Reading Feist was a bit of a disappointment..

[Peregrine]

Coffee goes back a long way too. Coffee shops are almost as much a tradition in England as pubs. Almost.

In fact, until recently there were (I think) fewer coffee or tea houses in London now than at any point since coffee was introduced. Both were after all, a drink that almost never gives food poisoning by the virtue of it being boiled AND they are a pick-me-up. A very popular combination for someone living in a grubby, filth ridden Victorian London suburb.

Peregrine

Oh yes, and Feist. A nice light read, but I have to admit his books tend to get pushed to the back of my readinglist. Personal preference really.

 

[JohnH]

Feist has definitely gone downhill rather quickly. Odd thing is the Rise of the Merchant Prince seemed to be a resurgence in his actual storytelling. Too bad it did not last. Feist could never plot his way out of a wet paper bag in my opinion. His early books always read like some 'Pick Your Own Adventure'. Not without entertainment value, but hardly anything to recommend.

His last series (Krondor) was rather bad. And frankly should have had environment advocates picketing his house for tree genocide. His worst effort is still the horrid re-telling of an old urban legend in the form of 'original fantasy' with the Wood Boy, the short in the Legends anthology.

I think Feist can be entertaining when he actually expends some effort. But by my take, he has been in a near coma the last five years or so.

 

[Keziah]

I like Coffee, i like Feist and i like Rise of a Merchant Prince. But i have to admit i did find the coffee house a bit out of place.

 

[Keziah]

I like Coffee, i like Feist and i like Rise of a Merchant Prince. But i have to admit i did find the coffee house a bit...strange.

 

[Barbarossa]

I wasn't impressed by the Serpent war series. Of the four books Rise of a merchant prince was actually the best in my opinion.

While the rise of the merchant was a bit too fast, Feist's description of of commerce made actually a lot more sense than his description of warfare.

As too the coffee house it fits well into the world of early 17th century commerce on which the economic part of Midkemia is obviously based. The famous insurance brokers of Lloyds London actually grew out of a coffee house, even today their clerks are called waiters (though I wouldn't try to order a coffee from one

)

 

[MrSquiddy]

I'm kinda sorry to say this but..

Nakor was DEFINITELY my Favorite character in the entire series, i thought he was funny how he'd dance around when he understood something, i can kinda relate to him, we're both partially mad...

But, I heartily endorse Feist, probably as someone already said in this thread, he is the first i ever really read, and he hold a special place in my bookshelf..

 

[nahaz]

Try reading the Krondor trilogy, it is very good and by far the best in my opinion

 

[milamber_reborn]

The problem with the Krondor Trilogy is that you really need to have played the computer games. I still can't see why so many people hate them though. Feist is a light read, the Krondor books are even lighter, because they were scripted for typically short games. Return to Krondor (Tear of the Gods) is a great game with a cool plot and characters.

 

[Hawklan]

I thought the Serpentwar series was a big disappointment compared to Riftwar or the Empire series (with Janny Wurts) which I've read and re-read many times and hopefully I'll get around to do it again soon. Also, the Krondor books was a bit of a letdown. That doesn't mean that I disliked them. I do try to read most of his work though I haven't read his latest co-authored books or Talon...

 

[Pug of Crydee17]

Must add to this after soo long.

Robert Jordan is crud compared to feist. He focuses more on horses than anything else and when you have characters like pug and tomas it would be MADNESS not to milk them dry.

Robert jordan....never darken this doorstep again.

PS just read crossroads of twilight and can honestly say its one of the worst books ive read.it went downhill after lord of chaos.

Sorry i feel so strongly but there are few fantasy authors who could build characters as loveable as pug and tomas. if there is an idea that has been milked dry its the whole taveren thing its got really boring. I just dislike the three farmboys now. sorry.

 

[magze]

Feist is my favourite author,he may not be the best writer but he doe's spin a good yarn.His books haven't got the depth of Bakker's Prince of Nothing series or Erikson's Malazan etc but he has his own distinctive style that I enjoy and find once I start reading his books I have great difficulty in putting them down.Nighthawks was finished in about 3 hours.

 

[Pug of Crydee17]

I couldnt agree with you more!
flight of the nighthawks was brilliant.

 

[Brys]

Must add to this after soo long.

Robert Jordan is crud compared to feist. He focuses more on horses than anything else and when you have characters like pug and tomas it would be MADNESS not to milk them dry.

Robert jordan....never darken this doorstep again.

PS just read crossroads of twilight and can honestly say its one of the worst books ive read.it went downhill after lord of chaos.

Sorry i feel so strongly but there are few fantasy authors who could build characters as loveable as pug and tomas. if there is an idea that has been milked dry its the whole taveren thing its got really boring. I just dislike the three farmboys now. sorry.

I agree with you there - Feist, no matter how weak his books have got, has managed to keep his books fast moving and entertaining. Sure, they aren't top-level fantasy for the most part (with the exceptions of Magician and the Empire series). Even if the Wheel of Time had been only 3 books, I'd consider Feist superior, but with Crossorads of Twilight there's no question IMO.

 

[Pug of Crydee17]

I like your style brys.Crossroads of twilight is utter tosh.

 

[U-Borat]

IMO....

jordan's books r 2 tedious. hes got 2 many characters running around, i think he himself may have lost track of where every character is. however, IMO feist's recent trilogy is little better. While i enjoyed Magician and its sequels, the Conclave of Shadow trilogy (ive only read book 1 and 2) is rather shallow and seems to skim over what could have been a great story.
my fav book of feist is probably Prince of the Blood. I liked its political intrigue. twas a nice change from the normal styesl....

 

[Arutha]

Its so hard to pick a favourite out of theseries because they are all very good books, still Fiest isn't my favourite author that would definetely have to be David Eddings with the Tamuli series.

 

[Pug of Crydee17]

George RR martin was a good read. Hes like Robert Jordan but good. He still doesnt beat the almighty magician. The sense of scale is astounding.

 

[Talwin]

Earlier on in this thread i think it was magze that mentioned she read nighthawks in three hours.
That frustrated me, being in highschool i don't yet have a job and can't afford to buy book after book. I like the long books that are a decent price for a decent read.
Putting nighthawks on a hardback was simply a scheme to get money, it was short and undetailed the book was oversized and the font to spaced and large.
The conclave os shadows series was also a disappointment in the fact that it cost $60 (aussie dollar) for the series when it could of been fit into one book the length of "the fellowship of the ring"

a disgruntled feist fan (sorry about the lateness of the reply, recently registered)

 

[U-Borat]

totally agree with above post. here in australia, books are expensive, and i rarely buy books, the only ones bought are ones i really enjoyed and have reread several times such as martin, erikson, bakker, wolfe, etc. i borrow books from the library as my primary source of reading.

 

[daelstorm]

I've just started reading

Flight of the Nighthawks, and I'm not impressed. The writing is simplistic.. it reminds me of some really crappy childrens novels I read and enjoyed when I was 10yo.

It's a shame that Feist overuses redundant dialog in his books, often having his characters state completely obvious stuff that provides nothing but padding when description or a bit of wittiness would make it enjoyable. I often feel like I'm tumbling down a cliff of simple & compound sentences, and it's not an thrilling ride.

I've read all of Feist's fantasy books, and have enjoyed his latest books the least. I must sadly come to the opinion that he is either writing purely for money, or is just sleep-writing thru them.