Wrath of a Mad God, Raymond E. Fiest, Fantasy.
On a Tuesday afternoon in 1982 or 1983, I was picking up my comics from Jack Dicken's "Comic Kingdom" on University Avenue in San Diego. I leaned more toward the Marvel Universe, and as I picked my weekly fix, the man behind me started to comment on my choices, and suggested that I might want to look at some of the DC comics. A conversation ensued about the relative merits of different comics and different comic publishers.
I liked the Marvel Universe mostly because the characters from Peter Parker to "The Dazzler" had their own internal conflicts in addition to fighting off the bad guys, and the good guys weren't quite as invincible as Superman and Batman. It wasn't that they were more plausable, but it wasn't as necessary to keep coming up with new ways to challenge them.
As we took our selections to Susan at the cash register (the real reason I went to Comic Kingdom), I noticed a yellow flier on the counter with red print, announcing a new book from Doubleday. I read it aloud, "Magician, by Raymond E. Feest" I gave the pronunciation a long e sound
From behind me, my new comic collecting friend said, "I prefer to pronounce it Feist!" (The i long rather than the e.) And so began my association and friendship with a man who has now become one of the pre-eminent fantasy writers of our time.
A short time later, probably on another Tuesday, Ray brought Comic Kingdom a box containing some of the very first copies to come off of the presses. Mine is inscribed, "To Tad, Only best wishes, Raymond E. Fiest." It is one of my most prized possessions, worn though it is from 27 years of being read and re-read by me and my family. (I should have bought 2 of them!)
I've just finished reading his latest book, Wrath of a Mad God. This is the third and "final" (I never trust that word) book in a trilogy called the The Darkwar Saga. The other two titles are Flight of the Nighthawks, and Into a Dark Realm.
In Magician, Ray introduced us to the world of Midkemia, a land of castles, lords and knights, swords and sorcery. We also meet a young boy named Pug (Ray once told me his original working name was "Tad" but he changed it before the book was published. Darn!). Pug is an orphan, and he lacks any skills that qualify him to apprentice to any of the guilds or masters in the village surrounding Castle Crydee. The local mage, Kulgan, takes pity on him and takes him as aprentice anyway. Pug is inept at the magic Kulgan tries to teach him, and he struggles with all of his lessons. Without retelling the story of Magician, let it be understood that Pug has some adventures, ends up on another world as a slave, then rises to become the most powerful magician on either world. He (with a little help) saves the day, ends the war and brings peace back to both Midkemia and Kelewan (the other world).
Magician, then, is a classic coming of age and rags to riches story, that just happens to take place on a fantasy world with all the trappings of good Fantasy. Ray's mastery of characterization and setting, his ability to describe either a scene and its action, of the thoughts of a young boy turning to a man make the whole world of Midkemia come alive.
Fast forward now through almost two dozen books and a couple hundred years on Midkemia. And more than two dozen Earth years for Raymond Feist. All of the original characters are long dead, except for Pug and one or two others who've been magically allowed to live longer than the standard allotment. Many new characters have been introduced, lived through their stories, and died. The new characters are the great-great-grandchildren of the original crew, and a rich history has been created for Midkemia and Kelewan.
A nefarious plot is afoot, and Pug and a crew of mercenaries, magicians, and others belonging to a secret society calling themselves "the conclave of shadows" must figure out who or what is behind it and stop it before Midkemia is destroyed.
And there lies the problem with The Darkwar Saga. Pug has become too powerful, and his character has become too morally perfect. Anything less than a near-godlike adversary and a physical conflict threatening multiple worlds and we'd be bored. Ray manages this with his usual mastery of prose, but the plot lines are becoming a bit thin, and the resolutions are becoming less satisfying. We see too little of Pug's internal conflicts, because the external conflict is too large. It's the same problem DC Comics had with Superman.
Don't get me wrong, The Darkwar Saga:Wrath of a Mad God still gets 4 out of 5 stars, and is well worth reading. But it's probably time for Ray to start considering retiring the Midkemia series, or at least retiring Pug. There is too little left to challenge Pug; either he must become a god himself in the next book, or he must go mad from the strain of needing to exercize god-like powers which require god-like decisions of life and death for entire worlds. (As you can probably guess from the title, Pug has already dealt with a mad god... You see the problem now.)
(Don't read into this that Ray hasn't left other options open... He most certainly has!)
If you haven't read Ray's other works, I heartily recomend all of them, and I recommend starting at the beginning.
