The Serpentwar Saga Shadow Of A Dark Queen A fantasy written by Raymond Elias Feist in 1994 Reviewed edition by Avon from 1995 A paperback has 500 pages ISBN 0-380-72086-8 Click to rate this book from worst 1 2 3 4 5 to best.

Two young villagers, Erik and Roo, murder a local noble and get a death sentence. When they are to be hanged, the execution is staged and the two are drafted into a special army unit, with a chance to buy their life through service. With the unit numbering less than a hundred soldiers, Erik and Roo sail to a distant continent to enlist in the mercenary army of the Emerald Queen and find out what she is up to. Managing to do just that, those of the soldiers that return earn their lives and freedom from the Prince. End of book one. After his return from the army, Roo embarks on a business career. Chancing on an information about upcoming grain shortage, Roo capitalizes on it and quickly becomes one of the richest merchants in the Kingdom. His business continues to prosper, partially because of support from the Prince and his nobles, who let Roo know that he did not entirely escape his past, and that he can expect to be asked for funds to support the Kingdom in the upcoming war with the Emerald Queen. End of book two. Unlike his companion, Erik chooses to stay in the army, and takes part in building up the Kingdom forces for the coming war. Proving his skills as a commander, Erik quickly rises in rank, and in the end finds himself commanding the army that covers the withdrawal of the Kingdom forces from Krondor. In the meantime, Pug The Magician, known from the earlier Krondor books, appears and finds out that the Emerald Queen is in fact a demon in disguise. With help of his friends, also known from the earlier Krondor books, Pug eliminates the demon. This makes the enemy army withdraw some. End of book three. The Kingdom armies attempt to reclaim the lost territory, thwarted by the remnants of the enemy forces and suddenly ambitious neighbors. In the meantime, Pug discovers that the entire war is orchestrated by pawns of a Mad God Whose Name Cannot Be Spoken. Pug and his friends defeat the evil pawns and order the mere mortals of the Kingdom and the rest of Midkemia to behave, or else. End of book four.

Does the synopsis sound weird ? You bet. The entire series is as well. It's not that it does not read good, it's just that when finished, it leaves a really awkward feeling that does not seem to go away no matter how much I try to put a finger on what is wrong. Well, let me take it step by step.

First, the focus of the series shifts a lot. In the first book, the reader is lead to believe the special army unit where Erik and Roo are is supposed to pull off some sort of a magnificent feat within the enemy territory, but somehow it turns out to be an almost routine trip and the big secret is discovered by someone who just walks around an army camp. In the second book, the war is suddenly gone and Roo is getting rich by making an unbelievably good impression on other businessmen and cheating on his wife. Book three, business is gone out the window and the military takes over again, only to be replaced by a struggle between Eternal Good and Eternal Evil of unfathomable proportions in book four.

Second, there is a lot of episodes that seem to be played out only for emotional effect, such as the deaths of several of the characters, or the affair between Roo and his mistress. At times, one feels like reading an excerpt from a particularly touching Reader's Digest story. Yuck.

Third, some situations simply do not make sense. A relatively prosperous merchant taking a convicted killer to be his partner. A single spy being able to poison an entire court at a time of war. A stranger picked as a companion for an escort with vital documents. A band of cutthroat soldiers getting elite in a few months of training.

Fourth, it is really annoying when the author tries to stick bits of contemporary knowledge into a medieval fantasy book. I could perhaps stomach a monk calling his martial art forms kata, even though I doubt Midkemia people speak Japanese. But the same monk explaining his cosmological theories on the worn example of an expanding ball, plus others describing what looks like an introduction on Big Bang in the primary school textbook, is simply too much. Not to mention the Restaurant At The End Of The Universe that somehow popped up as well.

I would rate the series as average, perhaps pushing the average down a bit by that.

Rated as average by Ceres on 1999-11-13

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