusion to Melanie Rawn's Ambrai Trilogy (I gave up waiting for that one). Mr. Feist has gone through his fair share of hardship and found the strength to keep on writing. I think this deserves a lot of respect.
But back to Magician's End. It was a suitably epic ending, bittersweet but mostly sweet. Throughout the series I wondered about certain characters who just hung around, undying but not doing much (such as Tomas) for the most part. Well this book answered that question for me. Proper homage was paid to the past in the form of memories and interactions with slivers of saved essences of these characters, left by the Gods to teach Midkemia's strongest magic users how to defeat the latest menace coming through a rift to destroy Midkemia (and in this case, all the universes known and unknown). I thought this was handled well, for example, though he was never my favorite of Arutha's sons, Borric's brief return made me tear. Also of note, the deep discourse over the nature of the Gods and Universe. These ideas were always handled well in the books I felt, starting from the first series and the incorporation of the Big Bang and our existing knowledge of the cosmos until now. The physics of space has been inserted almost seamlessly into this fantasy series and the basis of its very plot after all - wars and interactions through rifts. (Or portals, stargates, whatever say you).
The conDoin family reads familiar again from the original Martin's line in Crydee. That is to say these conDoins act like the conDoins we grew to know and love in the first trilogy. Personally, for all the talk of Patrick being a strong conDoin king, he mostly irritated me and I saw him as the beginning of that line's decline. But this book established why even he was a better king simply for being a conDoin, even if not the best one. I am a bit disappointed that the female line of conDoins did not exhibit the same genetic love for the Kingdom. Carline's line lives on in Salador, Elena (Arutha's daughter) married the son of the Duke of Ran - won't spoil what Salador and Ran do in the series, but if the conDoin gene to love the Kingdom before self is supposed to be so strong, I don't quite see how it would make a difference whether it manifests from the male or female. Pretenders to the throne that threaten the Kingdom (with the exception of one) are conDoins from their mother's side only.
I was satisfied with the story of Pug and Tomas in this final book. I think it is appropriate for both of them and fitting. Not ridiculously optimistic or depressing. Overall I was left with a good feeling. On a funny and nitpicky note, my favorite character from the original Riftwar and Serpentwar is actually Galain the elf (Calin and Calis' cousin) who disappears after the Serpentwar and is never mentioned again. He's also not mentioned in this book so I assume he has gone to join his ancestors in the Blessed Isles (sad). I suppose I could also imagine that he fell in love (or as the elves call is, went through the Recognition) with a female moredhel warrior and they ran off somewhere away from elf politics to live out their very contentious and interesting lives. (Ridiculous imagination, yeah forgive me).
I don't think I will ever love another series as much as I loved this one. Not because none are worthy, but because I started this as a young age and it has accompanied me. Now to be honest I'm distracted by more things and don't feel I have it in me to invest as much into another long ranging series. I'm sticking to shorter ones now (with a relative guarantee of completion).
Finally once again, thank you to Raymond E Feist.
Firstly I want to thank Raymond E Feist for the journey through all these years. I also want to thank him for finishing the story. Like many fans I've been waiting for the conclusion of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones and before I found out she suffered from clinical depression, I waited even longer for the conclusion to Melanie Rawn's Ambrai Trilogy (I gave up waiting for that one). Mr. Feist has gone through his fair share of hardship and found the strength to keep on writing. I think this deserves a lot of respect.
But back to Magician's End. It was a suitably epic ending, bittersweet but mostly sweet. Throughout the series I wondered about certain characters who just hung around, undying but not doing much (such as Tomas) for the most part. Well this book answered that question for me. Proper homage was paid to the past in the form of memories and interactions with slivers of saved essences of these characters, left by the Gods to teach Midkemia's strongest magic users how to defeat the latest menace coming through a rift to destroy Midkemia (and in this case, all the universes known and unknown). I thought this was handled well, for example, though he was never my favorite of Arutha's sons, Borric's brief return made me tear. Also of note, the deep discourse over the nature of the Gods and Universe. These ideas were always handled well in the books I felt, starting from the first series and the incorporation of the Big Bang and our existing knowledge of the cosmos until now. The physics of space has been inserted almost seamlessly into this fantasy series and the basis of its very plot after all - wars and interactions through rifts. (Or portals, stargates, whatever say you).
The conDoin family reads familiar again from the original Martin's line in Crydee. That is to say these conDoins act like the conDoins we grew to know and love in the first trilogy. Personally, for all the talk of Patrick being a strong conDoin king, he mostly irritated me and I saw him as the beginning of that line's decline. But this book established why even he was a better king simply for being a conDoin, even if not the best one. I am a bit disappointed that the female line of conDoins did not exhibit the same genetic love for the Kingdom. Carline's line lives on in Salador, Elena (Arutha's daughter) married the son of the Duke of Ran - won't spoil what Salador and Ran do in the series, but if the conDoin gene to love the Kingdom before self is supposed to be so strong, I don't quite see how it would make a difference whether it manifests from the male or female. Pretenders to the throne that threaten the Kingdom (with the exception of one) are conDoins from their mother's side only.
I was satisfied with the story of Pug and Tomas in this final book. I think it is appropriate for both of them and fitting. Not ridiculously optimistic or depressing. Overall I was left with a good feeling. On a funny and nitpicky note, my favorite character from the original Riftwar and Serpentwar is actually Galain the elf (Calin and Calis' cousin) who disappears after the Serpentwar and is never mentioned again. He's also not mentioned in this book so I assume he has gone to join his ancestors in the Blessed Isles (sad). I suppose I could also imagine that he fell in love (or as the elves call is, went through the Recognition) with a female moredhel warrior and they ran off somewhere away from elf politics to live out their very contentious and interesting lives. (Ridiculous imagination, yeah forgive me).
