Man, I finished the entire 29 books series a few years back, and I must say I still compare every fantasy I read since with the world of Midkemia. I must say the original Riftwar trilogy, Empire and Serpentwar are amongst my favourites, although if I have to pick one that would be Talon of the Silverhawk. Great video, great series.
@@dominishbooks Agreed. I enjoyed The Kingdom so much, but later books focused on the Conclave. I loved Crydee so much, I wanted to go there for a holiday.
Myself as well.. just finally read jimmys solo book.. my least favorite sadly.. seems very rushed. Being the hand has been my internet name since.. the internet began.. you can guess I'm a fan. I ènjoyed most.. but have read the rift war saga.. serpent war.. empire triliogy.. prince of the blood.. around 7 times a piece.
@dominishbooks yes.. as a rabid fan I nearly cried when crydee was burned down before the first journey to novindus. Although I took on the nick name joshy the hand for most of my life.. I always wished he would take a break from krondor and go back to crydee for a series. I always also wished they would have explored the eastern continent more. Far beyond rodez..
Cheers, Allen! I said I'd been meaning to put this together for a little while, and the conversation in your Discord the other day gave me the final push.
This was such a fun walkthrough. The Midkemia series is one of my favorites. So many wonderful memories for my gateway fantasy novel. I picked this up with Shadow of the Dark Queen and then went back to the beginning. The early novels also largely created so many of those tropes which show up in more modern fantasy series.
Absolutely. It's funny really when people read things like Riftwar and call it full of tropes they've seen before, when they've only read books written a decade or two later!
These bring up so many memories and emotions. I started reading the original Riftwar and Empire series when I was a teenager, along with other authors like Williams, etc. These books are like the foundation of fantasy books to me. Everything since I always measure against these, even though I don't hear much mention of them. I have such fond memories of Riftwar/Empire and also the smaller individual books/series and Serpent War series that followed. (I haven't read the later parts of the series, I'm a traditionalist.) I still have all the original books on my shelf... I should go read them again. Thanks for this walk-through!
The later books are good in terms of finishing the story, but I guess you could technically end the series after any of the trilogies, the way they are generally written. The earliest ones were by far the best for me though.
Thank you so much for this video! I have had the Riftwar Saga on my TBR for ages, but recently I've been hearing some more buzz for The Empire trilogy and I might check that one out first tbh. Definitely sounds like a good old epic fantasy, will keep it on my radar for whenever I'm in the mood for that.
Someone I was talking to who had read it said that Empire didn't really spoil much, but it might give you a better idea of what is going on if you read Magician first. It's definitely good old epic fantasy though 😃 Andrew and Lezlie have both read Magician relatively recently and really liked it, so check in with them for some more recent thoughts.
@@dominishbooks Oooh okay, thanks for letting me know. I'll start with Magician then, it's about time I get to that anyway. And I'll keep an eye out for more thoughts from Lezlie and Andrew, thanks for sharing!
Good video! I only ever read the first trilogy, a very, VERY long time ago. Now I feel like I should reread those books as well as get to all the other books in the Riftwar cycle. Dude, I really didn't need a longer TBR.
I'd never heard of Feist until after I played 'Betrayal at Krondor', the PC game, in 1994. It prompted me to buy 'Magician', and suffice to say that I've been hooked ever since 🙂 I've bought and read every single book and even played the 1999 game 'Return to Krondor'. Something I really wish for is an updated version of the 'Betrayal at Krondor' game that would be playable on modern computer systems 😝
I played Return to Krondor as well and found myself a little disappointed. William`s powers were omitted, and wtf about vampires? Demons i can understand, they tie with Feist's plan but i missed the moredhel, trolls, dwarves and Tsurani. I agree with a BAK remake, would be cool :)
Great overview without giving away too many spoilers. My god, I have sooo much catching up to do. I was lucky enough to snag a first edition hard copy of Magician when it was first released in the early 80's. Unfortunately lent it to a friend at the time because I felt it was a "must read" for them as it was SO good. Never saw it again. A reminder, NEVER lend books out. lol On another note, you NEED to read the Empire trilogy, preferably after a re-read of the original trilogy. So many easter eggs throughout the Empire series and re-run of same events that took place in the original trilogy, but told from a totally different viewpoint was sheer genius. Brilliant writing that we have seldom seen since. I've got most of the earlier series of books up to Krondor Tears of the Gods, all first editions in hardcover. All in storage. Think I may just need to bring them out for a read after this overview. So thanks. :) Still LOVE the original trilogy. Harry Potter who? 🤣 Sad Mr. Feist never got the same adoration that he so justly deserved.
