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A Kingdom Besieged (Midkemian Trilogy 1)
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Review
Praise for Raymond E. Feist:
‘File under guilty pleasure’ Guardian
‘Get in at the start of a master’s new series’ Daily Sport
‘Well-written and distinctly above average… intelligent… intriguing’ Publishers Weekly
‘ Epic scope…vivid imagination…a significant contribution to the growth of the field of fantasy’ Washington Post
Review
Praise for Raymond E. Feist: 'File under guilty pleasure' Guardian 'Get in at the start of a master's new series' Daily Sport 'Well-written and distinctly above average! intelligent! intriguing' Publishers Weekly ' Epic scope!vivid imagination!a significant contribution to the growth of the field of fantasy' Washington Post
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
59 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having followed Feist since Magician turned up in 1982 it is fair to admit that this reviewer has found the Darkwar and Demonwar Sagas not to the same par as the Riftwar and Serpentwar Sagas. I had a growing disquiet that Feist had entered the twenty-first century with a little less enthusiasm than during the previous fifteen years. Midkemia also suffered from similar symptoms as Jordon's Wheel of Time - namely, a desire to expand a series that was neatly coming to a conclusion due to the pressure of fans and publishers alike who demanded (rightly) more from the author. Feist achieved this through Pug and the concept of multiple dimensions (a theme that drew closely to Weis & Hickman's flirt with The Deathgate Cycle) by expanding into a realm of Demons and inter-dimensional travel through Pug, his family and associates.
The books came out yearly like a smooth conveyor belt and they lacked that...something...that brilliance that makes Magician one of the stand-out fantasy novels to date.
With "A Kingdom Besieged" Feist appears to have taken a hard look at what has made him such a powerful author of the genre and delivered a new novel that spends most of its time in that world. Namely, a move away from the pure fantastical of inter-dimensional demonic creatures and back to Crydee, Krondor, LaMut, the great Kesh, Roldem et al.. We are back with "real" characters such as Ty, Talwin Hawkin's son, the new Duke of Crydee - Hal - and his two brothers, Brendan and Martin. A fiery Bethany pulled straight from the ever-influential Maid Marion with these four mean we have a new set of eyes that witness an assault on the Keep and an audacious plan by Kesh that sits comfortably and, more importantly, familiarly with the world of Midkemia.
Jim Dasher is racing around with the rest of the world to understand how the Keshian Empire has managed to gear itself silently for the greatest colonisation effort the pen of Feist has ever envisioned.
In the background a demon known as "Child" grows to maturity and seeks her own quest to get back to Midkemia with Belog at her side - it was with huge delight this reviewer understood what Feist has done with this pair - and by the end of the opener of this trilogy we find Pug is come full circle with the truth behind the previous sagas revealed. An ancient enemy is back to menace the existence of everything. It's almost like turning on Doctor Who after so many years away and seeing the Daleks again. That shiver of a wide-eyed child reading enthralled through the night is remembered once again.
It has taken Feist twenty glorious years to produce a novel of the breathtaking quality of Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon. Nostalgia aside this latest isn't quite at those levels but this saga promises to get to the same heights. I cannot wait for "A Crown Imperiled" because we are back where it all started - Crydee - and we have a new generation who have the same dignity and nobility that a young Pug and Tomas once brought to Midkemia. The anticipation is delicious...
The books came out yearly like a smooth conveyor belt and they lacked that...something...that brilliance that makes Magician one of the stand-out fantasy novels to date.
With "A Kingdom Besieged" Feist appears to have taken a hard look at what has made him such a powerful author of the genre and delivered a new novel that spends most of its time in that world. Namely, a move away from the pure fantastical of inter-dimensional demonic creatures and back to Crydee, Krondor, LaMut, the great Kesh, Roldem et al.. We are back with "real" characters such as Ty, Talwin Hawkin's son, the new Duke of Crydee - Hal - and his two brothers, Brendan and Martin. A fiery Bethany pulled straight from the ever-influential Maid Marion with these four mean we have a new set of eyes that witness an assault on the Keep and an audacious plan by Kesh that sits comfortably and, more importantly, familiarly with the world of Midkemia.
