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A review by kenlaan
Shadow of a Dark Queen by Raymond E. Feist
4.0
Shadow of a Dark Queen was quite a bit better than I was expecting, I'm happy to report!
My journey with reading Raymond E. Feist - a familiar name among fantasy readers in the 90s - has been quite interesting. Starting with [b:Magician: Apprentice|13812|Magician Apprentice (The Riftwar Saga, #1)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408317983l/13812._SY75_.jpg|15983] and [b:Magician: Master|13810|Magician Master (The Riftwar Saga, #2)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556425333l/13810._SY75_.jpg|766896], and the two following novels, [b:Silverthorn|149302|Silverthorn (The Riftwar Saga, #3)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1272603402l/149302._SY75_.jpg|144096] and [b:A Darkness At Sethanon|13813|A Darkness At Sethanon (The Riftwar Saga, #4)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1429041258l/13813._SY75_.jpg|15940], I found them enjoyable fun adventure fantasy, but definitely products of their time. The characterization was a little simplistic, female characters appeared on the sidelines, mostly as princesses fretting about their lovers as the men went on heroic adventures, and while the world-building was impressive and there were a lot of plot threads laid out (some surprisingly only just now beginning to bare fruit in Shadow of a Dark Queen), the initial story was a pretty by-the-numbers coming-of-age fantasy tale meets sword and sorcery, akin to [b:A Wizard of Earthsea|13642|A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1353424536l/13642._SY75_.jpg|113603] or [b:The Dragonbone Chair|91981|The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #1)|Tad Williams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1477417642l/91981._SY75_.jpg|840191], and paling somewhat in comparison to both.
And then I read The Empire Trilogy, starting with [b:Daughter of the Empire|589979|Daughter of the Empire (The Empire Trilogy, #1)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404668411l/589979._SY75_.jpg|2960453] which Feist co-wrote with Janny Wurts, and was astounded by how good it was, and how modern it felt, given that the first entry was published in 1987. It reminded me a lot of the best of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives series: extensive world-building featuring an interesting and non-Western culture, interwoven within a compelling story following a fantastic female lead, with believable progression of her belief structure and the political shifts within her society.
And then, I read the Krondor's Sons duology, which continued the original series with Feist writing by himself again. I was pretty disappointed with the first volume, and enjoyed the latter. So a mixed bag.
Shadow of a Dark Queen continues the main story, and I'm happy with the start of this new series. Every one of the previous books featured a noble of some kind as the lead, and that's refreshingly not the case with Erik, who is raised in a small village as the apprentice to a drunken blacksmith, and very much reminded me of Perrin from Wheel of Time starting out. Due to being a part of the rather justified murder of a noble, he gets pulled into serving in a false mercenary company that is actually essentially a special operations group commissioned by the Prince to investigate the stirrings of an immense foreign army across the ocean from his homeland, a la The Dirty Dozen.
I noted pretty early on that it seemed like the quality of Feist's prose had improved in some indescribable ways, and there's been a tonal shift too. Whereas the earlier books had lots of harrowing battles and whatnot, things still felt pretty "clean". This book surprisingly reminded me of [b:Deadhouse Gates|55401|Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)|Steven Erikson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385272744l/55401._SX50_.jpg|3898716] at times, given the desert setting and the structure of a large army brutally engulfing scattered cities.
While there are still few female characters to be found, a few chapters are devoted to the mysterious Miranda who is seeking out Pug, the powerful sorcerer and main character of the original series. I bet she'll focus more in the later books, and I liked their interplay.
Overall, this was a good high fantasy adventure book, and I'm excited to see where things go in the next entries. I started reading Magician for a bit of nostalgia and for a bit of wanting to read simpler things, but I'm finding myself pleasantly surprised by the increasing quality of the Riftwar Cycle as I go.
My journey with reading Raymond E. Feist - a familiar name among fantasy readers in the 90s - has been quite interesting. Starting with [b:Magician: Apprentice|13812|Magician Apprentice (The Riftwar Saga, #1)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408317983l/13812._SY75_.jpg|15983] and [b:Magician: Master|13810|Magician Master (The Riftwar Saga, #2)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556425333l/13810._SY75_.jpg|766896], and the two following novels, [b:Silverthorn|149302|Silverthorn (The Riftwar Saga, #3)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1272603402l/149302._SY75_.jpg|144096] and [b:A Darkness At Sethanon|13813|A Darkness At Sethanon (The Riftwar Saga, #4)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1429041258l/13813._SY75_.jpg|15940], I found them enjoyable fun adventure fantasy, but definitely products of their time. The characterization was a little simplistic, female characters appeared on the sidelines, mostly as princesses fretting about their lovers as the men went on heroic adventures, and while the world-building was impressive and there were a lot of plot threads laid out (some surprisingly only just now beginning to bare fruit in Shadow of a Dark Queen), the initial story was a pretty by-the-numbers coming-of-age fantasy tale meets sword and sorcery, akin to [b:A Wizard of Earthsea|13642|A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1353424536l/13642._SY75_.jpg|113603] or [b:The Dragonbone Chair|91981|The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #1)|Tad Williams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1477417642l/91981._SY75_.jpg|840191], and paling somewhat in comparison to both.
And then I read The Empire Trilogy, starting with [b:Daughter of the Empire|589979|Daughter of the Empire (The Empire Trilogy, #1)|Raymond E. Feist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404668411l/589979._SY75_.jpg|2960453] which Feist co-wrote with Janny Wurts, and was astounded by how good it was, and how modern it felt, given that the first entry was published in 1987. It reminded me a lot of the best of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives series: extensive world-building featuring an interesting and non-Western culture, interwoven within a compelling story following a fantastic female lead, with believable progression of her belief structure and the political shifts within her society.
And then, I read the Krondor's Sons duology, which continued the original series with Feist writing by himself again. I was pretty disappointed with the first volume, and enjoyed the latter. So a mixed bag.
Shadow of a Dark Queen continues the main story, and I'm happy with the start of this new series. Every one of the previous books featured a noble of some kind as the lead, and that's refreshingly not the case with Erik, who is raised in a small village as the apprentice to a drunken blacksmith, and very much reminded me of Perrin from Wheel of Time starting out. Due to being a part of the rather justified murder of a noble, he gets pulled into serving in a false mercenary company that is actually essentially a special operations group commissioned by the Prince to investigate the stirrings of an immense foreign army across the ocean from his homeland, a la The Dirty Dozen.
I noted pretty early on that it seemed like the quality of Feist's prose had improved in some indescribable ways, and there's been a tonal shift too. Whereas the earlier books had lots of harrowing battles and whatnot, things still felt pretty "clean". This book surprisingly reminded me of [b:Deadhouse Gates|55401|Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)|Steven Erikson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385272744l/55401._SX50_.jpg|3898716] at times, given the desert setting and the structure of a large army brutally engulfing scattered cities.
While there are still few female characters to be found, a few chapters are devoted to the mysterious Miranda who is seeking out Pug, the powerful sorcerer and main character of the original series. I bet she'll focus more in the later books, and I liked their interplay.
Overall, this was a good high fantasy adventure book, and I'm excited to see where things go in the next entries. I started reading Magician for a bit of nostalgia and for a bit of wanting to read simpler things, but I'm finding myself pleasantly surprised by the increasing quality of the Riftwar Cycle as I go.