Exile's Return: Conclave of Shadows: Book Three (Conclave of Shadows, 3)

I stopped reading Raymond E Feist after the incredible debut trilogy of his that started with MAGICIAN. But only in the Conclave of Shadows has he got the groove back. The action is back. The twisting plot with surprises and shockers snaking its way through worlds is back. The true vision that Raymond had of creating myths to support a book's premise s back (Dasati's rock!). Excellent characters and dialogues and a deeper maturity with characters like Duke of Olasko is refreshing. I recommend this book and series to everyone who thouhgt Raymond E Feist couldnt be as good as Magician again.

Exile's Return (2005) is the third novel in the Conclave of Shadows series, following King of Foxes. In the previous volume, Tal Hawkins and others escaped from the Fortress of Despair. They crossed the strait to the mainland and traveled overland to Karesh'kaar. Once there, Tal contacted the Conclave and started recruiting a mercenary army. Tal and Pug convinced the Kingdom of the Isles, Kesh, and Roldem to support an assault on the Citadel of Opardum. While these forces were diverting the Olaskan guards, Tal led his mercenary army through a hidden way into the Citadel and attacked from the rear. He and his troops forced their way into Leso Varen's quarters, killed the magician and broke the wards keeping out the Conclave. Then his troops attacked the throne room and captured Duke Kaspar of Olasko. Since Leso Varen had used magic to wield the duke as his tool, Pug convinced Tal to exile Kaspar rather than execute him. In this novel, Magnus transports the former duke to the continent of Novindus and releases him there. Soon afterward, Kaspar is confronted by six heavily-armed Bentu horsemen and fights back, taking down five of them; he is stymied, however, by the bow and arrows of the sixth. Knocked unconscious, he is carried back to the nomad camp. After regaining consciousness, Kaspar finds that his hands are bound behind him and these rawhide bindings are connected to a tent peg at the back of the tent. If he pulls up the peg, the tent will collapse and the nomads will know that he is trying to free himself. Pretending to still be unconscious, Kaspar listens to the conversations held at the front of the tent, decides that the language is somewhat like Quegan, and begins to recognize a few words. After dark, he works his hands to the front and chews on the lashings until they fall apart. Stealing some food and water, he escapes from the camp and climbs up the nearby ridge. The nomads break camp and move on without searching for him, probably because of a little message he left in the chief's tent. He travels along the old road on the ridge in the same direction as the nomads. After several days without water, he is very dehydrated. He moves down to the valley floor, looking for signs of water. Finally he finds a damp spot with grass growing around it. Digging down into the soil, he finds water beneath the surface and drinks his fill. Afterward, Kaspar traps ground birds for meat. Seeing a boy wandering the hills, he tracks him to a small farm tucked away far from the road. Although he severely frightens the boy and his mother, Kaspar uses his small knowledge of Quegan to reassure them and soon starts performing chores that the woman and boy cannot manage. He learns that the woman's husband and their only horse have disappeared on a trip to town. After a few months, Kaspar declares that he must leave and takes the woman, boy and two steers into town to acquire horses. Since suitable horses are unavailable, they settl

We are taken back to the continent of Noviandus (sp?), homeland to the Serpent War saga books, the place of Kaspar's exile after being defeated by Talwin Hawkins in the last book. As part of the series, this veers off to take a look at life through Kaspar the bad guy rather than following the exploits of the hero. Kaspar is unawares that he is on a self-redemption excursion in his attempt to return to Olasko. We meet a few new characters but more importantly, we learn about the Talnoy and the Dasati. By the end of the book, past characters are present and there's a cameo by Tomas from the Riftwar Saga. It's a good adventure and redemption story but fairly typical as those stories go. While I enjoyed "Exile's Return", this book doesn't complete the Conclave of Shadows. Rather, like "The King's Buccaneer" was to the Serpentwar Saga, "Exile's Return" is a transitional book to the upcoming Darkwar Saga which is hinted at in this book as making the Riftwar look like a playground fight. The ending scene is a cliffhanger of things to come and you can easily visualize what they are seeing. Overall, good book but can't stand alone and is a setup for the upcoming Saga.

Once the mighty Duke of Olasko, nomads have now captured the magically exiled Kaspar halfway around the world. The deposed evil aristocrat ultimately escapes his bondage and is obsessed with avenging his defeat and ignominious deportation. Eventually he meets traders who possess a suit of armor containing a malevolence that killed part of their group. Kaspar has no plans to travel with his hosts, but like them he touched the armor and no longer is free; the wickedness inside the armor controls Kaspar though he fights it with his every breath. Kaspar learns that the armor is a weapon of mass destruction from another plane that will ultimately devastate this world if not stopped. Feeling a need to defeat an essence even wickeder than he ever was; Kaspar puts aside his thirst for vengeance to return home to confer with the Conclave of Shadows' sorcerers who expelled his wickedness across the globe. Together, if they can learn to trust one another, they must find a way to stop the armor. This is an exciting Conclave fantasy in which the villain of the first two novels returns from exile having learned the hard way during his trek and his battle with a greater evil the wickedness of his former ways. The story line is action-packed, but it is the metamorphosis of Kaspar from avenging devil to world savior that makes the tale work though the audience and the Conclave sorcerers wait for him to revert. Raymond Feist provides an entertaining tale with a fine twist that his fans will appreciate. Harriet Klausner

Exile's Return brings us back to Novindus, which is still recovering from the savages of the Emerald Queen. The book starts pretty much concurently with the end of King of Foxes, and introduces some new characters as well as fleshing out old ones. The writing is as good as Feist's other main works (I exlude the Krondor series), and I can't wait until the next book is released.