Customer Reviews

Talon of the Silver Hawk (Conclave of Shadows, Book 1)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In "Talon of the Silver Hawk," Raymond E. Feist returns to the saga format of his classic novels after several disappointing novelizations of computer games. The Riftwar Saga ("Magician," etc.) introduced his main characters and the world of Midkemia, and the Serpentwar Saga ("Shadow of a Dark Queen," etc.) added new characters and brought the next phase of the epic battle to a raging climax. Feist then wrote three novels set after the Riftwar, two as book versions of video game plots set in his world but created by the game developers. Perhaps due to the non-linear nature of video game plots or the distraction of a divorce, none of these had the storytelling skill of his previous work.

"Talon of the Silver Hawk" starts a new saga with a new main character, Talon, and as such draws comparison to Feist's two other saga founding books, "Magician" and "Shadow of a Dark Queen." The boy Talon survives the massacre of his isolated tribe, and he is raised by strangers in a more developed society that he must learn to understand. This takes the entire first part of the novel, well told from Talon's point of view, but the narrative plods along as this boy learns the dull lessons of childhood crushes, respect, and social status. This part of story is set in a far eastern area of Feist's world that has not been used before, a chance for the author to develop and describe something completely new, but this region comes off as an ordinary, quasi-medieval fantasy kingdom.

The second half of the novel focuses on Talon's integration into the Conclave of Shadows, the evil-fighting group founded by Feist's heroes at the end of the Serpentwar Saga. The view from Talon's eyes of previous Feist heroes like Pug and Nakor shows a different side of these long-time characters, but they are appropriately relegated to minor roles. Talon's coming of age predictably traces through trials of combat and adolescent love. His few friends are thinly drawn characters present only for short sections of the novel, too short to establish any meaningful relationship with Talon and further develop either character.

Finally, Talon is sent out into the world on a mission, taking up residence in Roldem and fighting in a dueling tournament. As with the far Eastern kingdoms, Feist misses the chance to make this second newly featured locale unique and different, and it feels like a stock medieval city. The action continues afterwards as Talon returns to his homeland to exact revenge, in a typically fantasy hero way, upon the mercenaries who massacred his people. The duels and battles are classic Feist combat narrative, exciting and skillfully written, especially the long finish to the final battle. However, ultimately these clashes don't go anywhere or stir the reader to the larger cause that is being championed.

"Talon of the Silver Hawk," solid on its face, unfortunately falls flat in starting this new saga compared to "Shadow of a Dark Queen" starting the last one. In "Shadow," the new characters Erik and Roo were more thoroughly drawn, their motivations more concisely developed, and their coming of age / training phase didn't have the monotony of Talon's Tarzan-like integration into society. In addition, after this growing phase, the places and tasks Erik and Roo went off to were far more exciting and better detailed than the rather simple and brief mission that Talon is sent on. Also, the greater purpose behind the actions in "Shadow" was clear to the reader and also the characters. "Talon" only sets up a minor villain, with virtually nothing on the major villain who is assuredly behind the scenes, who was trumpeted as such a dire threat when the Conclave was founded. This vague coverage of the ultimate reasons for the Conclave's existence and Talon's actions leaves all his struggles seeming poorly justified.

"Talon of the Silver Hawk" sees Feist returning to the epic fantasy saga, outclassing his mediocre recent video game novelizations, but as an introductory novel, it still cannot compare to the opening book of his last saga, "Shadow of a Dark Queen," and nothing he's written since can compare to the opening book of his first saga, "Magician."

I have read pretty much read most of Feist's books and after the end of the "Krondor" series I had had enough of Midkemia and decided to explore elsewhere, fantasy and other fiction mostly. I returned to Feist with this book, although I had no idea what to expect. There has been quite a change in the cover styles of Feist's books in this new series, in Australia at least, and I initially assumed that Feist had departed from Midkemia and taken up residence in a new world - and one could hardly blame him, with the lacklustre nature of the "Krondor" series which appear to have been inspired by the computer games (Betrayal at Krondor and Return to Krondor), rather than the usual vice versa; great plots for computer games but not so good for a novel.

