Sometimes, as a reviewer, the job of analysing a book and crafting a review is the simplest job in the world. The author has crafted a beautiful tale and written it wonderfully, fleshed out the characters beyond a two-dimensional stereotype, kept the pace upbeat without being hurried, and told a tale worth telling. Other times, the job is a little more difficult, when an author has told an interesting story, but it was not well written, or a story was well written, but it simply didn’t appeal to me. Having read the far majority of all of Feist's works before now, and even doing so recently, I was pretty astounded to learn that he had a NEW fantasy series. One that requires no previous knowledge or the need to rely on vast previous worldbuilding.

The balance of power in North and South Tembria is reliant on the equality of the five greatest kingdoms, but this peaceful coexistence is shattered when one of the powers, the Kingdom of Flames is betrayed and its King and entire family executed by the other four. Almost all, that is, for one infant survived. Baron Daylon Dumarch had reluctantly participated in the betrayal but tries to atone by secreting the surviving infant to the so called Island of Night where the lad grows up among legendary spies, assassins, cutthroats, and other assorted criminals. The world-building of King of Ashes is thoughtful, expansive, and detailed. A well thought out world is Feist’s wheelhouse. Although his stories tend to be character-based, Feist gives the perfect amount of detail to his worlds so that the reader can get a clear picture in their head. Any missing information can be filled in by imagination. The characters are highly detailed, and the dialog does not ever have a forced or static feel to it—the bane of many fantasy books. Feist’s characters tend to speak like humans and have human reactions. Honestly, Raymond Feist is a master at this kind of fantasy. You would think that a lost child destined to save the world, might be a little tropey. In any other hands, it probably would be. But this is Feist, and he could write a phone book and have it be engaging. In other words, this is a perfect book to jump into, assuming you want an absolutely gorgeous and detailed kingdom, some rather fully-fleshed out political entities, and two ideal YA character-candidates reminiscent of some of Feist's much earlier (and excellent) work involving two rather precocious princelings. Or their sons. The book opens on a bloody scene as Baron Daylon Dumarch, a Free Lord, watches the execution of every single family member of the royal family of Ithrace. The monarch of what was once one of the five great kingdoms of North and South Tembria had just been betrayed by the other four kings in a brutal and decisive battle, signaling an end to the ancient covenant that had protected the peace and balance for centuries. Now King Lodavico of Sandura, the man at the head of the takeover, is determined to completely destroy the line of King Steveren of Ithrace, putting everyone with Firemane blood to the sword.

Fantasy Books Of The Year

The first volume in legendary master and New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist’s epic heroic fantasy series, The Firemane Saga – an electrifying tale of two young men whose choices will determine a world’s destiny.

As a minor aside, as well, the book is littered with printing errors (I assume they are not grammatical errors because nobody can so regularly misspell “but” as “hut”) which, for me at least, were continually irritating – an unfortunate analogy of a book that seems not to have received the attention to detail necessary. Pacing-wise, this book is a slower burn. It balances giving enough information to the reader while keeping the pace moving. This isn’t easy in the first book of a series. Feist does this generally very well. But at points, in the story the pacing lags a bit, especially in the beginning. I want to get to know these characters; I want more from them. But Feist teases the readers with glimpses. One of the most interesting and I would think pivotal figures later on in the series is Baron Daylon Dumarch and his brother. The interactions these two have coupled with the political climate, and the Baron’s everpresent guilt made me want to skip to his sections. His pain is almost palpable. “I seek only not to despise the man I see in the mirror,” said the Baron of Marquensas.”He betrayed his best friend and will spend what is left of his life atoning for it.

Raymond E. Feist Reading Order – By Publishing Date

While there is a smattering of other POVs peppered throughout the novel, King of Ashes is mainly told through the eyes of these two young men—Hatu and Declan. For the most part, they are very archetypal characters, i.e. the lost heir and the bastard apprentice, and no doubt avid fantasy readers will have seen their like many times before. And yet, Feist prevents them from feeling too stale by keeping his story moving at an energetic pace. It’s rather common for first volumes of new epic fantasy series to become bogged down by the minutiae, taking forever to get started, but I was happy to see that this is not the case here. We also follow another main character Declan who becomes a Smith. He managed to forge something with an old "skill" and his story develops from here on out. All in all I felt like this was an OK new fantasy from Feist. Nothing special but it settled down to be readable enough after a sluggish start and I'll probably read the sequel when it comes along. The first book of the series, King of Ashes, details the fall of the Ithrace kingdom through great treachery. For more than a century, the five nations worked in partnership with each other to build a world of great prosperity. This is especially true of the Ithrace kingdom. They are known for the beauty of the land and a love of the arts and wealth that far exceeds the other four kingdoms. It indeed was a magnificent kingdom of milk and honey. The King of Ashes begins with a prologue after the great betrayal, and Ithrace is burning to the ground. The King of Ithrace, Steveren Langene, and his entire family are brought onto a stage and unceremoniously had their throats cut. The aim was to destroy every Firemane member and eradicate the family line. Five kingdoms used to co-exist in Garn, spread across the two continents of North and South Tembria. The Kingdom of Flames was destroyed by an act of betrayal and the ruling line of Firemanes completely wiped out, or so it was thought.

