Shards of a Broken Crown: Volume IV of the Serpentwar Saga (Serpentwar Saga/Raymond E. Feist, Vol 4) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "THE WIND HAD died..." (more)
Key Phrases: eastern nobles, southern marches, broken crown, Port Vykor, Land's End, Captain Subai (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Shards of a Broken Crown is the final installment in Feist's hugely popular Serpentwar Saga--the first three books are Shadow of a Dark Queen, Rise of a Merchant Prince, and Rage of a Demon King. Winter is breaking, and the Emerald Queen's defeated army, led by a treacherous villain, plan a horrific final battle against the realm. Favorite characters like Pug, Roo, Duko, and Miranda return in this tale of the devastation of war in a land of magic.

From Booklist

The fourth and concluding volume of the Serpentwar Saga is notably better than its immediate predecessor, Rage of a Demon King. This time, Feist puts much more emphasis on the diplomatic and military aspects of the kingdom of Krondor's struggle to survive, and Jimmy and Dash, the late Duke James' grandsons, take center stage away from Rage protagonist Erik von Darkmoor. They help persuade the late Emerald Queen's General Duko to change sides and enlist the thieves of Krondor in the resistance to the magically assisted Keshites. Their transformation from green if good-hearted youths to warriors much older than their years is the core of the book and a development Feist works out in some of his best writing ever. Meanwhile, the reptilian Saaur also become neutral, which leaves only the Keshites to be defeated in a series of grim, well-depicted battles employing both magic and steel. The major complaint to make about Shards will likely come from fans of Pug, Miranda, and the saga's other purveyors of potent magic, who are given less consideration herein than their importance to the plot merits. But the book is undeniably riveting, a respectable conclusion to a most readable fantasy saga. Roland Green

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 417 pages
• Publisher: Eos; 1st edition (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380973995
• ISBN-13: 978-0380973996
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 3.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (143 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #446,725 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A good plot, bad writing..., September 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shards of a Broken Crown (Serpentwar Saga, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

As a long-time Feist fan, I must say that the latter two books of this series has been disappointing. Shadows of a Dark Queen and Rise of a Merchant Prince were quite good in character development and it seemed the plot was going somewhere, much like the original Riftwar series. Then Rage of a Demon King and now this book, Shards of a Broken Crown, seem to be hurried and rushed. The previous major characters in the first two books are either killed or marginalized, while new characters and secrets are revealed at an alarming rate. Several story lines are not even fully explained to satisfaction, for example the refugee lizard-riders who were vassals of the snakes-priests. They only appear occassionally, and even in this final book they are given such a short amount of notice one wonders why Fiest used them to start off this series anyways. As for Miranda, I'd say the old Pug wouldn't even look at a two-timing tramp like her. And the Kingdom of the Bitter Sea? After Feist kills off all the old-time heroes all we get in the Kingdom basically rolling over and letting this happen? And Pug just sits around and does nothing? In short, Fiest attempts too much in too little space and strays from the Riftwar-type writing that enchanted readers such as myself.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cashing in on Cyber Crown, January 8, 2000

By	T. T. Simons (Wateringbury, Kent United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Shards of a Broken Crown (Serpentwar Saga, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

Firstly I must say that Raymond E Feist is my all time favourite author, he introduced me to the worlds of myth and magic and I have been hooked ever since. I have read all his books and loved evryone of them,unfortunately though I do have to critise this one. Due to the increasing popularity of his books they launched the compatiable computer game. Fine, personally it did not interest me but I am sure it did other people. Unfortunately someone suggested he cash in on the games success and write some books involved with the game. They were awful, and he ruined what could have been an excellent end to a decent saga by desperately trying to interlink these spin off books with the main ones through 'Shards'. Characters and history were suddenly chucked in that had never appeared before in the 8 previous books, it ruined the whole thing. Also the endy was scrappy, almost as if he got bored with the book and tried to finish off a soon as possible. Lets hope he redeems himself with the continuation of Pug etc in the fight against the nameless one and forgets all about his sideline money making venture that is destroying his world for a lot of devoted fans.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars People have a right to be disapointed, October 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Shards of a Broken Crown (Serpentwar Saga, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

To the reviewer who is "disgusted" by all the critical reviews: the Legacy series was published after the Serpent War series, so people have every right to ask who this Sidi character is. Also, there is a big difference between having typos in a dinky Amazon.com review and having them in a published work that has gone through professional editors.

Now, as to SoaBC, I really feel like Fiest just phoned the last couple of books in this series in. I think he had a few could ideas at the start of the series, but just ran out of gas half way through. Particularly the last two books in the series, he seemed to paint himself into a corner and have to do a lot of hand waving to get himself out. I really think the pace, plot, characterizations, and writing just come nowhere near the original Riftwar sage in quality.