The ideal middle part to a trilogy is one that hooks you, reels you in and leaves you desperate to find out what is going to happen next. Feist achieved exactly that with "Into a Dark Realm", the middle part of his Darkwar trilogy and so it was with excitement and anticipation that I turned to "Wrath of a Mad God".Perhaps it's wrong, but an opening scene which involves a major character being psychologically and magically tortured seemed like a decent start. In all ways, "Wrath of a Mad God" picks up where "Into a Dark Realm" left off. The linked worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan are under threat of invasion by the Dasati. There have been initial skirmishes from the Dasati into both worlds and Pug and his son Magnus have travelled to the Dasati world to try and prevent this.It seems that the Dark God of the Dasati has the upper hand, however. Unlike the more human races, the alien Dasati have no qualms about killing as many of their own people as they have to in order to facilitate an invasion. Pug and a few rebel Dasati have to try and prevent the threat from the Dasati end, as their weight of numbers and evil nature threaten to overwhelm the worlds they are trying to invade, as they seem intent more on killing the people, not conquering them.As ever, Feist drops you into the story on the assumption that you have read the previous books in the trilogy. Indeed, this time around, he assumes you've been reading his work for some time, giving back story to some of the characters that not only covers books I haven't read over the last few years, but goes back to books I read more than a decade ago. Whilst this is an exciting read, it certainly isn't one for newcomers to Feist's work.For the fans who know what to expect and who won't be put off by the back story making reference to important events they have very little knowledge of, this is a decent read. Feist once more doesn't rely on magic as a plot device, but as a tool, so there aren't so many strange things happening as in a lot of fantasy and much of the magic used here will be familiar to his fans. His other strength has always been concentrating on his character's feelings much more than many fantasy authors, so we don't see the characters as all powerful magicians, but as real people with similar fears to our own. I felt that the interaction between Pug's wife Miranda and their son Caleb was particularly well done, as it was a wonderfully emotional part about a parent's love for the black sheep of the family which many of us will be able to relate to.This has always been Feist's way of involving the reader in the story and he doesn't disappoint this time around. It is always very clear who are the characters you are supposed to sympathise with and who is the enemy. If there is one minor complaint, it is that the two human races, the Midkemians and the Tsuranuanni are quite similar and with the alien Dasati making incursions into both worlds, it's not always immediately obvious whether they are on Midkemia or Kelewan. The difference between good and evil is always obvious, but the split between the different kinds of good, especially when the Midkemians are helping out the Tsurani army is a little muddled.My other issues were that there was the inclusion of Tomas, a character from Feist's early work. His inclusion involved a sub plot that appeared and ended part way through and didn't have any obvious bearing on the plot of this story. It seems that there may be more to come from Feist, but this part of the story just didn't seem to fit in here and it made me feel as if he'd dropped in a plot from a different book by mistake. Maybe a bigger fan of Feist than I am would see the significance of this portion of the plot, but to me it seemed largely irrelevant, seeming to be a self contained story in its own right, but not one with any importance here.The other disappointment was in the ending of the book, which seemed a little weak to me. After all that had gone before, it seemed to be over quite quickly and the ending seemed to be a little too convenient and easy. It felt as if Feist was either in a hurry to finish things or if he'd run out of ideas and just wanted to tie everything up as quickly and easily as he could just to get it done.This aside, this is another decent book from Feist. All the things that made me a fan and have kept me reading his books are here and as good as ever. Apart from the ending, his pacing of the story is as good as ever, with plenty of action going on and the constant swapping of perspective keeping you involved with the whole of the story. It's not his best and not the best ending to a trilogy, but it is still a decent book and well worth a look for any fan of Feist, although I would recommend his earlier works such as "Magician" for the newcomer. Perhaps the most interesting thing for the fan could be that the plot strands that don't seem to fit here suggest that Feist isn't finished yet and there could be more to look forward to in the future.This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
Feist certainly doesn't completely redeem himself with this one but he sure shows that he knows how to finish a trilogy on a powerful note and leave us satisfied, somewhat. For just the smash-bang ending to this book, he gets three stars. The last star is for making Pug a truly remarkable sorcerer again, just like what he was way back in the Riftwar. His nobility and strength came through in this volume, and I can admit that I really enjoyed reading about him for the first time since, oh, about 8 books ago. If you want to know who belongs with the greatest fantasy mages of all time, along with Raistlin and Elminster, look no further than Pug of Crydee. This is the Pug we remember from the Riftwar, and it so good to see him back! Oh Feist, you are the ultimate tragedy - you created something great but couldn't keep up with the pace you set.A lot of the rest of the book suffers from the same disease as Feist's other recent volumes: thinly drawn caricatures of his previous successes, unsympathetic new players and badly paced action at times. The cutting from one scene to another made me think that Feist is looking to option this novel as a movie script as soon as Peter Jackson faxes a contract over. The advantage to this method of writing (a symptom since his Serpentwar Days) is that you can skim through much of the narrative and bantering because chances are, if you are getting bored, then it probably has no bearing on the plot.Thankfully, this book provides some closure to the dozens of hanging plotlines that Feist had lying around since 'Talon of the Silver Hawk'. Leso Varen is explained, the Nameless is revealed, the Dark God is laid bare, and finally (THANK GOD), our author finally explains Nakor and his purpose in all this. I will always have doubts about whether Feist really had this all planned out since the beginning or was just writing as he goes, since there are many, many examples of retconning and continuity errors that simply should not have happened with only a few dozen characters to keep track of. The origins of the Dread, Kaspar's relationship with Tomas, and even Erik von Darkmoor's past are all inexplicably inconsistent in this volume as compared to Feist's previous novels. The retconning is a bit irritating because it reminds me of the worst practices of comic books, but hey you can't ask for too much. Feist undoubtedly had to perform Olympian feats of mental gymnastics to get all the threads he had lying about sewn together in a reasonable package. Ether way the conclusion is firm: It is a good time for closure and an ending for all involved. This has been a long and exhausting journey and there isn't much nostalgia for this reader, at least.So this is my farewell to Feist and his craziness. There are many other authors out there I have to get to, so finishing this final volume in his ongoing epic is a huge relief for me. At this point, Wikipedia states that Feist has no less that five more books in the works. I wish him well (get that money, Ray!) but I think he is utterly tapped out for his world of Midkemia. No mas!
