You don’t have to have anything in common with people you’ve known since you were five. With old friends, you’ve got your whole life in common.
Lyle Lovett
I bought a paperback copy of “Magician: Apprentice” sometime around 1982 when it was first published. I was 21 at the time and a Junior in college. That book somehow managed to penetrate the beer-soaked, party driven haze of a typically rambunctious Fraternity life style and demand my attention – it delighted me. I enjoyed it enough that I progressed to the sequel – “Magician: Master” – then the next and the next and the next. I bought and read every word that Feist wrote about Midkemia until he finished his work in this world in 2013 with the publication of “Magician’s End” – I believe I was 52 at the time – 30 years of great reads.
In all, his Midkemia work consists of 30 titles – my shelf count is 29 since I have the combined “Magician” volume consisting of both “Apprentice” and “Master”. I enjoyed this world so much I even played through the 1993 “Betrayal At Krondor” computer game – multiple times – it’s considered a classic. It’s a mammoth body of work and I believe it’s worth the time of anyone who enjoys this genre.
Needless to say, I was sad to see this all come to an end but – in the back of my mind – I couldn’t help but feel that it was time. The stories had gotten a bit stale to me – the players and the world a bit long in the tooth. It was almost like saying goodbye to a beloved but old and infirm dog – one who’d been a good and loyal friend for most of your life but who didn’t really have anything left in him – ready to slip away and let you move on.
That was 5 years ago and I’d wondered from time to time if I’d ever hear from Feist again or if he had decided to call it quits. I got a pretty decisive answer a year ago when I found out that he was almost ready to launch a new series – one he’d obviously been working on for quite a while. I was – of course – excited but I was also a bit wary – that feeling you have when you decide it’s time to bring a new pup into your life – wondering if your new friend would bring the same sense of joy and wonder and companionship as your former best friend.
“King Of Ashes” came out this month and there was no question that it was going on my New May Releases list. Interestingly enough, of the five books on that list, I saved it for last – partly because it was the longest but partly out of that sense of hesitation and wariness described above.
I’m happy to say that Feist seems to have put the intervening 5 years to very good use. I really enjoyed this one. It’s is an extremely well-crafted book – the writing is very good, the world is effectively constructed, the characters are strong, multi-faceted and likable and the story builds in a very satisfying way – the product of a professional, experienced and truly skilled writer. The book serves as the first chapter in what will obviously be an extended story – it serves to build his characters, explain his world and its history and bring everyone to what feels like the starting line of a long distance event.
It’s a less forgiving world than Midkemia – death is closer and less sanitary – the heroes are not quite as pure – baser human instincts and emotions play no small part in the narrative – but it doesn’t aim to shock or brutalize – it’s a far cry from some of the GrimDark fantasy that’s so popular today. It feels genuine and real – very human – imperfectly epic and heroic – a reflection of Feist’s ability to adjust to and incorporate our own changing sensibilities. The tone he sets really worked for me.
By the end of the book, you’ve come know the three – possibly four – young adults who are likely to serve as our protagonists – understand their histories – and experience the year in all their lives where they transition from adolescents to adults – independent, increasingly confident and quite capable. In one case, two of them are bound together in a tense and highly ambiguous relationship that could end either in a powerful, lifelong alliance or confrontation leading to assassination. I found that to be a particularly strong inducement to buy and read the next volume. I said Feist did this all in a skillful way – shame on me for not paying enough attention to the maps at the beginning of the book or possibly just being slow to catch on – but I loved the way he managed to bring all of these characters together over the course of the last 100 pages.
I found small imperfections along the way – Feist has a habit of occasionally repeating an explanation – almost as though he assumes that his readers weren’t paying attention at earlier points in the narrative – Hatu’s internal struggle with his developing sexual maturity and the urges he’s feeling for Hava – his closest childhood friend – was a bit tiring – but I found them to be inconsequential and they in no way interfered with my enjoyment of the story. For me, almost everything he did over the course of a 500 page introductory novel worked and worked well. I’m in – all in – and I can’t wait for the second book in the series.
Still too early to tell but I suspect that this pup and I are going to spend quite a few years together – me growing old and him growing up – enjoying every minute of a fine new friendship.