Jim Dasher is racing around with the rest of the world to understand how the Keshian Empire has managed to gear itself silently for the greatest colonisation effort the pen of Feist has ever envisioned.
In the background a demon known as "Child" grows to maturity and seeks her own quest to get back to Midkemia with Belog at her side - it was with huge delight this reviewer understood what Feist has done with this pair - and by the end of the opener of this trilogy we find Pug is come full circle with the truth behind the previous sagas revealed. An ancient enemy is back to menace the existence of everything. It's almost like turning on Doctor Who after so many years away and seeing the Daleks again. That shiver of a wide-eyed child reading enthralled through the night is remembered once again.
It has taken Feist twenty glorious years to produce a novel of the breathtaking quality of Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon. Nostalgia aside this latest isn't quite at those levels but this saga promises to get to the same heights. I cannot wait for "A Crown Imperiled" because we are back where it all started - Crydee - and we have a new generation who have the same dignity and nobility that a young Pug and Tomas once brought to Midkemia. The anticipation is delicious...
25 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
(NO SPOILER and plot-point free review).
FINALLY, Feist seems to be back on form. There's a lot to enjoy here and while many of the classic "bad Feistisms" are in evidence (spelling mistakes, lazy naming of characters with the same name as their forebears etc) they don't really detract from what feels like a very promising start to the [rumoured] final part of the riftwar cycle.
It really feels like Feist has spent some time on this book and invested his characters and the situations with some real attention. There's a sense here of a lot of different threads being drawn together and while it's not as fluid or as natural as some of the epic fantasy sagas which span an equal number of books (and it wasn't originally conceived that way), it's thrilling to read. I blasted through it in a day and a half and if you're Feist fan I'm sure you will too. There's an awful lot of politics and a fair amount of discussion in this first book, but I didn't mind that. It helps to build the tension and the feeling that he really will deliver a corker this time. The ending also gave me a real chill and I had that wonderful feeling of mystery and wonder that I haven't experienced for a while with Feist. The final few pages are absolutely vintage and I really hope you get the same thrill from them. In my opinion, when he's on form, there's no-one better.
If you've been with Feist since Magician then frankly, yes, it's worth it. Four stars because it's too tough to call this one until we see what the rest of the trilogy (duology?) looks like.
Hope this brief review has been useful for you.
FINALLY, Feist seems to be back on form. There's a lot to enjoy here and while many of the classic "bad Feistisms" are in evidence (spelling mistakes, lazy naming of characters with the same name as their forebears etc) they don't really detract from what feels like a very promising start to the [rumoured] final part of the riftwar cycle.
It really feels like Feist has spent some time on this book and invested his characters and the situations with some real attention. There's a sense here of a lot of different threads being drawn together and while it's not as fluid or as natural as some of the epic fantasy sagas which span an equal number of books (and it wasn't originally conceived that way), it's thrilling to read. I blasted through it in a day and a half and if you're Feist fan I'm sure you will too. There's an awful lot of politics and a fair amount of discussion in this first book, but I didn't mind that. It helps to build the tension and the feeling that he really will deliver a corker this time. The ending also gave me a real chill and I had that wonderful feeling of mystery and wonder that I haven't experienced for a while with Feist. The final few pages are absolutely vintage and I really hope you get the same thrill from them. In my opinion, when he's on form, there's no-one better.
If you've been with Feist since Magician then frankly, yes, it's worth it. Four stars because it's too tough to call this one until we see what the rest of the trilogy (duology?) looks like.
Hope this brief review has been useful for you.
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've followed Feist's books since Magician first came to out in the early 80's. Sometimes he's been great, sometimes ok, a late simply bad. His last two books were frankly painful to read due to the poor quality through and through, it seemed that he was running out of ideas.