Do You like book Wrath Of A Mad God (2008)?
An excellent finale to the series, kept me up until 1:30am last night (on a work night!!) to finish. I really enjoyed the storyline of this series, the Dasati were a nicely drawn enemy, the titular "Mad God" is suitably disgusting and the war encompassing both Kelewan and Midkemia was well handled. The action taking place on Kelewan was interesting as it is by far my favourite setting in these books, but I'm rather upset by what happened at the end of the book (won't give it away, it's pretty spoily!)We are finally allowed to find out what is up with Nakor who comes into his own at the end of the book. There's quite a lot of explanation which nicely ties up many of the things that are brought up from "Prince of the Blood" onwards.However..... there were too many mistakes in continuity, please Mr Feist get this sorted out! For example, the narrative claimed that Erik wasn't married when in fact he was, that the Minwanabi were currently one of the five first families in Tsurannuanni when they were actually overthrown by the Acoma and that the Emperor went to stay on the Acoma's old, unused Estates when in fact Mara had given them to Lujan when he was made the head of a new family at the end of Mistress of the Empire. Claims that Kaspar had never met Elves when he'd shared ale with Tomos at the end of "Exiles Return" and some rather bizarre Jimmy lineage topped off the errors. It's things like this that spoil a book as it throws the reader out of the carefully created world because of the lack of care taken by the writer. This is a real shame, and these books should have been edited much more carefully. The first and second series had cast lists, these books could have done with that to get it straight in Mr Feist's mind!Again, there was a complete lack of female characters except for Miranda. Obviously women are for shagging, babies and serving ale in Feist's imagination which is pretty crap really. There is also a whole madonna/whore dichotomy which runs through these books and is particularly evident in this book (once one of the characters finds out that another has slept with the girl he's in love with, he just drops her from his mind completely). I find it sad that Feist purely sees women as adjuncts and objects, with no role to play in any of these great events. And don't get me on to Miranda - she is horribly stereotyped as mercurial, disobedient and "bad" for disobeying Pug. Feist also desperately tries to push her into the madonna "mother" mode, dropping in nauseating little passages about her mothering her "boys".But, even with all the above ranting, I still enjoyed the book immensely. This story with decent female characters and some proper editing would definitely have rated a 5*
—Kate
It may be contradictory to say but, truth is, it's no surprise that Raymond E. Feist can still surprise me. And Wrath Of A Mad God did exactly that. Not only is it a spectacular finish to The Darkwar Saga but, there were quite a few such surprises and revelations that induced out loud exclamations as I read the words from the page. I enjoyed the previous book, Into A Dark Realm but, felt it was basically 3/4 set-up. Now having finished this book, it was totally necessary to spend so much time to get us ready for this truly epic conclusion as Pug and company enter the Dasati dimension in hopes of stopping their invasion of our dimension through the Tsurani home world of Kelewan. But, the Dasati have a dark lord of the Void controlling them for it's own vile purposes and evil sorcerer Leso Varen would like nothing better then to see it succeed. It's a battle on two fronts that comes to a literally jaw dropping conclusion. This book was non-stop action and filled with suspense and thrills. Literally one of Feist's best books. We once again see beloved characters fighting to save worlds while the most sinister evil conspires to destroy everything and everyone. Feist takes them and us through almost impossible odds to a conclusion that literally leaves one breathless. The dramatic intensity of the last third of this book is as powerful as is the sad farewell bid to some much beloved characters whose adventures we have followed for quite some time. Simply a great book and a great finish to this particular trilogy. Bravo, Raymond E. Feist.
—Joe Aguiar
More than any other of Feist's books at the end of a story arc, this one feels in many ways is if the reader is saying goodbye to old friends. Generally as enjoyable as any other Feist outing, this book--I confess--did border on wearying me with its massive over-the-top scale.It also makes me curious to see what lies ahead; I was delighted to see that the characters of the Serpentwar saga were as compelling and likable as those in the original Riftwar. The Conclave of Shadows trilogy was great in that regard as well.In a way, the Darkwar trilogy suffered from an excess of too many good characters from previous series, so that the new characters seemed more like clutter. I'll never think as fondly of Zane and Tad as I did of Erik or Talwyn. Now that Feist has explored what I consider to near the upper limits of fantasy/hyperbole, it would be nice to see some small-scale stories like his "Legends of the Riftwar."
—Ben
