Rides a Dread Legion: Book One of the Demonwar Saga

Once again Feist has created a wonderful realm to delve into. I have read all his books and this one does not disappoint. I truly enjoy his story telling and the way he captures you into the story that leaves you wanting more. I can't wait for the next book in this series coming out April 2010.

As usual he does great work; however, this book has a much better feel to it then the previous few series since the serpent war saga. I can't wait for the next one to come out!

Rides a Dread Legion (2009) is the first fantasy novel in the Demonwar Saga within the Midkemia series. In the previous subseries, Pug, Macros, Magnus and Nakor reconnoitered the Dasati domain. Macros and Nakor did not return, but Pug and Magnus came back with warning of an imminent invasion. The invasion rift was destroyed together with the planet Kelewan. In this novel, Amirantha is a demon summoner. He is the third of three sons from a woman who was known as a witch. With his companion Brandos, Amirantha has been conning rural villagers with false demon invasions staged by his own tame demons, but he has also tracked down and banished several other ravaging demons. Sandreena is a Knight-Adamant of the Order of the Shield of the Weak, serving in the name of the Goddess Dala. She was born to a prostitute in Krondor and followed her mother into that profession. But Brother Mathias had brought her into the temple. Father-Bishop Creegan is head of the Order of the Shield in Krondor. Only the Grand Master in Rillanon is higher within the hierarchy of the Order, but the Grand Master leaves administrative duties to the seven Father-Bishops. Creegan is the single most powerful Father-Bishop and is probably going to be the next Grand Master. Undalyn is the Regnant Lord of the Taradhel, the People of the Seven Stars. Their ancestors had been Eldar -- Lorekeepers -- and had fled Midkemia during the Chaos Wars prior to the freeing of all Elves by the Valheru Ashen-Shugar. The Taradhel had planted their Seven Stars -- trees from the sacred grove at Home -- and then had spread to other planets. Now their worlds are being overrun by the Demon Legion. Laromendis is a Taradhel Conjurer -- an illusionist -- and the head of the council of Taradhel magic users. The Clansfolk don't usually like magicians, although those who raise and maintain the Portals -- rifts -- are acceptable. Gulamendis is a Master of Demons -- a demon summoner -- and the brother of Laromendis. Since the Taradhel believe that the demon summoners paved the way for the Demon Legion to come into their realm, he and others of his nature are hated by their fellow Elves. He has been imprisoned by the Regent Lord while his brother scouts for a new home. In this story, Laromendis brings word of the location of Home, the planet from which the Taradhel had fled many centuries ago. Undalyn frees Gulamendis to check out signs of demons on the planet, but sends Laromendis back to Ancardia to help hold back the demons attacking their capitol. Meanwhile, Laromendis was seen in a valley near the Grey Towers. The news of this strange Elf is passed to Elvandar by Alystan of Natal and Dolgan, King of the Western Dwarves. Aglaranna and her consort Tomas discuss the sighting with their advisors. Then Gulamendis arrives in Elvandar and meets with Aglaranna and her consort. At first, he is believed to be his brother because of his strange red hair. After discussing the Taradhel with the

Loved this book, I have been a Feist fan since Magician. This is one of the better books he has wrote. Makes for a more interesting read when you know that no character is immune to the authors death pen.

This is the first book without major typos, so congrats to the editors for getting it right finally. However, the Book Jacket does have errors. For instance, Miranda is not an Elf Queen. This book is actually pretty short at 365 pages or so. The description leads you to believe there is a lot of angst between the characters and everyone is plotting to backstab everyone else. However, with a couple of exceptions that really doesn't come through in the book and even in those exceptions it's mild unless you have a great imagination. Overall the book is obviously a setup book. The characters kind of amble around performing minor tasks, meeting with each other, and basically setting up the final couple chapters. I liked the book and as Feist says we start to see the big picture, but it's definitely not a novel that could live on it's own. I anxiously await the next book in the series. Now if we could only get Mr. Feist to write faster!