A Darkness At Sethanon - Raymond E. Feist

Written by Tom Clare in Book Reviews, Thursday 30 October, 2008

A Darkness At Sethanon happily avoids the pitfall that seems to trip the last leg of many potentially-great trilogies from time to time, as it continues the Riftwar Saga's fine line in quality dialogue, characterisation and storytelling, whilst also providing adequate closure to a great trio of novels.

***WARNING - the following text contains minor story/event-based spoilers for those who have not read Magician - Raymond E. Feist & Silverthorn - Raymond E. Feist.***

Having temporarily thwarted the evil Murmandamus and in doing so finding the silverthorn required to save his ailing Princess, Arutha conDoin, Prince of Krondor and heir to the throne of the Kingdom's, is once again called upon to travel with his unlikely band of followers, who include a couple of bards; a Duke who is also his brother; a thief; a squire and a tribesman, as they learn that Murmandamus has been amassing a gigantic army in the North lands.

A little less than half the tale is told from Arutha's point of view and, given his stealth-first travelling strategy, reads rather similarly to Silverthorn for a time. No bad thing of course, though it does take a little while for A Darkness At Sethanon to carve its own identity. Fortunately, it manages to do so and in rather grand fashion too, with the defence of fortress-town Armengar making for a frantic and exciting affair that sees 7,000 or so town soldiers attempting to keeps tens of thousands of Murmandamus's invaders at bay. Perhaps not quite in the same league as David Gemmell's epic Drenai battles, but really not that far behind either.

Jimmy the Hand, teenage thief and the series best character by some distance, plays a smaller part than in the previous novel though that doesn't prevent the enigmatic troublemaker from thwarting plots to kill Arutha, seducing girls and coming out with yet more gems of wisdom, even if growing up a little seems to have taken the edge off his exuberance. Pug reprises a major role within the series, just as he did in the first book, and it is with the remarkable magician that the reader will find the most evocative, though also in a sense problematic, sections of the story.

Travelling once again with childhood friend-turned-Godlike warrior Tomas, Pug visits a place known as the Halls of the Dead in pursuit of the seemingly-immortal Macros the Black, whom he believes may know how to stop Murmandamus. It's one of Feist's most well-realised passages in the series; with a startling and clever take on the afterlife for those who live on Midkemia that is imaginative yet not overblown, and the heroes meeting with the Lims-Kragma, the Goddess of Death (mentioned sporadically throughout the course of the trilogy) is an unexpected treat as well. At one stage Pug masters the ability to manipulate time, and in order to break a magical trap, must send himself and his companions back to the creation of the galaxy. Feist shows remarkable scope for imagination in such instances, but noticeably here and in the last few scenes of the novel, becomes bogged down in ineffectual superlatives - as if words are ultimately unable to sufficiently convey the full splendour of his visions.

In hindsight, it would also have been nice to have seen a little more of the novel take place on the Tsuranni world of Kelewan. The 'Riftwar' from which the trilogy collectively is termed ended at the end of the first book, and despite the novelty of being supplied with maps of both Midkemia and Kelewan, the latter barely requires looking at as so few of its landmarks are visited and, crucially, none of the real main characters hail from this world.

As the final entry in a trilogy, A Darkness At Sethanon scores highly for closing things out well, perhaps sacrificing a truly show-stopping ending in an attempt to answer questions left outstanding. Characters not seen since Magician are smoothly integrated into the events leading up to the finale rather than all at once, meaning it doesn't labour under the weight of what has gone before. Whilst A Darkness At Sethanon may be just a shade less enjoyable than the other two portions of the trilogy, it will affirm in the mind of fans positive lasting impressions of the Riftwar Saga; it's fast-paced and exciting; beautifully written and replete with great characters. So if it's fantasy you want, you won't find much better than this.

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