But in reality, returning to Feist's Midkemia is like returning home. Feist gets a bit of flak for his cliched plots and borderline cliched "nations", based on historical peoples from our well-known earth (I picked the Orosini culture as a simple splice of Native American and Highland Scottish societies). But in the end, this is is why I read Feist and can become immersed in the stories and the action - my brain is not too taxed in imagining the cultures or the appearances of the people, which are quite convoluted in other authors' Fantasy worlds, and I can concentrate on the story and enjoy the ride. It is good, well written escapism, and a fantastic ride indeed. And we can mourn the death or passing of certain characters (I am curious to know what happened to Erik, Calis, Roo etc) but did we really need book 5 of Serpentwar? Book 4 was pushing it if you ask me...

Anyway, I was delighted to discover that Feist was still writing about Midkemia but had taken a whole fresh, new approach, starting the story way over the other side of the continent, east of Rillanon and Roldem - a part of this world we have not really discovered much of previously. In fact I was a tad disappointed at the appearance of Pug, Miranda (never get sick of Nakor though) etc because I was quite hoping for a complete departure from that old scene, and to play out an entire plotline in a different part of the world.

Anyway, enough of the gripes. IMO this is one of Feist's best books, and it is interesting that all of the "first" books in each series seeem to be the strongest. As an entertaining, exciting, action-packed, fast paced novel, this is really great reading, and has me absolutely "spewing" that the next book "King of Foxes" is being flogged here in Australia for up to $45 when I am eager to get on with the next part of the story...

If you are a Feist fan who has become a tad bored or disillusion with the whole scene, then buy this book and soak it in, because this is a whole fresh new direction for Feist's Midkemia books, without anything really having changed; and that's what I really enjoyed about it.

Let me preface this by saying I am a huge Feist fan. Talon of the Silver Hawk is not as good as the first Riftwar series and it is much improved over those fairly poor Krondor the Betrayal series (the ones based on a computer game)

The book focuses on Kieli, who has his whole village slaughtered while he is on a vision quest and his subsequent need for vengence. He becomes entangled with the Conclave of the Shadow, a mysterious cult working for the forces of good lead by our old friend Pug.

I give Feist credit for not rehashing all the old characters and the few cameos that are in here are done well. Feist also does some name dropping throughout the book so you know where some of the characters we read about in the Serpent War saga are now without them actually being in the book (yet). It helps to continue the continuity of the world and the rich history of Midkemia.

The two problems I had with this book are as follows:
1. There was an overall blandness about this book especially in terms of supporting characters and the "new" sections of Midkemia that are in this book. Fiest spends alot of time developing Kieli and his people the Orosoni (think Native American culture) but the same is not true of the supporting cast. For instance the two characters who find Kieli in the destruction of his village, Robert De Lyis and Pasko I think are poorly developed. They turn out to be fairly high agents of the conclave but after reading the book I don't know a whole lot more about them. I didn't find myself becoming attached. I think they need to be fleshed out a bit more and maybe that will come in the next book.

The same holds true of the world itself. The second half of the book takes place in Roldem, a city often mentioned in Feist's other books but not visited unitl now. I have to say I didn't know what to expect but I was disappointed. It's just a generic city. Again I didn't feel the city was developed as well as say Krondor in his previous books with the its various distinct quarters and districts.

My second gripe is small but I'll mention it anyway. At times the book seemed a little too coincidental. It felt to me there was a little to much "right place at the right time" feel.

All in all it is an enjoyable read. Not his best and not his worst. The foundation is here for a saga. Let's see what he does with it.

Much like the Serpentwar series started out as a fantasy retelling of "The Dirty Dozen" (a bunch of death-row convicts are covertly recruited for a dangerous mission behind enemy lines), book 1 of the Conclave of Shadows starts the new series out by detailing the creation of the world's greatest gentleman spy. Follow Talon as he masters every linguistic, martial, cullinary, scholarly, and seductive craft with an effortless ease in but a few relatively short years.