I read at least three or four of the first series some 15-20 years ago, and then lost interest in reading (or maybe smartphones took over). Now I discovered them again as audiobooks as started listening. What's amazing is that I've forgotten most of the stories. I remember the broad storyline of Magician but the details were forgotten so it was nice to listen to this amazing story again. Silverthorn, I have zero memory about this, it was like hearing it for the first time, and now I'm starting Darkness at Sethanon. Intend to go through the entire cycle either through audio books or read them.
Thanks for this video! I'm rereading the original Riftwar Saga right now and plan on reading the Empire Trilogy later this year as well. But I think I eventually want to read them all, so this was very helpful - thanks!
I reread all my usual suspects from the '80's the past few years - Eddings, Brooks, Feist, DragonLance - and found that Feist was the one I wanted to pursue most going forward.
@@RedFuryBooks I did some Brooks a couple of years ago and might go back to continue Shannara at some point, but Feist is the clear winner from that batch for me. Any thoughts on Gemmell too?
The Empire Trilogy is the brilliant. Part game of thrones, part Godfather and part classic Feist. The cycle in its entirety has so many good characters and stories. Its a must read for anyone that likes fantasy.
I've read them (again). Just finished "Apprentice" where it splits, but my favorite is Daughter of the Empire. I've only read that series twice, but seeing where the Tsurani are coming from is so awesome.
Loved the editing using that valuable screen real estate above your shoulders! Great work there 😃 These books must look like a good completed set on the shelves.
The hardback books take up an entire shelf, with the paperbacks on the shelf above. You can see them all together in my bookshelf tour video, although as a content warning, it was one of the first I filmed, so the quality is not as good! 🤣
10 year old me bought Betrayal at Krondor for PC in the early 90s, saw the add for King`s Buccaneer in the instruction booklet and was never the same since. I own all 30 books and still play BAK every few years. Kinda feels like home:)
Good stuff. You'll be waiting a while for a TV show though - presuming it does go ahead (it's literally in the baby stages of development at the moment), I would guess it will be two years at the very earliest.
I read the original Riftwar trilogy as a teen too, and like you, it remains a solid favourite. I didn't get much further though, stopping at the King's Buccaneer. I did read Empire. Empire is in my top three series of all time. It holds up very well in terms of theme, writing style, and originality, with a very modern feeling focus on political intrigue, high stakes risk taking, and complex relationships both personal and political.
We were "cheated" out of 'Return of the King's Buccaneer'. I believe it would have been about Calis's second journey to Novandus which was alluded to in the next book.
My new copy of Magician is split. Side note I love the books behind you change👍👍👍. You are going back to read the Empire trilogy yes?! It was my favourite but the I stopped after Serpent war
One day, just for completion's sake, I might do Empire, but it's not high on the list. I like the little magic book changes too, but it wasn't as easy to pull off with the bigger books!
I love this series. I've read every single book that takes place in this world. I never hear any youtuber talk about this series, except Daughter of the Empire. I liked them all except the trilogy with the demons. That one definitely fell off a bit. I love the Riftwar and Serpent War series the most, after the Empire trilogy. Nice video
Each new book came out, I started at "Magician" and read the entire circle, so I suspect I have read "Magician" about 30 times (and I still like it, but read "Magician APE" (Author's Preferred Edition) rather than the original.
The one that started it all. Remember the books are all in smaller series though, so it's not a typical series of 30-odd books (more like Realm of the Elderlings, where it's a bunch of trilogies or similar).
