The A-Z Blog Challenge, Letter K

Letter K of My Favourite Books by title

A series of three fantasy books.

This series is by American fantasy author, Raymond E. Fiest. 

The books are: Krondor: The Riftwar Legacy Books

These books are actually more like spin offs from another series - The Riftwar Saga, which is actually part of what is called The Riftwar Universe and consists of ten series of books, starting with The Magician. I haven't yet read them all - I've read six of the series, and don't own them all yet, but I'm working my way there.

Wiki explains them quite simply: 

They feature the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan. Human magicians and other creatures on the two planets are able to create rifts through dimensionless space that can connect planets in different solar systems. The novels and short stories of The Riftwar Universe record the adventures of various people on these worlds.

I call them kingdom fantasies, based around kingdoms that oppose each other and have wars, and then Fiest mixes in other things, like a time rift, and another nation from another world comes through this rift and a war starts. In different series you get to explore the different worlds and their culture - one reflects what we know as the Far Eastern culture. There are also elves and other types of life forms besides human, as well as lots of magic. He combines it all in a way that works for me personally.

Fiest writes well and is not over descriptive or under descriptive, he creates a good balance, where the scene is set and the action keeps it moving forward. He also has maps at the beginning of each book so you can track where you are. I enjoy the escapism his writing affords.

These particular books can be read as standalones, but you get more depth if you have read the other series. I particularly liked the off shoots of characters that I got to know from the original series - like Squire James in 'Tears of the Gods' who used to be Jimmy The Hand, a thoroughly likeable roughian and originally a thief.

Although you might find a dark edge here and there, these are not horror novels. So if you prefer a good fantasy series, these are worth considering. 


It is nine years on from the aftermath of Sethanon. There has been peace awhile and it’s been needed. But news is feeding through to the people of the Kingdom of the Isles that deadly forces are stirring on the horizon. The bringer of the latest tidings is Gorath, a moredhel (dark elf).

The bloodletting has started. Nighthawks are murdering again. Politics is a dangerous, cut-throat game once more. At the root of all this unrest lie the mysterious machinations of a group of magicians known as The Six.

Meanwhile, renegade Tsurani gem smugglers, a rival criminal gang to the Mockers led by someone known only as The Crawler, and traitors to the crown are all conspiring to bring the Kingdom of the Isles to its knees.

***

 
Fresh back from the front, another foe defeated, Prince Arutha arrives to find all is not well in Krondor. A series of apparently random murders has brought an eerie quiet to the city. Where normally the streets are bustling with merchants and tricksters, good life and night life, now there seems to be a self-imposed curfew at sundown.

Mutilated bodies have been turning up in the sewers, the Mockers’ demense. The Thieves’ Guild has been decimated – men, women, children, it matters not. The head of the Mockers is missing, presumed dead. Those few who survived the terrible attacks are lying low. Very low.

The Crawler, it seems, is back in town. And he’s being helped by others, more ruthless than he. Can it be the Nighthawks again? The Prince enlists his loyal Squire James to find out. If anyone can unravel what’s happening in the bowels of Krondor, he can. He knows the sewers like the back of his hand. Afterall, as Jimmy the Hand, he grew up there.

Meanwhile, the retinue of the Duke of Olasko has arrived suddenly at the palace, a week ahead of schedule but with no apologies and many demands. They say they are here to hunt. But to hunt what. Pug’s son William, on his first posting as a knight-lieutenant, must escort them into the wilds. It should have been a straightforward mission …

***

A DROP IN THE OCEAN?

A raid upon the high seas signals an attack of unprecedented magnitude by the forces of darkness.

But the daring assault upon the Temple of Ishap goes dramatically wrong and the prize, the Tear of the Gods, sinks beneath the waves of the Bitter Sea. The most powerful artifact known to the Temples of Midkemia, this colossal gem allows the priests to speak with their gods. Without it they are lost for a decade, until another is formed in the distant mountains.

Squire James, William, and Jazhara must seek out the location of the gem, with Brother Solon, a warrior priest of Ishap, and Kendaric, the sole member of the Wreckers' Guild with the power to raise the ship. But they are opposed by the minions of the Dark God, who seeks to possess the Tear for his own ends.

A breathless race for a priceless treasure, against time, myriad sinister and competing evil forces, and ultimately against the fundamentals of nature, which in Midkemia can be as formidable as the Gods themselves ...