Jimmy the Hand: Legends of the Riftwar, Book III (Legends of the Riftwar, 3)

Jimmy the HAnd is one of my faborite characters from the Raymond Feist books. I am never disappointed with a Feist book

A truly great book which will keep you on the edge most of the reading.

The Mockers enable the royals Arutha and Anita to flee Krondor and the assault of Duke Guy du Bas-Ytra. The irate city ruler demands his thugs bring him the head of teen thief Jimmy the Hand and the other Mockers who abetted the Prince in his and Princess Anita's escape. Not caring to delineate, the ducal's assassins go after all Mockers demanding they turn over the head of Jimmy the Hand to them or else. Knowing his allies are turning against him, Jimmy accompanied by Flora, a Mocker seeking her grandfather to start over, flee Krondor heading towards Land's End. Jimmy expects a respite in the Southern city, but instead the thief finds himself in the middle of a dark magic altercation. He tries to con his way out of a confrontation that could prove unhealthy. This is an entertaining Legends of the Riftwar tale but fans of the saga will need to take a step back to somewhat place the tale in its chronological order as Jimmy is the bravado thief just beginning to show his noble heart in his legendary tale. The story line is fast-paced and filled with plenty of action as the lead rotates; when Jimmy or the royals are front and center, the plot is top rate while when others take center stage it feels off kilter especially since some star one scene players. Enjoyable in spite some descriptive weather and geographical paragraphs repeated seemingly verbatim several times (don't need a photographic memory to realize this as it is jarring), fans of Midkemia will appreciate the latest entry as Jimmy shows why he is a fascinating protagonist. Harriet Klausner

It took me a while to get to this book, mostly because I was very disappointed with the last Legends collaboration where the authors (though I suspect Rosenberg mostly) tell the tale of three mercenaries who do very little "mercenarying" and mostly act like licensed detectives in attempting to solve a murder in a blizzard-ridden town. I found the book to be claustrophobic and the characters unreal and inflexible. However this book is about Jimmy, one of the most likable and well-defined characters of the Riftwar Saga, so I thought that Feist would not let Jimmy be taken out of context... and I am glad to be right in that assumption. This book is everything the second one was not. It has action and adventure, and even some magic, combined with a nice two-part plot that is not burdened by the need to prove the intelligence and wit of its characters. Instead, it justly describes characters which are either well known, such as Jimmy, or others with whom the reader can easily relate such as Flora, Lorrie and even the Baron. The story covers two cities: the one well known is Krondor, and the other Land's End. In fact the only problem that I find with the story is its disjointed plotline, which starts in Krondor and ties in the events of Anita's and Arutha's escape described in Magician, with Jimmy' s life in the city. Though this first part provides an insight into Jimmy's early character as the mischievous thief we all know and love, it does not connect at all with the second part of the story, which focuses on the events in the life of a minor noble and some farmers living around Land's End. This part of the book has real potential, and the background story is very nicely told. The plot even kept me guessing for a while, which is not really the case with most fantasy novels. I found the best characters to be the Baron and his wife, who make quite the tragic pair and add dramatic substance to the story. Jimmy finds himself embroiled in the middle of the provincial conflict and does his typical best to contribute to the conclusion of the story. All in all, I find this to be a worthy addition to the world of Midkemia. In fact, I hope Feist and Stirling get together again in the future; I sense there is some good chemistry in their work.

First of all completely ignore what is written on the back of the book--I've seen publishers get information wrong before, but never this spectacularly. It explains that after running afoul of Guy du Bas-Tyra's secret police Jimmy the Hand flees north to Sarth where he tries to set himself up in "business" but finds "a dark secret." Actually Jimmy goes south to Land's End--Sarth is never mentioned. I have enjoyed each of the collaborations of the Legends of the Riftwar series, and Jimmy the Hand was no exception. I'm sure Jimmy is a favourite of many readers of the Riftwar Saga, and I'm no exception. There is just something about the young thief that is endearing. However nice it was to see him in Prince of the Blood and the Serpentwar Saga it wasn't quite the same. Here Steve Stirling and Raymond Feist have managed to capture the youthful Jimmy and detail one of his adventures. The story opens right as Arutha and Anita are escaping from Krondor with the aid of the Mockers. For several subsequent chapters we see the aftermath of the Crydee Prince's exploits through the city and Jimmy, of course, takes center stage. After matters get a bit too hot Jimmy and Flora, a fellow Mocker, make their way to Land's End. She is searching for her grandfather and a respectable life, while Jimmy just needs to get out of town. The tale is well told and an engaging look at Jimmy. It does though switch perspective several times to Larrie (a young farming girl from near Land's End), the Baron of Land's End himself, and a couple others. These changes are disconcerting at first, but become understandable after a couple pages. Jimmy shows some flashes of nobility, perhaps inspired by Anita, but is still a pragmatic thief at heart, even when confronting dark magic. I was surprised at the level of magic in the book, but as it is something supposed to be used in Midkemia it was nice to see more than in Feist's other books where we generally just see Pug and others associated with him employ spells. This really is what I've enjoyed most about the Legends series--we get the chance to see a coherent view of Midkemia (aided by Feist's collaboration) that is nonetheless different from his usual tack. If you've enjoyed Feist's works then you should definately check out this trilogy, and you can't miss this chance to learn more about Jimmy the Hand!