Customer Reviews

Rise of a Merchant Prince (The Serpentwar Saga)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"Rise of a Merchant Prince" is exactly what the title portrays it to be: the rise of Roo from a common person (who narrowly escaped a death sentence in the previous book and was merely friend to Erik whilst off soldiering in Novindus) to the one of the richest people in Krondor.

Roo's tale is captivating and a refreshing change in the world of Midkemia. Feist, in showing the commercial side of Midkemia, portrays a maturity rarely found in the fantasy world. It completes Midkemia like no other adventure story could have. Roo's financial exploitives are realistic and believable, and Barnett's is more than another name to the reader - although I still don't pretend to understand options and futures, despite Feist's portrayal.

Erik also continues to mature (in the military world) in this book and we are reacquainted with members of the Royal family and other favourites from Feist's first series.

Strategically speaking, this book is brilliant: it definitely sets the stage for more: you just know that something (bad) has to happen to Roo's wealth, or at least to his marriage ... Roo's mistress, Sylvia (daughter of the other richest person in Krondor), has him completely wrapped around his finger. If all else fails, there's always the impending war by the Saaur or the mysterious third dark player ...

Rise of a Merchant Prince by Raymond Feist is the second book in the Serpent War Saga, the first book being shadow of a Dark Queen. This book seems to polarize fans of Feist, as they either love it or abhor it. Me, I really enjoyed this novel for several reasons. 1) It is a deviation from standard fantasy novels in that it doesn't focus on things that are `out of this world so to speak 2) the character development (mainly Roo's) is second to none, and 3) Feist can pen a tale with the best fantasy writers in the business today. With that said, there are a few things that I Wasn't overly fond of, but I will touch on those later in this review.

The main plot of this book is just as the title implies, which is the rise of a merchant prince who is Roo or Rupert Avery. There are a few sub-plots to continue the over-riding story of the saga as well, such as the Serpent's continuing domination of their continent and how that is being dealt with by the main characters Erik and the rest of the army. When I firs found out the plot centered on Roo and dealt a lot with being a merchant and trading etc, I was a little apprehensive as it didn't seem like all that interesting of a book to read. Yet, Feist MAKES it interesting. I have read some reviews on-line that say the pacing of this book is slow; but quite honestly, I didn't see that at all. In fact, I thought the book was hard to put down. There is just enough written about Erik and the army to move that story along, but this book is clearly written for Roo and the emergence he makes as a merchant and how powerful he becomes. With that said one of my complaints is it seemed almost to easy for Roo to advance as he does, but for fear of writing spoilers I won't say more.

As I mentioned above the character development of Roo is fantastic. Feist really does a great job at defining Roo and allowing the reader to see just what makes him tick. The character development of the rest of the cast of this saga seems to be lacking a bit in that nothing much new is really introduced for Erik or Calis. It almost seems like Feist was overly concerned with Roo that he may have `misplaced' the development of the other characters a bit. A minor detail, but none-the-less a little bothersome for those who really enjoy character development and the twists it can bring.

Overall, I thought this was a very good book and right on par with what I have become accustomed to when I crack open a Feist book. If you are a fan of Feist, I think you will enjoy this one if you know what to expect. If you are looking at starting to read a new series and are thinking about this series, I would caution you, and suggest you read Magician: Apprentice first and start from the beginning and get the background, you can't go wrong with that book. All in all a solid read and a enjoyable read for a fantasy reader.

In this sequel to Shadow of a Dark Queen, author Raymond Feist takes us back to his magical world of Midkemia. Now that they have returned to the Kingdom of the Isles, Erik von Darkmoor has decided to reenlist in the fight against the dark powers that threaten his world, while Rupert Avery has decided to follow his original plan of marrying a rich merchant's ugly daughter and building a mercantile empire. But, life is going to prove interesting to both. Becoming a merchant prince is no cakewalk, and Roo will find his abilities taxed to the limit. And, the dark power rising in Novindus has not been deterred from its purpose.

