Vol. 4), A Darkness at Sethanon (The Riftwar Saga

This tale reminds me of individuals I have known that possessed any number of irritating habits, yet continued to retain my affection by nature of their simple and generous character. That's probably overstating the case here, but, despite Feist's tendancy towards stereotyping and simplistic narrative, I nonetheless find myself continuing to read the "Riftwar Saga."
"A Darkness at Sethanon" possesses most of the flaws that have plagued the previous books: An event driven narrative that expends little time on characterization or descriptive detail, players that are stereotypical and more characteristic of cartoons than fiction, as well as a world that to a large degree dwells within the conventional. Further, Feist is starting to show evidence of predictability. Most of this has been noted, though more stridently, by previous detractors.
However, unlike many of those, I felt this book to be the best so far in the series, and were it not for the chapters devoted to Pug and Tomas, as well as the pollyanna quality of the final chapter, I might have felt this tale deserving of a 4 star rating. Much of the story following Arutha and friends appeared to be rising above the level of the earlier tales, both in focus as well as the use of dramatic tension and an embryonic exploration through new characters beyond the often juvenile caricaturization that's dogged Feist from the beginning. Unfortunately these rudimentary advances were greatly undermined by the overblown magic and almost omnipotent powers possessed by Pug and Tomas in their portion of the tale, their bald rehash of the Grecian underworld, and the appearance of the ridiculous and incidental tigermen. What little credibility remained was decidedly discarded in the final chapter.
Yet, after all my complaints, I find myself seduced into attempting the next book. There is a straightforward, uncomplicated element of fun to Feist's writing that is, for all it's faults, rather appealing. Perhaps, as was his implied intention in the first books, he has been successful in reaching a boyish response in me that I thought long put away and forgotten. In any event, these books have provided diversion for unreflected moments. However, all the 5 star ratings are preposterous!

My two favorite fantasy series are Dragonlance and Riftwar. (I think Riftwar is better, but I read Dragonlance first, so that makes them tie in my mind.) Riftwar is so great because it accomplishes two things that I haven't encountered in other fantasy series (Xanth, Tolkien): 1. Its characters include all the major fantasy types (wizards, warriors, thieves, sages, clerics, etc.) without stripping them of their personality. Most D&D-derived books have trouble justifying characters of different "class" because classes make more sense from a game-designer's point of view than from an author's or reader's. Feist is able to fit his characters into the class framework without making them less as characters, and I have a feeling that's very difficult. 2. It's realistic, in that it's the best balance I've seen between outright heroic fantasy (Tolkien, Dragonlance) and the actual medieval European milieu. There have been some series devoted to depicting the latter, but they're more historical fiction than fantasy; Feist has been the only author I know of who has been able to integrate these two extremes.
Now that I've babbled about the series, where does Sethanon fit in? Out of the original four books of the series, it ties for first with "Magician: Master." (Magician: Apprentice is next and Silverthorn takes the rear.)

Such a magical series like the Riftwar Saga deserves a correspondingly satisfying and climatic conclusion. In A Darkness at Sethanon, Feist writes some of his best battle scenes ever, and the plot thickens with rapidity.
A Darkness at Sethanon cannot possibly disappoint someone already hooked by the magic of Magician and Silverthorn. The level of conflict intensifies and the ominous dark forces gather. The heroes of the land brace for the coming storm. Victory must be achieved to ensure the safety of Midkemia.
The Riftwar series as a whole gets a resounding conclusion from this last book. This is Feist at his best.

This is a wonderful conclusion to one of the best fantasy series of all time.
If you have not read the prior three books (Magician I & II and Silverthorn), you probably will not get much out of this, though. This book builds upon characters introduced earlier, so new readers will find themselves lost quickly.
However, as I said, this is a wonderful book -- my favorite out of all Feist novels.
The characters of Pug, Arutha, and Jimmy are fully explored, and more background is given on the mysterious and awesome Macros. The story is intelligent, and the manner in which Feist weaves several subplots and storylines together is truly magnificent.
Read this book, and read this series.

A Darkness At Sethonon combines action and fun. After playing Feists Betrayel At Krondor, I looked for any books by him. This was the best of the lot. I liked it because all the charecters were familiar to me from the game. Locklear is my favorite. It was nice to see the back story. How the dragon became the oracle of Aal, who in gods name was Macros, where these charecters came from, why there was a struggle with the Moredhel, and most important, why was their a sword in the stone at Sethanon! The part at Armengar was the best in the book, Feist showed the reader that he could make an entire city blow up. Fasinating!

this was a great novel if somewhat split. i really enjoyed the series, and this is a fitting conclusion.
i liked how we kind of grew up with these characters, how we got to watch them change, suffer, triumph. i especially liked tomas and his battle to overcome the valheru that was infused with his armor. the only thing i could ask for would be more in his initial character. the persona of tomas kind of lacked. what in this boy could have tamed so dreadful a power?
the description of the valheru was fantastic and magical. i loved that feist was able to convey evil with absolute power.
my only qualm with this novel goes: this is basically two novels. first is arutha's struggle, a struggle of the mortal realm against a dark power. then there is the immortal battle with tomas, pug, and the vast spectrum of power. really, the city of forever doesn't mesh with the palace at krondor. there should have been more of a conection between the two; the showdown was dramatic, but have of the characters involved didn't know what was going on. also, there should be a limit on pug's knowledge, something that could connect him to the slave on kelewan that we all got involved with. really, the magic is not defined; there are no limits. the valheru were given the greatest explanation, therefore, tomas was the most thought-out character.
i guess it would be selfish to ask for more when so muxh was already given. i guess i'm just selfish like that.

