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A review by paul_arzooman
Magician's End by Raymond E. Feist
4.0
I'm writing this before I read any of the other reviews to avoid any cross-pollination of ideas as possible.
All-in-all, I liked it very much. Was it the greatest thing I'd ever read? No. Was it the best ending possible? Probably not. I do think that it was probably the best ending that Feist could right and still satisfy the readers who had stuck with him and this series all these years.
Technically, it was fine. The storytelling was gripping but nothing really different than most of the books in this series. In other words, it fit nicely into the style and substance that the reader grew accustomed to. There were certain moments that I felt were filler but I've felt that about a good number of the latter-day Midkemia books. For example, the near constant reminder about Jim Dasher's famous ancestor, Jimmy the Hand. Once stated, I don't think the reader needed to be told again and again about this fact. I thought the political/military side of the novel was handled quite well. I think Feist has always been able to do this effortlessly. My issue came with the last third of the book and the magic/gods/universe side of things.
I understand what Feist was trying to do, interpreting cosmology and quantum theory into the language of a magical realm filled with gods. This was clever in concept but I think, ultimately, too difficult to present to the reader in a way that was entirely understandable on first reading. For my part, I had to go back and read entire chapters over again to wrap my head around what Feist was trying to convey. Having to do this breaks up the flow of reading for me. Rather than let the story carry me forward, I was forced to look behind the curtain and see the inner workings of the writing. This is fine if the craft of writing is what I'm trying to pay attention to but in a book like this, it isn't.
Yes, I liked it and was not disappointed at the way it wrapped up the story. I do suspect that this isn't the last we've heard of Midkemia, the finality of the series notwithstanding.
All-in-all, I liked it very much. Was it the greatest thing I'd ever read? No. Was it the best ending possible? Probably not. I do think that it was probably the best ending that Feist could right and still satisfy the readers who had stuck with him and this series all these years.
Technically, it was fine. The storytelling was gripping but nothing really different than most of the books in this series. In other words, it fit nicely into the style and substance that the reader grew accustomed to. There were certain moments that I felt were filler but I've felt that about a good number of the latter-day Midkemia books. For example, the near constant reminder about Jim Dasher's famous ancestor, Jimmy the Hand. Once stated, I don't think the reader needed to be told again and again about this fact. I thought the political/military side of the novel was handled quite well. I think Feist has always been able to do this effortlessly. My issue came with the last third of the book and the magic/gods/universe side of things.
I understand what Feist was trying to do, interpreting cosmology and quantum theory into the language of a magical realm filled with gods. This was clever in concept but I think, ultimately, too difficult to present to the reader in a way that was entirely understandable on first reading. For my part, I had to go back and read entire chapters over again to wrap my head around what Feist was trying to convey. Having to do this breaks up the flow of reading for me. Rather than let the story carry me forward, I was forced to look behind the curtain and see the inner workings of the writing. This is fine if the craft of writing is what I'm trying to pay attention to but in a book like this, it isn't.
Yes, I liked it and was not disappointed at the way it wrapped up the story. I do suspect that this isn't the last we've heard of Midkemia, the finality of the series notwithstanding.