I don't think I will ever love another series as much as I loved this one. Not because none are worthy, but because I started this as a young age and it has accompanied me. Now to be honest I'm distracted by more things and don't feel I have it in me to invest as much into another long ranging series. I'm sticking to shorter ones now (with a relative guarantee of completion).
Finally once again, thank you to Raymond E Feist.
May 23, 2013
I didn't review the previous two books in the Chaoswar Saga, but seeing how this book ends that saga as well as the whole Feist Riftwar 30 book saga, it does deserves a few words.
Sadly those worlds are not going to make you want to read those books.
My main big issue with this book is that same one I have had with the last 15 or so Feist books.
When the writing deals with the common people ( meaning soldiers, dukes, even kings) it is good and engaging and Feist has a knack at making you like his characters ( even if he reuses the same stereotypes from one serie to the next way too much) and at writing good action scenes.
Sadly when the writing deals with the magicians ( especially Pug and his family) or the god like entities( Valheru, Dread,...) it is another thing entirely. The way characters act make little sense, the plot becomes bad, and frankly the attempts at explaining the universe and the gods are boring. And sadly as the Riftwar has evolved we have been spending more and more time with Pug and less and less time with the common folks so you can see how mad this makes me....
I will be nice and give this book 3 stars( oh what the heck, 2 stars it is !) but I would not recommend this book ( or the previous two series in Feist world). If you want to read some good Feist books, read any book from Magician up to the end of the SerpentWar saga. sprinkle the Empire serie written in collaboration with Janny Wurts ( by far the best 3 books Feist ever wrote) and give yourself a break and stop there...............
For references :
* Magician
* Shadow of a Dark Queen
* Daughter of the Empire
Sadly those worlds are not going to make you want to read those books.
My main big issue with this book is that same one I have had with the last 15 or so Feist books.
When the writing deals with the common people ( meaning soldiers, dukes, even kings) it is good and engaging and Feist has a knack at making you like his characters ( even if he reuses the same stereotypes from one serie to the next way too much) and at writing good action scenes.
Sadly when the writing deals with the magicians ( especially Pug and his family) or the god like entities( Valheru, Dread,...) it is another thing entirely. The way characters act make little sense, the plot becomes bad, and frankly the attempts at explaining the universe and the gods are boring. And sadly as the Riftwar has evolved we have been spending more and more time with Pug and less and less time with the common folks so you can see how mad this makes me....
I will be nice and give this book 3 stars( oh what the heck, 2 stars it is !) but I would not recommend this book ( or the previous two series in Feist world). If you want to read some good Feist books, read any book from Magician up to the end of the SerpentWar saga. sprinkle the Empire serie written in collaboration with Janny Wurts ( by far the best 3 books Feist ever wrote) and give yourself a break and stop there...............
For references :
* Magician
* Shadow of a Dark Queen
* Daughter of the Empire
July 11, 2013
I have been reading the Midekemia books of Raymond Feist since the early 80's when they were first published. I don't think that Feist could have brought this series to a satisfying ending just because it was so long and the characters have become almost institutions and not really people any more. I think that he did give it a good shot though and I admit that I felt ok when I reached the end but the series was starting to already feel like it had stayed past it's expiration date so some of that may be relief that the end I knew was coming finally happened. The story had Pug and his followers confronting another cosmic destroying enemy and what kind of feats it would take for Pug to beat this enemy. I won't give any details on the end but it had a nice twist to the end that I didn't expect and it was good enough of a good bye to a series I have read for 30 years that I wasn't left with any loose ends to ponder. This wasn't Feist best writing but it was a graceful end to a wonderful series and for that I am thankful.
pithy review - 30 years of writing produced way more good writing than bad.
pithy review - 30 years of writing produced way more good writing than bad.
August 6, 2020
Eventually, the author manages to create a finale quite worthy of this great series. Of course, he is not original again, constructing a last epic battle consisting of a conventional warfare, a quest that ends in a theological and cosmological discussion and of course a confrontation of magical forces for the salvation or destruction of the world. The great asset of the author, however, is from the beginning his narrative ability which in this last book gives him the opportunity for a fascinating description of all these events that can make the reader unable to stop. Thus this battle on different levels becomes epic and majestic and acquires the necessary importance in the mind of the reader. After its end, we return to the beginning of our story, for the author to show us that there is always continuity, even when seemingly the end comes. In this way we reach the end of this great journey, taking a look at everything we encountered and saying goodbye to the heroes who accompanied us in so many books and this land with the so many mysteries.
Τελικά ο συγγραφέας καταφέρνει να δημιουργήσει ένα φινάλε αρκετά άξιο για αυτήν την μεγάλη σειρά. Φυσικά ξανά δεν πρωτοτυπεί, κατασκευάζοντας μία τελευταία επική μάχη που αποτελείται από μία συμβατική πολεμική αναμέτρηση, μία αναζήτηση που καταλήγει σε μία θεολογική και κοσμολογική συζήτηση και φυσικά μία αντιπαράθεση μαγικών δυνάμεων για την σωτηρία ή την καταστροφή του κόσμου. Το μεγάλο προτέρημα του συγγραφέα, όμως, είναι από την αρχή η αφηγηματική του δεινότητα που σε αυτό το τελευταίο βιβλίο του δίνει τη δυνατότητα για μία συναρπαστική περιγραφή όλων αυτών των γεγονότων που είναι ικανή να κάνει τον αναγνώστη να μην μπορεί να σταματήσει. Έτσι αυτή η μάχη σε διαφορετικά επίπεδα γίνεται επική και μεγαλειώδης και αποκτά την απαραίτητη σημασία στο μυαλό του αναγνώστη. Μετά το τέλος της γυρίζουμε στην αρχή της ιστορίας μας, για να μας δείξει ο συγγραφέας ότι πάντα υπάρχει συνέχεια, ακόμα και φαινομενικά φτάνει το τέλος. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο φτάνουμε στο τέλος αυτής της μεγάλης πορείας, κάνοντας μία ανασκόπηση σε όλα όσα συναντήσαμε και αποχαιρετώντας τους ήρωες που μας έκαναν συντροφιά σε τόσα πολλά βιβλία και αυτή την γη με τα τόσα μυστήρια.