Totally love all the books although agree there was a drop in quality or a feeling of being rushed later. Every time I read I change my mind on which I love the most. Fave character ever is Jimmy, although Nakor is a close second and I always cry when he dies. I totally love The Riftwar Legacy books. Love riftwar and Serpentwar sagas love Empire Trilogy. Think the final book does justice to the whole thing and wraps it up nicely. I think I’m through the whole 30 at least 5 times but I often start again at Silverthorn for some reason and read random books over and over so some maybe 10 times. A little worried the TV series will be a bust
The Empire Trilogy is soooooo good! It's absolutely a must read. do it do it do it do it!!! Great video though. I really enjoyed how concise you were. It's a very convoluted series, so the help is so nice!
The Riftwar Saga's a beloved fantasy series for me. My introduction to it was the 1993 PC game Betrayal at Krondor, which was the basis for the Krondor Legacy trilogy and is considered a classic among older PC gamers; it's certainly among my favorite games. Because of this, and because of the cover art of the 1994 edition published by Bantam, my first book in the series was A Darkness at Sethanon, after which I went back to the beginning and read all the way up through the Serpentwar Saga, with the exception of the Krondor Legacy and Riftwar Legends books. I believe I read the Conclave of Shadows but I don't remember it very well. By that time I had stopped reading the books and occupied myself with work or other hobbies. I also had the feeling that the latter books weren't very good or satisfying, nowhere near the level of the Riftwar and Empire books. The Krondor Sons books are close runner-ups for me.
It's one of my all-time favourites as well. I enjoyed the Krondor Legacy and Riftwar Legends books, but it's nice that they can be skipped easily enough as it makes the whole series seem a bit more manageable. The Krondor's Sons books were really good fun too.
Really good series, that I've been rereading recently. It was great for me as a naive reader and still brilliant for me with a great deal more reading experience. Possibly worth mentioning that Kelewan is pretty clearly based on the world from MAR Barker's* Empire of the Petal Throne RPG and fiction. And Midkemia is based on the world of Midkemia Press (which produced RPG supplements.) * It turns out that MAR Barker was apparently a particularly horrible man, but that doesn't really show up in his fictional world building.
I think that first line really sums it up - it's great as an introduction to reading fantasy, but still good for those who have already read plenty in the genre.
Original riftwar, Empire trilogy and the serpentwar Saga are all my favorites. It's hit and miss for me after that with some amazing books, some good ones and some I didn't like that much. I think rage of a demon King is one of my all time favorites that never gets as much love as magician.
@@dominishbooks Highly reccommend the Empire Trilogy. Janny Wurts helps bring the writing to a whole other level and adds elements Raymond couldn't have achieved by himself. Plus you get to see some of the big events from Magician from the perspective of the Tsurani characters.
I always love to see reviews of older fantasy. Many good memories with these two worlds. Haven't read all books in the series but those I've read were either really good or at least decent. Books co-written with J. Wurts are amazing. One of the best written female characters I'e ever read about.
I love me some classic fantasy. So many people rave about the Empire trilogy, but for some reason it just never appealed to me. I think when I started to read it, I really didn't want something as political as it seemed it would be, and I just never went back.
I loved "Magician" (both early books in one) but much preferred "Magician APE Author's Preferred Edition" where Raymond was able to put back around 15,000 words taken from the first publication of "Magician".
I've only read the Riftwar Saga and Prince of the Blood - love the Riftwar Saga A guy who I used to work with refused to read them because he thought they were ripped off from Empire of the Petal Throne. As I haven't read Empire of the petal Throne I can't say for sure
That first saga and then the Serpentwar Saga were my favourites by a decent stretch, so I definitely recommend carrying on at least through those next four if you've enjoyed the other early books. I've heard comments about Empire of the Petal Throne, but haven't looked into it in any great detail. The only time I've ever heard of it though is in relation to Riftwar.
Read about 20 of them, Magician trilogy, Empire, Serpentwar and some others. Initially I skipped the Empire trilogy, thirty years later I found them as audiobooks on TH-cam. Listened to them, wow, they were good! I think the cover, coauthorship, blurb, less magic, put me off initially. Now, I'm sorry I didn't read them earlier. Two authors, double impact.
I keep saying that one day I might get to the Empire trilogy, but honestly, I think I'm past that now. Next for me in that vein will be the Firemane Saga.
