The Big Peat
Darth Buddha
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2016
- Messages
- 3,665
Oh s#$$% I have sorry
My only excuse is I read it when it was released many moons ago, never reread unlike Magician.
I was never keen on Talon either.
Me neither, although inspired by this conversation I went and re-read the Conclave of Shadows trilogy.
Tal... is, I dunno, your standard fantasy superhero. He does everything amazingly. There's no endearing sense of struggle. There's no deep ties of affection between him and others to bring out his hidden qualities. And, in the end, while he goes through a lot, he's not making deliberate sacrifices for others. I'm not saying those things have to happen for a character to become more than just another fantasy hero, but without them I am looking for something. But I can't find it.
Kaspar... well, his redemption arc is well set up in King of Foxes in retrospect. A lot of characters suggest he's only the way he is due to malign influences. The question of what happens to a bad man when you can remove the source of the wrongness is an interesting one. I like that Feist went there. But I'm not sure he nailed it.
There's a lot in both books that I wished had been made a lot longer - Tal's period of serving Kaspar is the best bit of King of Foxes; Kaspar's period with the farmers and the General are cool - and quite a bit that adds little, most of it journeys of some sort.
I'm gonna forge through the rest of the series after this and see if its improved for me. But, tbh, reading this, I find myself missing Erik and Roo, Pug and Tomas, Arutha and Jimmy. They had heart. Kaspar and Tal... don't.
Who knows? Maybe I won't feel the need to ring up Feist and scream profanities at him when I next encounter Jimmyhand, the unnecessary superhero sequel to a better character. At least Kaspar and Tal were new ground.