Τελικά ο συγγραφέας καταφέρνει να δημιουργήσει ένα φινάλε αρκετά άξιο για αυτήν την μεγάλη σειρά. Φυσικά ξανά δεν πρωτοτυπεί, κατασκευάζοντας μία τελευταία επική μάχη που αποτελείται από μία συμβατική πολεμική αναμέτρηση, μία αναζήτηση που καταλήγει σε μία θεολογική και κοσμολογική συζήτηση και φυσικά μία αντιπαράθεση μαγικών δυνάμεων για την σωτηρία ή την καταστροφή του κόσμου. Το μεγάλο προτέρημα του συγγραφέα, όμως, είναι από την αρχή η αφηγηματική του δεινότητα που σε αυτό το τελευταίο βιβλίο του δίνει τη δυνατότητα για μία συναρπαστική περιγραφή όλων αυτών των γεγονότων που είναι ικανή να κάνει τον αναγνώστη να μην μπορεί να σταματήσει. Έτσι αυτή η μάχη σε διαφορετικά επίπεδα γίνεται επική και μεγαλειώδης και αποκτά την απαραίτητη σημασία στο μυαλό του αναγνώστη. Μετά το τέλος της γυρίζουμε στην αρχή της ιστορίας μας, για να μας δείξει ο συγγραφέας ότι πάντα υπάρχει συνέχεια, ακόμα και φαινομενικά φτάνει το τέλος. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο φτάνουμε στο τέλος αυτής της μεγάλης πορείας, κάνοντας μία ανασκόπηση σε όλα όσα συναντήσαμε και αποχαιρετώντας τους ήρωες που μας έκαναν συντροφιά σε τόσα πολλά βιβλία και αυτή την γη με τα τόσα μυστήρια.
December 14, 2016
November 8, 2016
After a very rough year and watching the country tear itself apart during and after the presidential election, it was time to return to the comfort of some of my favorite literary characters. Outside of what I've already mentioned previously in my reviews, I must say that I love how the author brings his most well known and beloved character full circle, being reborn without the memories of his past life, and placing his character in a situation almost exactly the same as the first chapter of his first book, a common orphan boy, catching clams and crabs for his adopted cook of a father.
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April 10, 2014
Sometimes when an author I love publishes a new book, I am so excited that I almost skim through the book to find out what happens and I miss some of the finer points. That is what happened with this one. Also, what happens is that I'll re-read the same book or series over and over, each time gleaning a little more. I'm sure that will happen with this book.
Upon re-reading Magician's End, I was struck at how well Mr. Feist was able to link so much together, especially some of the finer, less memorable things. Few authors are good at that. JK Rowlings was masterful at it with the Harry Potter series. Feist is as well, but I would argue that he is more impressive since he had thirty books to remember the details of.
One aspect of this book that really hit me this time which I don't remember affecting me as much in my first reading . At this point in my life, the thought of that happening to me is terrifying. Sadly, millions of people do go through it at the end of their lives.
Anyway, after the re-read, I would still give this novel a top rating.
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First reviewed - June 2013
Not since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows have I found reading a novel so difficult. Please excuse me if I digress a bit. In the mid 1980’s I first picked up Magician: Apprentice, and was totally enthralled. The world was so vivid, the characters so real, the emotions and insecurities so sincere. This first book by Raymond Feist gripped me like no other. For the next 30 years I devoured every new novel, purchased two computer video games based on his fantasy world and characters, and just could not get enough of his work.
Of the 28 novels set in his fantasy world of Midkemia (hey, it’s easier to spell than William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County (yes, I have read and retained ‘real’ literature too)), I would say only three were bad, and they were written as a basis for the video games and shouldn’t count.
Magician’s End wraps up the story in a similar fashion, bringing back the memories of old and beloved characters, making you feel the pain of losing long time favorites, and neatly enfolding all the previous story-lines into one unified climactic battle.
Everyone has their favorite author, book or series that they cannot get enough of. Knowing that this is the last of a 30 year series is like saying goodbye to a close friend.
I would highly recommend this book with the caveat that you have some familiarity with most of his books, as there are references that the reader will only understand if they know the backgrounds.
After a very rough year and watching the country tear itself apart during and after the presidential election, it was time to return to the comfort of some of my favorite literary characters. Outside of what I've already mentioned previously in my reviews, I must say that I love how the author brings his most well known and beloved character full circle, being reborn without the memories of his past life, and placing his character in a situation almost exactly the same as the first chapter of his first book, a common orphan boy, catching clams and crabs for his adopted cook of a father.
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April 10, 2014
Sometimes when an author I love publishes a new book, I am so excited that I almost skim through the book to find out what happens and I miss some of the finer points. That is what happened with this one. Also, what happens is that I'll re-read the same book or series over and over, each time gleaning a little more. I'm sure that will happen with this book.
Upon re-reading Magician's End, I was struck at how well Mr. Feist was able to link so much together, especially some of the finer, less memorable things. Few authors are good at that. JK Rowlings was masterful at it with the Harry Potter series. Feist is as well, but I would argue that he is more impressive since he had thirty books to remember the details of.
One aspect of this book that really hit me this time which I don't remember affecting me as much in my first reading . At this point in my life, the thought of that happening to me is terrifying. Sadly, millions of people do go through it at the end of their lives.
