My own self

This is the third and likely final book in the Legends of the Riftwar-series, and like the other two of its kind, it's written by Raymond E. Feist and one other well-known author from the fantasy-genre or similar ones (in this particular case, I believe it's alternative history Mr. Stirling is known for). Also like the previous two books in the series, Jimmy the Hand is a standalone-novel taking place sometime during the war of the first book of the original Riftwar-trilogy. Unlike the other two, however, its focus is on a character rather central to the original series, following him on his first big solo adventure out of the town he's lived in all his life.


Another running theme in this series of books is apparently that the author guesting Feist's universe brings with him one or two of his favourite characters from his own books, revamped to fit into Feist's world. I'm not sure if that's been done in this book, not having ever read anything by Stirling, but I'd say that one of the characters in it certainly would seem likely to be such a person, having a lot of personality and presence in the story.


Other than that, this is a rather straightforward addition to Feist's world Midkemia, but a particularily welcome one for adding background to one of his more charismatic characters - as it should, considering his name is the title of the book.

Jimmy the Hand is a street-rat, a boy-thief, a liar, a spy, a cut-purse and a street-runner, and he's one of the most gifted young thieves in Krondor, the second-biggest city of the Kingdom of the Isles (usually just called "The Kingdom" as it has been centuries and centuries since the islands they originated in were anything resembling the main part of the realm) and the capitol of its western half. A very quick-witted, very self-confident and very careful lad, little Jimmy is the very image of the young and promising thief, something he's well aware of. Maybe a tad too much aware of, even. He's still just a kid, though, and the adult thieves of the Thieves Guild of Krondor (a very large, powerful and well-organized group lead by an anonymous secret leader known only as The Upright Man) are still for the most part ruthless criminals, so his life isn't exactly paradise, no matter the talent he might exhibit.

Before the book starts, Jimmy has an encounter that will change his life completely. In the original Riftwar-trilogy he runs into and ends up helping some very important people wishing to stay incognito, and this event has marked young Jimmy's mind. This makes him do something very daring - something which in turn gets him kicked out of the city by the Upright Man, who's being very lenient by not just having him killed for it. Out of his mileu, Jimmy finds himself in completely foreign situations in the less-than-urban outskirts, and with him is a friend of his, a prostitute from the streets back home in Krondor. Parallell to this, a farm-girl close to the village Jimmy and his friend finds shelter in experiences tragedy as her family is killed and her little brother kidnapped and she sets out to find him. Their paths converge, and Jimmy, unwillingly, finds himself having to play the hero and thwart the schemes of an insane nobleman and a cunning wizard.


The story is not particularily original, but it's also not that recipe-like. In fact, it had a rather strange composition, with some odd and interesting elements thrown in, which I liked. Feist's prose is like it tends to be - good, entertaining, sometimes even captivating, and gets the job done - but rarely, if ever, very memorable. As I've said before, to me Feist seems a craftsman of literature more than an artist. He knows how to write books, rather good books, and he can churn them out one after the other without ever repeating himself too much. But in return, he also very rarely goes from the "good"-category and into the "great". This book is no different, and due to its being a standalone novel about less-than-epic events, it never really tries to be different either.

Jimmy the Hand is one of my absolute favourite characters of Feist's, though I must admit I find him more interesting in his post-adolescence than I do here. Still, I do have a huge weaknes for the Dodger-type of character, and Jimmy is an epitome of such characters if there ever was one. Jimmy is the kind of character that, when reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, you feel like two third of the characters are based off of, or when reading The Belgariad, you think that this Silk-guy is a lot like Jimmy would be in a less realistic setting. This, of course, while being what makes him interesting, also risks making him feel generic. But while sometimes he maybe does, I think that for the most part Feist (and Stirling) manages not to walk into that particular trap.

The other characters surprised me - I was half-expecting them to be a bit more flat than they turned out to be; a sign, I think, that it's been too long since I read anything by Feist and that my memories of his weaknesses have grown stronger over the years than my memories of his virtues.


All in all, I'd say this book was well worth the read, to be sure - but hardly anything special. It's a welcome addition to what I find to be one of the more fleshed-out fantasy-worlds I've read about (simply by virtue of being the one with the most books set in it), though, and especially so for giving me yet another story of Jimmy the Hand, boy-thief of Krondor.

I've now recieved four more Erikson-books and the "Jimmy the Hand"-book by Feist I mentioned, so it is once again time to put Sherlock Holmes back on the shelf.

"Deadhouse Gates" is among them, luckily, but I've recived an e-mail saying I will have to wait a while for some of the others, including the third one (whose name escapes me at the moment), so hopefully, the delay will be over before I'm finished with DG. Judging from the size of it, though, I'll say I've got good odds.

Raymond E. Feist is a shrewd one. The "Conclave of Shadows"-series of three books that was a continuation of the "Serpentwar Saga" of five that again was a follow-up to the prequel "The King's Buccaneer" which by the way was the second of two sequels of the original "Riftwar"-trilogy, the first one being "Prince of the Blood" - and lo and behold, the "Conclave of Shadows" turns out to be just the preface to another, new, bigger series, which seems to be intended to be on par with the Serpentwar Saga and the Riftwar-trilogy in epicness - "The Darkwar Saga".


