Rides a Dread Legion
Let it be said Raymond E. Feist is certainly digging himself a very big hole. Given my very mixed opinions about his last book Wrath of a Mad God, and my concerns as to the future of his ever-expanding series, I am pleased to say Rides a Dread Legion is something of a turn-around from the tedium and confusion of some of his more recent works. Somehow - and I'm not quite sure exactly how - Feist has managed save his work from the brink of self-annihilation, and has come up with one of his best books since the Serpentwar saga.
Coming as the fourteenth book in the same chronological narrative series, Rides a Dread Legion features primarily the taredhel, or "people of the stars" - a race of elves who fled Midkemia during the Chaos Wars to live on other worlds. War with a seemingly endless demon horde has given the taredhel cause to seek a new world to live on, and through chance, or perhaps the work of the gods themselves, they find Midkemia, a place known in taredhel myth as simply "home". Before long, Pug and the Conclave of Shadows realise it's not necessarily the ruthless and arrogant elves of the stars who pose the greatest threat to their realm, but the demon horde pursuing them ravenously in their wake.
And here the intrigue begins...
If there's one thing Feist's more recent books do well, it's intrigue. Long gone are the days of his simpler invasion narratives, replaced instead in more modern times with invasion narratives combined with intrigue up to the level of the gods themselves. In fairness, the whole god revelation thing in the last book was something of a contentious issue for this reviewer, but somehow in Rides a Dread Legion, Feist has just about got the balance right between intrigue, action, and notably in this book at least, heart.
Heart is something I'm sorry to say has been sorely lacking in Feist's more recent works, and I have often up to now longed for the better days of the Riftwar and the follow-up Serpentwar saga, where actions actually meant something; where characters had hopes, feelings and aspirations; where plots didn't get lost in intrigue; and where narrative problems weren't solved by simply attributing inconsistencies to the gods. I'm glad to say then, that heart has made something of a comeback in Rides a Dread Legion, and while still nowhere comparable to the outstanding Magician, the introduction of characters such as the Warlock Amirantha, his companion Brandos, and the Knight-Adamant Sandreena gives something of a new vitality to Feist's work that has been sorely lacking for way too long.
If that doesn't excite the Feist fans out there enough already, just you wait until the final chapter. I have to say, I'm still reeling in shock now, almost an hour after the big event. So sudden, so unexpected, and so final indeed was the ending it seems I have almost no choice now but to go out and buy the next book in the series, At the Gates of Darkness, when it comes out in paperback in September.
While I think I will reserve judgement on whether Feist has completely revitalised the series or not, Rides the Dread Legion is certainly a good start, and may, just may, go some way to restore my faith in the author who made me the man I am today.
