Chaoswar Saga, Book Two
Raymond E. Feist
Harper Voyager
March 13, 2012 / 978-0061468414
Fantasy
Amazon
Reviewed
by Jan Fields
A dark force
is at work behind the faces of reality in Midkemia. Three men who
look like brothers, but are both more and less than human, have
been manipulating political forces to bring about a single goal.
What that goal is -- no human knows, but many must struggle to find
out before it is too late. Like many high fantasy novels, A Crown
Imperiled has a sweeping cast that jumps us from place to place
in each chapter. It can be challenging to keep up, especially to
a newcomer to the Riftwar Cycle, and an editing error (where two
characters suddenly change places for no understandable reason)
doesn't help keep it all straight. Yet even when I struggled to
work out the machinations of the politics and plot twists on the
page, I was caught up in the compelling characters and the lively
action of each scene. Raymond E. Feist is truly the master of the
scene, bringing readers deeply into the moments of the novel --
something I've often found lacking in High Fantasy.
Plus, I'm a
sucker for a good romance, especially when it's mixed with action
and duty. This book had several compelling romantic elements. I
loved the young princess and her valiant protector Hal, but even
more, I loved the two spymasters Jim and Franciezka Sorboz, and
their rocky love that has taken them both by surprise.
Now, I do have
to admit -- although I found the writing enjoyable, the editing
of the book had a surprising number of errors for a book from a
major publisher and I met at least one sentence where I couldn't
even venture a guess of what the author meant to type. This was
an annoying distraction in an otherwise fascinating book. Apparently
the myriad of editing problems are going to be correct in the coming
paperback version of the book. Considering the confusion some of
the errors caused, it might be worthwhile to wait for the paperback.
It's a book that's well worth the wait.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
Kingdom Beseiged, No 1 [review]
A Crown Imperiled, No 2 [review]
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