Customer Reviews

Honoured Enemy

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first read Feist's Magician upon receiving it thru the Science Fiction Book Club back in the 70's. I have anxiously awaited each and every book in the Riftwar series ever since! I was skeptical of the quality of this book in the Legends series as it is co-authored by another-William Forstchen. While not familiar with Forstchen's work, I have become completely comfortable with the quality of Feist's writing and assumed that co-authoring would impact the quality of the book. My fears were unfounded though, as this book is phemonimal-I could not put it down! The character development of both the Dennis Hartraft, the head of Hartraft's Marauders, and the opposing leader of the Tsurani patrol, Asayaga, is amazing. The comparison between these two leaders and the worlds that they come from provides valuable insight into the different cultures of both the Kingdom and the world of the Tsurani. This is a MUST READ by all Riftwar fans and fantasy readers alike!!

Honored Enemy was originally only released outside the United States as part of the Legends of the Riftwar series that took place during and around the time of the Riftwar series. Feist was not able to come to a deal with his US publisher for more than 5 years until finally, the series is coming to the United States. First up is Honored Enemy.

Set 9 years into the Riftwar it features no characters we would know from the main series but instead tells of Hartraft's Marauders, a band of soldiers tied to Yabon, but with autonomy to operate behind the lines of the enemy and do as much damage as possible. The Kingdom men are fighting the Tsurani from Kelewan, but when a band of Moredhel (Dark Elves) pin down both the Marauders as well as a platoon of Tsurani under Asayaga, the enemies must join together in temporary truce or fall to the Dark Brotherhood.

I didn't expect much from this book. Feist's Riftwar Legacy, based on computer games, was rather bad and if it took five years to get published in the US how good could this one be?

Apparently, very. Honored Enemy is a strong story of two enemies working together through mutual distrust and cultural differences to stay alive. The story is told through the viewpoints of Dennis Hartraft, Asayaga, and occasionally from Borvai, a moredhel chief pursuing the humans.

Feist does well with collaborations as his Empire trilogy with Janny Wurts was very strong and this book with William Forstchen is also strong. There is good characterization and development of Dennis and Asayaga and the pace of the story is swift enough that we get past the fact that this is only a small episode in the scale of the Riftwar and features no major player. But it's a good story, perhaps even a ripping yarn which Feist so proudly told early in his career.

-Joe Sherry

Again Feist has returned to the time of the Rift War, this time to nine years after its bloody beginning. Honoured Enemy is the story of two companies of fighters, both Kingdom and Tsurani that come together in the face of moredhel attack.

The books switches perspective frequently, for entire chapters at first, between the Kingdom commander (Dennis Hartraft) and the Tsurani Force Commander (Asayaga). However, this isn't distracting, but highly enlightening as we get to see both sides of the "conflict" and its evolution. I especially enjoyed the many allusions made to Tsurani society that could only come after the publication of the Empire Trilogy. Asayaga even muses over the murder of Mara of the Acoma's father and brother at one point, but believes that she is doing well, ;-).

Furthermore, as this book was written after the Riftwar Saga, but set during the beginning of it (before Silverthorn and Sethanon) it was possible for Feist and Forstchen to allude to future events, especially as we saw into the councils of the moredhel pursuing the humans. Enough is revealed incidentally that you have to read this book after the Riftwar Saga, not in the middle.

Even after they both flee the moredhel the Kingdom and Tsurani troops are constantly on edge, not sure if the enemy of their enemy is their friend, or merely their very temporary ally. As was Murder in LaMut, Honoured Enemy is a unique look onto the world of the Kingdom of the Isles. However, it was a most welcome divergent viewpoint, revealing much that Feist didn't have room to explore in the Riftwar Saga.

As a huge fan of both authors, this was a nice collaboration. I hope this brings more attention to Mr. Forstchen's own fantasy/sf work which is way under rated. This is a great character driven story that frequently changes back and forth in perspectives which give real insight to the characters and the reasons for their actions and feelings. There are no end of the world, world shattering events taking place, just a struggle to survive and exist in a world that has seen terrible war. This is a gem in the Midkemia novels.

Honored Enemy (2001) is the first fantasy novel in the Legends of the Riftwar series. This story is set in the northwestern woods of the Kingdom of the Isles after nine years of war against the Tsurani.

In this novel, Dennis Hartraft -- commander of the Marauders -- is looking over the site of their last ambush and mourning the death of his men. The Tsurani are all dead, but they may have sent a runner back before entering the killzone. The ambush would have been more successful if Richard Kevinsson hadn't exposed himself to the fleeing Sung priest. Then he had caused the death of Jurgen, an old friend and the last survivor of his estates other than himself.

