Magician's End Book Review

Magician's End marks the 30th and final novel in the great Midkemian series by Raymond E Feist. The first in the series, Magician was published in 1982.  Magician's End was the highly anticipated conclusion to a set of novels that spanned over thirty years and a story that spanned centuries.

Magician's End

My review of Magician's End is later than I planned. I enjoyed Feist's latest novel but had a hard time, initially, to summarize my thoughts on this concluding chapter of the Midkemian universe. The story ends, not quite happily ever after but, with its cutesy and clumsy finish, M.E. wraps up thirty years of books and centuries of plot-lines into too neat a package.

Feist tried creating a mystery and answer to explain the magical powers at play but in the end we have no great mystery. Do not try to explain away magic. The magic and passion we have is lost when logic enters the mix. Remember what George Lucas did in Star Wars to explain the Force? We do not care.

Once the will to act and
to make decisions is removed from our heroes, they become pawns and are no longer the heroes we came to love.

Feist also revisited the Condoin birth line, and I understand why. From the Condoins came the foundation of the novels. The books were not just about Pug the Magician. Arutha and Lyam Condoin were noble and brilliant and had flaws and self-doubt.

The new Condoins are superheroes, the men who could do no wrong. Magician's End brought little intrigue, and little character development. Through repetition Feist tried to drive home the message that the Condoins, Hal, Martin and Brendan are such good boys.

Nothing they did went wrong.

In the first four books, Feist developed the characters and showed us they were noble and heroic, through action. Here we are told they are heroic. Over and over.

All in all Magician's End was a good book. I was relieved that it was detailed and lengthy unlike some of the later rushed novels. While predictable in some ways, it tied up many story lines. We knew how the story would end. We just didn't know how we would get there. Tell me if you didn't know who would be king.

While the novel capped many a story line that spread over these many novels, it was satisfying to a point, but missing its mark on others.

The last book in any series is often the hardest to read. And once read all we have are the pages staring back at us. With every expectation that was developed throughout the reading of the previous books we are left either frustrated or satisfied.

Magician's End

Magician's End was an enjoyable book. And a worthy end to thirty years of story telling. While not his best, M.E. is clearly not Feist's worst novel, and similar to the buildup in the previous couple novels, predictability aside, we are left waiting for the story to unfold until the final climax.
Seeing as how Feist brought back everyone, I would have liked to get Amos' take on things. Do you think that Magician's End was a fitting ending to the series?

Civil war is tearing apart the Kingdom of the Isles, for the throne lies empty and rivals are converging. Having spirited his beloved Princess Stephanie 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.

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 world is to be saved

Magician's End - Feist's Latest Novel

California based author Raymond E. Feist has announced the release date for his final novel in the Midkemian series, Magician's End. The last book in the Chaoswar Saga, and overall Riftwar Cycle, has been scheduled for the 9th May 2013 in the UK. Which will probably mean a mid-May 2013 release in the U.S. and Canada. Stay tuned to this site as I will provide any news on the upcoming release. And, as always, stay tuned for the review. I publish as soon as I get my hands on the book in May. Check out the newly released book cover.

Raymond Feist's Magician's End

Raymond Feist, the New York Times and Times of London Best-selling fantasy author, has written over thirty books in the series.

Also, Feist's website Crydee.com announced an agreement to put the Riftwar, Empire, Prince of the Blood, King's Buccaneer, and Faerie Tale into ebook format with HarperCollins.

No details yet.

I am sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for Magician's End to be released.

Book Review: A Crown Imperilled

In Raymond Feist's latest novel A Crown Imperilled he returns to the form that made his early novels so successful. Much like Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon, the pages of A Crown Imperilled are filled with action, political intrigue and rich and interesting characters.

Since the time of the Serpentwar, we witnessed a dilution in the line of kings in the Kingdom of the Isles. In the Chaoswar, the ConDoin royal family returns to its heroic past.

As war once again ravages Midkemia, its brave and loyal defenders battle to survive. In each kingdom a single petty noble has risen from obscurity to threaten the throne. Enemies march across the realm wreaking destruction — a struggle made more perilous now that Jim Dasher's trusted intelligence network has been cleverly dismantled. Region by region, Midkemia is being ripped apart, and the loyal spy and his allies find themselves overpowered at every turn.

In thirty years of publishing, R.E.F. has had his ups and downs. His excellent stories in the Riftwar Saga and Empire trilogy preceded the very good Serpent War Saga and Conclave of the Shadows. But along with the good came the mediocre and the bad such as the Darkwar and Demonwar books.

With A Crown Imperilled Feist discards some of the weaker characters introduced in his last few novels, focusing in on the stronger heroes, and brings back three of the most popular.

The novel A Crown Imperilled serves as a perfect cliffhanger and leap to the final chapter that has been thirty years in coming. We are left with some intriguing questions. Who will be the next king? Who is behind the turmoil? If not the Pantathian serpents, if not the Valheru, who is behind the war? Much is happening and we have not figured out why. We know a new war is coming and that Midkemia will look different politically and geographically. The return of Nakor and Miranda, Thomas and Calis are hopefully a sign that they will have bigger roles in the final book Magincian's End due for release in early 2013.

A Crown Imperilled

Got my hands on the U.K. release of Raymond Feist's latest novel A Crown Imperilled. I will have a review up in the next couple weeks. You want a sneak preview? How about this? Feist is back with his epic opening chapter introductions. I'll just mention one name. Draken-Korin.

From crydee.com:
War rages in Midkemia but behind the chaos there is disquieting evidence of dark forces at work.
Quiet palace coups are underway in Roldem and Rillanon; and the King of the Isles has yet to produce an heir. In each kingdom a single petty noble has risen from obscurity to threaten the throne.
An unknown player appears to be orchestrating these conflicts. Can Pug and the Conclave of Shadows track down this source before Midkemia is destroyed?

A Crown Imperiled, Raymond Feist