Confused yet? When you add the Legacy of the Riftwar-series, the Empire-trilogy, the Krondor-series and various short-stories, which all takes place within this same universe and all are, more or less, parts of the Big Whole while also being individual stories on their own, I'd say you should be. I know I am, and I've read it all.


But I'm loving it!



"Exile's Return" was interesting, in that the main antagonist (not the main villain orchestrating all the badness, that was someone else, but the guy who was the direct opposite and enemy of the main character) in books 1 and 2 of the series suddenly becomes the protagonist. And it works. Totally.

Feist isn't a brilliant author, writing-style-wise, but he's a decent one, especially in his later works. But he totally captures me - I've read this 350 plus pages long book in three days, while, I dare say, working rather hard on my exam and also finding time to a lot of other stuff. Now, back eight to ten years ago, 350 pages in three days was normal, but nowadays, 350 is what I read in seven to fifteen days.

While book 2 of this series had some suspisiously strong likenesses with "The Count of Monte Christo" (which, by the way, isn't a bad way to go when you're going to steal something, superb book if I ever read one), this, too, had strong elements of that, though in a very different and slightly less obvious way.

The only drawback is that it didn't have a real endning, it was more of a cliffhanger while waiting for the next series. Which is okay, I kind of expected it due to what a friend of mine who've already read this series told me, but still, Feist usually wraps things up more neatly than this at the end of a series. Oh, well. I'm just happily looking forward to the first book of the Darkwar Saga.

And now, Terje, I'll start on Erikson. As soon as I've visited Outland so that I can buy book #1, that is. They didn't have any copies of #2 left there, I saw to my grief when I checked their shelves yesterday, but I suppose I can order it.

I've just finished "King of Foxes", meaning I've got only one book left to be up-to-speed on Raymond E. Feist's complete writings of the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan.

For those uninitiated, I decided this would be an excellent opportunity to sum up his series. There are no spoilers of importance ins this go-through, though things such as the span of time a book will cover and the type of book it will be (i.e. "war stories", "romance", etc) and some information of setting and general plotline ("boy grows up and becomes a rather successful chimney-sweep") will occur.

Feist has a very interesting angle on the fantasy-series-phenomenon, instead of writing series in new worlds when the first one is finished, or instead of writing one, long massive series focusing on a certain set of characters, he writes individual series with no relation between each other apart from all taking place in the same universe. Of course, this causes them to relate to each other, and opens for a reading of his entire works as one long saga, but it also allows for each and every of his series (or stand-alone-books) to be read without any knowledge of the author's previous work.

I will here go through the different series and books of his which are set in this universe, and I'll do so in a chronological order set by when the stories takes place in relation to each other, not in the order in which they were written and published, as that would be far more confusing.

The Riftwar Saga
Feist started of this series with the book Magician, sometimes divided into two volumes, titled "Magician: Apprentice" and "Magician: Master". The book is arch-typical fantasy, following two children on their way from childhood to adulthood and eventually the status of powerful heroes, one as a mage, the other as a warrior. The book makes no effort to hide its heavy loaning from known RPG-scenarios, a tendency that's very clear later in this series as well, though maybe not quite to the extent of the first book. But this is not very problematic, the story is interesting and the characters fun, so you look past the somewhat stereotyped situations. After all, Feist has never tried to hide that the world, Midkemia, is a world originally created by him and his roleplaying friends for role-playing in.

The book covers a war between to nations, with a twist - the nations are located on different planets, the route between them opened by means of magically produced "rifts". One is highly inspired by Japanese and general Oriental imperialism, and is located on a planet called "Kelewan". The other, where most of the story takes place, is located on the planet "Midkemia", and the nation in question is a large, medieval European-type civilization. Of the two, Midkemia is the world on which most future books take place.

Book two, Silverthorn, is a typical "quest"-story, following secondary characters from the first book (though the main-characters from it do play important roles as well) as they uncover a great, dark threat on Midkemia, which also turns out to be of importance for the people on Kelewan.

The third book, A Darkness at Sethanon, is by far the weakest of the trilogy, which often tends to be the case in such series when things get very large and important and godlike creatures and the universe's very existance is in peril. Still, it's not bad, and it neatly ties book one and two together and ends the Riftwar-saga neatly. Though not his best series, I'm a big fan of chronology, and seeing as these books take place first and are the ones first written, I'd recommend everybody planning on reading Feist to begin with them.

Legends of the Riftwar
I'll also mention a short-story here, which is not technically part of this series - The Wooden Boy, Feist's contribution to the first "Legends"-anthology. Like the books of "Legends of the Riftwar" - Honoured Enemy and Murder in LaMut - it takes place during the Riftwar (that is, during "Magician" - and they're all quality war-stories, though nothing extraordinary by any means), and on Midkemia. A third book, Jimmy the Hand", was scheduled to be written, but I've heard nothing more about it. That doesn't mean it won't come out eventually, though, Feist seems to juggle his series around, writing more than one at a time.

