Customer Reviews

Jimmy the Hand: Legends of the Riftwar, Book 3

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

 

 

I have been paying close attention to the ratings for Raymond Feist books, and finally decided to pick up the Legends of the Riftwar trilogy: Honored Enemy, Murder in LaMut, and Jimmy the Hand. I was pretty disappointed. Honored Enemy was a pretty good story, but ended very abruptly and with no real resolution other than a sappy "and they lived happily ever after." Murder in LaMut had its intrigue and amusingly petty nobles, but again -- where did the story take us? Nowhere. Jimmy the Hand had the best story of the three, but with a predictable twist and a worn out rags to riches ending. Bleh. Though the characters were far better developed in this book than the other two, I still found myself shrugging at the end of all three, wondering why I persevered beyond boredom to get to the end.

This sounds harsh, I know. I don't pretend to be a book reviewer, or to know what would make anyone else happy in a book but myself. But I am an avid reader of Robin Hobb, Terry Goodkind, George RR Martin, Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie and Robert Jordan. THOSE are authors with incredible talent, fresh stories told with flair, and a feeling of sadness at the end -- not because of any tragic ending, but because the *story* has ended. Sorry,Feist...I tried to like you, I gave you three full books to win me over...but in the end I will have to move on to other authors.

So far this is the best book of the Legends of Riftwar series, though none are tied together and are only snippets from Midkemia during the war (not through reading yet). Stirling does a good job continuing Feist's Jimmy the Hand's character even though story is different as is the writing. Of course, this book is the one most closely tied to the legend because it involves one of the main characters. I'd recommend this book out of the series if you are only considering one and if you want a break from Feist.

The book opens in the docks of Krondor, with a large scale fight going on - as the Mockers provide cover for the escaping Prince Arutha and Princess Anita. (The city's official forces - specifically Radburn's Secret Police - are trying to prevent the escape. Naturally, Arutha and Anita manage to get away). The pair have made a big impression on the heroic young Mocker, Jimmy the Hand - who's been working closely with them in the previous couple of weeks. Arutha made a gift of a rapier to him, and taught how to handle while he has a major crush on the Princess...The Mockers are fighting against Radburn's Secret Police. City's current Viceroy is the Duke of Bas Tyra, who gained the position through crooked means from Anita's father. (He's looking to marry Anita - both to legitimise his position and gain even more power and influence further down the line). The Duke is out of town at the minute, dealing with a skirmish over in the Southern Marches...Jose de Garza as his Acting Governor. De Garza is very keen not to be blamed for Arutha and Anita escaping, and plans on hanging as much of the blame on Radburn as possible. However, he'll also be making things extremely unpleasant for the Mockers are...

The Mockers are basically the city's Guild of Thieves and are `led' by the Upright Man. He doesn't actually appear in the book, but his instructions tend to be delivered by his two chief lieutenants - the Daymaster and the Nightmaster. The live in the Mockers' Rest - practically a large cavern, carved out of the basements of several properties owned by the Upright Man. It's accessed through a secret entrance in a dodgy part of the city. Jimmy, our hero, is an orphan and isn't sure of his exact age - he figures it's somewhere between 13 and 16. He does, however, have a real talent for his chosen profession,

One of the few people Jimmy is apparently close to is Hotfingers Flora - a pretty sixteen year old orphan and a failed pickpocket, who now earns her living lying down. She was one of Jimmy's first and remains his favourite. (Generally, however, their encounters are genuinely affectionate, rather than business. Jimmy's a little concerned about her - ideally, he'd like her out of the trade altogether. Jimmy's mother had worked in the same profession, and she had wound up murdered). When Flora gets caught up in de Garza's reprisals, Jimmy takes it upon himself lead the rescue. Although he succeeds, he has to leave town for a while - and only partly because of De Garza. Flora and he travel to Land's End, where Flora hopes to find her grandfather. Jimmy, naturally, finds further adventure...and the possible means to return to Krondor.

This is the first book of this genre I've read in a long time, and I think I'd have enjoyed more when I was a little younger. Certain parts could've been shortened - Jimmy's first horse-ride, particularly. It's also a little inconsistent in parts - especially with the estimates of Jimmy's age. However, it's certainly not a bad book, and it's an easy read overall.

If I were Feist, I'd be embarrassed to have my name on this cover. Feist has a knack for weaving characters and plot lines together in a way that makes you almost obsessed with what will happen next. Mr. Stirling obviously yearns for such a gift, yet is found lacking in all aspects. Not only are the newly introduced characters boring, they also lack any qualities that would bring about any spark of interest in them. I bought the book because I was a big fan of Jimmy the Hand, and wanted more of his story. I find it sad that his story is marred with huge swaths of people I could care less about, and I find myself wishing they would just go away so I could enjoy the story of Jimmy.

As always R.Feist delivered again. The book is awesome, telling a different part of Jimmy's life. I would recommend this book to any one reading the series.

I enjoyed Feist's first book, Magician. Since then, there has been a steady decline in the quality of his work. These last few novels are really terrible. First, Feist has become a company whose formula is 1) put his name on the cover to lure in readers and 2) then have someone else (probably a high school kid looking for two month's work) hack together a sort of fantasy novel that follows the formula. Second, the decline of these novels makes we go back to the first novel to ask why I liked it. I think a lot of why I liked it was because it was different than other things I had read at the time and because it was heroic in a way so little literature (perhaps for good reasons) is today.

Going back to Magician and rereading it I came away thinking less of it than I did the first time I read it. The cliches are all there, the stock responses of characters, the cliches that seem to pass for character development ( icy queen, rough woodsman who is really sensitive, strong king who doubts in private, crazy evil raving gnome/alien/etc ) and repetitious descriptions and interchanges.

This process is kind of the same thing that happens when you read all the Jordan work. You love the first one but by the time you are reading the eighth one you know what is coming and see literally the same phrases reappearing and the same actions and attitudes happening just supposedly farther down the time line (the boy who can not understand women, the woman who tugs at her braid or straightens down her dress front...) Part of what I realize is that the newer works are as bad as I thought and the older works are not as good as I thought. Rereading Feist did not make me love his work more and I did not find greater depths to artistry or philosophy to explore.

So for entertainment, grab Magician and maybe the other two in that first trilogy. AVoid the later works, or at least do not pay to read them.

Have read all the books from this author and thoroughly enjoy all of them. Bought the book because I really loved this particular character, Great

Jimmy the HAnd is one of my faborite characters from the Raymond Feist books. I am never disappointed with a Feist book