Anyway, after the re-read, I would still give this novel a top rating.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
First reviewed - June 2013
Not since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows have I found reading a novel so difficult. Please excuse me if I digress a bit. In the mid 1980’s I first picked up Magician: Apprentice, and was totally enthralled. The world was so vivid, the characters so real, the emotions and insecurities so sincere. This first book by Raymond Feist gripped me like no other. For the next 30 years I devoured every new novel, purchased two computer video games based on his fantasy world and characters, and just could not get enough of his work.
Of the 28 novels set in his fantasy world of Midkemia (hey, it’s easier to spell than William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County (yes, I have read and retained ‘real’ literature too)), I would say only three were bad, and they were written as a basis for the video games and shouldn’t count.
Magician’s End wraps up the story in a similar fashion, bringing back the memories of old and beloved characters, making you feel the pain of losing long time favorites, and neatly enfolding all the previous story-lines into one unified climactic battle.
Everyone has their favorite author, book or series that they cannot get enough of. Knowing that this is the last of a 30 year series is like saying goodbye to a close friend.
I would highly recommend this book with the caveat that you have some familiarity with most of his books, as there are references that the reader will only understand if they know the backgrounds.
March 26, 2015
I was 13 when Magician came out (I'm 44 now) so I have history with this series and I've read almost all the books (21 of them) so there are mixed feelings at reading and finishing the last book in the series.
Feist writes some of the best political fantasy out there and he didn't disappoint in this book but the problem was - the things that were interesting in this book were the politics and the non-magical characters. Everything magic related (and that includes that pages upon pages of philosophical ramblings) made me want to toss the book across the room because it was so boring. I just couldn't get myself excited about yet another world ending crisis from another dimension. Demons - been there, done that. Pug trying to save everyone - been there, done that.
The characters are great but they've been great for 30 years, there really wasn't much added in this trilogy.
At the end of the day I was being generous and rounding up when I gave this book 3 stars.
Feist hasn't really written a "great" book in about 15 years and this one won't change that opinion. He should have left this world behind years and years ago and just created a new series.
But it is the last book so if you've read this long in the series then you should probably finish it.
Feist writes some of the best political fantasy out there and he didn't disappoint in this book but the problem was - the things that were interesting in this book were the politics and the non-magical characters. Everything magic related (and that includes that pages upon pages of philosophical ramblings) made me want to toss the book across the room because it was so boring. I just couldn't get myself excited about yet another world ending crisis from another dimension. Demons - been there, done that. Pug trying to save everyone - been there, done that.
The characters are great but they've been great for 30 years, there really wasn't much added in this trilogy.
At the end of the day I was being generous and rounding up when I gave this book 3 stars.
Feist hasn't really written a "great" book in about 15 years and this one won't change that opinion. He should have left this world behind years and years ago and just created a new series.
But it is the last book so if you've read this long in the series then you should probably finish it.
June 6, 2013
Having just finished Magician's End Raymond Feist has brought use full circle, he has woven a wonderful tapestry of both war and redemption. The World of Midkemia stands on the brink of total destruction by the very heart of darkness, in order to save the wold Pug His son Magnus and all Their friends and allies must do the unthinkable. In the End Lives lost loved one gone Pug does what only a father can and trades his life for his son's dieing instead of Magnus but so great was all he had sacrificed over all his years of guardianship the gods are devious and so in the End the book ends as Magician began. I Know many of you will ask what the heck??? i dont want to give spoilers so read the book if like me you have been here from the start 30 years ago you will know what i mean. I had forgotten Pugs real boyhood name until i read the last pages of this book, it left me with tears in my eyes, and an ahce in my heart to see us come full circle. Thank you for a wonderful 30 years.
March 5, 2015
Is there really any good way to close a 30-book long series? There has already been so many deaths and so many small endings, usually taking away any desire to read on, even though I always forced myself to continue after a few days. I got used to it and now I just seem to wait for another book, another continuation of this infinite wheel of life.
Some of the fates ended as I have been expecting them to end ever since the beginning of the book, some of them surprised me and some of them I severely disliked. Still, an end is an end and as the endings go, this was one of the average ones. Not bad, not surprisingly great. I'm glad to have been with Riftwar this year and half and I quite enjoyed the road but truth to tell, I'm happy to see it end. Since Arutha's death, it just didn't have the spark it had when I started it. Nevertheless, that's how it always is.
Thank you, mister Feist, for this enjoyable series whose first book returned my attention to fantasy genre itself.
Some of the fates ended as I have been expecting them to end ever since the beginning of the book, some of them surprised me and some of them I severely disliked. Still, an end is an end and as the endings go, this was one of the average ones. Not bad, not surprisingly great. I'm glad to have been with Riftwar this year and half and I quite enjoyed the road but truth to tell, I'm happy to see it end. Since Arutha's death, it just didn't have the spark it had when I started it. Nevertheless, that's how it always is.
Thank you, mister Feist, for this enjoyable series whose first book returned my attention to fantasy genre itself.
May 23, 2013
Feist has given us many things through these past 30 years. He has given us characters to love and some to hate and some to simply stand in awe of. Now Feist not only gives us closure but he reprises his work in the most spectacular ways. This last book in the Riftwar cycle ties everything together and more.
The stars of this book are some old friends like Pug, Miranda and even... dare I say it *Oh god not him again* Macros the Black. The greatness of this book though is that it gives also gives us some events and characters that are completely new but feel strangely familiar. The three conDoin brothers, Jim Jamison and even Prince Edward of Krondor are some of the prime examples of this but, as curious as this may seem, the events and characters that felt familiar actually show how far this series has come. For example, the aftermath of the last battle in the civil war has Edward, Prince of Krondor, terribly wounded and trying to get a promise out of his would-be successor. This brings us back to the very first book in the series in which we find king Rodric IV in a very similar situation. While this may seem to some like creative laziness on the part of the author, it is exactly the opposite, it foreshadows that the bad situation in which our characters find themselves might resolve itself as things also turned out for the better at the end of Magician and the aspect of the ending dealing with the Kingdom actually very much resembles that ending. Luckily the characters are never simple clones of earlier characters while showing us some personality traits that remind us of others we have journeyed with in other books in this series.
