Book Review: Talon of the Silver Hawk

• KittynMeow

  4 Feb 04, 15:13

  Since Deadpoet suggested starting reviews under title of the book.. here's one that i tried writing earlier after i finished reading my last book....
  
  Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E Feist:
  Not the best but got potential
  
  Talon of the Silver Hawk comes home from his coming-of-age journey, named an adult and expecting to settle down with a wife. Instead, what he found was a village destroyed and a race reduced to the very last man -- himself. In the search for his enemies and vengence, Talon steps deeper and deeper into the world of magic, schemes and politics of post-serpentwar Midkemia.
  
  This book signifies a rather good effort (in my opinion) to bring the world of Midkemia to the next stage of development. All those so-called fans out there asking for familiar characters, please re-read the series from Riftwar to Serpantwar carefully.... Jimmy the Hand is DEAD. Arutha is DEAD. Sure there is room for development of plots in between the 2 great wars but to me, who has read his series time and again, I found books like Tear of the God, Krondor the Assassins etc cliche, thin in plot and seemed like an attempt to generate additional book revenue from a tried and tested formula when the ideas ran dry.
  
  Talon is refreshing. This book carries on from the last of the Serpentwar series, which is Shards of a Broken Crown, in which Pug fell out with the royal family's successor, Prince Patrick. and the only reminders of the previous series were mentions of Pug, Miranda, Jimmy and Dash (Grandsons of Jimmy the Hand)... which I'm sure will come into the limelight in the subsequent books. Talon is a new character and though there are undertones that he is a combination of Arutha and Jimmy, the book has other pluses as Feist introduces a new culture into the series, giving the world of Midkemia a fuller third dimension. Talon also signifies a new age for Midkemia, and after Kelewan and Demons, seem to imply there are new threats to this world.
  
  Feist has carried on his distinctive style that engages the reader from page one to the end and to fully enjoy this book, one should look at it from the point of view of reading about a new adventure, rather than trying to find remnants of nostalgia. Though I miss my favourite characters e.g. Jimmy the Hand, too, the fact that the character was killed in Serpentwar series doesn't stop me from enjoying this new beginning.
  
• DeadPoet

  5 Feb 04, 00:18

  Can you get these books in the library? I find that there are not many titles found in the NLB libraries.
• MetalGear

  5 Feb 04, 01:30

  Talon of the silver hawk is quite a new book i think by Raymond E. Fiest. I used to be real crazy over his books back in secondary school. He made me fell in love with fantasy n i dun read any other fantasy books other than his.
  
  NLB books of his are mostly of his older stories like Darkness at Sethanon. New ones, most prolly have to buy/rent?
• KittynMeow

  5 Feb 04, 09:33

  Originally posted by MetalGear:

  Talon of the silver hawk is quite a new book i think by Raymond E. Fiest. I used to be real crazy over his books back in secondary school. He made me fell in love with fantasy n i dun read any other fantasy books other than his.
  
  NLB books of his are mostly of his older stories like Darkness at Sethanon. New ones, most prolly have to buy/rent?

  yup... Talon is still a very new book so it's unlikely to find it in NLB. better to rent it. The San Bookshop at Suntec has a pretty decent fantasy collection for rent... can check it out there...