That's not to say its an entirely bad book...Just very derivative and, at this point, small. The characters frequently talk about the tremendous consequences of what they are about to embark upon, but you never really get the sense that it is as epic as The Riftwar or Serpentwar sagas (Like many others who have posted reviews here, I will not officialy count the Krondor books in the Midkemia pantheon).
Feist is a very good storyteller, and the world he has realized has room for many, many incredible tales. Perhaps this new series will grow into something more fantastic in future volumes. But at the moment, it doesnt feel that way.

When young Kieli sees his whole village massacred, he is selected by some power to be the instrument of his people's revenge. Rescued by people who begin to mold him for a purpose he cannot understand, Kieli (now called Talon of the Silver Hawk) develops into a great hunter and a peerless swordsman. But, Talon finds that those he must revenge himself on are more numerous than he had thought, and their power seems to know few limits. This is the story of Talon's development, and his beginning on a road that will take him where he never would have thought that he would go.

I must admit that I have been a Raymond Feist fan for many years now, starting all the way back with Magician. As with his earlier books, I found this one to be quite exciting, with interesting characters and milieus. If you liked Raymond Feist's earlier works, such as the Serpentwar Saga, then I think that you will also like this one as well. It appears that we are in for another great trilogy!

I debated about how high to rate this book because while I had some problems with it, it was a quick, fairly enjoyable read. It was refreshing after reading some very lengthy, more dense fantasy novels recently. This book is actually a bit too short. It needed generous page margins to hit 380 pages.

The main problem I had was that Feist has written this novel before. It's an extraordinary young man coming of age story. Okay, we had that story in Magician with Pug, in book 1 of the Serpentwar with Erik, and in book 2 with Roo. Now it's Talon and once again we get page after page of an exceptional boy being trained, learning about love (or lust), etc.

I don't mind new characters, but I think I'd have rather seen more of the old cast and gotten a better understanding of what exactly the Conclave does (beyond... we have to stop the big, bad evil!). I read the Riftwar and Serpentwar many years ago and skipped the Krondor series, but if I remember right, Pug's creation of the Conclave at the end of the Serpentwar struck me as rather contrived in the first place. This new book doesn't help explain things much better. The "we can't tell you yet" wears thin after awhile.

I suppose Feist has made Pug and company too powerful so he has to give them something mysterious to do to keep them occupied while he moves less powerful, more at risk characters around his world. If done well though, a gripping story about even very high powered characters like Pug could be written.

anyway, I digress. "Talon..." makes for good light reading, but veterans of Feist's Midkemia books may feel a strong sense of deja vu.

At last, a new Feist novel has arrived!! I've waited quite patiently for the next saga and rushed to pick it up when it was available.

I wasn't disappointed with the story, but it didn't live up to my expectations. It has the foundations for a great saga, but in my opinion the first part was just not that fascinating. Some of the characters were a bit stereotypical and the main hero was at times, quite cliched. During certain parts of the story, I found that I already knew the outcome of the events.

But, on the plus side, the story does explore more of Midkemia. It introduces some great elements that were only hinted at in the earlier stories. And if there is one thing that Feist is great, its continuity. You'll find some obvious and subtle references to characters and events from past novels. As a fanboy, I take great joy and picking those out.

I would say, definitely pick up the book. Even if you're not crazy about this story, it does set up the next parts and those seem to be very action packed.

Book 1 of the Conclave of Shadows

Raymond Feist returns to Midkemia, the world of his bestselling Riftwar and Serpentwar sagas. With each novel, Feist has broadened his world and shown more and more of the lands that make up Midkemia. This novel begins in the Eastern Kingdoms, to the far east (and somewhat to the north) of the Kingdom of the Isles. We also see the Kingdom of Roldem and get to revisit the Sorcerer's Isle.

