Customer Reviews

Krondor Tear of the Gods Intl (Riftwar Legacy Series Book 3)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I am a diehard Raymond Feist fan, have read everything he's written, so I think I have the perspective to say this is NOT his best stuff. I really felt he phoned this one in. The man who brought us Pantathian Serpent priests is now resorting to vampires as villans?! How pedestrian! This work was far less imaginative than any of his previous books. I really began to wonder if perhaps Mr. Feist has run out of gas with regard to storylines for the world of Midkemia (I hope not!). With the success of his video games perhaps his focus is less on writing these days and more on other creative pursuits. This book did have the feel of a video game. Every couple of pages the 'good guys' did battle with 'bad guys' and after awhile it got quite tiresome. Where the political intrigue and finely drawn characters that make his earlier work so engrossing? Mr. Feist is a master of creating believable worlds but he just took us to a very boring corner of this one.

Feist's story line has become derivative and it appears he has joined Clancy in losing interest in pleasing a devoted audience. I am amazed at the amount of repetitive phrases he uses in this book (how many times did James almost lose his head; how often did he sidestep to have two opponents get in each other's way?). As I recall, in "Magician" and his other earlier work there were a number of underlying plots and twists. This book could not have been more predictable. Actually, the "trilogy" could have been one book. But then we wouldn't have had to read three novellas and pay for all three.

Let me start off by saying that since the moment I have picked up my first book by Feist, I've been hooked. His continuing series is the best I've read next to Tom Clancy's run with Jack Ryan. However, it is painfully obvious that this book was written under some sort of duress. Storyline-wise, this is a VERY short story and really strikes me as something that should have been a minor plot strand in another book.

The three main characters bumble from clue to clue in solving a mystery that's not very interesting to begin with, and there is no plausability for the story whatsoever. For so important a task as they are undertaking, I find it incredibly hard to believe a young thief/squire, newly appointed court mage, and a fairly minor Ishapian monk are alone in their quest. None of the other characters which we know and love make an appearance, not even Pug, which is surprising because of the magnitude of what has happened. I understand the constraints placed on the auther since this was a game first, and in the intro to the book Feist also mentions that he was undergoing a divorce while writing this, but I'm really quite surprised that he published this book under his own name.

Like any other Feist fan I will continue to buy every book he publishes, until I see more than two books of this quality in print, but I urge anyone who has not already bought this to wait for the paperback edition. In a review by someone praising this book, he mentions he read it in one night, well, that is hardly surprising condsidering the large font used and the small number of pages.

Let me preface my remarks by saying that I consider Raymond Feist one of the greatest contemporary writers of the fantasy of intrigue, along with George R. R. Martin. Mr. Feist's characters tend to possess a little more humor than Mr. Martin's, but that in no way detracts from the gravity and intensity of the stories. I dedicated most of the fall of 2000 to reading all of Mr. Feist's "Riftwar" novels, including the "Empire" trilogy that he co-authored with Janny Wurts. I thoroughly enjoyed every word I read and have recommended these books to at least a half dozen of my friends. . .

So, why is this beginning to sound like a mea culpa?? Because, even though I enjoyed this book for what it is, an enjoyable yarn and a good read, I cannot call it one of Mr. Feist's best works. The first two books of the "Riftwar Legacy", "Krondor: The Betrayal" and "Krondor: The Assassins", worked as two connected parts of the same whole. "Krondor: Tear of the Gods" picks up on the same story line and introduces a new main character in the magician Jazhara, but instead of advancing the series and wrapping it up, as I had thought it was going to, it leaves us hanging for, guess what, another sequel. The same hook that began this book remains at the end, with no resolution, just with more red herrings thrown in. I realize that should not be a bad thing, but I'm beginning to fear, just a little bit, that Mr. Feist might just be teetering on the brink of becoming, gasp, Robert Jordan. It almost seems that Mr. Feist has lost his direction in Midkemia and is afraid to let go of the world and the friends that he has created, and, who, up to this point have been faithful and endearing. We have been to Midkemia during the time of the Riftwar in the original series. We saw the alternative view of the Riftwar in the "Empire" series. We have seen the aftermath of the Riftwar and saw the younger characters grow up in the stand-alone Riftwar novels, "Prince of the Blood" and "The King's Buccaneer". We saw the final barriers to peace in a future Midkemia shattered as the ancestors of the Riftwar conquered all in the "Serpent War" saga. A successful PC game, "Return to Krondor" was spawned by the Riftwar phenomenon. Perhaps the weakness of this book can be explained by the fact that the novels of the Riftwar Legacy are patterned after a game. Perhaps I should consider it remarkable that Mr. Feist has managed to squeeze three decent books out of a game and leave it at that. After all, every other attempt at turning a game into literature has been wretched.

Raymond Feist is a major talent and will remain one of my favorite writers. I am confident that a man of his talents can step out of these temporary doldrums and produce more masterpieces of fantasy. I truly hope that the next installment of the Riftwar Legacy is indeed one of those masterpieces and it will manage to shut up a fool like me!!!

Im a big big fan of Raymond Feist, his Riftwar and SerpentWar Sagas were totally amazing, as were his 2 "in between" books. Unfortunatly this hasnt carried over to the Riftwar Legacy. I had high hopes for the Legacy, that it would fill in some holes about Sidi and the Crawler that was only touched on in the Serpentwar saga. Unfortunatly it doesnt resolve anything, in addition the tear of the gods is single handidly the worse book ive ever read, and especially is Feist's worst book. Betrayl was good, Assassians was also good, but this book bit. Im not sure if its just becuase he was restrained by the video game, or if he just didnt care and just wanted to bust out a book about the game as quickly as possible, but either way, the only reason why you should read this book is to finish the series,and even then id think hard about it.

Ever since I read the back cover of "Betrayal at Krondor" the first book in The Riftwar Legacy, I knew that it would be the plot of the computer game. I didn't have my hopes up about the book's content. That being said, I'm not as disappointed as most the other reviewers. I've read all of Feist's other books at least twice but will probably not re-read this series. It's nice to see Jimmy the Hand and the beginnings of William's career in the military, but it's not the same calibur of the Riftwar, Empire or Serpentwar books. However if you are a Feist fan, you should have a little fun. Sometimes that's all I ask in a book.

I'll echo the words of others in these reviews and say that this is a poor novella in a generally good line of books. Feist has been one of the more consistent fantasy writers but the last three legacy books have left me cold.

In fact I will go so far as to say that the novelization of the games has detracted from some of his earlier works as the familiar characters feel at best two dimensional and stilted.