As has been pointed out by others there is a strong tendency among writers of long running series to focus too much on the tying up of loose ends with their last book and forget to write a good story. Feist manages to circumvent this hole and deliver an enthralling story that can holds its own among the best he has written to date. This book finds Feist at one of his philosophical moods and we get a lot of exposition on the true nature of his universe but this does not hamper the story as there is a lot of good interaction between the characters in these exposition scenes instead of Macros droning on and on about this or that. The nature of the universe as it is revealed in this last book is at times to grasp the first time you read a particular part of the exposition. But just read it again and you will understand what the author is trying to say. The best part about this aspect of the novel is that when you understand the nature of his universe Feist is portraying here you see that he has been working towards this point all along and how well it fits into the rest of what he has written up to this point.
This book manages to tie in both old and new and is at once a loving reminder of all the Riftwar cycle has brought us and a great story in its own right. The relative openness of the ending gives Feist the choice to at some point return to Midkemia or another part of the universe he has created should he choose to do so. I hope he will because it will be a long time before I read such a great work of fiction as this book if he doesn’t.
The stars of this book are some old friends like Pug, Miranda and even... dare I say it *Oh god not him again* Macros the Black. The greatness of this book though is that it gives also gives us some events and characters that are completely new but feel strangely familiar. The three conDoin brothers, Jim Jamison and even Prince Edward of Krondor are some of the prime examples of this but, as curious as this may seem, the events and characters that felt familiar actually show how far this series has come. For example, the aftermath of the last battle in the civil war has Edward, Prince of Krondor, terribly wounded and trying to get a promise out of his would-be successor. This brings us back to the very first book in the series in which we find king Rodric IV in a very similar situation. While this may seem to some like creative laziness on the part of the author, it is exactly the opposite, it foreshadows that the bad situation in which our characters find themselves might resolve itself as things also turned out for the better at the end of Magician and the aspect of the ending dealing with the Kingdom actually very much resembles that ending. Luckily the characters are never simple clones of earlier characters while showing us some personality traits that remind us of others we have journeyed with in other books in this series.
As has been pointed out by others there is a strong tendency among writers of long running series to focus too much on the tying up of loose ends with their last book and forget to write a good story. Feist manages to circumvent this hole and deliver an enthralling story that can holds its own among the best he has written to date. This book finds Feist at one of his philosophical moods and we get a lot of exposition on the true nature of his universe but this does not hamper the story as there is a lot of good interaction between the characters in these exposition scenes instead of Macros droning on and on about this or that. The nature of the universe as it is revealed in this last book is at times to grasp the first time you read a particular part of the exposition. But just read it again and you will understand what the author is trying to say. The best part about this aspect of the novel is that when you understand the nature of his universe Feist is portraying here you see that he has been working towards this point all along and how well it fits into the rest of what he has written up to this point.
This book manages to tie in both old and new and is at once a loving reminder of all the Riftwar cycle has brought us and a great story in its own right. The relative openness of the ending gives Feist the choice to at some point return to Midkemia or another part of the universe he has created should he choose to do so. I hope he will because it will be a long time before I read such a great work of fiction as this book if he doesn’t.
November 1, 2014
As much as it pains me to admit it, I have to say that I didn't find this book to be a satisfying end to a series I had mostly enjoyed. I would like to start this review off by mentioning things that I liked and things that I thought were done right. Unfortunately, even the parts that were done well were negatively effected by either my expectations coming from this being the last novel in the series or by more fundamental flaws that lay hidden in the backround.
Being that this is the final novel in the Riftwar Cycle I expected all our unanswered questions to be answered and all loose ends to be tied up. The good news is that both the these things happened. The bad news is that neither was done well. A fair portion of this novel is dedicated to discussions between pug and his companions. In the conversations the characters are either told or figure out the answers and proclaim it to the others. I don't know how many times the dialogue "Maybe X is causing Y instead of Y causing X, 'Then someone is so proud of them for figuring it out'" happened but it happened a lot. I hate to describe it as "lazy writing" but I can't help but feel that's what it was. Rather then allowing us to discover what is going on one step at at time as the plot develops we are just told all the answers at once and then the story moves on. But, maybe I'm being overly critical and just nit picking right? Well as a second complaint, I think that that answers we got to all the questions were also very unsatisfying. The explanations make sense but they relay far to much on claiming "Well our mortal minds simply can't comprehend the motivations of X." I also had a problem with the way the word perception was used. It felt to me like the various definitions of the word were being interchanged from one use to the next. I very much dislike equivocation and I like it less when it's used to wrap up plot elements I have been waiting a decade to see.
Another major problem I have with this novel is that it is two separate stories in one book. The two parts of the story focus on the events in the Kingdom of Isle with the princes from Crydee and the greater events of the Chaos War with Pug and his companions. The two plot lines are completely separate and though a few of the characters briefly involved in the other plot they mainly stick to their own. The two stories are about the struggle for the crown of the Isles and the other is about the possible impending destruction of the world. The later makes the former trivial even though it was a bit better written. All the action seems to happen in the struggle for the crown plot line and most of it is mundane fighting with swords and armor. I enjoyed the action but I would have liked it if there was more action with the magic using characters.
The one part of the book I managed to enjoy without being overwhelmed by all the flaws were the parts about Tomas. His story at least was interesting and ended in a satisfying way. Unfortunately Tomas is only in a very small part of this novel.
