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66 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another excellent chapter in the Riftwar Legacy, December 1, 2000
Raymond E. Feist, one of the best fantasy authors writing today, does a superb job in Krondor Tear of the Gods, the 3rd installment in the Riftwar Legacy. This book covers the event covered in the PC Game Return to Krondor. The Tear of the Gods, the most powerful artifact of the Ishapian church that allows them to communicate with the gods, is sunk to the bottom of the sea when a powerful pirate named Bear tries to capture it. Aided by a mysterious magician named Sidi, Bear possesses godlike powers. Squire James, Jazhara (the new court mage of Krondor), Kendaric (a member of Krondor's Wrecker Guild), Brother Solon, and William must track down Bear, retrieve the Tear, and destroy the evil that has taken over the small town of Haldon's Head. Feist has added some interesting plot twists in this novelization of the game and has greatly expanded upon character depth that was originally present. By doing this, he avoided the walkthrough-like feel that was sometimes present in Krondor The Betrayal. Jazhara especially is discussed in far greater detail. William, Solon, and Kendaric are given more depth so that you care about them a lot more than you did when you played the computer game. If you haven't read any of Feist's books, I recommend starting with Magician: Master and Magician: Apprentice, the first two books in Feist's Riftwar series. You'll appreciate this book a lot more if you've read all the previous ones, even though it is a good read in its own right. The book is 372 pages long, but I read it all in one night since it was so good that I didn't want to stop reading it. A must-have for any fan of Feist. Even though this book is not due to be release in the US until March 2001, it is currently available in the UK and Australia. I purchased mine from Australia since I couldn't wait until March to read another of Feist's great books.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Okay, nothing special, March 15, 2001
First let me say I'm a big Feist fan. Second, I have read everything he has written and I have also played the first video game "Betrayal of Krondor". The entire Riftwar Legacy series is a steep drop off from his early works. All the books in this series are very quick, high action stories with characters previously established from the Riftwar series. I think Feist is relying heavily on the reader's memory to help him or her enjoy these books. Feist is taking his two most popular characters, Arutha and James and running them through this really fragmented and ridiculously dangerous story. In this book alone, James will face mercenaries, spies, demons, vampires, and other forms of evil incarnate in the span of about 2 weeks time. This is probably the video game element coming through in the book. Feist introduces a host of new "main" characters in this book (unlike the previous two) and it makes it more enjoyable to read. The problem I have is the new characters are not part of the history we have already read. Because Feist is going back in time with these books, you already know Jimmy the Hand will survive and these new characters will disapper of the face of Krondor, never being mentioned in his later "Serpent War Saga". This whole series is not really adding anyhting to the entire Krondor series as a whole This is what I consider light fantasy. It's a fun, quick read. If you have a good imagination and you like Jimmy the Hand, this book will probably work for you. It is the best one in the Legacy series so far. If this is your first Feist, read the Riftwar Saga first. It is 100x better and it'll put these books in perspective. I hope in the future, Feist writes his books to be read, not played.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
disappointing offering from a usually solid author, August 15, 2003
Book 3 of the Legacy of the Riftwar Out of the three Riftwar Legacy books, Tear of the Gods is by far the worst. I know that all three of these books are based on video games, and this does hurt the storytelling somewhat, but Feist was way too obvious with this book (I am not kidding you, there was a "rescue the baby" side-quest). I'm a longtime fan of the Riftwar Universe, and I'm looking forward to new books in Feist's new series, but this was just a bad book. Here's the story: Every ten years the Temple of Ishap replaces its most holy object, The Tear of the Gods. The Tear is a mystic gem that allows communication with the gods. Supposedly, if the Tear fails without a replacement there will be ten years with no hope because humanity will be shut off from the gods until a new Tear can be formed (a process that takes a decade). The Tear is being transported by ship when the ship is raided by pirates, including one bad man named Bear. There are still problems in Krondor as someone is trying to throw the Western Realm into chaos. Jazhara, the new court magician for Prince Arutha is arriving in the city and Squire James is sent to escort her to the palace. On the way they get involved in several escapades involving some nasty acts taking place. As the story progresses Feist brings together the continuing troubles in Krondor with the search for Bear and the Tear of the Gods. Like the other two books, this book is filled to the brim with action (as you might expect from a video game adaption). Some of it works, other times it just feels forced. Unlike Krondor: The Assassins, or even Krondor: The Betrayal (to a lesser extent), Tear of the Gods did not feel like it really had a coherent story. The characters were moved from place to place, but there was none of the depth that I have come to expect from Raymond Feist and his Riftwar series. Even considering this was part of a lesser series from Feist, I was still disappointed by Tear of the Gods. Video games and novels are two different mediums, and this felt like too much of a video game RPG plot (complete with side quests, mini-bosses, and boss strategies). Feist still has two more books planned in the Riftwar Legacy series, and hopefully they will be better than this offering.
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