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

~ (Author) "Shivering, the boy huddled close to the dying embers of his meager fire, his pale blue eyes sunken and dark from lack of sleep..." (more)
Key Phrases: stabling yard, silver hawk, finest swordsman, Duke of Olasko, Talon of the Silver Hawk, John Creed (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Feist (Prince of the Blood) does an impressive job of developing numerous characters and elaborate social structures while holding true to established history in this fantasy page-turner set in Midkemia, the backdrop for his venerable Riftwar and Serpentwar sagas. As we follow Talon of the Silver Hawk through his adoption and training by members of the Conclave of Shadows (many of whom will be familiar to readers of earlier Midkemia books) and his quest for revenge after the slaughter of his tribe, places and people are fleshed out with neat thoroughness. The transformation of Talon, an innocent and untrained country mouse, into Talwin, an expert sword fighter, smooth seducer and faux nobleman, is extraordinary but completely believable, despite the compression or omission of a few years here and there, while the hints at the power and extent of the Conclave and its mission will leave readers hungry for more. Feist specializes in the careful and accurate portrayal of the thoughts and feelings of young men going through tumultuous life changes, and this effort is one of his best yet.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Only young Talon of the Silver Hawk survives the destruction of his nation, and in this series opener, he's out for revenge.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Eos; 1st edition (April 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380977087
• ISBN-13: 978-0380977086
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #639,919 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Conclave of Shadows Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

118 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than recent Feist, not as good as classic Feist, April 15, 2003

By	Scott Andrews (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

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."

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The more things change...., February 2, 2004

By A Customer

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best, January 1, 2005

By	mr sachmo (Carrollton, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Talon of the Silver Hawk (Conclave of Shadows, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.