@@dominishbooks I think I'm a little biased as this was the first ever fantasy series that I read from start to finish and I found it by complete and total luck, I used to work at a recycling factory part time to get some cash during highschool and I found Prince of the blood in amongst all the cardboard, the cover was in rough shape but all the pages were still intact so I took it home and gave it a read. I was hooked instantly and slowly purchased every book ray ever wrote.
Missed fairytale. Might be kind of easy to miss however i tried reading it 8 times and could not get past 5 chapters so it's a hard name to forget. Or I have ADHD and you did mention it.
He's a good character overall and has some great storylines/scenes, but I have several characters from the series who I much prefer (and I really don't like his name! 🤣)
So 30 plus things to read right ? 😂 but such a wonderful thing that it’s under 1000 pages each Also I didn’t realize that it ended so recently … I must go back and restart. Thanks for the video 🙏
Yeah, I think the longest book, maybe the longest two when I checked, were in the Empire trilogy. That obviously depends on edition, but the longest solo-Feist ones were in the 600 page range, and there were only one or two of those.
also finished them all great books and i have read them more than once my oldest daughter is named after the empire lead character at least the dutch version of it and combined it with her adversary the concubine as second name
started reading in 1984 magician and ended with magicians end i disagree with the reviewer all the novels are mandatory reading i own the entire 30 book series in hardcover
What about fairytale. I have tried so many times and I put the book down 1 hour in and start from the magician in hopes it will convince me to read it to see if it's about the enemy, I have not read magician end or the one before it I saw fairytale the other day and started again cause I knew I had 2 more books maybe more. I'm also interested if pug is macros or related, cause I remember thinking they were the same person.
Yep, 10 individual series make up the wider story, although about 10 of the books are in series not considered essential to the main storyline, so you can cut those out and still read the whole main arc.
From reading my 1st fantasy Magician aged 12 to finishing Magician's End aged 42...it has been an epic journey growing up with Pug and Tomas.
That sounds like a very similar timescale and journey to mine!
@@dominishbooks loved it all
Man, I finished the entire 29 books series a few years back, and I must say I still compare every fantasy I read since with the world of Midkemia. I must say the original Riftwar trilogy, Empire and Serpentwar are amongst my favourites, although if I have to pick one that would be Talon of the Silverhawk. Great video, great series.
Those earliest books definitely lead the way. I did enjoy the later books, but just not as much as the first few.
@@dominishbooks Agreed. I enjoyed The Kingdom so much, but later books focused on the Conclave.
I loved Crydee so much, I wanted to go there for a holiday.
@@capcompass9298 Absolutely, there's just something different about Crydee.
Myself as well.. just finally read jimmys solo book.. my least favorite sadly.. seems very rushed. Being the hand has been my internet name since.. the internet began.. you can guess I'm a fan. I ènjoyed most.. but have read the rift war saga.. serpent war.. empire triliogy.. prince of the blood.. around 7 times a piece.
@dominishbooks yes.. as a rabid fan I nearly cried when crydee was burned down before the first journey to novindus. Although I took on the nick name joshy the hand for most of my life.. I always wished he would take a break from krondor and go back to crydee for a series. I always also wished they would have explored the eastern continent more. Far beyond rodez..
I was literally just asking about this series in the Discord and then this video pops up. Very informative, thanks Dom!
Cheers, Allen! I said I'd been meaning to put this together for a little while, and the conversation in your Discord the other day gave me the final push.
This was such a fun walkthrough. The Midkemia series is one of my favorites. So many wonderful memories for my gateway fantasy novel. I picked this up with Shadow of the Dark Queen and then went back to the beginning.
The early novels also largely created so many of those tropes which show up in more modern fantasy series.
Absolutely. It's funny really when people read things like Riftwar and call it full of tropes they've seen before, when they've only read books written a decade or two later!
Almost finished reading Magician, loving it, can't wait to start Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon in the near future.
I'm pleased you've enjoyed it. I hope that continues with the other books!
I’m a bit late, but Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon develop characters a lot more. Especially Arutha!
Oh mate, you are in for a treat!
I love the entire series
@@dominishbooks I'd be very surprised if it didn't.
