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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
Feist writes an entertaining story, quick read, but lacks the level of depth that would make it great.
The scene-setter for the rest of The Serpentwar Saga. There's some interesting scenes, such as the build-up to the gallows and the varying reactions as well as Miranda's visit to the Hall of Worlds but mostly it's pretty basic Feist fare. Definitely not as attention-grabbing as The King's Buccaneer before it.
Starts somehow prolonged... not bad, but overall one of the weakest of the Midkemia books.
time for what is seen as the high point of the riftwar cycle. erik is great, the dead men are great. its a welcome change of pace moving away from a lot of the established cast.
Started reading this as my r/fantasy bingo for Published in the 90s. I may return to it some day but honestly, the prose just wasn't very good. There were pov shifts in the middle of paragraphs. The characters came across as very one-dimensional. Unfortunately, the story and characters just felt bland.
An immensely enjoyable book with characters that are both fascinating and believable both human and not. The world built in this story feels immense. Feist has a way of moving the story along from one place to the other with fluidity and grace inspiring the imagination.
The book feels like it’s continually building the main characters of Eric, Roo and Miranda, as well as the other characters in the book, who are equally rich in their own right, as they navigate their way through each trial they face. My personal favourites are Calis and Nakor. I find their characters full of surprises and I hope their stories are developed more.
The story is geared towards a battle but does not overwhelm the book too much. It’s fascinating to read how all the different parts people play will eventually lead to a conclusion.
A beautifully written book with rich characters, world-building and a cleverly thought out plot. Packed with magic, creatures and action. A must for all fantasy fans. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
The book feels like it’s continually building the main characters of Eric, Roo and Miranda, as well as the other characters in the book, who are equally rich in their own right, as they navigate their way through each trial they face. My personal favourites are Calis and Nakor. I find their characters full of surprises and I hope their stories are developed more.
The story is geared towards a battle but does not overwhelm the book too much. It’s fascinating to read how all the different parts people play will eventually lead to a conclusion.
A beautifully written book with rich characters, world-building and a cleverly thought out plot. Packed with magic, creatures and action. A must for all fantasy fans. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
I enjoyed reading this book, but honestly it wasn't anything too special. If it weren't for Atticus I probably wouldn't be too tempted to continue on with the series, but I'm also not like dreading continuing with the series. I think my biggest issue is that I just didn't really connect with Feist's writing at all. I'm not a fan of an omniscient POV to begin with and then add on top of that the fact that Feist uses lots of terminology I don't understand and describes action really poorly and it just created a situation where I wasn't able to enjoy large chunks of the story for the sole reason of Feists writing not working for me. I do think that the plot was solid however. Nothing too amazing but definitely enough to keep me interested. The thing that really kept me reading was Miranda. Chapters following her were few and far between, but when we did get them I was always fascinated and glued to the story. She was by far my favorite character. I also really liked Roo and I'm excited to see how he progresses as a character. Some other stand outs for me were Sho Pi, Calis, and Nacor. Calis in particular is a fascinating character and I love learning about him and his race. On the other hand Erik was a pretty bad main character. He's just so incredibly bland and boring to follow. I said the same thing about Rand though so there is always a chance he could grow on me, but for now I really dislike following Eric. The world building also wasn't the strongest in this book. The glimpses that we got of the world and the politics were so fascinating and I loved it, but it was not leaned on nearly enough. This might be because this is technically like the 12th book in the series, but I really just wish that we had gotten more. I feel like I'm left with no clear understanding of the cultures or magic in this book which is a bummer. So yeah, I'd say I loved the bits of world building we got, was intrigued by the plot, and enjoyed many characters, but found the writing to be poor and the world to not be expanded as much as it could have been. Overall this was a solid book, but it definitely didn't feel like anything too special to me.
I am tapping out with two chapters left. I can't believe I bothered to get this far. I love me some fantasy novels, but this just isn't it for me. Sooooo tedious. I hope the sneks and leezards win. :D
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
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:
Yes
Characters were flat, writing was a bit juvenile. I tried to give it a chance but nothing about the characters excited me enough to care