Raymond Feist's Riftwar books were great, with epic adventure and magic, while his later books enjoyed a somewhat smaller scope. This book succeeds in walking on both sides of the street. While armies marshal and wizards weave great spells, we also follow the life of a man trying to build up his wealth and his personal life. And, I must say that it succeeds in doing both admirably.

I love stories of wizards and armies, and one gets a bunch of that here. But, I must say that I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Mr. Feist's tale of Roo Avery. I was captivated by the choices he made, both for good and for ill.

I am surprised to say that I enjoyed this book as much as I did the Riftwar books and Shadow of a Dark Queen! The action is gripping, grabbing you right on the first page, and drawing you along. Yep, this is a great book, and a wonderful addition to my fantasy library. I loved to presence of Boldar Blood, and hope that Mr. Feist will consider writing a book that develops the Hall of Worlds more!

I loved this book, and highly recommend it to you!

Although this book might disappoint some fantasy fans, I think Feist did a remarkable job in portraying a story about someone who is not a very glamorous character. When I was reading Shadow of a Dark Queen, Roo seemed to be just a character to fill in the gaps, since he was small, ugly, and seemingly without talent. While reading Merchant, I found the way Feist wrote of him quite refreshing as he is neither all bad or all good, but a very well-rounded character. Good to see a few non-royalty characters who don't have everything at their disposal (although I do enjoy reading about the con Doin's). The entire business side of the story was interesting as it dealt with more of the inner workings of Krondor.

I will have to say that the ending of this seemed fairly abrupt and a little convenient, but overall I was pleased and the book didn't finish all problems, leaving some of them to be solved in later books.

I was truly tired of reading other authors make their characters wealthy beyond imagination simply by finding it in a dungeon and slaughtering everything in sight. Roo's ambition for commercial conquest became a driving force of greed that could only be rivaled by the ensuing armies of the Emerald Queen. This is by far my favorite book by Feist.

As the title suggests, Rise of a Merchant Prince is primarily about Roo Avery. Much of the first novel is about Erik, though Roo is there in most of the novel. To me 'Rise' has many plot twists that are too convient and sudden: Erik suddenly pulled out of the main story, Roo's father in law's murder, and even the ending. In terms of advancing the plot in the series, maybe a third of the novel is devoted to it. It felt like the novel took awhile to really go and when it did, it barely went anywhere. The ending feels very arbitrary and unnatural. While I plan on reading the rest of the series, I can only hope they are better than this one. Roo is a more complicated character than most of Feist's characters in having a different set of morals than most of his usual characters that are usually easy to guess their actions. I have to give Fiest credit for trying new things with his characters.

This book brings alive a mixture of medieval life mixed in a fantasy world. Robert E. Feist has a knack for giving his books a flare of the "real" world of medieval times along with the mixture of fantasy much like "Lords of the Rings" by "Tolkien". I recommend ALL of his books from the "Midkemia" world that encompasses his stories. This is book 2 of 4 in this series. This saga picks up where the "King's Buccaneer" left off.

I picked this up expecting an exciting sequel to Feist's page-turning Shadow of A Dark Queen but was disappointed to discover little more than a flimsy pseudo-sequel that reads more like a business text than a fantasy novel. Most of us fantasy readers have little interest in syndicates, trading enterprises, etc., even if they do involve the beloved Roo Avery. Roo is revealed as a rather unappealing and shallow character; Erik's presence in the story is tantalizing, as he appears but is scarcely granted any character development. This addition to the series doesn't add much, nor does it satisfy any of the curiosities left behind at the end of the first novel. Still, it's not as bad as it could be.

Mr Feist departs from his prior action/fantasy to deliver political and commercial intrigue in a fantasy setting. Quite good.

The sequal doesn't measure up to the Original? Are you dense or just of low intelligence?
In the first book, Shadow of a Dark Queen, we met the characters, and set the scenario, then we watched them grow up and become men. In Rise of a Merchant Prince, yes we do focus on Roo, more than Eric or Calis, but it not only sets the scene for Rage of a Demon King, It continues to show Both Eric and Roo evolving into more complex characters, and still discovering who they are in the world.
Oh and if you didn't like the the characters evolving and becoming more like real humans than fictional non entities, your gunna hate the next one...
HURRAH for Feist.