- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Voyager; New edition edition (4 May 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0002246864
- ISBN-13: 978-0002246866
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 14.8 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 872,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
‘Talon of the Silver Hawk is a vibrant and compelling tale’
Dreamwatch
Product Description
In the second instalment of The Conclave of Shadows.
The Conclave demands its membership price from their new protégé: Tal must gather information on the sinister magician Laso Varen. But, to do this means service with the sorcerer's master, Duke Kaspar of Olasko – the very man he suspects of killing his family.
Talon, orphan of the Orosini tribe and last of his people has been transformed by the Conclave of Shadows from a trusting young boy to the dashing young nobleman Talwin Hawkins: educated, confident and now Roldem's premier swordsman. The title, won at the Masters’ Court, in front of the King, brought him a step closer to his desire – to avenge the massacre of his family. Two participants in the slaughter are dead by his hand; Lieutenant Campaneal fell under his blade during the Master's Tournament and the other, Raven, died whilst attempting to butcher an Orodon village as he did Tal's people.
But still his lust for vengeance will not be sated until the reason for the massacres has been uncovered and their architect revealed and punished. The Conclave demands its price from Tal: he must gather information on Laso Varen, a magician of terrible power and subtle craft, dangerous beyond contemplation. To do this means service with the sorcerer’s master, Duke Kaspar of Olasko – and swearing loyalty to the very man he suspects of killing his family, even if it means becoming the Duke’s right-hand and tracking down his enemies – the members of the Conclave and Talon's own friends.
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BIRD SOARED OVER THE CITY. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Oh dear Mr Feist, are we bound by a contract to our publishers by any chance? It is sad that a once brilliant author of a book which made it into the Top 100 books of all time (Magician) is reduced to 'writing by numbers'.
As a number of reviewers have already pointed out, King Of Foxes falls a long way short of the book that it ought to have been. Book One of the Conclave series, Talon Of The Silver Hawk, marked a welcome return to gripping fantasy writing following a number of 'collaborations' (for which you can read Feist allowed others to play around with his world and characters, usually to disastrous results in terms of the quality of the books, and took a co-writer credit) and, I hoped, paved the way for greater things to come. I completely agree that it's as though Feist just decided that he couldn't be bothered and so churned out this rubbish as quickly as he could.
It's sad that Talon (now Tal) has become so wooden that his creator doesn't feel it necessary to paint him with any kind of emotions and so even the most major setbacks (one of which caused me to feel physically sick) and betrayals fail to create any sense of despair or sadness in what is essentially the book's only character. Which leads me to the second main criticism of KOF: where are the other plots and characters which made former Feist novels so intriguing and readable. As a nod to loyal readers, Feist manages to name-check a number of former characters (for example we see Erik Von Darkmoor, of the Serpentwar Saga, now in his old age, for a fleeting moment), but where are the sub-plots and other characters to care about? When Feist does his usual trick of showing that the 'good' guys don't have it all their own way, and kills off various people as the book progresses, you just don't care about it. As for a sub-plot, what greater one could there be than the mysterious workings of the Conclave of the Shadows, yet Feist gives the reader absolutely zero insight into their operations. He could easily have done it without Tal being in the know, but that would have involved making the book longer and more effort on Feist's part. The point is that I have only just finished the book and I can't think of a single scene that didn't involve Tal - that may be ok for children's authors but from the writer of 3 of the best series in fantasy history (the Riftwar Saga, the Serpentwar Saga, the Empire series), it just isn't good enough.
I've given the book a very generous 2 stars, simply because the plot itself, one dimensional as it may have been, was sufficient to keep me reading to the end, but if I were reviewing it purely on the basis of things which have made previous Feist novels so enjoyable (character development, multiple plots and sub-plots, epic descriptions etc. etc.), then Feist should count himself lucky that Amazon doesn't allow a zero star rating. If you can't be bothered anymore then just give up and let Magician and co take pride-of-place on my bookshelf without having to sit embarrassed alongside this sort of nonsense.
As a number of reviewers have already pointed out, King Of Foxes falls a long way short of the book that it ought to have been. Book One of the Conclave series, Talon Of The Silver Hawk, marked a welcome return to gripping fantasy writing following a number of 'collaborations' (for which you can read Feist allowed others to play around with his world and characters, usually to disastrous results in terms of the quality of the books, and took a co-writer credit) and, I hoped, paved the way for greater things to come. I completely agree that it's as though Feist just decided that he couldn't be bothered and so churned out this rubbish as quickly as he could.
It's sad that Talon (now Tal) has become so wooden that his creator doesn't feel it necessary to paint him with any kind of emotions and so even the most major setbacks (one of which caused me to feel physically sick) and betrayals fail to create any sense of despair or sadness in what is essentially the book's only character. Which leads me to the second main criticism of KOF: where are the other plots and characters which made former Feist novels so intriguing and readable. As a nod to loyal readers, Feist manages to name-check a number of former characters (for example we see Erik Von Darkmoor, of the Serpentwar Saga, now in his old age, for a fleeting moment), but where are the sub-plots and other characters to care about? When Feist does his usual trick of showing that the 'good' guys don't have it all their own way, and kills off various people as the book progresses, you just don't care about it. As for a sub-plot, what greater one could there be than the mysterious workings of the Conclave of the Shadows, yet Feist gives the reader absolutely zero insight into their operations. He could easily have done it without Tal being in the know, but that would have involved making the book longer and more effort on Feist's part. The point is that I have only just finished the book and I can't think of a single scene that didn't involve Tal - that may be ok for children's authors but from the writer of 3 of the best series in fantasy history (the Riftwar Saga, the Serpentwar Saga, the Empire series), it just isn't good enough.