Overall I didn't enjoy the novel and I'm sad that this series left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Being that this is the final novel in the Riftwar Cycle I expected all our unanswered questions to be answered and all loose ends to be tied up. The good news is that both the these things happened. The bad news is that neither was done well. A fair portion of this novel is dedicated to discussions between pug and his companions. In the conversations the characters are either told or figure out the answers and proclaim it to the others. I don't know how many times the dialogue "Maybe X is causing Y instead of Y causing X, 'Then someone is so proud of them for figuring it out'" happened but it happened a lot. I hate to describe it as "lazy writing" but I can't help but feel that's what it was. Rather then allowing us to discover what is going on one step at at time as the plot develops we are just told all the answers at once and then the story moves on. But, maybe I'm being overly critical and just nit picking right? Well as a second complaint, I think that that answers we got to all the questions were also very unsatisfying. The explanations make sense but they relay far to much on claiming "Well our mortal minds simply can't comprehend the motivations of X." I also had a problem with the way the word perception was used. It felt to me like the various definitions of the word were being interchanged from one use to the next. I very much dislike equivocation and I like it less when it's used to wrap up plot elements I have been waiting a decade to see.
Another major problem I have with this novel is that it is two separate stories in one book. The two parts of the story focus on the events in the Kingdom of Isle with the princes from Crydee and the greater events of the Chaos War with Pug and his companions. The two plot lines are completely separate and though a few of the characters briefly involved in the other plot they mainly stick to their own. The two stories are about the struggle for the crown of the Isles and the other is about the possible impending destruction of the world. The later makes the former trivial even though it was a bit better written. All the action seems to happen in the struggle for the crown plot line and most of it is mundane fighting with swords and armor. I enjoyed the action but I would have liked it if there was more action with the magic using characters.
The one part of the book I managed to enjoy without being overwhelmed by all the flaws were the parts about Tomas. His story at least was interesting and ended in a satisfying way. Unfortunately Tomas is only in a very small part of this novel.
Overall I didn't enjoy the novel and I'm sad that this series left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
June 2, 2013
Hmmmmm.
Well another series has bitten the dust, first came Robert Jordan (Brian Sanderson) Wheel of Time and now the Magician/Midkemia series has ended literally with a cataclysmic bang. What began, so many moon’s ago, with, and truth be told my first purchased fantasy novel Magician, (Tolkien’s work was previously purloined from my sister), has ended.
I don’t like to talk about plots, which character died etc, simply because future reader will be tempted to uncover the spoiler alert, I much prefer to talk about how a book makes me feel, anger, sadness, euphoria and the like.
From the very first, the Magician series was the one too which all other Contemporary Epic fantasy series were to be compared against. It had become, by the end a massive undertaking spanning well over twenty books, spin-offs and guest authors all adding to the rich history of Midkemia. The final chapter Magician’s End, was in away a reunion of old friends, character’s long dead brought back for a fond farewell, innumerable loose storylines tidied up, that it left little in the way of plotline development/revelations, character usage and threat, all of which severely slowed down the pace and interest in the book. However, the narrative leading up to the cataclysmic final battles both magic and mundane did not disappoint and were Feist at his best. As was the epilogue, the circle became complete.
Well another series has bitten the dust, first came Robert Jordan (Brian Sanderson) Wheel of Time and now the Magician/Midkemia series has ended literally with a cataclysmic bang. What began, so many moon’s ago, with, and truth be told my first purchased fantasy novel Magician, (Tolkien’s work was previously purloined from my sister), has ended.
I don’t like to talk about plots, which character died etc, simply because future reader will be tempted to uncover the spoiler alert, I much prefer to talk about how a book makes me feel, anger, sadness, euphoria and the like.
From the very first, the Magician series was the one too which all other Contemporary Epic fantasy series were to be compared against. It had become, by the end a massive undertaking spanning well over twenty books, spin-offs and guest authors all adding to the rich history of Midkemia. The final chapter Magician’s End, was in away a reunion of old friends, character’s long dead brought back for a fond farewell, innumerable loose storylines tidied up, that it left little in the way of plotline development/revelations, character usage and threat, all of which severely slowed down the pace and interest in the book. However, the narrative leading up to the cataclysmic final battles both magic and mundane did not disappoint and were Feist at his best. As was the epilogue, the circle became complete.
May 15, 2013
Definitely a worthy end to such a great series. There is also a quality here that has been somewhat absent a lot of Feist books in the more recent years, which is welcome. The book certainly captured the magic and atmosphere that made the series so interesting in the first place, particularly harking back to 'Magician'.
A must read, if only for closure to those following the series!
A must read, if only for closure to those following the series!
May 31, 2013
Very slow beginning and the rating really should be four stars or even three and a half. But the second part of the book is probably the best thing Feist have ever written and in the end he made me cry, so all power to him and this book. Thanks for the great ride, Ray :)
January 21, 2021
Well that’s it. Pug’s story has finished and I’m both sad and elated that I managed to read this EPIC story.
Pug was one of my first fantasy heroes and I am so glad I got to watch his life unfold.
I highly recommend this series!
Hannah xoxo
Pug was one of my first fantasy heroes and I am so glad I got to watch his life unfold.
I highly recommend this series!
Hannah xoxo
July 23, 2025
it would have been best if the series end with serpent's war
December 8, 2018
I loved the ending of this book, but I didn't love that the series has now come to an end. I've been reading Raymond Feist's Midkemia series for more than half my adult life, since I first picked up and read the back of a book called Magician in my early 20s.
I put the book back on the shelf that first day but, every time I went into the bookshop, I was drawn by the cover and the basic premise of the novel and eventually I bought it and set off to read it expecting nothing more than just an enjoyable few hours wasted.
