Raymond E. Feist

[Werthead]

It's a huge series, 30 books including side-series and works co-written with other authors.

I think everything he wrote up to Rage of a Demon King (1997) is entertaining and worth reading, if a bit on the lightweight side. Everything from 1998 (Shards of a Broken Crown and Krondor: The Betrayal) onwards is garbage, with the exception of Honoured Enemy (cowritten by William Forstchen) which is quite entertaining.

Magician, the rest of the Riftwar Saga, the Empire Trilogy, Prince of the Blood, The King's Buccaneer and the first three Serpentwar books are all pretty good.

[Prince Who Was Promised]

It's a huge series, 30 books including side-series and works co-written with other authors.

I think everything he wrote up to Rage of a Demon King (1997) is entertaining and worth reading, if a bit on the lightweight side. Everything from 1998 (Shards of a Broken Crown and Krondor: The Betrayal) onwards is garbage, with the exception of Honoured Enemy (cowritten by William Forstchen) which is quite entertaining.

Magician, the rest of the Riftwar Saga, the Empire Trilogy, Prince of the Blood, The King's Buccaneer and the first three Serpentwar books are all pretty good.

What about the new book, the Rides a Dread Legion? Is that one good? It sounds interesting (I believe he said it bridges the gap between what has happened before and what will hapeen later).

[Black Wizard]

As Prince is unfamiliar with the stories and characters, I've been trying to refrain from mentioning characters by name. Not knowing which characters come and go is half the fun.

Apologies. I didn't think mentioning character names would particularly spoil the plot too much.

[Foreverlad]

Apologies. I didn't think mentioning character names would particularly spoil the plot too much.

No apologies necessary. As someone who was new to fantasy and reading Feist, knowing that some of the characters would live for hundreds of years would have been a major spoiler to me. For those more acquainted with these kinds of stories, it'll seem fairly obvious. I just try to avoid it, myself.

[Prince Who Was Promised]

No apologies necessary. As someone who was new to fantasy and reading Feist, knowing that some of the characters would live for hundreds of years would have been a major spoiler to me. For those more acquainted with these kinds of stories, it'll seem fairly obvious. I just try to avoid it, myself.

Well, now I know they live for hundreds of years...

But I can't say I'm than let-down...it IS fantasy and (some of) the main characters are supposed to be powerful wizards.

[Ser Greguh]

I'll echo much of what's been said here. Feist's books, particularly the Riftwar and Serpentwar series, are Reliable Fantasy. Magician begins with an interesting concept - an alien invasion of a fantasy world - and tells a nice, compact coming-of-age story wrapped up in a much larger plot. As the books progress the story gets more interesting but Feist's weaknesses as a writer start to surface and become more and more annoying. For example, he's willing to kill off characters (the books span several centuries) but has an annoying tendency to replace them with their offspring, who almost inevitably have the exact same personality type and thus forms the irritating impression of an author trying to have his cake and kill it off, too.

[Foreverlad]

For example, he's willing to kill off characters (the books span several centuries) but has an annoying tendency to replace them with their offspring, who almost inevitably have the exact same personality type and thus forms the irritating impression of an author trying to have his cake and kill it off, too.

There's always room in Midkemia for another James!

[Blaine]

For example, he's willing to kill off characters (the books span several centuries) but has an annoying tendency to replace them with their offspring, who almost inevitably have the exact same personality type and thus forms the irritating impression of an author trying to have his cake and kill it off, too.

There should be a name for this syndrome, because it's a pretty common fantasy trope. Tons of the books I read when I was younger had a quite a bit of this - Roberson's Cheysuli books, Melanie Rawn books, pretty much everything by Piers Anthony. Even Zelazny did it with Merlin, clone of Corwin.

Or maybe there is a name and I just don't know it. I always wonder if its involuntary or if they're trying too hard not to lose readers.

[Prince Who Was Promised]

Is there a reccomended reading order or is it published in chronological order?

[Werthead]

What about the new book, the Rides a Dread Legion? Is that one good? It sounds interesting (I believe he said it bridges the gap between what has happened before and what will hapeen later).

I gave up around Talon of the Silver Hawk (which wasn't awful, just mind-numbingly boring), but as far as I can gather there seems to be an idea that Feist bottomed out with the Krondor trilogy (Betrayal, Assassins and Tear of the Gods) and his books after that have more been 'dull and uninspired' than 'utter shite'. Certainly no-one talks about the later books, right up to the latest ones, with anything like the affection shown for the earlier ones.

There is a popular belief that since Feist got divorced circa 1997-98, his later books have been written for financial reasons than for artistic ones, but I'm not too sure how true that is. I remember in early 1990s interviews Feist talking about having a cycle of stories that could go as high as 25-35 books, and he's on track to hit that (the 30th book will be the last in the series; Rides a Dread Legion is the 26th).

[Prince Who Was Promised]

Oh. Based off of the reveiws I've read, the newest book seems good.

And don't forget, people said similar things about RJ, but people pushed through it. I guess with me, if the majority of the series is good, and the ending is great, I won't care (too much) if some the middle is a bit slow.

[drawkcabi]

Is there a reccomended reading order or is it published in chronological order?