I've given the book a very generous 2 stars, simply because the plot itself, one dimensional as it may have been, was sufficient to keep me reading to the end, but if I were reviewing it purely on the basis of things which have made previous Feist novels so enjoyable (character development, multiple plots and sub-plots, epic descriptions etc. etc.), then Feist should count himself lucky that Amazon doesn't allow a zero star rating. If you can't be bothered anymore then just give up and let Magician and co take pride-of-place on my bookshelf without having to sit embarrassed alongside this sort of nonsense.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
After several sub-par collaborations, Raymond E. Feist returned to epic fantasy in 2002 with "Talon of the Silver Hawk," Book 1 of the Conclave of Shadows. The boy Talon saw his tribe slaughtered and was raised by the Conclave, founded at the close of Feist's previous Serpent War Saga. After learning typically Feistian lessons in swordplay and boyhood love, Talon extracted revenge on his tribe's executioners, but without any sense of the greater evil that necessitated the Conclave's founding.
"King of Foxes" sees Tal swear fealty to Duke Olasko, the noble who ordered his tribe exterminated, and Tal must mesh his thirst for revenge with his Conclave directive to investigate Olasko's magician Varen. The novel starts with plodding court intrigue, but the story quickens as Tal enters Olasko's service. Feist's novels have always relied on plot rather than narrative, but the prose in "King of Foxes" rings particularly wooden, and none of the new settings such as Opardum feel as real as the grit of Krondor in past novels.
After Tal suffers a reversal, Feist rushes through a predictable detention and escape sequence and then Tal easily assembles an army of thousands for his personal revenge, since the Conclave's barely mentioned goals fortunately coincide with his own. The predictable endgame effortlessly thwarts the supposedly powerful enemy, with scant explanation of the Conclave's findings. Tal redeems his clouded heart, but his character oddly ends the novel in a state of complete resolution, as though Feist plans to switch to a new main character for Book 3 (of a projected five).
In the Serpent War Saga, Feist used two new young characters and half a dozen older ones to tell a spellbinding tale of invasion that took the bold risk of killing old characters and destroying Feist's core city. The Conclave of Shadows novels thus far have centered on only one new character, Tal, with bare flashes of older ones. Tal's plain thirst for revenge and his cold manipulation of fencing opponents and women alike render him dull, and his isolation from the Conclave's motives saps any overall tension of impending doom from the story. Perhaps a shift to a different main character, such as one more involved in the decisions of the Conclave, might enliven this saga.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Not his best to be sure, but still well worth the time to read. I think his best series to date is the Serpentwar Saga. I especially liked the Merchant Prince where Roo goes from dirt poor to the richest man in the kingdoms.
His books continue to entertain and I have yet to find one which didn't satisfy my hunger for action/adventure.
The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt is another beginning to a great epic fantasy series. It being his first work ever published, it's a little rough, but the storyline and action more than make up for it. If you like sword fighting, battle, magic and gods, you will like this book. Give it a try.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great so far!
Just started the story of Talon and am already getting absorbed just as with the other Riftwar / Serpentwar books. Love it!
Published 10 months ago by chriscy99
Halfway
The first half is terrible. I can't say why, but Talwin Hawkins grated on my nerves and the constant reminders of Talon of The Silver Hawk (both book and character) really didn't... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Western Forest
Not a book I would wish to read.
Purchased as a gift but a brief look into the book leads me to believe that, even as an avid reader, this is not a book I wish to read.
Published 16 months ago by Roger Pickard
Loving this Trilogy!
Tal certainly is one Talented fellow. Is there anything he can't do or achieve. Although he does get betrayed even that he was expecting and was actually aiming for. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Paula Fox
King of Foxes
The Midkemia books have been of variable quality. The series started extremely well but a couple of the later works were not as good. King of Foxes is good and worth reading. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. R. Greenwood
Unexpected
I liked this book and its a good follow up to Talon of the Silver Hawk. This book sees the first real introduction of the bad guy of the series. Read more
Published on 24 Nov 2009 by Nautical
well
not as good as the first, a somewhat disappointing 2nd book in this trilogy. I felt not much happened in this, and I also felt myself drifting away from Talon even more than i did... Read more
Published on 31 July 2009 by Larewen Evenstar
Not what you might expect
Raymond E. Feist has received a certain degree of critisism for his last few books. Coming out almost uniformerly year by year and at roughly the same length each it's easy to get... Read more
Published on 20 July 2007 by J. F. Allinson
Disappointing at best
I must say that I enjoyed "Talon of the Silver Hawk" and I enjoyed this book right up to the last 10 pages. Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2007 by Charles Lupica
Shadow of his Earlier Work
Having read his earlier work, this was a disappointment. I read the first in this series and as a result was not overly bothered about reading the second and third. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2006 by Philip Wright
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