All of my favorite characters from the series were present and the plot took one exciting turn after another! Truly wonderful! It was a lot of fun to read, but I must admit that there was a plethora of minor editing errors, typos mainly. I was quite shocked. I know that new editions have been released since this 1994 edition of mine, so I do hope that they were corrected! Other than that, a fun read - I hope these wonderful characters continue to appear in the remainder of the books set in this richly detailed land!

This is definitely the worst book in the riftwar saga. That doesn't mean the book is particularly bad, it just left me disappointed after how good the other books were (at least they get better after this!)... I hated the corridor in the stars, and the amount of power Pug had - truly terrible. I hated that some of the more "dodgy" characters in the previous books were turned into heroes. But!... the writing is fluid, and there are moments of true brilliance. If you've read the other books, you KNOW you have to read this one.

Taken alone, this is a good book. But after Magician and Silverthorn it's perfect. Everything- every stray thought, every suposedly useless character, every unexplained event- in the previous books is explained and finds its meaning in these pages. One of the best parts is seeing both Pug and Tomas (especially Tomas!) finally come into the power promised them from the beginning. Since I had also read both Prince of the Blood and The King's Buccaneer before this one, it was nice to see how closely tied it was to these that followed as well.

Here ends the first of the Midkemia series. Great, awesome etc. Feist delivers a top notch read and only gets better as he goes. The cast of characters are truely unique and memorable, especially Jimmy the Hand which in later books becomes one of my all time favorite literary characters.

If you love fantasy, you have to get this!!

If you like books like this one, might I suggest another I've recently come across. The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. It's another fantasy adventure sure to please. I highly recommend it.

Battle for the fate of everything.

With your good old Dark Lord type rising, it will require Arutha's sword, all of Pug the Magician's power and Jimmy the Hand's cunning and contacts to try and do something about it, as here in your classic high fantasy trilogy end the stakes get very high indeed.

In style and tone very much the same as the first two books, and that is a good thing.

A mind blowing conclusion to my favorite fantasy series. I must admit to an SF point of view, and that may color my evaluation of this book. Whatever the case, "A Darkness at Sethanon" satisfied me on a great many levels. I have just one problem with it: I want the entire series republished in a single hardcover volume, because my paperbacks are worn out from all the rereadings!

The riftwar saga has been a wonderfully entertaining series from Raymond E Feist and A Darkness At Sethanon lives up to its predecesors. The book is packed with excitment and intrigue as the tale builds to its climatic finish. Just like Magician and Silverthorn, Feist explores the greater celestial battle and explains further the fates of the Valheru and The Enemy. However while the excitment of the epic battle sequences dominates the novel the character development is alowed to become shalow. It's not quite as good as Magician and Silverthorn but is still a must read for lovers of the series.

Darkness at Sethanon continues Feist's fantastic Riftwar series. This book, however, is one of my personal favorites in the series. Mainly because it focuses a lot on Jimmy the Hand (A great character), and the battle of Armengar is one of my favorite battle descriptions I have ever read. The way the Feist weaves the stories and the characters together is great. If you haven't picked up any of the other books in the series, you can still enjoy this one, however reading the first three will give you an even greater appreciation of all of the characters as they have grown and discovered their roles in the world.

From the very beginning of the book the Dark Elves are already roaming the countryside and destroying everything. The only hope lies in Sethanon.... Feist really knows how to end a series. Another 5++ Star book.

The first three books were great, and so was Sethanon, except for the problem of Pug and Tomas becoming too powerful. I don't know how many lines there are in there containing the words "Tomas (or Pug) quickly dispatched the enemy." All either of them have to do in any event is snap their fingers or - in extreme cases - wave their hands. This was all counterpointed by the bits taking place back on Midkemia with Jimmy. (I've always been a fan of Jimmy.)

Tis story is an epic tale. I would highly reccomend it to any one who is into medival times and fantasy. Feist mixes the elements of fighting, romance, and magic into a tale that has effected what kind of books ive read since. It also has some of the best war scenes ive ever read. so if u like science fiction fantasy books this is youre best bet, but i do advise u to read the ones before this first.

Having just completed reading every Raymond E. Feist book I can get my hands on I must say that A Darkness at Seanthon is one of the best he has written, although they are all very good.
To fully enjoy the Universe R.E.F has created I suggest you buy all of the books and read them in the order they were written in.

the store has the wrong cover image for this book. The cover they show suggests that this is from the author's prefered edition of the series. However, it is actually the standard edition. Not that the old edition is bad, but I purchased this book to fill out my collection of the author's prefered version, and realised as soon as I opened the package that it was the wrong one. Oh, well. I guess maybe the new one isn't out yet...

Although many other fantasy series have caught my attention none have hooked me like the riftwar saga. Darkness at sethanon rounded of an intriguing and gripping trilogy and you would be a fool to miss out.

Having just completed reading every Raymond E. Feist book I can get my hands on I must say that A Darkness at Seanthon is one of the best he has written, although they are all very good.
To fully enjoy the Universe R.E.F has created I suggest you buy all of the books and read them in the order they were written in.

the store has the wrong cover image for this book. The cover they show suggests that this is from the author's prefered edition of the series. However, it is actually the standard edition. Not that the old edition is bad, but I purchased this book to fill out my collection of the author's prefered version, and realised as soon as I opened the package that it was the wrong one. Oh, well. I guess maybe the new one isn't out yet...

Although many other fantasy series have caught my attention none have hooked me like the riftwar saga. Darkness at sethanon rounded of an intriguing and gripping trilogy and you would be a fool to miss out.

We have been waiting for this book to be released on Kindle for quite some time. What is the problem? Please solve it...so I can give the store my money and read this great book on my Kindle.

1 star for the Kindle Edition, since it is not available.