At the Gates of Darkness: Book Two of the Demonwar Saga [Hardcover]

Raymond E. Feist (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Demonwar Saga | Publication Date: April 6, 2010

Ten years after the terrible Darkwar finally ended, catastrophe once again threatens to engulf Midkemia and Kelewan, as the demon hordes continue their relentless quest to infiltrate this realm of magic and wonder. . . .

At the Gates of Darkness
Book Two of the Demonwar Saga

To protect their world from the savage demon hordes, the Black Sorcerer Pug and Midkemia's clandestine protectors, the Conclave of Shadows, forged an uneasy alliance of formidable magical talents. Together, this brave band of wizards, demon masters, warriors, and elves defeated the brutal Demon King Maarg and turned back the onrushing death tide.

But Maarg's fall has not stopped the demonic onslaught, and danger now looms greater than ever before. Amid the barren ridges of the Valley of Lost Men, in the shadows of an ancient Keshian fortress, the fearsome demon Dahun and the mad necromancer Belasco have joined forces, creating an unstoppable union of deathly black magics that even Pug and a united Conclave may not be strong enough to withstand.

Battling the Demon Legion has taken a heavy blood toll on the valiant and dedicated magician, claiming the lives of nearly all those he loves. Though he is racked by despair and rage, Pug knows that the time for mourning must wait. Putting aside his pain, he and the Conclave and their allies—the cold-blooded master spy Jim Dasher; the fearsome young Knight-Adamant Sandreena; her former lover the necromancer Amirantha; two renegade Star Elves; and Pug's surviving son, Magnus—must marshal their resources against this latest threat. None can forget the dozens of worlds overrun by the demon plague and the millions of dead left behind in their wake. At the gates of darkness, where shadows hide even deeper shadows, these magical defenders will face what is sure to be the bloodiest, nastiest fight their land has ever seen. And as evil, mayhem, and dark magic are unleashed, none can predict if they—and Midkemia itself—will survive.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist's previous novels include the Demonwar Saga (Rides a Dread Legion and At the Gates of Darkness); the Darkwar Saga (Flight of the Nighthawks, Into a Dark Realm, and Wrath of a Mad God); the Conclave of Shadows (Talon of the Silver Hawk, King of Foxes, and Exile's Return); the Riftwar Legacy (Krondor: The Betrayal, Krondor: The Assassins, and Krondor: Tear of the Gods); the Serpentwar Saga (Shadow of a Dark Queen, Rise of a Merchant Prince, Rage of a Demon King, and Shards of a Broken Crown); the Riftwar Saga (Magician, Silverthorn, and A Darkness at Sethanon); Faerie Tale; The Prince of the Blood; and The King's Buccaneer. Feist lives in San Diego, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper Voyager; First Edition edition (April 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061468371
• ISBN-13: 978-0061468377
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Comfort food in a book, November 7, 2010

By 

scot16897 "scot16897" (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: At the Gates of Darkness: Book Two of the Demonwar Saga (Hardcover)

For a long time, I bought Feist's books in hardback, because I expected to re-read them. Yet except for the first several, I didn't want to revisit them.

In the middle of this book, I realized why I read Feist despite declining creativity and an increasing reliance on revisionist writing and a need to deliver to readers an escalating danger.

I read Midkemia books to check in on what Pug is up to, along with some supporting characters. Understandably, with time, my other favorite Midkemians have dropped out of the storyline due to age, and new descendants have tried (never entirely successfully) to replace them. This doesn't mean I don't like Jim Dasher, but he'll never replace Jimmy the Hand.

If you want new ideas and fresh concepts, just move on from Raymond Feist.

If you enjoy a good storyteller telling you stories you kinda remember from somewhere, but with characters you like, keep going.

After 20-something books, Feist doesn't deliver freshness. But he can give you a warm, happy, satisfying feeling, without ever reaching the delightful heights he once did.

46 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars repetitive at best, April 10, 2010

By 

Den "Den" (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At the Gates of Darkness: Book Two of the Demonwar Saga (Hardcover)

I've read all of Raymen E. Feists' books and up to a certain point enjoyed them immensely.
However, somewhere around Talon of the Silver Hawk his writing started to lose interest, the same concepts were brought in over and over, and the one ever present character in all books, Pug the magician, had reached a stage in which he had been made so powerful by the author that Rayomind just couldn't come up with decent challenges and storylines anymore.

This book is more of the same, repetetive situations and ideas, the author squirming and trying to alter and abandon previously introduced truths and premises just so the new book might somehow end in a climax. A hopeless endeavour as the story is bland, lacks any form of character development, tries to confuse, obfuscate and then reveal a new set of premises in an utter let down ending.
It's devoid of any interesting, exciting chapters to such an extent that it feels like one long conversation between a few main characters.

It's a shame seeing a series you've been following avidly go downhill rapidly, and I will always love the early work Raymond did, but I cannot in good faith recommend this to anyone.
To be honest I can hardly believe Raymond wrote this, so far is it from the wonderfully engaging work he used to come up with.

27 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One More Example of Page Inflation, April 12, 2010

By 

J. C. Loggins "Jesse C. Loggins" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: At the Gates of Darkness: Book Two of the Demonwar Saga (Hardcover)

This is not Feist's best work. As previous reviews have pointed out, Feist is running out of fresh material for Midkemia. He needs to take a break and look elsewhere, or at least move away from Pug as the main character.

That having been said, I deducted an additional star for making this a trilogy instead of a single book. This has been done by a method that has become increasingly common, and increasingly tiresome - Page Inflation. Let's compare this book to another contemporary book from the same genre: Jim Butcher's "First Lord's Fury".

At first glance, Butcher's book only appears to be about half again as long as this book (480 pages vs. 320). But closer examination of those pages shows that this book's page count has been inflated by using large print and extra blank space on the page. When you start looking at word count, this book is only about half the size of Butcher's book - yet has a suggested retail price of $2.00 more. Frankly I'm getting tired of being ripped off this way.