Although I was sceptical at first, I greatly enjoyed the Riftwar Saga, enjoyed even more the SerpentWar Saga, and was happy with the Daughter of the Empire books.

Krondor The Betrayer, however, was a total letdown and a waste of money. Whatever depth the characters had in the past was not present for this book and the others in the series, and I couldn't even finish this one. Moreover, it was obviously written for a video game. I'm sorry, but reading about finding a magical weapon stick that has to be touched to magical plants to refill its energy is probably the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. Reading this, I could see my video game screen with little bars at the corner filling up before my eyes, or perhaps little energy hearts in the vein of Zelda.

Get the other series, but don't waste your time or money on this.

How can you people be so harsh!? Each one of Mr. Fiest's Books are indescribably incredible especially this one. I'm sick of hearing that the events that take place in his novels are unbelievable and far fetched... I think it's because his books are categorized as FANTASY. Anyway I would give this book and infinite amount of marks if the option were available. It's worth the time to look into all of his literature.

Searching for an original and intriguing author I was directed to Ray Feist by a mutual acquaintance. Having played the game I chose to buy Krondor the Betrayal. Unfortunately I was dissappointed. Although this title is quite pacy, genuinely funny in many places, and having a breathtaking scope in terms of the complexity of the worlds and concepts he uses, I found Krondor really quite superficial, and worse than that, repetitive. Feist's characters often use the same devices to escape from particular situations, his descriptions of combat are unbelievable and unrealistic, and his larger battle scenes don't really engage the reader.

The other thing that bothers me, not just with Feist but with almost all Fantasy authors I've read, is the idyllic and sanitised settings they use. Most Fantasy novel borrow heavily from themes, concepts and surroudings from the middles ages period of Europe and Asia. Perhaps its because many of these authors are American, or perhaps it's simple laziness or lack of research, but to describe a medieval-type society without including the frequent sickness and famine, horrendous toil and suffering, and the brutality of law and government systems, makes for rather shallow reading. Probably one of the most common features, never introduced in Fantasy writing, would have been filth and poor hygiene. Instead of the poor, hunch backed, pock marked faces of peasantry, we receive instead strapping youths and comely maidens, all naturally beautiful without the aid of modern cosmetics, diets, soap or toothpaste.