Thanks Dom, this was really helpful. I’m going to read Magician at some point this year, looking forward to it
No worries. A lot of people have randomly picked up Magician lately, so I'm happy about that.
Than you for the vid! I am looking forward to diving into the series.
I hope you like it!
These bring up so many memories and emotions. I started reading the original Riftwar and Empire series when I was a teenager, along with other authors like Williams, etc. These books are like the foundation of fantasy books to me. Everything since I always measure against these, even though I don't hear much mention of them. I have such fond memories of Riftwar/Empire and also the smaller individual books/series and Serpent War series that followed. (I haven't read the later parts of the series, I'm a traditionalist.) I still have all the original books on my shelf... I should go read them again. Thanks for this walk-through!
The later books are good in terms of finishing the story, but I guess you could technically end the series after any of the trilogies, the way they are generally written. The earliest ones were by far the best for me though.
Thank you so much for this video! I have had the Riftwar Saga on my TBR for ages, but recently I've been hearing some more buzz for The Empire trilogy and I might check that one out first tbh.
Definitely sounds like a good old epic fantasy, will keep it on my radar for whenever I'm in the mood for that.
Someone I was talking to who had read it said that Empire didn't really spoil much, but it might give you a better idea of what is going on if you read Magician first. It's definitely good old epic fantasy though 😃 Andrew and Lezlie have both read Magician relatively recently and really liked it, so check in with them for some more recent thoughts.
@@dominishbooks Oooh okay, thanks for letting me know. I'll start with Magician then, it's about time I get to that anyway. And I'll keep an eye out for more thoughts from Lezlie and Andrew, thanks for sharing!
This was such an interesting walkthrough!
Thank you! I figure it seems to be a classic series that a lot of people overlook (probably because there's 30 books!)
Magician was the first fantasy I ever read. Loved it and the entire series
It was one of the first adult fantasy books I read, I think I'd only read Discworld, LOTR/The Hobbit and Blue Moon Rising before Magician.
Hi thank you for the review of this book series a lot of TH-camrs are talking about this series I’ll check it out definitely!! Happy reading! 🧟♂️📖🎥🤴🏼
No problem! It's one of my overall favourite series, so I'm glad it's of interest to others as well.
Great overview! I have wanted to read this series for years. I didn't know there was a TV series in development! Cool (I hope!).
Yeah, the announcement came while I was putting my thoughts together for the video, so it was well timed!
Good video! I only ever read the first trilogy, a very, VERY long time ago. Now I feel like I should reread those books as well as get to all the other books in the Riftwar cycle. Dude, I really didn't need a longer TBR.
Hah, there's a lot to keep you going then! Thank you!
Love it ,re-reading it atm
Great stuff!
I'd never heard of Feist until after I played 'Betrayal at Krondor', the PC game, in 1994. It prompted me to buy 'Magician', and suffice to say that I've been hooked ever since 🙂 I've bought and read every single book and even played the 1999 game 'Return to Krondor'.
Something I really wish for is an updated version of the 'Betrayal at Krondor' game that would be playable on modern computer systems 😝
I don't think I ever played them, but I enjoyed the books based around the game.
@@dominishbooks Great ideas, but I found those based on the games 'fragmented' - separate senarios all over the place, but enjoyable to read.
I played Return to Krondor as well and found myself a little disappointed. William`s powers were omitted, and wtf about vampires? Demons i can understand, they tie with Feist's plan but i missed the moredhel, trolls, dwarves and Tsurani. I agree with a BAK remake, would be cool :)
Great overview without giving away too many spoilers. My god, I have sooo much catching up to do. I was lucky enough to snag a first edition hard copy of Magician when it was first released in the early 80's. Unfortunately lent it to a friend at the time because I felt it was a "must read" for them as it was SO good. Never saw it again. A reminder, NEVER lend books out. lol
On another note, you NEED to read the Empire trilogy, preferably after a re-read of the original trilogy. So many easter eggs throughout the Empire series and re-run of same events that took place in the original trilogy, but told from a totally different viewpoint was sheer genius. Brilliant writing that we have seldom seen since.