On a Tuesday afternoon in 1982 or 1983, I was picking up my comics from Jack Dicken's "Comic Kingdom" on University Avenue in San Diego. I leaned more toward the Marvel Universe, and as I picked my weekly fix, the man behind me started to comment on my choices, and suggested that I might want to look at some of the DC comics. A conversation ensued about the relative merits of different comics and different comic publishers.
I liked the Marvel Universe mostly because the characters from Peter Parker to "The Dazzler" had their own internal conflicts in addition to fighting off the bad guys, and the good guys weren't quite as invincible as Superman and Batman. It wasn't that they were more plausable, but it wasn't as necessary to keep coming up with new ways to challenge them.
As we took our selections to Susan at the cash register (the real reason I went to Comic Kingdom), I noticed a yellow flier on the counter with red print, announcing a new book from Doubleday. I read it aloud, "Magician, by Raymond E. Feest" I gave the pronunciation a long e sound
From behind me, my new comic collecting friend said, "I prefer to pronounce it Feist!" (The i long rather than the e.) And so began my association and friendship with a man who has now become one of the pre-eminent fantasy writers of our time.
A short time later, probably on another Tuesday, Ray brought Comic Kingdom a box containing some of the very first copies to come off of the presses. Mine is inscribed, "To Tad, Only best wishes, Raymond E. Fiest." It is one of my most prized possessions, worn though it is from 27 years of being read and re-read by me and my family. (I should have bought 2 of them!)
I've just finished reading his latest book, Wrath of a Mad God. This is the third and "final" (I never trust that word) book in a trilogy called the The Darkwar Saga. The other two titles are Flight of the Nighthawks, and Into a Dark Realm.
In Magician, Ray introduced us to the world of Midkemia, a land of castles, lords and knights, swords and sorcery. We also meet a young boy named Pug (Ray once told me his original working name was "Tad" but he changed it before the book was published. Darn!). Pug is an orphan, and he lacks any skills that qualify him to apprentice to any of the guilds or masters in the village surrounding Castle Crydee. The local mage, Kulgan, takes pity on him and takes him as aprentice anyway. Pug is inept at the magic Kulgan tries to teach him, and he struggles with all of his lessons. Without retelling the story of Magician, let it be understood that Pug has some adventures, ends up on another world as a slave, then rises to become the most powerful magician on either world. He (with a little help) saves the day, ends the war and brings peace back to both Midkemia and Kelewan (the other world).
Magician, then, is a classic coming of age and rags to riches story, that just happens to take place on a fantasy world with all the trappings of good Fantasy. Ray's mastery of characterization and setting, his ability to describe either a scene and its action, of the thoughts of a young boy turning to a man make the whole world of Midkemia come alive.
Fast forward now through almost two dozen books and a couple hundred years on Midkemia. And more than two dozen Earth years for Raymond Feist. All of the original characters are long dead, except for Pug and one or two others who've been magically allowed to live longer than the standard allotment. Many new characters have been introduced, lived through their stories, and died. The new characters are the great-great-grandchildren of the original crew, and a rich history has been created for Midkemia and Kelewan.
A nefarious plot is afoot, and Pug and a crew of mercenaries, magicians, and others belonging to a secret society calling themselves "the conclave of shadows" must figure out who or what is behind it and stop it before Midkemia is destroyed.
And there lies the problem with The Darkwar Saga. Pug has become too powerful, and his character has become too morally perfect. Anything less than a near-godlike adversary and a physical conflict threatening multiple worlds and we'd be bored. Ray manages this with his usual mastery of prose, but the plot lines are becoming a bit thin, and the resolutions are becoming less satisfying. We see too little of Pug's internal conflicts, because the external conflict is too large. It's the same problem DC Comics had with Superman.
Don't get me wrong, The Darkwar Saga:Wrath of a Mad God still gets 4 out of 5 stars, and is well worth reading. But it's probably time for Ray to start considering retiring the Midkemia series, or at least retiring Pug. There is too little left to challenge Pug; either he must become a god himself in the next book, or he must go mad from the strain of needing to exercize god-like powers which require god-like decisions of life and death for entire worlds. (As you can probably guess from the title, Pug has already dealt with a mad god... You see the problem now.)
(Don't read into this that Ray hasn't left other options open... He most certainly has!)
If you haven't read Ray's other works, I heartily recomend all of them, and I recommend starting at the beginning.
Comments
"Fast forward now through almost two dozen books and a couple hundred years on Midkemia. And more than two dozen Earth years for Raymond Feist."