Sung Father Corwin had actually betrayed the ambush. Fleeing from the Tsurani, he had noticed Richard and recoiled from his presence. His reaction had alerted the Tsurani, who then attacked the ambush. Now Father Corwin is conducting the funeral of eighteen Marauders.

Gregory -- a Natalese Ranger -- is the chief scout for the Marauders. His friend and partner Tinuva is an eledhel elf and is not really a Marauder. Yet he is probably the best scout in the Islander forces and Dennis doesn't want to lose him.

Force Commander Asayaga commands the reinforcements for the Tsurani besieging Brendan's Stockade. He receives his order late in the day and leads this men on a forced march to the fort. He wonders why his troops are being sent there, but figures that it is just another round in the Great Game.

Bovai is a moredhel elf and commander of the Clan Raven band of Dark Brothers. He has overrun Brenden's Stockade and killed both the Islander inhabitants and the Tsurani besiegers. Now he has set an elaborate ambush for anyone who shows up at the fort.

In this story, the Marauders approach Brenden's Stockade first and quickly learn that the Dark Brothers were responsible for the final slaughter. The Tsurani troops under Asayaga show up soon thereafter. Given the circumstances, they form a temporary alliance against the Dark Brothers and flee the vicinity of the fort.

Dennis leads the combined forces to the north. That way would take them to the moredhel lands, but it is the only way not covered by the superior numbers of Dark Brothers. The Islanders and Tsurani bypass a wall closing the pass and overwhelm the moredhel defenders.

The joint forces successfully resists the first attempt to take back the position and then rest overnight in the barracks behind the wall. Gregory takes Richard on a raid of the Dark Brothers forces and they kill a few trolls and a moredhel before returning to the barracks. Later, Gregory and Tinuva ambush some human mercenaries and capture two horses.

This tale provides backstory for the Riftwar. The characters in Magician play only a slight part in this volume. While the actions in this book are outside the purview of the main story, they are even more exciting.

This story is complete in itself. Other volumes in this subseries relate various aspects of the Riftwar. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Feist & Forstchen fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of small unit tactics, close combat and a touch of romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

This is a great story, if you can't get enough of the Riftwar Saga. It maybe time for Raymond Feist to move on though. He's a great writer and I'm sure can come up with a new theme at some point. Although he has missed before!

Honored Enemy is a captivating, action-packed, adventrue story. It's about two sworn enemy forces temporarily setting aside their war in a desperate quest to survive the forces of a third, mutually more dangerous foe. The author develops the key characters while maintaining the active flow of the story. The reader can readily picture and feel the story as it unfolds. It is one of those books you can't put down until it's over and then you wish it wasn't.

Exciting books. I have not reread this one yet, but I remember it from about 2 years ago. RF is a great writer. If you like a good story that keeps you turning the page, choose him.

This book was a good, solid ready to supplement Riftwar fans. Set in the battleground of the Tsurani - Midkemian Riftwar, this book does something most unusual for novels set in this world: almost no magic. I'm writing this having read the imported British release a couple of years ago, but I don't recall a single instance in which magic is involved.

What the reader is left with is a riveting account of battles and intrigue that provides a strange dose of realism.

If readers like George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice, with its maneuvering and swords and non-sorcery flair, they will enjoy this novel.

With the exceptions of his Kelewan series with Janny Wurts, I have read all of Feist's books and I have enjoyed most of them. Immediately upon starting this book, it became obvious to me that this is not a typical Feist work. For example, there are many military fiction details that seem gratuitous in several chapters, such as the ten pages at the end describing the construction and function of a hoist needed to heave logs over a broken bridge. Personally I didn't find these military and engineering tangents to be very useful, but I mostly assigned them as Forstchen's contributions. The best feature of this book has to be the three different perspectives: Kingdom, Tsurani and Moredhel which at any given time, almost convince the reader of the righteousness of their particular cause. I especially liked Bovai's perspective which powerfully conveyed his need for revenge and his quest to regain his Clan's honor, and though he is doomed as the bad guy, I really enjoyed reading about the Moredhel lifestyle. The duel between Bovai and Tinuva was the ultimate highlight of the book and was very well described and nicely resolved. Another plus of the book was the use of unknown characters, who do not really contribute to the continuing saga of the Midkemia world, thus the potential of a surprising/tragic end was there for any of the characters, this is truly a luxury in most heroic fantasy series. With this in mind, I think the book would have been even better had Asayaga and Hartraft fought it out or if Wolfgar hadn't had two daughters who conveniently end up liking either Asayaga or Hartraft without any romantic conflict at all. That said, I will definitely read the next book in the Legends series, and since this collaboration of Feist was decent, I might even pick up the Kelewan series as well.