These stories are all good entertainment, and I'll recommend them to anyone liking Feist and wanting to broaden their perspectives on his world and on the Riftwar.

The Empire-trilogy
Co-written with Janny Wurts, these books are Feist's attempt on almost pure political intrigue-stories, and are, in my opinion, highly successful an attempt. They follow a young girl from an old noble family on Kelewan (this is the only series this far exclusively taking place on that planet) as she suddenly inherits the responsibility of her House and needs to grow up very quickly to stay alive in the deadly nest of politics that rules her world. The books takes place parallell to the Riftwar-trilogy, and could easily be read both before and afterwards. Maybe Feist's best work ever, I highly recommend this trilogy to anyone liking stories of political intrigue and survival - and they are, due to taking place on Kelewan and not Midkemia - the series of Feist that has little gained quality by having previous knowledge with the universe, and thus is even more accessible to an unfamiliar reader of Feist than his other series. The books are Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of the Empire, and do, of course, give it all away while really giving nothing at all away.

The Riftwar Legacy
As his books grew popular, computer-games set in Midkemia were made. Feist co-operated with the making of the stories for these games, and when realizing how often he was asked by fans how the games fit in the continuity solved the issue by writing books based on the games. The man's a workaholic, but as a continuity freak, this thrilled me personally.
The books bear clear marks of being based on computer games - you can almost feel the lines "quest solved!" and "new quest gained!" added to some chapters... but it works, as it did with the RPG-elements in "Riftwar". I've not played the games, but as far as I can gather, the first book, Krondor: The Betrayal covers the first game, and the third book, Krondor: Tear of the Gods cover the events of the second, while the second book, Krondor: The Asassins, bridges the two. They're okay reading, taking place shortly after the Riftwar-saga, following mostly central characters from Silverthorn. As far as I've been able to gather, a fourth book was planned, but again, it just never seemed to show up.

Prince of the Blood
A stand-alone-book that in many ways is an epilogue to the original Riftwar Saga, this book centres around the two oldest sons of a central character in the original trilogy as they twenty years later go on a diplomatic mission south in Midkemia, to the great Empire of Kesh, a seemingly Middle-Easternly inspired culture. It's highly enjoyable, containing phrases like the Ghuda the mercenary's "I care so little for you that if you were on fire, I wouldn't bother to cross the street to piss on you." Also, it was the first book I ever read in English. (The Riftwar Trilogy exists in Norwegian translation)

The King's Buccaneer
Another stand-alone-book, this one is both a continuation to "Prince of the Blood" and a prologue to the next major series. It takes place another ten years or so into the future from the events taking place in "Prince of the Blood", and follows the younger brother of the two main characters in the last book. Though an independent story, it beautifully sets up the coming series, and I strongly suggest to anyone thinking of reading "the Serpentwar Saga" to consider this as "book zero" and read it before starting on the series itself.

The Serpentwar Saga
While they're all good, all the series and books above cover relatively unimportant events. Political shifts, sure. Wars, by all means. Life and death of characters both good and bad, oh, very much so. But not since the Riftwar Saga (and somewhat in the Riftwar Legacy) has the really major issues been touched upon. It has been almost half a century since the Riftwar Saga ended, and in a medieval world, even one with healing priests and mages, that's a long, long time. A new major conflict emerges, and these four books are my favourites of Feist's work, once again following two young men in their journies towards greatness - though, of course, these journies differ greatly fro the journies of the two characters in the Riftwar Saga. The story is set in Midkemia, but much of it is in parts we've not yet visited. The boooks, Shadow of a Dark Queen, Rise of a Merchant Prince, Rage of a Demon King, and Shards of a Broken Crown, can easily be read without prior knowledge to the 'verse, though I strongly recommend reading "King's Buccaneer" first. They end conclusively, but with at the same time with a clear "to be continued"-feeling, which is done in the next series, the present one:

Conclave of Shadows
Thirty years or so after the Serpentwar Saga, the Conclave of Shadows is manipulating and manouvering to keep evil at bay, and we follow one of their prime agents in books reminding me of a cross between the "Count of Monte Cristo" and James Bond, set in Midkemia, though great portions of it in parts we've not seen yet, Feist ever expanding our knowledge of this world. The original kingdom of the Riftwar Saga is still somewhat of an anchor, though, from which the reader easily can orientate him- or herself. Showing that he masters the secret agent-stories as well as the warstories and the political intrigue, Feist once again makes me happy to read his books with Talon of the Silver Hawk and King of Foxes. A third book, The Exile, which I've not read yet, seems to continue on the story begun in these two books, but I'm not sure whether or not it counts as a part of the series due to what I know of the plot and character-focus being somewhat unrelated to the Conclave of Shadows (though greatly related to the main character of the two previous books).

Well, that was that. I'm eagerly awaiting more from this chap. Any questions? ;D