Book Review – Rage of a Demon King
Author: Raymond E. Feist
Cover Artist: Geoff Taylor
Publisher: Voyager
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: 1997
Rage of a Demon King is the third book in the Serpentwar Saga and probably the last decent book set on Midkemia, Feist wrote (although I must admit I haven’t read recently published Wrath of Mad God yet). The fourth and final book in this series, Shards of a Broken Crown is superfluous. After the Serpentwar books Feist launches into the Krondor books, which are basically scripts for a video game. All three Krondor books published so far add detail to some of the characters but very little to the overall storyline. Then there are the Legends of the Riftwar book which basically rehash the first Riftwar, again without adding much to the overall story, and probably worst of all are the Conclave of Shadow books. Why on earth does he need three books to set us up for the Darkwar Saga? In short, I feel Feist is milking Midkemia for all he can get out of it. But before I get carried away, let’s concentrate on this book.
At the end of Rise of a Merchant Prince it becomes clear the Emerald Queen’s army is ready to invade the Kingdom. We follow the last preparations of Kingdom to withstand the invasion. When it eventually hits it washes right over the coastal defenses and moves steadily inland towards it ultimate target, the city of Sethanon and the magical artefact hidden there. In the mean time on a different level the war for the survival of Midkemia rages as well as both demons and gods make their presence felt. And of course there is a rift between worlds to be closed.
Where Shadow of a Dark Queen is mostly Erik’s story and Rise of a Merchant Prince focuses mostly on Rupert, we get to see the invasion from a large number of characters. It still follows Erik, Rupert and Pug mostly of course, but a whole host of characters from previous books make an appearance. Quite a few of them for the last time, the generation of characters introduced in the original Riftwar books is dying out at this point. The focus in this novel is a bit more on Midkemia’s pantheon than in previous book. In some particularly memorable chapters Nakor deepens our understanding of Midkemia’s history and religion considerably. Feist manages to strike a balance here. Without this focus and the attention to Rupert’s trading the battle scenes would probably have gotten boring.
All the different point of views do mean there isn’t a whole lot of character development, even for Feist’s modest standards in that respect. Personally I am not too troubled by that. I read Feist because it usually is a quick and fun read not for a character study of Pug (who is an altogether unlikeable man in my opinion). There is an awful lot happening in this book and it is the mix that makes it interesting. His more recent books always make me feel like I am being rushed though the story. This book is certainly fast paced but it doesn’t feel rushed.
Feist is straightforward sword and sorcery. Popcorn fantasy if you will. If you are looking for something that isn’t too challenging and includes the most common elements in fantasy Feist is your man and Rage of a Demon King is as good as he gets. Unfortunately this book isn’t a good place to start reading Feist or I’d recommend it for those just discovering fantasy. Not the pinnacle of modern fantasy but definitely worth reading.
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