Into a Dark Realm: Book Two of the Darkwar Saga

Once again Raymond Feist delivers. This book kept me turning pages long after I needed to stop reading.

The previous title in this latest Midkemia series was dissapointing for me - to say the least. Old characters came back, new ones were added, but there was little new in the story. This one, however, brought something totally different. A new world, home of the Dasati, with new characters, and Pug & co. up against some competition that is overwhelming. In previous books I often wondered why - with such power at his disposal, Pug doesn't often use it. For example, with access to off-world resources, why not recruit high-powered mercenaries for really tough jobs. No more wondering, Feist has lifted the gauntlet and off-world is here. The book also has a favourite bad-penny coming back, but telling who will only spoil it. Obviously, if you are reading your 15th or so Midkemia novel, there is little chance you will miss this one.

I'll admit - I'm a longtime Feist fan (as is probably evident by my reviews of his books on this site), and have been anxiously awaiting this second installment of the Darkwar Saga to come out on paperback. Feist has written virtually all of his books in small groups - the Riftwar Saga, the Serpentwar Saga, etc. Yet his brilliance lies in tying threads connecting these sometimes seemingly disparate sections into one larger tapestry, and this book truly brings his genius to the fore. We found in prior books (Exile's Return, the last of the Conclave Of Shadows trilogy, and Flight of the Nighthawks, the first of the Darkwar Saga) the main characters discovering some mysterious armored creatures hidden in a cave on the island of Novindus. The creatures are known as Talnoy - ruthless killing machines controlled by an alien race known as Dasati, and powered by captured souls - in essence, necromancy. There are thousands of Talnoy secreted in this cave, and the big mystery is how they got there, although the common consensus is they were put there by Macros the Black, a now deceased mage once considered the most powerful user of magic in the Kingdom of the Isles (in the planet of Midkemia). It turns out the Dasati are a ruthless race of warriors, who see compassion as weakness. If they encounter it in someone, they kill them. In many respects, they are animalistic, responding to violence, anger and lust, and trained right from birth in this cruel mindset and having a honed survival instinct ingrained in them. However, they reside on another plane of existence (remember the saying "Seven Hells"? Well, think of each plane of existence below ours being a lower level of hell). What alarms Pug, Nakor, Magnus, and the other members of the Conclave, is it seems the Dasati plan on invading Midkemia - and the effect of such an invasion by billions of Dasati would be the utter destruction of everything they hold dear, and the anihilation of life as they know it. In order to gain more knowledge, the three of them, together with the mysterious Ralen Bek, travel to the second realm, in the hope of finding answers, and possibly of averting this disastrous invasion. In some of his earlier books, Feist had a tendency of switching characters each chapter (which in me had the effect of wanting to skip chapters so I could see what happens next!). In this novel, he has upped the ante, so to speak, and sometimes switches between characters (or groups of characters) several times within each chapter. The next result is that he has ratcheted up the suspense and made it virtually impossible to put the book down. His skill at explaining the workings of magic and exploring the nature of deities is second to none. Combine that with someone who brings characters to life and who weaves brilliant tales together, not to mention delving into a whole new race and plane of existance, and you have a brilliant book. I highly recommend this book, and cannot wait for the next installm

Feist did a wonderful job bringing his past and present works together in this book. I love the direction that the story line is progressing towards. He leaves you waiting with anticipation for the next book (as usual).

In this sequel to Flight of the Nighthawks, author Raymond Feist takes us back to his magical world of Midkemia. The Conclave of Shadows is completing the destruction of the Nighthawks, but it soon becomes apparent that their roots reach much, much further than first thought! And so, Pug, Nakor, Magnus and the mysterious Ralan Bek must journey to the dark and dangerous home world of the evil Dasati. But, what happened to the escaped necromancer, Leso Varan? What is he up to? I must admit that I have been a fan of Raymond Feist for many years now, and I looked forward to this book's release with bated breath. In many ways, this book is like most middle books of a trilogy - it creates a group of situations and mysteries that you need to wait for the next book to see what happens. Still, I found it to be an interesting book, and I absolutely loved the short return to the Hall of Worlds. (I do wish that Mr. Feist will someday write a book that is set within the Hall!) Overall, I thought that this was a very good book, with grand scheme, great magic, gripping dangers and even more dangers! This is another great Raymond Feist book, one that I highly recommend.