Customer Reviews

Rides a Dread Legion Free with Bonus Material: Book One of the Demonwar Saga

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

 

 

I've been reading Raymond Feist's Midkemia novels since I was twelve, and I've been disappointed by the latest entries in the series. Feist is a master novelist who knows all the tricks that make readers turn pages, but the payoffs have diminished as his works have progressed. I'll be oblique to avoid spoilers, but the absence of a character who has appeared in most of Feist's Midkemia novels since "Prince of the Blood" is sorely felt here, where any degree of comic relief or philosophical dialogue would have been a welcome respite from the headlong trudge of the narrative.

Certainly this book has a lot of plot, but most of it comes across as transparent (and shoddy) exposition, recapping the last dozen or so novels while setting the (ho-hum) even-higher stakes at issue in this new series. At times, this incessant, febrile stakes-raising reminded of an adolescent dungeon master trying to impress his jaded troupe: "remember the kobolds you had so much trouble with on level three? Well here on level five they're on fire and have spikes!"

Similarly, the new characters introduced here lack the nuance and emotional resonance of Feist's earlier creations. Without going into specifics, the introduction of heretofore unknown good and evil brothers of one of the series' earlier villains left me rolling my eyes, and some promising hints of character development seemed to be deliberately minimized in the interest of keeping the overarching juggernaut of a plot pondering along. Other new characters are either walking cliches or mere spear carriers, and the death of another series regular lacked any real emotional impact.

I have to admit, I still enjoy reading Feist's novels, but it's becoming a trashy indulgence like eating fried chicken or watching VH1. I sincerely hope that Feist will step up his game in the books to come, but I'm sadly skeptical.

This book has no shortage of faults, to be sure. Many of the characters are uncompelling. The author also appears to have a habit of adding unnecessary fights in the background of dialogue, especially when characters are introducing themselves to one another or the reader. There is a random sprinkling of extreme cliche, although the writing overall is pretty strong. There is also a minor mismatch between the dark, epic setting of the book and the positive attitudes and friendly interactions between characters.

Nonetheless, the plot moves along at a good pace and the setting is interesting. There are a handful of genuine surprises tucked away in the storyline. The author also showcases a very detailed and fairly consistent scheme for the the workings of magic, demons, etc., something that is missing from other sword and sorcery universes.

This is one of the better free offerings for the kindle, and I'll definitely be watching to see if the library gets ahold of the sequel. The book is worth a solid 3 stars, but I rounded it up one on account of the $0 price tag. It's not the sort of book one gets extremely enthusiastic about, but it's an absolutely perfect fit if you're looking for a way to spend an afternoon.

I always prefer to read books that have atleast 12 in a series. This book continues to keep us all captivated by the fantastic world Robert Feist has created. I won't spoil any of the story line, but I will say that if you've ever read any of his books. You'll want to continue the saga !

Okay.. maybe it's not a literal D&D transcript.
But I haven't read the author's previous works and am reviewing it 'standalone'.
Story needs probably 2-3 of the 15+ characters introduced.
A lot of the action seems focused around a balance of power between protagonist characters, which really sucks me into the feeling that I'm reading a transcript from last night's role-playing game adventure.
I'm certain that's not strictly true, but it comes across that way at several points.

But I didn't mind the price!

would work well as a short story. some of the characters had potential but most of them were forgettable...as were most of their names (which I could not remember since they had to be at least 4 syllables) and there was far too much written about cities, countries and other worlds and their political crap that didn't really do anything to add to this story except extend it out hundreds of more pages than it should have been. I don't really like the "tell each diff. character's story in each chapter" because if you are really enjoying one character (the female knight's was good) its aggravating to have to read about others that aren't as good.

I've been a Raymond Feist fan for a long time, and he doesn't disappoint with this latest series in the world of Midkemia. A masterpiece!

I haven't read any of Feist's other books. So I can't refer to any of his other writings- on its own very good and for me a very fast read. I like the character Pug, the magic the sword play...well the world which Feist has created. Rides a Dread Legion has sort of inspired me to pick up some of Fiest's other books-I suspect that was the publishers intent by giving it away. Hmmm. I'm such sucker for easy gimmicks, but this isn't affecting me from buying more of Feist.

I've never read Feist before, so this was my introduction to his work. The story was a pleasant read, but not compelling enough for me to feel drawn to reading further installments in the series. From the other reviews I see this is actually part of a larger set of series which are set in the world Midkemia, where we are introduced to a group of characters attempting to stave off a possible demon invasion. The narrative had me skipping through entire pages hoping to find more show, less tell. I suppose there were multiple book's worth of backstory to fill in, but I began to find paragraph upon paragraph of exposition tiring.

As a free download it was a nice time filler, I didn't consider it a waste of time, but am not sure I would purchase any further efforts.

I love Raymond Feist, one of my favorite authors and he definitely didn't disappoint in this new series of books and with some of our favorite characters returning to try to save the world again.

This story begins with Amirantha - a Warlock who can summon demons - summoning a demon that breaks his control and with the help of his "son" Brandos, they conquer it and get paid by a local leader for their work. Such is what they do apparently to villages in order to make a living. Next the story moves onto a temple where an apparently beautiful woman named Sandreena is trying to meditate but fails instead because she is thinking of many things along with her past and then doesn't succeed. She has issues with men from being a whore as a youth and then sold and eventually found by a man with redeeming qualities who becomes her father figure and the only man she trusts without reservations. She is inturn requested to be seen by Father Bishop Creegan who tells her where she goes next for journey to protect those who can't protect themselves - which is the task of the order in which she is a part of. Next, we get into the part of the story with Alyston (a ranger of Natal) who by chance sees an Elf going into their other world and thus he seeks advice from some befriended goblins (King Dolgan). From there the story slowly begins to intertwine together where all these once solitary roads come together. The Elves move from where they were to where they once lived because of a demon legion who is killing them and they need refuge. Then, and oracle and others come together to fight this battle. You are enthralled in a story that began as individual ones that intertwine to become one large one.

The story is full of magic, magical beings, wonders, and adventure. It is decently written. At first, I didn't really like that with each chapter you were strewn to another persons' story without knowing how it would relate. They all seemed to be individual stories thrown together. However, as the story progresses, you find that the first chapters were like a good telling of back history that help you to understand the story as it moved on. While at the beginning it seemed slow, monotonous; once you get through it you have a better understanding and appreciation for the story.