Despite the fact that this book is a decade old, more or less, this is the first time I’ve read it. I was wary of its origins, to be honest. Feist’s work is already an extrapolation of a role-playing universe, and this book was the extrapolation of a story conceived for a PC role-playing game based on the books. The pedigree alone is mind-boggling.
There was also a bit of backlash against the book because it was so similar to the game, which made me wonder if it would read like the original Dragonlance Chronicles. As good as those books were at the time, they do read like a strict interpretation of the results of a modular campaign. That always bothered me, and that’s why I tend to shy away from books based directly on games.
All that said, this was not a bad book. Granted, the two main characters were obviously based on the main characters of a game, the progression in power of each character was based on steady acquisition of more magic and stronger weapons (an RPG staple), and the plot advancement came in fits and starts. But character motivations are a lot more internalized in a book, and that makes the difference. Gorath in particular was a great character with a strong arc.
In fact, it’s as if someone gave Feist an outline of high points in the story and said, “Make sense of this”. The pieces aren’t particularly hard to reconcile, though there are some passages that feel strained, and Feist makes it work. I don’t know that this would ever rank at the top of my list of favorite Midkemia novels, but it was definitely an enjoyable read.
Rating: 8/10
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