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ld153's review against another edition
5.0
LOVE RAYMOND E FEIST!!!! I think he is one of my favourite authors. I went on a day trip to Wellington with my little sister in January and we went into this cute little second hand book shop. I found 2 books by Feist for really cheap so I grabbed them. I then started reading this series and it was great (I also found the rest of this series off trademe, bought the whole series for less that NZ$20 in total woop woop).
This book follows Erik, the bastard son of a noble. Erik's half brothers hate him, his mother wants him to be acknowledged as his father's son, and all Erik really wants is to become a blacksmith. Things do not go as Erik plans. Erik ends up running from the law with his best friend Roo.
Erik and Roo accidentally get caught up in a plot to save the world. There is a mysterious woman called Miranda, Pug of Stardock shows up, a man called Nakor, Calis (the half-elf, half-human) and a variety of other characters emerge in this book. It was great, Feist sure knows how to create a write a story that will keep you guessing on what possibly could happen. Can't wait to read the rest of the series :)
This book follows Erik, the bastard son of a noble. Erik's half brothers hate him, his mother wants him to be acknowledged as his father's son, and all Erik really wants is to become a blacksmith. Things do not go as Erik plans. Erik ends up running from the law with his best friend Roo.
Erik and Roo accidentally get caught up in a plot to save the world. There is a mysterious woman called Miranda, Pug of Stardock shows up, a man called Nakor, Calis (the half-elf, half-human) and a variety of other characters emerge in this book. It was great, Feist sure knows how to create a write a story that will keep you guessing on what possibly could happen. Can't wait to read the rest of the series :)
duffypratt's review against another edition
3.0
Feist does The Dirty Dozen. A group of condemned prisoners embark on a suicide mission to aid their country. Will they succeed? Will any survive? Well, this is Feist, so you know from the outset that the major players will all survive, but that some likable secondary characters have been outfitted with the red shirt of death.
The set-up, and the carrying out of the training and then the plan, are all done well here. The characters are likable, and a few of them are even interesting. Nakor, the master magician who does not believe in magic, plays a major role, and he is always fun, even if his bag of endless oranges can get old.
The basic idea is that the group needs to infiltrate the enemy, learn what lies at the heart of a growing threat, and then somehow escape to get word back to the powers that be. In some ways, all of that ends up being too easy, except for the escape part, which manages to be harrowing.
The main power that am here, is Pug. And this becomes a basic flaw. Feist seems always to be tempted by doing a Pug ex Machina, and without revealing the details, that is something of a problem here too. Worse, the crew go to all these lengths to gather intelligence for Pug when it seems abundantly clear that Pug doesn't need them, and he has better ways to get the same information. That would be OK, if there was some sort of irony to it, but I'm not even sure that Feist understands the difficulty.
Even with those criticisms, I found this to be a competent and mostly enjoyable fantasy. It's thoroughly mainstream and lacks surprises, but its a pleasant read, and I am already half way through the next book (which I am liking more).
The set-up, and the carrying out of the training and then the plan, are all done well here. The characters are likable, and a few of them are even interesting. Nakor, the master magician who does not believe in magic, plays a major role, and he is always fun, even if his bag of endless oranges can get old.
The basic idea is that the group needs to infiltrate the enemy, learn what lies at the heart of a growing threat, and then somehow escape to get word back to the powers that be. In some ways, all of that ends up being too easy, except for the escape part, which manages to be harrowing.
The main power that am here, is Pug. And this becomes a basic flaw. Feist seems always to be tempted by doing a Pug ex Machina, and without revealing the details, that is something of a problem here too. Worse, the crew go to all these lengths to gather intelligence for Pug when it seems abundantly clear that Pug doesn't need them, and he has better ways to get the same information. That would be OK, if there was some sort of irony to it, but I'm not even sure that Feist understands the difficulty.
Even with those criticisms, I found this to be a competent and mostly enjoyable fantasy. It's thoroughly mainstream and lacks surprises, but its a pleasant read, and I am already half way through the next book (which I am liking more).
kxu65's review against another edition
4.0
This book was better than what I expected to be. This book was really readable that pulled me right in the minute I started reading even thought I figure out what was going to happened from the back cover. Great job, Feist in writing a fun and readable book for my return to the world of Midkemia.
valmox's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
shanelh's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
arthurbdd's review against another edition
2.0
Basically Feist's usual coming-of-age story he keeps rewriting over and over, only this time it's grimdark. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/the-reading-canary-the-serpentwar-saga/
yuliatta's review against another edition
4.0
I just finished the audiobook and man did I enjoy it!
Again, Raymond E. Feist proves why he is my new fave author.
However, this book isn't my usual read so I'm pretty sure that had I not listened to it, i wouldn't have enjoyed it as much just because it was quite heavy on the war and there was less magic than before.
Anyway, I loved it and that's it :D
Again, Raymond E. Feist proves why he is my new fave author.
However, this book isn't my usual read so I'm pretty sure that had I not listened to it, i wouldn't have enjoyed it as much just because it was quite heavy on the war and there was less magic than before.
Anyway, I loved it and that's it :D
sleightholme's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
vaderbird's review against another edition
3.0
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish