Let’s Get Meta.
Long overdue, Feist is finally pulling the strings together towards at least some type of conclusion.
My Rating: ★★★★
[INTRO]
Random aside: reading an old fantasy series makes you go back through your life with each copyright date a reminder of another time. While Feist was publishing these books, I was going from high school senior to college sophomore. In an odd way, it almost makes it a more nostalgic read, placing yourself in a time long gone as if you read the book then instead of twenty years later. Anyways…
Finally! A purpose to the story!
Yes, history marches on and previous books are built upon, but there was no progression of where any of this was ultimately going.
Krondor’s Sons was really just set up for The Serpent War Saga. The next two trilogies, The Riftwar Legacy and Legends of the Riftwar, were just filler of previous times. Conclave of the Shadows was really just set up for The Darkwar Saga….when was it going to end?
Finally having an overarching narrative made me realize something else: how unimportant the world building has been hitherto. Sprinkled throughout the novels are the unique metaphysics of Midkemia such as there being multiple realms of existence, different categories of magic, and Gods who take an active role in the affair of humans, but these glimpses are rare and don’t really matter.
Well no longer!
Now the motives of our main antagonist are finally revealed, the roles of the Gods made more clear, and an intertwining of metaphysics with the actual story.
As I have often stated, Feist is good at coming up with one thing that makes the whole thing work. This time: the other wordly culture of the Dasati. Much like how Tsurani culture provided the umph of The Empire Trilogy, here it is the death-cult-like honor culture of the Dasati on another plane of existence.
Following the rise of Dasatian Valko as he navigates social normals completely unlike our own just felt right; what is the purpose of fantasy other than to live out lives that are completely foreign to our own?
Feist also continues the trend of injecting new blood into the story, this time with a new slew of young male characters from different backgrounds. While they play into archetypes (the unsophisticated street urchin orphan who learns to work with the highly cosmopolitan and talented royalty to solve any problem), it is still very good and a fresh break from trotting out the old tired horses from earlier books.
[CONCLUSION]
This series made me realize that Feist is just starting to tap into something overarching. I’m not sure how he got away with it until now, but I’m looking forward to it as we have just FIVE books remaining.
Other People’s Takes:
- The Obsessive Book Seller: “I loved the premise for this story, but I had a little trouble with the concepts. They seemed a bit self-indulgent, requiring a great deal of explaining”
- Steve Drice: “What is likely of great interest to readers of these books is the introduction of the weird Dasati world with a people that have a completely different mindset (a point that is driven home time and time again but is plainly obvious). It is in the description of these people and their world that keeps the reader interested away as we are from the expected ongoing political intrigue in Midkemia.”
- PNE For the Love of Books: “IAs with all of this epic series, Flight of the Night Hawks is a fantastic novel with adventure and intrigue galore. My favourite characters return to fight for Midkemia and keep it safe yet again, and do so in a way that kept me reading much later into the night than I should have!“
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