Well since you're just starting out the first 4 are

Magician: Apprentice

Magician: Master (Originally one book - or meant to be - divided up due to length)

Then:

Silverthorn

A Darkness at Sethanon

(This completes the first cycle)

If you want to go on:

If you like what you've read so far you should go on with the Feist/Wurts spin-off series:

The Empire Trilogy: (These books aren't necessary to follow along with the entire series and could be skipped storywise, but definitely should not be for pure reading pleasure, these are some of the best books)

Daughter of the Empire

Servant of the Empire

Mistress of the Empire

There's also another spin-off series which expands on Rift-War events and Rift War characters that aren't that important to the series but others have said at least one of them, "Honored Enemy" was very good)

Honored Enemy

Murder in LaMut

Jimmy the Hand

After this the publication vs. series chronology skips around a little, if you are going by series chronology then it's:

Krondor: The Betrayal

Krondor: The Assassins

Krondor: The Tear of the Gods (But these books are pretty mediocre to bad)

Then it's:

Prince of the Blood

The Kings Buccaneer (These books are pretty good)

Then it's the Serpentwar Saga:

Shadow of a Dark Queen

Rise of a Merchant Prince

Rage of a Demon King

Shards of a Broken Crown (Most readers agree this is the last good Feist cycle)

Then it's:

Talon of the Silver Hawk

King of Foxes

Exiles Return

Next Cycle:

Flight of the Nighthawks (This is the last book I read and it was a chore to get through)

Into a Dark Realm

Wrath of a Mad God

Finally - so far

Rides a Dread Legion

[murphy]

Is there a reccomended reading order or is it published in chronological order?

Start with Magician. My copy (before it got burned up) was 1 large hardcover. I understand the paperback is two books.

[Gabriele]

Start with Magician. I understand the paperback is two books.

There is an anniversary single volume paperback by Harper Collins where Feist has added some scenes back in he was obliged to cut the first time round due to length. Having read both versions, I'd say the added scenes are pretty interesting, but not necessary to understand the book.

[drawkcabi]

There is an anniversary single volume paperback by Harper Collins where Feist has added some scenes back in he was obliged to cut the first time round due to length. Having read both versions, I'd say the added scenes are pretty interesting, but not necessary to understand the book.

You can get the 2 paperback books divided version with the extra scenes too, just make sure it says "author's preferred edition".

[Gilgamesh]

Very much as others have said here: Early books - good

Later books - bad.

His best is never as good as Martin or certain others, but it's certainly enjoyable and easy to read. As time has gone on he has, in my view, decided to milk the series for as much money as possible and lost all imagination. Things repeat themselves over and over again. You end up with repeated characters, as others have said.

Feist needs to come up with entirely new world or move into a new area of fiction, for each new (crap) book he writes simply drags down my estimation of the originals.

[Procrastimancer]

Feist is purely middle of the road archetypal fantasy, but he does it well. The books are good through the end of The Serpentwar, with Prince of the Blood and The King's Buccaneer being highlights. I stopped reading after the Conclave of Shadows books and would borrow most of the the labels Wert used above for King of Foxes, it being dull, uninspired, cheap, utter shite, and responsible for my distaste in continuing reading any of the newer novels. All discussion about the newer novels I've seen has shown me that this was a good thing.

[Serious Callers Only]

You should read the second to last book now. Pretty different and not at all trash.

[Wastrel]

My historical opinion was that:

Riftwar: some quite cliched elements, but well done for pulp fantasy, and some originality in it (eg Kelewan, Armengar)

King's Buccaneer/Prince of the Blood: a lot lighter, more fun

Serpentwar: the best (of the series). Genuinely original for pulp fantasy (even if one book is clearly ripped from a certain famous film), deeper and more believable setting and character development, broader breadth. Except that the fourth book sort of fades away. [Personally, I'd have been happy with it ending after the third, iirc]

The "Krondor:" books: very bad. Didn't read all of them.

And then the Empire books (only tangentially related): very good. Probably better than Serpentwar, and for once it's not a medieval european setting!

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My modern opinion: I picked up King's Buccaneer and literally could not read any of it, it was so viscerally awful. I hope that that's because it's one of the lighter, more fun books (eg the dialogue is painful and cliched) - I do intend to reread Magician at some point, and the Empire books.

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My advice: normally I wouldn't recommend them. However, as you're still young, I'd say read them now, before you're able to tell how bad they are. I really enjoyed them when I was your age. At his best, Feist is a notch above other pulp fantasy.

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As to the order, I'd say: Riftwar, Buccaneer/Prince, Serpentwar, later stuff. I'd leave out the Krondor series because it's rubbish, or read it later when you've read Serpentwar. Although it's chronologically earlier, it's not necessary for the main plot line. That's a matter of taste, though - the later books refer to events in them, and you might not like that. Personally, I like references to things I don't know about - it creates the impression of depth. To be honest, I actually read (the beginning of) Serpentwar first, and had no problem, but I guess some people would find it confusing.

[polishgenius]

I think Magician is a wonderful book and well worth a read by anyone, starting in fantasy or not. Other than that, only the Empire trilogy is anything near the standard, most of the earlier ones being uneven at best but with moments of greatness while the latest ones seem to be more consistent but, as has been said, fairly dull. Oddly it's his prose not his plots that have faded - some of the recent ideas are very good and quite brave (although others less so) but the writing is leaden.

I also think Magician doesn't get anywhere near enough credit for the changing effect it had on the genre. People seem to see the very LotR-similar section near the start and overlook the fact that Magician was doing a lot of the things Martin gets praised for years before and is clearly a huge influence on aSoIaF. Hell, (very minor spoilers)

SPOILER: Magician

even Westeros is The Kingdom turned on its side with the hardy noble fellas at one end and the decadent scheming bastards at the other.