So is this a return to form? Yes and no.He's rehashing some of his old ideas and he's dealing with them quite abruptly - as someone else mentioned killing of a character in 10 lines without any real emotional response from his family?
There are however some nice new ideas in the midst of it all, and the execution of things is less sloppy than the previous two books.
One nice new idea and the reharsh of his previous 3-4 best plots should build up to an epic story over the trilogy but... This book should have been 600-700 pages long at least, more things should have happened to the characters and when it happened he should have spent more time on it. From here on there will be spoilers so stop reading if you haven't read it yet.
Comments on plot lines:
Jimmy Dasher - doesn't work for me. There is only one Jimmy the Hand - let him rest in peace
Martin, Brendan, Hal, Bethany - we've seen most of it before but it works nicely. Martin as Arutha, Hal as Lyam and Brendan as someone new which is why REF doesn't know what to do with him yet i think.
Sandreena - I can't get excited about this plot line, though the Nighthawk twist is nice
Pug, Magnus -ok at best
Child, Begot - very good - the best parts of the book by far, and the only bit that is original - it'll be interesting to see how this develops when the Miranda demon meets Pug
Overall 3 out of 5
So is this a return to form? Yes and no.He's rehashing some of his old ideas and he's dealing with them quite abruptly - as someone else mentioned killing of a character in 10 lines without any real emotional response from his family?
There are however some nice new ideas in the midst of it all, and the execution of things is less sloppy than the previous two books.
One nice new idea and the reharsh of his previous 3-4 best plots should build up to an epic story over the trilogy but... This book should have been 600-700 pages long at least, more things should have happened to the characters and when it happened he should have spent more time on it. From here on there will be spoilers so stop reading if you haven't read it yet.
Comments on plot lines:
Jimmy Dasher - doesn't work for me. There is only one Jimmy the Hand - let him rest in peace
Martin, Brendan, Hal, Bethany - we've seen most of it before but it works nicely. Martin as Arutha, Hal as Lyam and Brendan as someone new which is why REF doesn't know what to do with him yet i think.
Sandreena - I can't get excited about this plot line, though the Nighthawk twist is nice
Pug, Magnus -ok at best
Child, Begot - very good - the best parts of the book by far, and the only bit that is original - it'll be interesting to see how this develops when the Miranda demon meets Pug
Overall 3 out of 5
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Kingdom
Back to the good old format which we love so much the book brings back long lost inhabitants of MidKemia. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Les
Great book
I love this author - not my fave book by him but still a good read I think! I really enjoyed reading it, as I do with most of his stuff
Published 20 days ago by Skyfox
dissapointing
After reading about all of midkiemens wars I was really excited, to find a new trilogy and was looking forward to tart reading the first installment. Read more
Published 1 month ago by dissapointed
better but not great
This will be my last Feist purchase. The quality of the writing has become increasingly poor, this is marginally better than the Chaos War books ( although I didn't bother with the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by so76
Fascinating Characters
I have read much of Feist's work and enjoyed it all. This book was no exception. Pug the Magician features again, this time suffering after the death of his wife and son. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ilovefantasy
Again...Excellent!
The saga just keeps getting better, with some surprises, especially the end, which pains me to wait another 18 months for the small paperback to be released!!
Published 1 month ago by AMyd666
time to close
Although well written and interesting I feel it's time for Feist to either wrap up the world of midkemia or change tack completely. Read more
Published 3 months ago by D Caughey
Edge of My Seat Read!
After the last so called series(just two books could have gone to three)I was a bit reluctant to buy this one as it was to be a Christmas present. Read more
Published 4 months ago by ''Sam''
Feist Lover
In my opinion Feist has lost the edge he used to have in his earlier books but I still enjoy reading them. Read more
Published 5 months ago by tkintheuk
feist still got it
Another quality series from one of the best, if not the best fantasy writer of all time. despite how long this series has run for he can still bring out suprises, and suck you deep... Read more
Published 5 months ago by chronic
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