#Raymond E. Feist

[fairyysoup]

reviews i have written this year on goodreads: a collection

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[turning-pages-seeking-sages]

Books that made me cry Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist Roses in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

GoodRead links, ratings, quotes, and reasons under the cut.

Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend

Goodreads link | 💧💧💧💧💧 (5/5 tears)

"[Shield Flower] had to die as all do, knowing only that to posterity the fates would undoubtedly deal both blessings and trauma; she had to die as all do, hoping that those who came after her would demonstrate the same determination to be strong that she herself had shown."

Why did it make me cry? The themes of sacrifice, legacy, and survival. As a Mexican American who has struggled with identity in environments where assimilation was a matter of physical, social, and financial safety, there is a lot of pain tied to my cultural heritage. And shame.

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

Goodreads link | 💧💧💧💧💧 (5/5 tears)

Thomas looked at her standing with her delicate arms and legs and thought how odd it was that children were small, and that they found this normal. He could not remember being small. What must he look like to her, standing so far above her, holding that murderous hammer? What did it feel like to know you lived or died at the whim of the giants around you?

Why did it make me cry? The usual reasons when it comes to God and human suffering. The beauty of redemption.

Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist

Goodreads link | 💧💧💧💧 (4/5 tears)

"They instinctively knew the rules of crossing. They couldn’t look down or back. They couldn’t speak. They couldn’t run. And they couldn’t stop. To do any of those things would allow the thing below the bridge to come rushing up, to grab the boys and drag them back to its lair. The boys didn’t make the rules, they just knew them and abided by them."

Why did it make me cry? Feist transported me back to childhood, with its wonder and terrors. The focus on feelings of powerlessness and loss of agency during the darker moments resonated and shook something loose.

Roses in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman

Goodreads link | 💧💧💧💧 (4/5 tears)

"I had a sudden irrational desire to hug her, but there was so much distance between us. My birth had been only the beginning of our separation, the first time I was cut loose. From that moment until now, I'd just been going farther and farther away, my body a lifeboat pushing into the ocean."

Why did it make me cry? I came out to my deeply religious parents this year. It was not disastrous but I also feel like nothing has changed. I still feel separate from them and struggle to reconcile these two versions of myself. Will I ever be able to be just one person?

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Goodreads link | 💧💧💧💧 (4/5 tears)

"The beauty of a thing justified its plunder."

Why did it make me cry? The pain of the characters when they felt rejected, not supported, and not protected. Thinking about strained relationships between parents and siblings.

[boooklover]

“Love doesn’t demand; it accepts. It has taken me my life to learn this."

Raymond E. Feist, Mistress of the Empire

[mrkapao]

“There are two kinds of strength. Power and the ability to wield it is obvious, but resilience, the ability to resist power, is the other.”

- Raymond E. Feist ‘The Chaoswar Saga: Magician's End’

[staringdownabarrel]

Okay, so I just finished Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. (I said this was going to be a thing, and by god, it's going to be a thing.) Here's my thoughts.

In a lot of ways, this book really does smooth over a lot of the issues Magician had. Instead of just being a fairly generic fantasy story, it has a very tight focus on Tsurani political maneuvering. There's a level of political savviness in this book that literally doesn't exist in most of Feist's other works. While other characters in the Riftwar saga do have political considerations, it's usually not their only concern the same way the political considerations are Mara's only concern.

The fact that this book focuses so heavily on Tsurani politics also means that it's one of the very few Feist books that isn't heavily inspired by medieval European politics. This is one of the elements that I wish Magician had done more with as well, and it certainly had the opportunity to. I think this is a more interesting direction to go down because the Tsurani cultural elements is one of the aspects that made the original book stand out.

Mara being a woman also means that this is one of the very few books that not only has a woman with an arc not based around her current love interest (in fact, she doesn't have one), it's also one of his best written female characters ever. I suspect that this was probably largely due to Wurts' influence as cowriter, but I can't actually prove that because I haven't read any of her other books. For me, based on what I know as of this writing, it's just a suspicion.

I think the big thing Daughter of the Empire does well is that it avoids one of the big pitfalls a book like it could fall into. Because the main plot of this book is happening at the same time as some of the events as Magician (the reason I'm going with the Empire trilogy before Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon), it could have easily have just been a rehash of a lot of the same plot points but from a different perspective.

And because it happens to have a much tighter focus than Magician--the plot happens over the course of maybe two or three years on the outside rather than the twelve-ish years that Magician's plot spans--it could have just been a book that amounted to, "...and here's a detailed description of this battle, and this one, and this one..." until the end of time. It chose to focus on the political aspects of what happens almost entirely.

The fact that it manages to avoid both of these tendencies means that, at least to me, Daughter of the Empire is one of the best interquels I've read.

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Magician | Author: Raymond E. Feist | Publisher: Harper Voyager (2012)

[zippocreed501]

AUTHOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

'Writing is hard work; its also the best job Ive ever had.'

'I don't write fantasy; I write historical novels about an imaginary place.'

'I won't say that writing is therapy, but for me, the act of writing is therapy. The ability to be productive is good for my mental health. It's always better for me to be writing than vegetating on some couch.'

'Mostly I'm writing about people, so I feel constrained to take with me my view of people, my curiosity about how people choose the things they do and why they come to certain decisions in a certain fashion and all the things that drive most writers.'

Author Extraordinaire Raymond E Feist

[agardenandlibrary]

At some point I should re-read Feist's Riftwar books. It's been 5+ years since I read them. I've kept a bunch of them on my shelf for mostly nostalgia reasons at this point.

They were among my first fantasy series obsessions when I was 13/14. I'd love to see if I still like them. 😜

[turuin]

I love a good story about an orphan being trained in magic and becoming one of the most powerful wizards ever. No, non that one. I'm referring to Pug of Midkemia, known as Milamber upon the Tsurani.

[writerswritecompany]

Happy Birthday, Raymond E. Feist

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

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[turning-pages-seeking-sages]

Wanted: Recommendations for Horror Novels!

I have just started to read some books in the horror genre but don't know what I like just yet. I recently read the following books: - Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist (loved) - Slewfoot by Brom (sort of liked) - Between Two Fires by Michael Beuhlman (loved)

What are some good introductory horror books you recommend? And/or, what book(s) got you interested in the horror genre?

[roseunspindle]

What I Read in December 2022

I’d had a bad night at work and wanted a comfort read and grabbed this. ^_^

Not bad, seems like it’s going to be an interesting series. 

My older brother is obsessed with this series so it’s nice to at least start it. I enjoyed the book overall but weird that our main character sort of disappears from the narrative for the last part of the book. 

Start of a fun/silly isekai series. 

I’ll admit, I wasn’t enjoying the book at first, I liked Harper but there was a lot of “not like other girls” and the two main guys in the book were kinda dicks, but the writing itself was good and I remained curious as to the outcome and was hooked by the end. 

Very fun

Have enjoyed this on webtoons and so was very happy to get it when it was published. 

My friend got me this for Christmas and I couldn’t resist reading it right away. Very good decision on my part. ^_^

Totally picked this out of my tbr to try to meet my goodreads reading goal, I was like three or so away from it, and this is nice and short. Just a random sci-fi I had floating around from a thrift store or something but actually a delightful ya read. 

Another “complete goodreads challenge pick” but also a very fun read. 

[mrkapao]

“The faults we see in others never seem as dreadful as those we see in ourselves.”

- Raymond E. Feist ‘The Riftwar Saga: Magician’