This review can also be read on my blog, Stumptown Books.I fell in love with the world of Midkemia in Magician: Apprentice, and Magician: Master really solidified it for me. Feist’s world is incredibly fleshed out and a pleasure to escape into. I am following the reading order recommended by a fellow blogger for this series, which is not the order they were published in, but rather chronological. It was a hard decision to make! But I can’t help it, I like reading things in the order they happen. Having started with the four books of the Riftwar Saga, I moved on to Legends of the Riftwar. Honored Enemy I enjoyed as a pure action/war novel. I love troop movements and crap so it held my interest. Murder in LaMut, however, has some qualifiers.You really need to love the world Feist has created for us to get any joy out of this novel. The first third or so, I was just happy to be back with Dukes and Barons and the odd mention of Crydee always plastered a smile on my face. It became, unfortunately, an exercise in boring, small town politics. I even enjoy politics a little when it involves the fate of an entire realm, kings and princesses and all that good stuff. This was just an earldom though, with more talk of Guy du Bas-Tyra than Prince Erland.Failing an intense interest in the setting, maybe some joy in the three exchanging narrative voices might be had. For me, however, while it didn’t fail utterly, this was unable to capture my curiosity. The three mercenaries were interchangeable. They became in my head the big but slow guy, the small but slow guy, and the ugly but smart guy. This story could have just as easily have been told with just one or two narrators, but instead we had to keep up as the inner voice would change from paragraph to paragraph.A good murder is always fun, but unfortunately the crime promised us in the title happens a bare 80 pages from the end. It’s followed by a shambles of an investigation, which wraps up incredibly quickly but just isn’t satisfying.Compared to the grand scale of the Riftwar Saga, these novels are meant to bring us closer to individuals the war has touched. While I can appreciate the sentiment, it’s because I was a fan of the original novels that brought me to this point. Unfortunately, no other characters make an appearance that we know; at least, none that I know from having read the Riftwar Saga and Honored Enemy. Fantus, the firedrake, does make an appearance, who I’ve always found endearing and hilarious, but is unable to really…TALK. That’s fine, we don’t have to have cameos, but if it’s the world and the people in it that I love so much, I would love to have them accidentally show up. My fangirlism would go crazy for sure!I love Feist’s writing and his world, but I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone except diehard fans of the series.
I was really impressed by this book. I know that Feist does collaboration stories really well having read some of his other works, but this one was different to the others he has done. Focusing on three characters from a different book series that have been transported in Midkemmia was a fascinating idea. The characters were really well written and the three protagonists fitted really well in Feist's world. Seeing some of the politics that went on during the Riftwar away from Crydee and Krondor was brilliant and answered some questions that I had after reading Magician, Silverthorn and the Darkness at Sethanon.The overall feel of the book is fantasy with intrigue, political drama and subterfuge until the last few pages when the book takes on an Agatha Christie bent and though the mystery is overly simple in terms of modern knowledge about how to detect clues and find a murderer, it's been written with the detail that comes from people who have no idea about how to be a detective and are only used to fighting and trying to avoid being involved in politics.I really enjoyed this book.
Do You like book Murder In LaMut (2003)?
This is another stand alone novel in Midkemia. This is more vulgar than what I am use to reading from Feist, but it did seem to fit the mercenaries. Durine, Kethol and Pirojil are a hilarious trio, who are told to protect the Baron Morray. There time is really very uneventful except for a small ambush of Tsurani. Quickly, they are trapped in the politics of the Barons, and are made temporary Captains in order to perform they're jobs. Waiting for the murder in 'Murder In LaMut', at the end of the novel. It was terribly easy for even me to figure out. What I didn't see coming was how Pirojil would expose the murderer.
—Jimmy
This book is in a style that's very much different from the other Riftwar-related books. It's mostly a murder mystery dealing with nobles set in a fantasy world (although this isn't obvious until close to the end). This is probably not everyone's cup of tea if their expect lots of action and an epic tale. The story is about three mercenaries looking to earn a more peaceful living by taking up garrison duty - little did they know it'd be anything but peaceful. The tale is not meant to dive further into the world-scope events, but more of a closer look at the lives of the more ordinary people of Midkemia - readers in love with the world that Feist has built will love this book.
—David
A genre mash-up is not an easy thing to pull off, but a murder mystery set in a fantasy world sounds like it should work and it does. However, whilst ‘Murder in Lamut’ by Raymond E Feist and Joel Rosenberg proves that crime fiction works in a fantasy setting, it also shows that bad crime fiction is bad anywhere. ‘Lamut’ tells the story of three mercenaries who become embroiled in local politics and murder. As the only neutral people around, they are given the task of investigating a gruesome case.However, this case takes about 300 pages to start. The majority of the book is a slow build up as we are introduced to the world and the characters, who later become suspects. Call me old fashioned but I have little interest in learning in great depth the local politics of a city that does not even exist, but this does not stop Feist and Rosenberg doing just this. The book drags along at a snail’s pace at times.Some of the basics that make for good crime fiction are missing; there is no pace and there is a confused narrative. It is a shame as the three mercenaries promise lots; one is intelligent but ugly, one is brutal but calm, the other is approachable but impulsive. In the right book these three characters would be excellent. I would probably try another book in the series if Feist and Rosenberg start by writing an intriguing murder mystery to begin with and then build the fantasy on top. As it is, this book feels like it lacks a solid foundation.
—Samuel Tyler