How wrong I was, it was the start of a journey which has only now ended some 20 years and nearly 30 books later with a novel which fortunately lived up to all my expectations for the conclusion of a story of such epic scale that it had to go back to the beginning.
Feist's Pug has been at the heart of these novels but he's not a hero in the traditional sense of the word, his path to greatness has come at great personal cost and over a lifetime of trials and troubles.
His magic, while powerful, has never been of the "wave your fingers and solve all ills" and in Magician's End we see him struggling with the ultimate outcome of everything that had gone on before. All conflicts and conquests are, when it comes down to it, nothing more but humps on a road which leads to a pyrrhic victory or utter destruction.
Other reviewers have mentioned the return of characters from the past,
I put the book back on the shelf that first day but, every time I went into the bookshop, I was drawn by the cover and the basic premise of the novel and eventually I bought it and set off to read it expecting nothing more than just an enjoyable few hours wasted.
How wrong I was, it was the start of a journey which has only now ended some 20 years and nearly 30 books later with a novel which fortunately lived up to all my expectations for the conclusion of a story of such epic scale that it had to go back to the beginning.
Feist's Pug has been at the heart of these novels but he's not a hero in the traditional sense of the word, his path to greatness has come at great personal cost and over a lifetime of trials and troubles.
His magic, while powerful, has never been of the "wave your fingers and solve all ills" and in Magician's End we see him struggling with the ultimate outcome of everything that had gone on before. All conflicts and conquests are, when it comes down to it, nothing more but humps on a road which leads to a pyrrhic victory or utter destruction.
Other reviewers have mentioned the return of characters from the past,
May 18, 2025
Well it’s certainly been a journey. 26 books and 17 years after I started Magician for the first time and I’ve finally read them all after restating them two years ago. Finishing made me quite emotional. I’ve loved every second, especially the focus back on some of the older and loved characters. I was a little lost for brief moments but otherwise, I have no complaints. Thank you, Feist!
June 3, 2013
I can't believe it's over. I know it's been 30 books but I just love the world Feist created. I love Midkemia and all the characters that lived in it (and died in it). This is not going to be one of my normal review, 'cause I just can't possibly review this book the normal way. It is just going to be me, raving non stop about how awesome Feist is and how awesome this series is and how sad I am it's over.
When I first got the book I was like this
And then I started reading and fell right back in love with the story. The are two main wars going on at the moment the book starts. The magic war: magicians vs Dread and the human war aka war for the next king. I loved both for different reasons. I loved all the tactics and attacks and battle scenes in the human war but when there is a threat that could end the whole universe and you get to learn more about it and how to stop it then the matter of how will be the next king just kind of seems small.
This book had everything we came to love in the previous books, even some characters that were dead!!! And then there were the dragons...
Not that kind of dragons... more like those...
Since this was the last book I was expecting a lot of characters to die but thankfully almost none did. Besides some that I was certain they will. After all it is called Magician's End.
And yes, there were some moments that were slow, especially when they kept on analyzing the Dread and what was going on and I was waiting for the battle to begin.
Then I realised that this was it, the end! I tried to read as slow as possible but still the end came. And it left me such a bittersweet taste. And yes, I cried! I was cry reading Feist's books.
There is really nothing more that I can say at this moment. Just...Again! I want to read the whole series again!!!
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When I first got the book I was like this
And then I started reading and fell right back in love with the story. The are two main wars going on at the moment the book starts. The magic war: magicians vs Dread and the human war aka war for the next king. I loved both for different reasons. I loved all the tactics and attacks and battle scenes in the human war but when there is a threat that could end the whole universe and you get to learn more about it and how to stop it then the matter of how will be the next king just kind of seems small.
This book had everything we came to love in the previous books, even some characters that were dead!!! And then there were the dragons...
Not that kind of dragons... more like those...
Since this was the last book I was expecting a lot of characters to die but thankfully almost none did. Besides some that I was certain they will. After all it is called Magician's End.
And yes, there were some moments that were slow, especially when they kept on analyzing the Dread and what was going on and I was waiting for the battle to begin.
Then I realised that this was it, the end! I tried to read as slow as possible but still the end came. And it left me such a bittersweet taste. And yes, I cried! I was cry reading Feist's books.
There is really nothing more that I can say at this moment. Just...Again! I want to read the whole series again!!!
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February 8, 2016
I don't remember when I first picked up Magician: Apprentice, but it has to have been at least a decade ago. Since then, Feist's books have been a sort of respite from some of the deeper, harder to read books I get into. They are always fun to read, and I always tear through them in a short amount of time. Feist has an amazing way with his characters; despite many many generations passing from the beginning of the Riftwar books, I still cared about every successive generation of protagonists. Every time a new group came forward, I would be sad that previous set had died, and I would be skeptical, or even weary, of trying to get to know the new characters. Yet Feist was always able to rope me into caring for each one. Kind of amazing to think about. Yet, throughout all the books was Pug and a small core of long-lived magicians, including the irrepressible Nakor, and Tomas (the big gun). Their adventures were always of a larger scale, only tangentially related to the more mundane concerns of the non-magicians. However, both story lines felt important and gave the impression that even the smallest actions have far-reaching consequences.
This brings me to this book; the final book set in this world with these characters. This book felt in a lot of ways to be a farewell tour. A lot of characters that haven't been seen made brief (or not so brief) cameos. The end had a lot of parallels to to the opening arcs of the original Magician books. There was closure in a lot of ways, and I don't mind saying that I got a little misty a number of times as these characters that have been in and out of my life for so long said goodbye in one way or another. There were a number of significant questions and mysteries that explained or wrapped up, which it not to say that there weren't more questions to be answered by the end.