I've got most of the earlier series of books up to Krondor Tears of the Gods, all first editions in hardcover. All in storage. Think I may just need to bring them out for a read after this overview. So thanks. :) Still LOVE the original trilogy. Harry Potter who? 🤣 Sad Mr. Feist never got the same adoration that he so justly deserved.
Thank you! For the Empire trilogy, I think I've gone past it now and I'm not likely to pick it up, but who knows what the future holds?
I read at least three or four of the first series some 15-20 years ago, and then lost interest in reading (or maybe smartphones took over). Now I discovered them again as audiobooks as started listening. What's amazing is that I've forgotten most of the stories. I remember the broad storyline of Magician but the details were forgotten so it was nice to listen to this amazing story again. Silverthorn, I have zero memory about this, it was like hearing it for the first time, and now I'm starting Darkness at Sethanon. Intend to go through the entire cycle either through audio books or read them.
That's great to be able to treat it as pretty much a first-time read!
Thanks for this video! I'm rereading the original Riftwar Saga right now and plan on reading the Empire Trilogy later this year as well. But I think I eventually want to read them all, so this was very helpful - thanks!
Thanks Josh! It's a commitment, but there are some great moments across the many books.
I reread all my usual suspects from the '80's the past few years - Eddings, Brooks, Feist, DragonLance - and found that Feist was the one I wanted to pursue most going forward.
@@RedFuryBooks I did some Brooks a couple of years ago and might go back to continue Shannara at some point, but Feist is the clear winner from that batch for me. Any thoughts on Gemmell too?
@@dominishbooks I'm only into Gemmell's works by one book (Legend), so the jury's still out. But based on Legend, I'm a big fan already!
@@RedFuryBooks It's a cracking book that still holds up pretty well.
The Empire Trilogy is the brilliant. Part game of thrones, part Godfather and part classic Feist. The cycle in its entirety has so many good characters and stories. Its a must read for anyone that likes fantasy.
I've heard so much good about the Empire trilogy.
I've read them (again). Just finished "Apprentice" where it splits, but my favorite is Daughter of the Empire. I've only read that series twice, but seeing where the Tsurani are coming from is so awesome.
I don't reread, but if I did, I would absolutely dive back into these, and I would include the Empire trilogy this time around too.
I find The Empire a very interesting sideline explaining so much more about the Tsurani; not essential, but interesting.
Loved the editing using that valuable screen real estate above your shoulders! Great work there 😃 These books must look like a good completed set on the shelves.
The hardback books take up an entire shelf, with the paperbacks on the shelf above. You can see them all together in my bookshelf tour video, although as a content warning, it was one of the first I filmed, so the quality is not as good! 🤣
10 year old me bought Betrayal at Krondor for PC in the early 90s, saw the add for King`s Buccaneer in the instruction booklet and was never the same since. I own all 30 books and still play BAK every few years. Kinda feels like home:)
I never played BAK, but I loved the books!
I haven't read this, but I just added this to my TBR...might wait until the TV show comes out and do a book vs adaptation. 😁
Good stuff. You'll be waiting a while for a TV show though - presuming it does go ahead (it's literally in the baby stages of development at the moment), I would guess it will be two years at the very earliest.
I read the original Riftwar trilogy as a teen too, and like you, it remains a solid favourite. I didn't get much further though, stopping at the King's Buccaneer. I did read Empire. Empire is in my top three series of all time. It holds up very well in terms of theme, writing style, and originality, with a very modern feeling focus on political intrigue, high stakes risk taking, and complex relationships both personal and political.
It was so long ago that I can't remember why I didn't get on with Empire. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for it at the time.
We were "cheated" out of 'Return of the King's Buccaneer'. I believe it would have been about Calis's second journey to Novandus which was alluded to in the next book.
I intend to read at least some of these as I own the starter pack and some of the Serpent War books.
You should! If you like classic fantasy, I'd say this is as close as you get to a "must read".
My new copy of Magician is split. Side note I love the books behind you change👍👍👍.
You are going back to read the Empire trilogy yes?! It was my favourite but the I stopped after Serpent war
One day, just for completion's sake, I might do Empire, but it's not high on the list. I like the little magic book changes too, but it wasn't as easy to pull off with the bigger books!
Oh hey! I have that edition of Magician.
