Silverthorn: Riftwar Cycle: The Riftwar Saga, Book 3

I originally read this series back when it first came out, and I've been (not so) patiently been waiting for the Kindle version. The story is great; always has been, always will be. The characters come to life and the action is almost non-stop. When I'm reading the series (which I've done about 25 times since it's release) I can't put it down. It draws me in and holds my attention. Thankfully I can now carry the whole series with me anytime I go somewhere.And yes, this is the same review I gave to the second book, and everything still applies!

Picking up a few years after the close of  Magician , this book is best described as the first part of the second half of the Riftwar Saga. Together with  A Darkness at Sethanon , this book presents a semi-autonomous epic in Feist's popular fantasy realm that he has taken so far. With so many people loving MAGICIAN so much, to the point of considering it as some of the all-time best fantasy, SILVERTHORN has always attracted highly-critical scrutiny, and has mostly been praised as a worthy follow-up. I remember being somewhat disappointed in this book the first time I read it as a kid (probably because I had expected it to have more of my favorite character, Tomas), but was happy to find that I really enjoyed it very much this time around.SILVERTHORN is different from MAGICIAN in quite a few ways. Covering a much smaller time span, this book is shorter and less epic in feel. The characters and the setting are for the most part already fairly well-developed, so you don't get the excitement of being introduced to a whole new thing, but you do get the advantage of more story telling and less descriptive writing. Where MAGICIAN was so focused on the development and growth of the two young heroes Pug and Tomas, SILVERTHORN is really more of a classic fantasy quest where the characters are essentially the same at the end as they were at the beginning. Also, the nature of the conflict was much more clear in MAGICIAN than it is here, where the sense of coming danger is certainly real, but remains a real mystery throughout the book. And finally, this is the book where Feist starts to drag out smaller tales into whole books, as the storyline of Arutha's quest to find the Silverthorn is really a self-contained story that doesn't in itself lend much progression to the overall story-arc.Regardless of the inevitable comparison, judged by its own merits, this book is excellent. Very highly recommended to any fan of fantasy!

Although I am not quite done as yet, I do like the continued story of this "Fantasy". By now one has been used to so many figures in this plot and I am enjoying the continuation. I do like this Author and his Imagination! Good Job!

Wow, this is only my third Feist novel and the plot just keeps getting better. You've got a good slow beginning, action build up with twist mixed in. Then more interesting secrets in an amazing ending. The plot is outstanding, characters are very developed and the writing is exceptional. Can't go wrong with the Riftwar Saga.

The third in a wonderful series. It is old but great. The beginning of the first book is a bit slow, but well worth the read. You can see elements borrowed by later authors. Well worth the read.

Love it. Excellent fantasy from one of the masters. Dragged a bit in the middle but so enjoyable. Great characters and well thought out plot. Magic and Mayhem. More please.

The book in is excellent condition, I have nocomplaints at all. Delivery was quick. I amvery happy with this purchase.Thank-You

We continue the story starting with nighthawks the guild of assassin's. Are introduced to the pantathian serpent people and the forboading of the coming of a great and ancient evil returning. Also the advancement of Jimmy the hand and other key characters.

Having been weened on fantasy since a young age through the likes of hobbs and eddings and ofcourse tolkien, I at first scoffed at the seemingly "simple" writing styles in magician, the book seemed to lack much of the depth of description which tolkien and eddings would use to create their detailed worlds where you would see the authors visions to the detail of the number of petals on each flower.Reading on I discovered that even through my arrogance at the relatively "low" literary style, I began to become enraptured by Magician, Fiest achieves an amazing thing which many of his counterparts fail at, he gives JUST enough detail so that you are never mistaken in your images of his worlds, but he allows each reader to create their own worlds and unvierses through their imagination, something which tolkien does not allow and the reason Eddings' series tend to be 5 books in place of the 3 they can justify.The apparent lack of detail and depth infact draws the reader far deeper into the book, because you are not only witnessing a world Fiest creates for you, you are creating a world around yourself.Once you get sucked into Magician, there is no turning back, you fall in love with the characters, you share their emotions, occasionally laughing or grinning with the characters, occasionally feeling your eyes begin to water with their grief, having finished magician after 3 days, I couldn't wait to go to work the next morning so that I could stop into the bookstop and pick up silverthorn, 2 mornings later I had to stop in and pick up a darkness at sethanon on the way to work... now I'm here looking for what more remains of the stories because I am loathe to say goodbye to the characters I have grown to love (terry goodkind is lined up and waiting, but I'm going to miss pug and tomas too much to just switch)I could not think of a way to more strongly recommend reading this series, save to say that with the riftwar trilogy Fiest has forever secured his place in the canons of fantasy authors, I can't wait to read the extra books in the saga, then no doubt the serpent wars, then I'm sure the follow ups, as I write this I'm busy downloading betrayal at krondor (which is now freeware), 2 weeks ago I hadn't heard of Raymond E. Fiest, today I have read over 1700 pages of his work and can't help but wish I had more, I'm actually looking forward to going to work so that I can pick up the next book.

Best fantasy series ever. I have read everything MR Feist has written and enjoyed it all but the riftwar saga is the best. Love following Pug and Thomas and Jimmy the Hand,Arutha, Martin to name but a few. It's just the greatest adventure ever. I have just reread it on my kindle and it was like meeting an old friend but just as exciting and refreshing as ever. Sometimes I feel that I know the word of Midkemia as well I know my own. If you love epic fantasy this is a must. I'm almost jealous of those reading it for the first time they are in for a wonderful treat.

A year after the events of Magician, the Kingdom of the Isles faces a threat from an ancient enemy, and the heroes of the first book of Feist's Riftwar Saga are once again called to action.Whereas Magician presents us with a war spanning several years, Silverthorn only covers a short period of time and focuses more closely on individual characters, and how the events of the book affect them. There are also fewer principle characters in this one, resulting in a story that feels much more intimate than the first one, and for me this made this a more enjoyable read.For the most part the action follows Arutha, Jimmy and Martin (introduced in the first book) as they embark on a quest to find out who's behind a plot to have Arutha assassinated, though there is also a brief inclusion of other characters, most notably Pug. Even more than in the first novel we get a strong sense of the characters here, and while there's still an undeniably epic feel to the story, Feist presents the characters in such a way that it's very easy to become invested in their tale.All in all I really liked this book, and am glad I made the effort to re-examine the series.

This book, and all of Riftwar Saga, are my all time favourite Fantasy novels. It has everything I look for. Beautifully written characters with true depth and amazing relationships. Sweeping and expansive lands and plot lines. Action and high fantasy adventure with a touch of romance for good measure. I strongly suggest you start at the beginning with Magician, if you haven't already. You won't regret it!

Read the first book and, although not warming to the writers style....I enjoyed the story and characters. This book stopped me in my tracks, it was unnecessarily long winded. I did read the third book. Not on a par with book 1 in this saga, but a huge improvement on book 2.