Submitted by Anonymous 
(Feb 13, 2007)The Serpentwar Saga is set in Feist's world of Midkemia. The first trilogy (done in four paperbacks), The Riftwar Saga, introduced us to some memorable characters (Pug, Thomas, Jimmy the Hand, Arutha) and to the world of Midkemia. After the Riftwar Saga, Feist wrote two loosely-connected novels (Princes of the Blood and The King's Buccaneer) that dealt with the children of the heroes of the first books. The Serpentwar Saga picks up after that and carries on a similar plot but introduces several new characters, not least of whom are Roo Avery and Erik Von Darkmoor.
While Magician (first book in the Riftwar Saga) was a pretty predicable novel with fairly standard characters (two young boys grow up to be the greatest warrior and the greatest magician in the world), Feist's writing has improved dramatically over the years.
Shadow of a Dark Queen introduces a much more complex theme with several major plot elements. All of them run independently yet are constantly tying themselves together in a way that keeps the reader enthralled. Roo and Erik are two young boys thrust into adventure with the unfortunate murder of a noble (Erik's half-brother, the Baron of Darkmoor). This lands the two into a sort of army press gang and starts the story. Meanwhile, a plot of world destruction involving our old friends, the Pantathians, has created a massive army on a far-away continent. Roo and Erik end up as part of an elite military unit whose job it is to infiltrate this army. There, they intend to discover what the enemy is doing and to try and prevent an attack on the Kingdom.
Of course, the plot is much more complex and involves a bunch of hungry demons, two lost magicians, a really weird place called The Hall and other marvelous twists.
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(67 ratings)