Magician's End: Book Three of the Chaoswar Saga Author: Visit Amazon's Raymond E. Feist Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0061468436 | Format: EPUB
Magician's End: Book Three of the Chaoswar Saga Description
From Publishers Weekly
Readers who have experienced all, or most of the preceding 29 books in Feist's best-selling epic fantasy series, will be eager to find how it all ends. But even those who have kept up religiously with the characters and plot may find the resolution—which does not shut the door to more books set in the world of Midkemia—predictable and somewhat anticlimactic. His initial protagonists Pug, a master wizard, and Tomas, a superior warrior, are still around, and committed to fighting the forces of darkness to save their world. Pug's fate is heavily foreshadowed—as early as chapter one, he's warned that he must prepare "to sacrifice everything to save everything." That ultimate confrontation is a long time coming, and long stretches of the book pass with Pug offstage. There's not much here to distinguish this from countless other fantasy tales (the political intrigue is very dull), and the freshness that marked Feist's earlier work—including his ruthlessness at killing off significant players—has dimmed, unsurprisingly, after so long. (May)
From Booklist
*Starred Review* The riveting conclusion to the Chaoswar Saga and the Riftwar Cycle is satisfying in every way. The story of Pug, an orphan boy of Midkemia who faces war and slavery on an alien planet and survives to become a master magician, is nothing short of exceptional. In this, the final episode of his life, he grapples with the concept of a higher being that is nearly impossible for mere humans to comprehend. Physics, astronomy, philosophy, and the meaning of the universe are all discussed, and the characters are almost secondary to such ruminations. A series of lessons is taught to a select group of magicians including Pug, which they must then use to determine how to overcome the evil that threatens their world with annihilation. While these magicians are learning their lessons, there is a civil war in the Kingdom, and the Taredhel have unleashed the Dread into Midkemia. Feist has created a universe that is every bit as captivating as Anne McCaffrey’s Pern, Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar, and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover. In Magician’s End, he has masterfully brought the entire epic in a full circle. --Rebecca Gerber
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- Series: Chaoswar Saga (Book 3)
- Hardcover: 576 pages
- Publisher: Harper Voyager (May 14, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0061468436
- ISBN-13: 978-0061468438
- Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I enjoyed Magician's End, and, unlike many books, it left me with a lingering melancholy, and satisfaction born from saying goodbye to a series that has been with me for most of my life. It is absolutely, obviously worth purchasing and reading if you have been following the series. However I am going to try to avoid the nostalgia trap that a lot of the 5-star reviews are falling into and give the book a modest, critical review.
First a thought to editing, which has been a problem in the last few books of the series. There are portions of the book where the author seems to repeat himself, saying much the same thing again in a few paragraphs as though for the first time. Now I can't be sure that this is not intentional repetition, but either way it seems like the book would have benefited from a tighter editing process.
As with the books immediately preceding it, Magician's End is essentially two different stories that don't touch each other closely enough. While the political B-plot is highly predictable, and it could be argued that the new generation of conDoin characters are a bit shallow and repetitive, it does add something worthwhile to the final chapters of the book. Magician's End does mirror Magician in many respects, and in that regard the new conDoins do their job, remind you of the conDoins who came before, and allow you to imagine what the Kingdom's future might be.
Now I reach two problems with this part of the story. One - While I do feel that the end of the political B-plot was a worthwhile addition to a story intended to bookend the original Magician, the process of getting there, the civil war story, is not compelling. The battles themselves are relatively petty and you could be forgiven for skimming them.
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