This book was not perfect. It had a few editing issues, and there were a number of parts that I had to re-read a few times just to get a handle on it. There were some long stretches of meta-physical philosophy that was difficult to follow and I wasn't sure that it even made any sort of sense. But despite any minor errors, this book was the culmination of 30 books, and it's impossible for me to read it in a vacuum without channeling the other books. As a book, this was pretty good, and I enjoyed it. As a series, I loved these books and the characters as much as any series I've ever read. I'm sad that it is ending, and almost feel like I've taken the series for granted.
This brings me to this book; the final book set in this world with these characters. This book felt in a lot of ways to be a farewell tour. A lot of characters that haven't been seen made brief (or not so brief) cameos. The end had a lot of parallels to to the opening arcs of the original Magician books. There was closure in a lot of ways, and I don't mind saying that I got a little misty a number of times as these characters that have been in and out of my life for so long said goodbye in one way or another. There were a number of significant questions and mysteries that explained or wrapped up, which it not to say that there weren't more questions to be answered by the end.
This book was not perfect. It had a few editing issues, and there were a number of parts that I had to re-read a few times just to get a handle on it. There were some long stretches of meta-physical philosophy that was difficult to follow and I wasn't sure that it even made any sort of sense. But despite any minor errors, this book was the culmination of 30 books, and it's impossible for me to read it in a vacuum without channeling the other books. As a book, this was pretty good, and I enjoyed it. As a series, I loved these books and the characters as much as any series I've ever read. I'm sad that it is ending, and almost feel like I've taken the series for granted.
June 1, 2017
Csíny letudva! Pontosan a 30. könyve Feistnak Midkémia világában és a záró könyvről nem lehet úgy írni, hogy az ember ne gondoljon közben az egész univerzumra is... Ami jó: kapunk méltó lezárást; a karakterek szálai szépen el vannak varva - a harminc kötetet végigkíséró főbb karakterek (Pug, Thomas pl) felkészülnek az eddigi legnagyobb csatájukra miközben istenek segítik őket és rájönnek, hogy minden eddigi kalandjuk ide vezetett, a végső összecsapáshoz.
Most már tényleg nem tudna Feist tovább tétet emelni - szerintem nagyjából ez az ötödik vagy a hatodik alkalom, amikor rájönnek, hogy "minden ami eddig történt csak ennek volt az előszele" és mindig jött egy nagyobb, jobb ellenfél aki eddig csak mozgatta háttérből a szálakat. Viszont a végső megoldás tényleg okosan fel lett vezetve, működik, elgondolkodtató és ami a legfontosabb: nem teljessen hülyeség, bár a szerző továbbra is sokat használja a "mi emberi képesseinkkel fel nem fogható" csalást.
Ami még érdekes volt a 30 könyv alatt, azok természetesen a karakterek és leginkább nekik a ciklikusságuk. ~200 év eltelik a 30 könyv alatt és időközben nem, hogy a karakterek felnőnek, de az ükonokáik is felnőnek.
Az eredeti csapat, akit mindenki megszeretett (a legjobb négy könyv egyértelműen az első négy, a Sethanon alkonyáig) egy idő után legendává válik, ami érdekes - ami fura, hogy a szerző ugyanazokat a karaktereket használja fel újra és újra. A méltán híres Sebes Jimmy például egy az egyben újra megtestesül az unokáiban ÉS az unokája unokáiban - de nem viccelek, tényleg, szó szerint ugyanaz a karakter, még a nevük is ugyanaz (!!). De mondhatnám a conDoin családot is, ahol az utolsó trilológiában a frissen meghalt Crydeei herceg három gyereke menti meg a királyságot - ez történt szóról szóra az első két könyvben is. :)
Mindezekmellett természtesen nagyon kellemes olvasmány, tele nagyon szerethető karakterekkel, nagy kalandokkal, aki szereti a fantasyt annak mindenféleképpen ajánlom. Gyerekkorom kedvenc könyvei voltak és most is nehéz volt néha éjjelente letenni..
Most már tényleg nem tudna Feist tovább tétet emelni - szerintem nagyjából ez az ötödik vagy a hatodik alkalom, amikor rájönnek, hogy "minden ami eddig történt csak ennek volt az előszele" és mindig jött egy nagyobb, jobb ellenfél aki eddig csak mozgatta háttérből a szálakat. Viszont a végső megoldás tényleg okosan fel lett vezetve, működik, elgondolkodtató és ami a legfontosabb: nem teljessen hülyeség, bár a szerző továbbra is sokat használja a "mi emberi képesseinkkel fel nem fogható" csalást.
Ami még érdekes volt a 30 könyv alatt, azok természetesen a karakterek és leginkább nekik a ciklikusságuk. ~200 év eltelik a 30 könyv alatt és időközben nem, hogy a karakterek felnőnek, de az ükonokáik is felnőnek.
Az eredeti csapat, akit mindenki megszeretett (a legjobb négy könyv egyértelműen az első négy, a Sethanon alkonyáig) egy idő után legendává válik, ami érdekes - ami fura, hogy a szerző ugyanazokat a karaktereket használja fel újra és újra. A méltán híres Sebes Jimmy például egy az egyben újra megtestesül az unokáiban ÉS az unokája unokáiban - de nem viccelek, tényleg, szó szerint ugyanaz a karakter, még a nevük is ugyanaz (!!). De mondhatnám a conDoin családot is, ahol az utolsó trilológiában a frissen meghalt Crydeei herceg három gyereke menti meg a királyságot - ez történt szóról szóra az első két könyvben is. :)
Mindezekmellett természtesen nagyon kellemes olvasmány, tele nagyon szerethető karakterekkel, nagy kalandokkal, aki szereti a fantasyt annak mindenféleképpen ajánlom. Gyerekkorom kedvenc könyvei voltak és most is nehéz volt néha éjjelente letenni..
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