Rage of a Demon King

In this sequel to Shadow of a Dark Queen, author Raymond Feist takes us back to his magical world of Midkemia. Time is growing short now, as the Kingdom of the Isles braces for the coming invasion by the Emerald Queen's army. Erik von Darkmoor is feverishly training new soldiers, but will the Armies of the West be ready? And, as for Rupert Avery, his live of dissipation and intrigue are starting to wear him down, but he is caught in a larger intrigue, and much is going to happen to him that he has never expected. Raymond Feist's Riftwar books all great great, with epic adventure and magic, while his later books enjoyed a somewhat smaller scope. This book is definitely an epic book; indeed I would say the greatest of the epic books. This is a story of a war that spans an entire world, and even includes demons and gods in a war of winner-take-all! Overall, I found this to be a great story. I loved its huge scope and high stakes - it is the grandest of grand adventures! If you want to read a story with a large scale adventure that will leave you on the edge of your seat, then this is the book for you. I loved this book and give it my highest recommendations!

This book is about 1 million times better than "Rise of a Merchent Prince" a book that I little actually dislike but will not re-read agian either. In this book preety much everything pays off from the first two books we have a lot of conflict on all fronts and while some of it doesn't get wrapped up smothly it all comes to more than a satisfactory conclusion. At a point this book is just one drawn out slugging match with the forces of the Emerald Queen. Everyone who has possibly even remotly been in a Feist serise of books has a part to play and for the most part this works out really well. My favorite sequence in the whole book is the conversation between Duke James and the leader of the Thives Guild. This is a book that I will gladly rwead agian.Overall-Took a while to get going but in the end it packs quite a punch.

Being a devoted fan of Feist, I have to admit that I have read all of his books at least 5 times each. Except fairy tale. I only read that once.Rage of a demon king has only one flaw - it's too complicated for all but the most devoted fan of Feist and much of the inticate plot twists and inter-relationships are completely lost on most readers. Look at most of the other reviews on this book - they complain that demon king left them hanging - but then out of no-where comes shards of a broken crown, invalidating most of the reviews of this book!I boast that I knew there was a fourth book, and I enjoyed hanging out after demon king every little bit.feist has set the scene for Krondor and the rest of the kingdom. He has killed off characters, retired characters and invented a set of new ones, Eric, Miranda, Roo, given Calis a life and eventualy puts a new king on the throne. Get ready, its going to start all over again, - mark my words. This time, there will be no Duke James's, Amos Trasks or Macros's to rely on, it's a whole new realm.

The thing I liked most about this book was Fiest accomplished what he couldn't before and what most writers cannot and that is really making the reader feel a loss when a character dies. Yes, its sad when you have a favorite character and they die, but I want to really feel heavyhearted as if someone really did die. I want the books realistic as possible. Isn't this why we read these books? We read to enjoy them, to laugh and yes to cry! Unfortunately, when characters die in recent fantasy novels (which is rare), I feel nothing. Probably because the characters feel nothing. When Lockleare died in "Prince of the Blood" I wanted James to be really hurt by his best friend's death. There really wasn't much written of this. When Arutha died, again I wanted to feel James' hurt, but I didn't in the "Shadow of a Dark Queen". At least not until "Rage of the Demon King" that I finally got my true feelings from James. The loss of Arutha hit Ja! ! mes hard as he himself describes. The deaths of some other characters were written beautifully. I truly was saddened. This is what we should feel. Fantasy is fiction yes, but it reflects life in all aspects. "Rage of a Demon King" accomplishes this. All good guys do not always live forever and those that do happen to die are not immediately forgotten. If readers want to read a book and feel like what they are reading is actually happening, then PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!

I am shocked by some of the negative reviews this book got by other people on this site. (Look around, most are positive!) Some of the things they hated are the best points of this book. The story has become ever broader and far reaching, with greater forces thrown into the battle. Yes, some characters we have grown to love die, but I think this is because Feist has realized that it is time for the series to move on. (Don't worry, there are plenty of old favorites who make it!) Another complaint I read was that too many mysteries were revealed. Again, this is one of the greatest points in this book. After learning, we realize how much we really didn't know about Midkemia and how much there is still to discover. For those of you that have never read Feist ... DO! He is, in my opinion, the BEST fantasy author there is. (And that's the truth!) Start at the beginning of his great stories, though, with Magician: Apprentice (of the Riftwar Saga). This will help you to understand this detailed world and learn about many of the characters. That is the greatest thing about Feist's books, the characters. After reading his books, you feel for the characters and truely understand what they are experiencing, both their losses and joys. I highly recommend this book!