Raymond E. Fiest

superconor

I just read magician by raymond e feist and i have to say it was one of the best books i have ever read.
i love the characters, the history and his writing style!
what do you think of him, and is there any other authors with similar styles to him?

DapperGent

I must say I loved Magician as well and it remains one of my favourite fantasy novels to this day. There is no doubt though that Feist peaked with his first book and has been slowly going downhill since.

The only other books by him I could honestly recommend to someone would be Daughter of the Empire and Servant of the Empire with the third in the series (Mistress) being a god awful load of crap. Rise of a Merchant Prince isn't too bad though the rest of the particular series it is a part of is so gut wrenchingly awful it doesn't really matter.

The next books after Magician (Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon) aren't exactly terrible but they lack a certain something in comparison. Though to be fair Jimmy the Hand remains one of the coolest characters in any book ever throughout them.

Jimmy remains cool until Prince of the Blood where I first really noticed that it was all going terribly horribly wrong.

I'm afraid that Magician really is as good as Feist gets. Make time for the Empire series though I think you'll enjoy.

DapperGent

Missed your last question.

Similar styles? I dunno.

Check out Terry Brooks (only his oldest stuff and steer clear of Magic Kingdom), Robert Jordan (up to book 6) and definately check out George RR Martin's stuff (I am a new convert persuaded by these very boards).

Actually George RR Martin is one of those rare breeds of Science Fiction or Fantasy writers to have not ****ed everything up yet.

I wait with trepidation.

ixoy

Originally posted by superconor
I just read magician by raymond e feist and i have to say it was one of the best books i have ever read.
i love the characters, the history and his writing style!
what do you think of him, and is there any other authors with similar styles to him?

Going through his other stuff: "Silverthorn" and "A Darkness at Sethanon" are quite enjoyable, if not classics. Pug is a good character but it doesn't help when he gets a little too powerful.

Chronologically wise (but not produced wise), the next books are The Krondor series: Krondor: The Betrayal, Krondor: The Assasins, and Krondor: Tear of the Gods. They are quite poorly written and I'd recommend them for completists only. There's meant to be another two books in the series but 'coz of production problems they ain't been released yet. They were basically commissioned to fill in gaps in the later books:

After the first three books, the First Riftwar (there are five Riftwars in all.....), there's then Prince of the Blood, a somewhat standalone novel with an Arabian flavour. Enjoyable, with one or two interesting chacters. It's followed by "The King's Bucaneer" which is definetely one of the better ones and sets the background for the succedding quartet of novels: "Shadow of a Dark Queen", "Rise of a Merchant Prince", "Rage of a Demon King" and "Shards of a Broken Crown". This quartet is more about things on a Big Scale. Lots of action, highly enjoyable, but not brilliantly written. Merchant Prince is the best of the lot.

There's also a few stand-alone novels detailing characters from the time of the first books.

Finally, he's got a new series which takes place well after the quartet I mentioned (which takes place WELL after "Magicain"). It's the Conclave of Shadows series and, I've yet to read it. Hopefully it's quite good........

LoLth

An Excerpt from Talon of the Silver Hawk can be found

HERE

the first of the conclave series...

BKtje

i found the Krondor series quite enjoyable as were the first riftwar ones. Havent read the rest..yet..currently re-reading the Deathstalker series. Tis also fun but a different sort of book.
Well written but too often same phrase repeated.
ie Together they were more than the sum of their parts

Illkillya

Magician was very good, and the rest of the riftwar saga was good too. But I agree with ixoy, the quality of his writing deteriorates after the riftwar saga, but all of his books are still very readable, absorbing stories.

If youre looking for a similar kind of book, I haven't seen two books so close to each other as Magician and The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams. Its part of a trilogy about a poor castle boy who gets caught up in his destiny and has to save the world etc... more of the same basically

If you like what Feist has written after the riftwar saga, then you will also like any Shanarra by Terry Brooks (as Dappergent pointed out, avoid Magic Kingdom stuff).

Zaltais

DISCLAIMER: I'm a die-hard Feist fan

I'm halfway though Talon of the Silver Hawk at the moment, and have to admit, that I personally think it's the closest thing to Magician in terms of addictiveness since Magician itself....

But I've eaten whole Feist books (Silverthorn) in like two chunks cos I'm a freak.