Into a Dark Realm (The Darkwar Saga, Book 2) | Raymond E. Feist

Into a Dark Realm (The Darkwar Saga, Book 2) | Raymond E. Feist | Another Gem

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Into a Dark Realm ...

	Into a Dark Realm (The Darkwar Saga, Book 2) Raymond E. Feist Eos, 2008 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The dread plot to destroy the Empire of Great Kesh has failed. The Conclave of Shadows has ended the murderous Nighthawk brotherhood's horrific reign of terror and death. But the mad sorcerer, Leso Varen, has fled, taking refuge among the most powerful men and women on Kelewan?a world now threatened, along with Midkemia, by hordes of the most vicious warriors in the known universe. The great sorcerer Pug knows of no power that will vanquish these invaders. And now he, brave Magnus and Nakor, and a disturbing young stranger named Bek must venture into the poisonous heart of the Dasati realm?the most terrible place they have ever encountered?in a valiant, impossible attempt to turn the tides against the encroaching doom that would swallow their world.

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In a word - brilliant

I'll admit - I'm a longtime Feist fan (as is probably evident by my reviews of his books on this site), and have been anxiously awaiting this second installment of the Darkwar Saga to come out on paperback.

Feist has written virtually all of his books in small groups - the Riftwar Saga, the Serpentwar Saga, etc. Yet his brilliance lies in tying threads connecting these sometimes seemingly disparate sections into one larger tapestry, and this book truly brings his genius to the fore.

We found in prior books (Exile's Return, the last of the Conclave Of Shadows trilogy, and Flight of the Nighthawks, the first of the Darkwar Saga) the main characters discovering some mysterious armored creatures hidden in a cave on the island of Novindus. The creatures are known as Talnoy - ruthless killing machines controlled by an alien race known as Dasati, and powered by captured souls - in essence, necromancy. There are thousands of Talnoy secreted in this cave, and the big mystery is how they got there, although the common consensus is they were put there by Macros the Black, a now deceased mage once considered the most powerful user of magic in the Kingdom of the Isles (in the planet of Midkemia).

It turns out the Dasati are a ruthless race of warriors, who see compassion as weakness. If they encounter it in someone, they kill them. In many respects, they are animalistic, responding to violence, anger and lust, and trained right from birth in this cruel mindset and having a honed survival instinct ingrained in them. However, they reside on another plane of existence (remember the saying "Seven Hells"? Well, think of each plane of existence below ours being a lower level of hell).

What alarms Pug, Nakor, Magnus, and the other members of the Conclave, is it seems the Dasati plan on invading Midkemia - and the effect of such an invasion by billions of Dasati would be the utter destruction of everything they hold dear, and the anihilation of life as they know it. In order to gain more knowledge, the three of them, together with the mysterious Ralen Bek, travel to the second realm, in the hope of finding answers, and possibly of averting this disastrous invasion.

In some of his earlier books, Feist had a tendency of switching characters each chapter (which in me had the effect of wanting to skip chapters so I could see what happens next!). In this novel, he has upped the ante, so to speak, and sometimes switches between characters (or groups of characters) several times within each chapter. The next result is that he has ratcheted up the suspense and made it virtually impossible to put the book down. His skill at explaining the workings of magic and exploring the nature of deities is second to none. Combine that with someone who brings characters to life and who weaves brilliant tales together, not to mention delving into a whole new race and plane of existance, and you have a brilliant book.

I highly recommend this book, and cannot wait for the next installment "Wrath Of A Mad God"!

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Another Gem

Once again Raymond Feist delivers. This book kept me turning pages long after I needed to stop reading.

Something new?

The previous title in this latest Midkemia series was dissapointing for me - to say the least. Old characters came back, new ones were added, but there was little new in the story.
This one, however, brought something totally different. A new world, home of the Dasati, with new characters, and Pug & co. up against some competition that is overwhelming.
In previous books I often wondered why - with such power at his disposal, Pug doesn't often use it. For example, with access to off-world resources, why not recruit high-powered mercenaries for really tough jobs.
No more wondering, Feist has lifted the gauntlet and off-world is here.
The book also has a favourite bad-penny coming back, but telling who will only spoil it.
Obviously, if you are reading your 15th or so Midkemia novel, there is little chance you will miss this one.

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A strong followup in the series, but still not another "Magician"

Into a Dark Realm is yet another foray into the lives of the residents of Midkemia, but in a lot of ways, this novel brought s something completely different. First, the story. Virtually no new characters are introduced, and the few that are are powerful beings of a new people -- the Dasati -- from a whole other dimension. I found this addition to be a welcome one as Feist added a whole new level of expansion to the already vast world he had created.

But at the same time, I found the lack of significant character introduction to be disappointing. He continued to fold in Pug's three adopted grandsons as more integral parts of the story, but their relatively benign adventures seemed to pale in comparison to the enormity of other storylines, and as such, they are difficult to get into.

The book continues to be written with Feist's classic flare for prose, although he made a marked change. Gone are sprawling chapters that focus on one storyline at a time. They are instead replaced with a rapid fire switching from one storyline to the next, often several times in a single 15 or so page chapter. This serves as both a positive and a negative. It certainly keeps the pages turning as everything is so...digestable for lack of a better word. But it also becomes almost a distraction from getting too engrossed in any of the tales. You start to, and before you can, you're switching gears. All in all, I hope this is a trend that stops.

All in all, the facinating reveal of a new people in the Dasati is more than enough to make this a worthwhile read. Feist's work still has taken a step back from his original works, but they still stand as thoroughly enjoyable reads that I would absolutely recommend for any fan of any of his work.

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