It it similar to Brandon Sanderson's book The Way of Kings in that most of the book is setting up the rest of the series and dealing with character development but I found King of Ashes to be a much more satisfying book then The Way of Kings. Daughter of the Empire - Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts <-Included because this author has done amazing things in the past. In some ways, King of Ashes reads much like Feist’s early works. His voice is strong, and certain characters and scenes echo previous novels. It does, however, reflect the sensibilities of contemporary readers. It’s hardly grimdark, but violence, language, and sexuality are dealt with in a much more frank manner than in the novels penned in the 1980s. Unfortunately – and doubly so when the author in question is fantasy royalty – there is the occasional instance when you read a book, and not only does it not appeal to you, but there are serious flaws with its writing as well.Pacing-wise, this book is a slower burn. It balances giving enough information to the reader while keeping the pace moving. This isn't easy in the first book of a series. Feist does this generally very well. But at points, in the story, the pacing lags a bit, especially in the beginning. I want to get to know these characters; I want more from them. But Feist teases the readers with glimpses. One of the most interesting and I would think pivotal figures later on in the series is Baron Daylon Dumarch and his brother. The interactions these two have coupled with the political climate, and the Baron's everpresent guilt made me want to skip to his sections. His pain is almost palpable. “I seek only not to despise the man I see in the mirror,” said the Baron of Marquensas." He betrayed his best friend and will spend what is left of his life atoning for it. Declan is a gifted apprentice, learning his craft from the legendary Edvalt, weaponsmith to the fallen Firemane regents and possessor of the recipe for the famed king’s steel. Growing up in a small village and seeing Edvalt as a father, his existence is quiet. Until the day Oncon is invaded by soldiers from Sandura and his life changes forever.

Hatu represents one of the stupidest characters I have ever read – by which I mean, and I want to be clear, the character portrayed is stupid, unintelligent, ignorant, perpetually unaware of anything. I’ve met oblivious 17-year-olds before, but none come up to the level of Hatu, who seemed to be completely ignorant of everything that was happening to him or around him – right up until a point where something magical happens for no particular reason and apparently everything is fixed, which again only showed the heavy-handed intrusion of the author.The narration of King of Ashes takes the form of two perspectives—that of Hatu undergoing his education as a future sicari and through the eyes of Declan as he strives for greatness in his chosen profession of weapon smithing. Initially one may feel as though the changing points of view have no purpose as the young men involved have never been associated. By the end of the story however, it is obvious that each man has his part to play in the restoration of their once great land. In fact, I found that Feist could be downright frank in his writing style, cutting straight to the matter while leaving no room for subtlety. Everything is spelled out for the reader when it comes to his characters’ thoughts and motivations, and there is little finesse or attempt to show instead rather than tell. To be fair, this isn’t always bad; the writing is reminiscent of what I would call a classic or old-school style, in that it is very straightforward and easy to read. However, at times it made his characters feel flat and difficult to connect with, a prime example being Hatu when he was just becoming aware of his attraction to Hava. Their ensuing romance, if you could even call it that, felt awkward and forced, for you had the author laying out Hatu’s feelings with all the emotion of a dry clinical report. There’s a strong sense of “what you see is what you get” when it comes to the characters, placing them behind a layer of detachment which made it hard to feel invested in them. Hatushaly lives with a secret society alongside his friends Donte, son of a master assassin, and Hava, a gifted apprentice and formidable fighter. Together they have learnt the art of the assassins, existing in anonymity, hoping to be chosen as the newest sicari. While his friends thrive in their positions, Hatu has never felt like he truly belongs. Always standing out in a crowd with his fair skin and fire-red hair. For centuries, the five greatest kingdoms of North and South Tembria, twin continents on the world of Garn, have coexisted in peace. But the balance of power is destroyed when four of the kingdoms violate an ancient covenant and betray the fifth: Ithrace, the Kingdom of Flames, ruled by Steveren Langene, known as "the Firemane" for his brilliant red hair. As war engulfs the world, Ithrace is destroyed and the Greater Realms of Tembria are thrust into a dangerous struggle for supremacy.