Kieli is a boy about to become a man on Midsummer's Day. His people, the Orosini, get their adult names by going on a vision quest high up a mountain. Just as Kieli gets his adult name, Talon of the Silver Hawk, he sees smoke coming from his village. Hurrying home, he finds his village in flames and most of his people slaughtered. He tries to fight, but is severely wounded and left for dead. He is found and rescued by Robert de Lysis and a couple of other men. Talon awakes at Kendrick's, a tavern/small fortress. Because Robert saved his life, Talon owes him a life-debt and begins to serve under Robert. Robert, Caleb (a hunter), and Magnus (a sorcerer) train Talon but do not yet tell him to what end. Talon thinks only of revenge on the men who slaughtered his people. Talon is now the last of the Orosini.

For most of the first part of the book, Talon's benefactors remain a mystery. Who are these men? Who do they work for? We get hints of Magnus's and Caleb's parentage. The book does not directly tell when the novel is taking place, but we get hints from some things. Rupert Avery had commissioned a book before he died. Grandsons of Duke James are mentioned. We do get to revisit some of the characters with abnormally long lifespans (Nakor, Pug, Miranda).

The second half of the book takes place in Roldem, a kingdom mentioned several times throughout the Riftwar novels. Talon is in a tournament to become to the world's greatest swordsman.

I enjoyed this book, and Midkemia is one of my favorite fantasy worlds, but Feist didn't really build the locations very well in this novel. Kendrick's was well done, but the rest of it (Sorcerer's Isle, Roldem) were merely place names instead of actual locations that I could picture. Also, despite the horrible things that had happened to Talon, I never really grew to care for him as I did for Pug, Tomas, Arutha, and Jimmy. I am curious to see how Talon grows into his new role with the mysterious group, The Conclave of Shadows, but I haven't grown as attached to Talon as I did with other characters. With that said, this is a very good offering from Raymond Feist.

This is the beginning of another trilogy based in the world of Midkemia, but with a new set of characters. The book follows the adventures of the young man Talon of the Silver Hawk, who is the last survivor of a race of people slaughtered by a power seeking nobleman. He is saved by a group of people opposed to this nobleman, and they train him to become a weapon for the cause of good.


The Good: The book never really slows down, and Feist keep the reader interested in the core story. He creates some interesting characters, and I like what he was attempting to do with this tale. Unfortunately...

The Bad: This remined me more of a movie script than anything resembling his older work. From the start of every chapter, this book reads like Feist is picturing a camera on his heroes...or maybe a computer game? Anyway, this really wore on me after a while. I've never felt so beaten over the head with the feeling of a book being written for a purpose other then just telling a story. The whole thing smacked of commercialism.
The characters, while interesting, came across as wooden to me. In past Feist books, I was drawn deeply into the characters, and they were the strength of the story. In this book, I got the feeling that the plot was the main focus, and while the story is about the life of Talon, I never really saw his deeper self, and couldn't really like his character.
The plot itself was imaginative for the genre, but the story itself was predictable. While it was obvious Feist telegraphed his motivations (maybe to make the cutscenes work better or limit the character choices on a dialog screen?), I wasn't very surprised at how the book flowed. Think James Bond in Midkemia, and you can probably guess how the story will end.


I wasn't terribly impressed with this book. I know he can do better, because I've read better. There was a time when I thought Feist was one of the best in the genre. This book wasn't the type of work I expected from him. I may read the second and third book, but only if I see them on a bargin rack.

first review, it wont be too indepth but I'll add my two cents. for those that have read Feist's work since magician, you will obviously read this particular book without my suggestion, as this continues on the 'main story line' and it did a decent job of keeping things interesting, introducing new characters.. and giving more depth to the world of Midkemia. The book's a bit short, although numbered 370~ pages, the text are extra large, and margins are extra long too. The previous book I read before this, Shards of Broken Crown, was definitely much more story packed, with plenty of events going on, and plenty of characters involved. The story revolving around this book's main character felt more like a short story after I've finished reading it. After finishing the book, I realized that the Serpentwar books were definitely much more eventful and the character developments were definitely better. Compare to each of the beginning titles of each series (Riftwar series, Krondor's Son series, or Serpentwar series).. this one was weaker in many aspect.

Overall this is a good continuation of the main story line, its essential to whats going on overall unlike the Krondor or Empire series. I suppose I would only recommend this book base on that fact alone, that its essential. As an individual book though, it does leave more to be desire.