Via Book Reviews by Niki Hawkes at www.nikihawkes.comFeist’s works are always impeccable and I’m hard-pressed to identify anything I don’t like in his stories. “Into a Dark Realm” was no exception, and in fact exceeded my expectations with its creativity and complexity.What I liked about it was the total transportation into another realm. It provided a culture immersion that I haven’t really seen since his “Daughter of the Empire” trilogy written with Janny Wurts. This time, however, the world we got to explore was of another dimension -that of the Dasati. Following a male warrior from that evil and twisted world, we get to learn the mentality behind their rather brutal lifestyles. I really got caught up in the fascinating culture offered within this book, and found it to be one of my favorites in the entire saga.As always, the characters are well-rounded with a nice balance between long-time beloved characters and the introduction of new ones. The story bounces back and forth between the multiple plot-lines seamlessly, maintaing my interest with each transition.Overall, for the middle book in a trilogy, it advanced the plot nicely – revealing just enough to help build the momentum towards what promises to be an amazing conclusion!by Niki HawkesOther books you might like:“Pawn of Prophecy” by David Eddings“Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss“The Eye of the World” by Robert Jordan“Dragon Wing” by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman“The Crystal Shard” by R.A. Salvatore
A fan of Feist's setting and world imagination will absolutely love the stuff being introduced and painted here, expanding far beyond Midkemia and Kelewan.To start with a rant though, some of the bad things from the previous book carried over. Repetitive descriptions of a character's trait or behaviour, as if I need to be explicitly reminded of it every few chapters. Same thing with the proofreading - primarily towards the end - with obvious grammatical mistakes and missing words.Still, ignoring that, the plot did not fail to be engaging. It was great seeing new characters. Too bad the existing cast didn't get much development, just what happened to them. Despite placing most of them in supposedly dangerous situations, I can't really get any feeling of suspense; none of them appear to be in any danger. And all those "things that are happening", is really the essence of the book - setting things up until the third book. This was nailed in with the book having no real finale to it.The pace of all the plot lines are good, and keeps me reading. Each chapter jumps around several plot lines though, perhaps a little too often - not enough to throw me off, but just noticeably frequent.Overall, I enjoyed this book. It's better than the first book and the previous trilogy in terms of being engaging. Not very much better, but better nevertheless.
Do You like book Into A Dark Realm (2007)?
This is the first book by master fantasy writer Raymond E. Feist that I can say is a bit weak. Sure the characters are all strong as is Feist's trademark, it's just the story is mostly set-up and really doesn't go very far with most movement in the last few chapters. The story focuses on our main characters being split up with Pug and his group preparing to embark on their mission to the Dasati home world and then the boys beginning school and then military service in preparation for the conflict to come. And for the most part, that's it. 3/4 of the book is set up and there is very little action or drama. We do get to know some of the Dasati characters and become a bit familiar with their world but, again, it's all set up for what's to come and it is not as engaging as the first book in this particular series which was almost a stand alone adventure. I did like the book and now that things are set up, there is much to look forward to in the third book of this series but, this installment definitely suffers from middle of trilogy syndrome. I love Feist and have complete faith the next book will be back to form. He sets a high standard for his work and so expectations are always high. And even if this book was less then his usual standard, it was still a worthy and fairly entertaining read.
—Joe Aguiar
What can I say? I'm a sucker for Raymond Feist. I've long since made my peace with the fact that, while he isn't the best writer, he's certainly one of the best storytellers in the genre. The Conclave of Shadows series continues to develop the intriguing new storyline Feist began in "Flight of the Nighthawks." It draws ever closer to to the Dungeons & Dragons roots which inspired it (ex., planar travel of high-level magic users), while at the same time retaining the fun and atmosphere that makes Midkemia worth returning to again and again.
—Ben
This is the second book in the 'Darkwar' saga, following on from Flight of the Nighthawks, and is set in Feist's fictional fantasy world of Midkemia.[return][return]While I no longer read much fantasy, I am still a big Raymond E. Feist fan and have read all his books before this one. Be warned, it can't really be read as a standalone novel. This book was a very good read, much like most of his others. It features Pug, Nakor and other old favourites, together with a few new characters. My only criticism is it's too short, and to find out what happens next you have to wait a whole year![return][return]Basically if you're a Feist fan you'll love this book as you loved the others before them. If you haven't read his previous books, don't start with this one - go for Magician (his first).
—Steve
