From the endlessly inventive mind of one of fantasy's all time greats, comes a spellbinding new adventure of high magic, treachery and bloody war.
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From the endlessly inventive mind of one of fantasy's all time greats, comes a spellbinding new adventure of high magic, treachery and bloody war.
Read Less
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Seller's Description:
F in F jacket. F/F. 8vo. original black boards in export dustwrapper; pp. [xii (last blank)], 324 (last blank), with a map. A fine copy. Volume one in the 'Legends of the Riftwar' series.
Before reading this story I think it's important to understand where this tale fits within the Riftwar Saga. Although written by Feist years after events culminated in the mighty finale `A Darkness at Sethanon' when Pug with the help of others closed the gateway between Midkemia and Tsuranuni, the events of `Honoured Enemy' take place before that magical closure when troops from both sides battled determinedly for the capture of Kingdom territory. So if before beginning you accept this story as an isolated glimpse into one of the many struggles between two vastly different peoples that went on during the decade of their union, then I'm sure you'll garner more enjoyment from the story than I did with expectations of a grander story.
However, even when you take into account that this story is deliberately somewhat out of context from the other epic Riftwar Saga stories and also that its authors have chosen to concentrate on the effect of warfare on the psyche of soldiers, I still strongly feel that the lack of a larger story arc (at least as a back-drop to the less-than-epic events depicted here) is unforgivable for a fantasy novel. The subject matter is certainly interesting and the characters are vivid and well fleshed out, but with the exception of events in the epilogue, I kept willing these characters to make an impression on Midkemia and Tsuranuni, for their actions to effect the political climates of their respective worlds, but despite detailed references to the Tsurani method of governing (e.g. the Wheel party system) the two military units flung into conflict with one another in this story effect no changes whatsoever either on the on-going war, or on their narrow-minded rulers who insist on its continuation. I think Feist must have felt restricted as the Riftwar Saga had already been concluded and thus his characters in `Honoured Enemy' weren't able to effect much change for fear they might upset the delicate balance that had already been struck, at least not until (in the time-line of this world) the closure of the rift had occurred.
`Honoured Enemy' is an interesting side-step in this series, but more than a little disappointing for anyone who became so immersed in the other novels in this saga that they completely lost their sense of self in the wondrously adventurous pages.
