FANTASY REVIEW: At the Gates of Darkness - Raymond E Feist

BOOK BLURB:

The conclusion of the bestselling Demon War series, which began with Rides a Dread Legion. Recent events have devastated the Conclave of Shadows; the discovery of the Demon horde on the heels of the taredhel invasion of Midkemia, the threat of the star elves themselves, and the terrible personal cost paid by Pug and his family. But grieving must wait. At a deserted fortress in the Valley of Lost Men, the Conclave's agents witness horror beyond their imagination, orchestrated by a familiar enemy. But Belasco's motives are as yet unclear. The Conclave must regroup and discover the true meaning behind the chaos seeded by the evil magician if they are ever to find a way to stop the destruction of Triagia before the demon horde even arrives.


REVIEW:

When it comes to fantasy authors there are names that are recognised the world over. Perhaps, in the current market one of the best well known living writers is Raymond E Feist who manages to turn out novel after novel in his successful Midkemia series every year. What has won him fans the world over is his attention to detail, top notch characters and giving the readers what they want, a story to while away the hours with, accompanied with some wicked twists that leave them hanging on by their finger tips. Whilst this is certainly true of his epic debut, Magician, at this point in the series I really wouldn’t advise anyone new to start here, so in certain respects its only really fans who will probably read this review.

As such I’m probably wasting my breath but in an effort to save some their cash I feel its only fair to let people know about the problems. Firstly this doesn’t feel like a rounded novel, it feels rushed almost as if the author knows that because his name is on the cover it will sell no matter what dross is placed within. It show’s there’s massive errors grammatically which personally I felt should have been picked up upon and near enough identical passages of description repeated. The plot is pretty thin and a lot of interesting area’s that could have been explored have been left well alone just to get the story to a point where he wants to pick it up next time. Add to the mix a measly 322 pages and it feels like a pretty tight offering for the best part of £20. Definitely a book to get from the library if you have to read it.