Amazon.co.uk Review
Silverhorn is the sequel to
Magician, which, like a venerable patriarch, stands at the head of a great tribe of fantasy writing. When Raymond Feist's enormous novel was published, critics called it "the best new fantasy concept in years", and Feist has refined and explored that concept over a dozen novels. His "concept" was to bring together two (and later, more) whole, intricately realised Fantasy worlds. Midkemia is a Tolkienian realm, a European-Medieval series of kingdoms in which magic is prominent, and where men share the earth with dwarves and elves. Feist's genius was inventing another sword and sorcercy realm based more closely on eastern models, the Empire of Tsuranuanni, as vast as Ancient China, as formalised and devoted to the arts of war as a samurai Japan. A magical rift in time-space brings these two worlds clashing together, and the young boy Pug and his soldier friend Tomas are thrown into the ensuing maelstrom of invasion and epic battle, before embarking on a more fundamental magical journey towards the very roots of evil itself. Feist's two sequels to
Magician,
Silverthorn and
A Darkness at Sethanon complete the richly conceived "Riftwar Saga", and Fiest has gone on to chronicle other aspects of his invented worlds. With Janny Wurts he wrote the "Empire" trilogy, which charts the rise, through the rigid patriarchy of the Empire of Tsuranuanni, of a remarkable female heroine, a woman who eventually reaches the heights of the imperial throne itself
Daughter of the Empire,
Servant of the Empire and
Mistress of Empire. More recently he has returned to the world of Medkemia, and to his hero Pug, with the Serpentwar saga, beginning with
Shadow of a Dark Queen and continuing with
Rise of a Merchant Prince,
Rage of a Demon King and
Shards of a Broken Crown. Heroic Fantasy is a crowded-enough field, but Feist stands out in it for his sheer inventive power, the scope and range of his narratives, the diversity of his characters and his thundering battle sequences. Start reading here, and you may find yourself unable to stop until you have followed the saga right up to date. --
Adam Roberts
Review
A largely undistinguished but competently wrought sword-and-sorcery sequel to Magician (1982). With planet Midkemia at peace following the defeat and assimilation of interdimensional invaders, the Tsurani, stalwart Prince Arutha will wed the fair Anita. But already new troubles are brewing, in the form of a coalition of evil-doers inspired by the mysterious, powerful sorcerer Murmandamus. (His zombie-like slaves are unkillable and must be burned or have their hearts chopped out.) A poisoned crossbow bolt meant for Arutha strikes Anita instead; so, as the lady lies in a magical coma, Arutha and friends must quest for a cure, namely the semi-mythical silverthorn plant which only grows in the heart of enemy territory. Meanwhile, Tsurani-trained magician Pug, needing some high-voltage help to discover who Munnandamus is, the source of his godlike powers, and a means to defeat him, travels to the Tsurani world, where he's sheltered by a long-lost colony of Midkemian elves in their city beneath the polar ice. Workmanlike doings, modestly appealing characters, and a more thoughtful array of evil beasties and bad guys than before: a notch above average overall, and an improvement on the chaotic, overlong Magician. (Kirkus Reviews)
by Raymond E. Feist
by Raymond E. Feist
by Raymond E. Feist
