Reading Feist was a bit of a disappointment..

[Pug of Crydee17]

I don't think so at all Hobbit. I barely made it through the first Talon book. To this day I can still hear "I will be a Talon for my people" in my head. Oi. What a goofy line!! (Perhaps it was because I just couldn't care about the character?) It was such a disappointment after Riftwar, Serpentwar & the Empire trilogy. (Loved reading from the opposite perspective!) The Talon series just fell flat for me. I was so utterly disappointed.

Thanks to another post I discovered the impending release of book one of the Darkwar series (April) and will naturally give it another shot, even though I gave up on Talon after the first book. It's Feist, after all.
Well, here's hoping anyway.

Please try and read talon. Exiles return was a total return to form in my opinion. Give it a go.

 

[Beorn]

IMO the problem is that Magician was too good and every Feist fan compares it to every new book that comes out. I have read about 5 books so far Magician series, Murder in Lamut, Honoured Enemy and one of the Krondor books and i honestly like each book equally(except Magician) it just takes more of your imagination to "spice up" the duller books as some people call them. Mabye Feist was his own worst enemy for being to creative. And as far as coffee shops and what not go, is it not his world? If you are in the right frame of mind why would you be thinking it is out of place and not just accept it and incorporate it into the story.

You can't make everybody happy all the time. But the fact is he is still popular and his books still fly of the shelves of book shops. So he must be doing something right.

 

[lflyer]

Magician was one of the all time great stand alone fantasy novels. I rate it so highly that not only did I buy the 10 year aniversary version with the extra content, but I also bought the limited edition leather bound version that came out for the 20th anniversary. It has cool symbols on the spine, and I will sit it on the top shelf of my bookshelf, and my son (when I get around to having one) will stare up at it wondering what it is as he grows up, and will then one day pull it down, read it, and the torch will be passed.

As a series, Riftwar was not as strong but still good. The Empire Series was brilliant, but I actually attribute much of that to the very underated Janny Wurts.

Prince of the Blood and Kings Buccaneer were good stand alone books.

I thought the Serpentwar series was pretty good, but after that he started mucking around with spin-offs and ghost writing (which I only put up with from Clive Cussler), and the quality really seemed to drop off. It would take a lot to convince me to read any of his new stuff although the Talon series intrigued me cause it did not seem to be set in Midkemia (or is it just set on the other side of Midkemia?)

Books in Aust are reasonably pricing, but at least they don't waste our time with hardcovers here and just go straight to the trade paperback.

 

[Beorn]

Yes the quality may have dropped off but i still like the setting of Midkemia. So easy to lose yourself in that world. I do not like being to critical of any author as there is bound to be at least one person in the world who will get something from any book so if the writer imerses at least one person in his or her world then they have done their job. IMO writing is not about money or book sales its about expressing a thought and hoping someone else shares it.

 

[pugwtfpwns]

Hmmm...

I've read the whole thread (quickly) and find that many people are missing the point. Let's look at Mr. Feist's background. He was a communications major at college and played D&D with a group of buddies for years. At some point he found that he enjoyed writing and built a world around his gaming experiences with his friends help. Hence the Magician.

Mr. Feist is not a literature major or a linguistics master... he's siimply a man like most of us that has an amazing story to tell. Whether you think it's simple or the plot lines have become moot... it's still first and foremost - entertainment.

I've read everything from Tolkien to Moorcock, Asimov to Martin, Jordan to David, Weis/Hickman to the Iliad... and recognize each and every author's artistic intent. And Mr. Feist is a very good story teller and millions agree. And I'm sure that many would agree that entertainment value of Feist books can outweigh Jordan, Martin or even Tolkien. How do I know this? Because I feel that way. When I read Feist I can relax and enjoy a universe still being created. The Feistverse has no set limits. I can not say the same for some of the more 'eilite' authors that I've mentioned above.

Mr. Feist's works are an thoroughly delightful ride which I am content to see to the end.

 

[Pug of Crydee17]

Hmmm...

I've read the whole thread (quickly) and find that many people are missing the point. Let's look at Mr. Feist's background. He was a communications major at college and played D&D with a group of buddies for years. At some point he found that he enjoyed writing and built a world around his gaming experiences with his friends help. Hence the Magician.

Mr. Feist is not a literature major or a linguistics master... he's siimply a man like most of us that has an amazing story to tell. Whether you think it's simple or the plot lines have become moot... it's still first and foremost - entertainment.

I've read everything from Tolkien to Moorcock, Asimov to Martin, Jordan to David, Weis/Hickman to the Iliad... and recognize each and every author's artistic intent. And Mr. Feist is a very good story teller and millions agree. And I'm sure that many would agree that entertainment value of Feist books can outweigh Jordan, Martin or even Tolkien. How do I know this? Because I feel that way. When I read Feist I can relax and enjoy a universe still being created. The Feistverse has no set limits. I can not say the same for some of the more 'eilite' authors that I've mentioned above.

Mr. Feist's works are an thoroughly delightful ride which I am content to see to the end.

I couldnt have put it better myself.

 

[Werthead]

Magician is a great novel, an enjoyable story told well and it is definitely better than the other 'starter' epic fantasy authors Feist is often unfairly thrown in with (Eddings, Brooks and the unspeakable Goodkind).

The quality of the books is uneven after that. The King's Buccaneer is really good and Prince of Blood pretty solid. Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon were okay, but felt more like generic D&D adventures than the grand epic tale of Magician.

The Empire Trilogy started off superbly, but got a bit weighed down by intrigue later on, and is overlong. Nevertheless, I'd say it's a pretty good series.

The Serpentwar Saga started off very well. I liked Rise of a Merchant Prince's way of showing us how commerce works in the Kingdom and Rage of a Demon King had a great (if brief) naval battle. However, the deus ex machina ending of that book really annoyed me. Shards of a Broken Crown is simply awful, a badly-written book by any standards.

The Riftwar Legacy (aka 'Krondor') books are even worse. I know Feist was getting divorced at the time and this badly affected him, but still, these books were just unreadable.

Honoured Enemy is a really good novel though, easily the best single novel Feist has written/co-written apart from Magician itself. However, how much of this was down to his co-writer William Forstchen is debatable.

Talon of a Silver Hawk was better than his more recent solo books and showed an interesting change in direction, but was also rather dull. I have not yet worked up the energy to pick up the other Conclave books, but the pretty positive reception given to Flight of the Nighthawks means I will get round to them at some point.

I'm thinking that it can't be helping Feist's writing ability to be just churning these books out every 12 months like a machine. I think he should perhaps take a year's break to recharge his batteries or just get on with the Fourth and Fifth Riftwars and end the entire Midkemian mega-saga once and for all.

 

[darkhorse08817]

Feist is, hands down, my fav fiction writer. Still, nothing he's done compares in my view to the original Riftwar saga (Magician I & II, Silverthon, Sethanon).

Don't really blame him - I mean, when you start off w/ a masterpiece, where else can you go but down? Still, in my view, his "down" is better than most others' best.

Then again, I read the Riftwar saga between ages 12-14, but I'm in my thirties now - maybe the quality of writing is the same, just me who is aging and gradually losing ability to squeeze out enjoyment from a fantasy novel.

Anyhow, looking at the start of this thread, I'd recommend for a newcomer to Feist to start at the begining, w/ Magician - if you like it, you'll come back for more. Otherwise, you probably won't be able to relate as fully to any of the subsequent books. I mean, I doubt I would have related to or liked the Serpent War or the Conclave of Shadows if I hadn't already had an understanding of the Midkemian scene from the previous books.