At the Gates of Darkness

Recent events have shocked and devastated the Conclave of Shadows; the discovery of the demon horde that is following the elven invaders of Midkemia; the rise of the mad magician Belasco, and the personal cost paid by Pug and his family. But grieving for lost loved-ones must wait. The followers of the demon prince have almost succeeded in bringing him through the dimensions. The Conclave must regroup and find a way to meet the approaching evil, whilst trying to stop civil war from destroying Triagia before the demon horde even arrives.

It only seems like yesterday that I laid aside the last volume, greatly upset at the turn of events that resulted in the death of one of the key characters, someone who I’ve become very fond of over the show more past two plus decades. It was hard to imagine the story continuing after such a shocking development. But continue is has. Feist has allowed a number of characters we met briefly in the last outing space to grow and develop – and they look likely to become new friends.

This is the second book in the Demonwar Saga arc, after 2009’s ‘Rides a Dread Legion’. Feist has added another book pretty much each year to his Riftwar Cycle since the first one, ‘Magician’ way back in 1982. I remember the excitement with which I read that – and the lifelong addiction which has resulted. I pick each new one up and know all the characters, understand what is going on and settle in for an all-to-short visit with old friends. Yes, I know the editing is crap; and. Yes, it is a rip-off that I can only get my fix in a very expensive hardback version. But Feist is not purporting to be offering high art here - and I can forgive a lot for all the enjoyment I’ve had from his work over the years. For me these tales are the literary equivalent of hot chocolate and comfy slippers. My only real complaint is that these last few titles have been way too short – the visit is over before I’m ready to move on. show less

Well, I have to admit this book tickled so many of my fancies. I mean, big magic, bigger magic, OP characters, and enough demons to fill several realms AND we get to learn even more about them. :)

This is a FAR cry from some of the earlier novels that started small and stayed small. The storytelling might have a lot more nuance, but if you're missing the big blow-outs, just look here. An interesting if slightly providential new character introduced in the previous novel continues to shed some light on one of the most interesting villains in the series. And the villain himself has gotten himself in DEEP this time. :)

Worth it? Yep! The big stuff is here and while I may have a few quibbles they're nothing special. The plot must progress and show more all the loose ends need to be wrapped up, and if a loose end just happens to be the fate of all levels of this particular set of odd heavens and hells, then so be it. :) show less

At the Gates of Darkness is the last book in the Demonwar Saga, the second-to-last subseries in the very large Riftwar Cycle. Only 3 books left.

This was better than the previous book, where I complained that the large amounts of recaps in the first half became tedious and boring. This book had minimal recaps and more action, and I did enjoy the story, but for some reason I never became as engrossed in it as I have with many of the other books in the series. I did enjoy it, though. There were some interesting new characters and situations introduced, and more questions raised that I look forward to seeing answered in the final subseries.

Major spoiler for the previous book, not so much for this one: I guess Feist felt the need to keep an show more irrational, temperamental female around. After killing off Miranda in the previous book, in this book we get more Sandreena. Yay.

I’ve started to feel a slight bit exasperated when certain writing tactics Feist likes to use show up repeatedly, so maybe I’m finally starting to experience this mysterious author fatigue that some people talk about! This was book 28 of 31, after all. I’ll probably go into a little more detail on his general writing style and what I liked/disliked if I have the energy for it when I review the final book. I’m rating this one at 3.5 stars, but rounding down to 3 on Goodreads. show less

I am a big fan of Feist and his ongoing Riftwar Series. I like the characters and his style of action. Feist books are more for fans of tabletop fantasy game systems, as the books clearly originated with a game world and still have some of that feel. These books are more dominated by wizards and world-spanning plots, rather than combat. The strength of the books is still the main characters - Pug, Magnus, Tomas and their allies.
However, compared to some of this other books recently, this one felt rushed. The text is a times a bit confusing and compressed, and there are some glaring editing errors. I still enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the next one.

REREAD: Now that I’m so far into the series series, I’m remembering reading these books a little better. Parts of the book I’m kind of remembering. I mean, this book was still a dozen years ago or more, but a little.

I also remember that right around this time it seemed like Feist was losing his edge a little. I mean, the book still gets five stars on a reread, and the plot and the characters are all great, it’s just that little technical things start to slip in. I ideas or sentences repeated. Calling one character the great grandfather of another one when you know, it’s the grandfather. Little things like that, missing a little attention to detail. I guess it can happen after 30 bucks in the same world, but still.

...Although the books of Feist have never been at the high end of the scale when it comes to literary quality, his early work was first step into the fantasy genre for me. His novels gave me a taste of fantasy before tackling the heavy-hitters of speculative fiction. At the Gates of Darkness however, is nowhere near Feist's best. The story is more or less what we've come to expect from him but the execution is sloppy and feels rushed. From the Demonwar books I really get the impression Feist can't wait to get to the end of this series. With three more books to go, assuming Feist will not write the two additional Krondor books, I certainly hope he does better in the Chaoswar trilogy. It would be a shame to let the series fizzle out in a show more number of uninspired novels.

Full Random Comments review show less

I wish I had the books in between this series and the initial 4 books Feist wrote about Midkemia and Pug, but sadly our public library only has bits and pieces of most authors' series. I did at least get to read the first book in this trilogy, and Feist does a pretty good job of filling in readers who have missed earlier books in the sequence.

In this trilogy Pug and his friends are faced with a whole branch of magic and magical creatures beyond Pug's knowledge and understanding, demons that have overrun several worlds already and that seem poised to invade Midkemia next. In addition to these demons, a small but deadly bunch of elves have appeared, descended from the elves that fled Midkemia many centuries ago. They are arrogant and show more narrow-minded, hell-bent on conquering or enslaving the races that occupy their ancestral home, so long as they can do so without the demons taking advantage of the chaos and destroying them all. show less