The cover art is beautiful.
It's a great book too.
@@dominishbooks
That it is.
I love this series. I've read every single book that takes place in this world. I never hear any youtuber talk about this series, except Daughter of the Empire. I liked them all except the trilogy with the demons. That one definitely fell off a bit. I love the Riftwar and Serpent War series the most, after the Empire trilogy. Nice video
Yeah, Riftwar and Serpentwar were definitely my favourites, but I liked them all, even if some of the later books weren't quite as good.
Empire, Riftwar and Serpent war are definitely the best.
Agreed (minus Empire, as I haven't read that one, so can't comment!)
Just finished the entire cycle for the 3rd time yesterday and my god the epilogue of magicians end makes me cry every time
It's nice how it goes full circle.
@@dominishbooks yeah definitely! Really wraps it up well
Each new book came out, I started at "Magician" and read the entire circle, so I suspect I have read "Magician" about 30 times (and I still like it, but read "Magician APE" (Author's Preferred Edition) rather than the original.
I have his magicians apprentice 😃 hope to read it soon ❤ didn't know it was 29 books 😮
The one that started it all. Remember the books are all in smaller series though, so it's not a typical series of 30-odd books (more like Realm of the Elderlings, where it's a bunch of trilogies or similar).
Totally love all the books although agree there was a drop in quality or a feeling of being rushed later. Every time I read I change my mind on which I love the most. Fave character ever is Jimmy, although Nakor is a close second and I always cry when he dies. I totally love The Riftwar Legacy books. Love riftwar and Serpentwar sagas love Empire Trilogy. Think the final book does justice to the whole thing and wraps it up nicely. I think I’m through the whole 30 at least 5 times but I often start again at Silverthorn for some reason and read random books over and over so some maybe 10 times. A little worried the TV series will be a bust
I'm looking forward to finally trying the Empire Trilogy this year. I really didn't get far with it when I initially tried it years ago.
This saga is pretty high on my tbr.
The Empire Trilogy is soooooo good! It's absolutely a must read. do it do it do it do it!!! Great video though. I really enjoyed how concise you were. It's a very convoluted series, so the help is so nice!
Thanks! Empire might happen one day, but at the moment, I just can't see when I would be able to get to it.
The Riftwar Saga's a beloved fantasy series for me. My introduction to it was the 1993 PC game Betrayal at Krondor, which was the basis for the Krondor Legacy trilogy and is considered a classic among older PC gamers; it's certainly among my favorite games. Because of this, and because of the cover art of the 1994 edition published by Bantam, my first book in the series was A Darkness at Sethanon, after which I went back to the beginning and read all the way up through the Serpentwar Saga, with the exception of the Krondor Legacy and Riftwar Legends books. I believe I read the Conclave of Shadows but I don't remember it very well.
By that time I had stopped reading the books and occupied myself with work or other hobbies. I also had the feeling that the latter books weren't very good or satisfying, nowhere near the level of the Riftwar and Empire books. The Krondor Sons books are close runner-ups for me.
It's one of my all-time favourites as well. I enjoyed the Krondor Legacy and Riftwar Legends books, but it's nice that they can be skipped easily enough as it makes the whole series seem a bit more manageable. The Krondor's Sons books were really good fun too.
@@dominishbooks I'm starting with Darkness at Sethanon & to me he's trying to be #Tolkein but not quite managing it..
You definitely need to read the Empire trilogy. Maybe not for the continuity of the series but definitely for how amazing it is.
That's what I've heard. At some point maybe, but at the moment there are too many other books on the horizon!
@@dominishbooks I agree with Angela! While you might have more books on the horizon, with Empire, you're guaranteed an EXCELLENT read.
Really good series, that I've been rereading recently. It was great for me as a naive reader and still brilliant for me with a great deal more reading experience.
Possibly worth mentioning that Kelewan is pretty clearly based on the world from MAR Barker's* Empire of the Petal Throne RPG and fiction. And Midkemia is based on the world of Midkemia Press (which produced RPG supplements.)
* It turns out that MAR Barker was apparently a particularly horrible man, but that doesn't really show up in his fictional world building.
I think that first line really sums it up - it's great as an introduction to reading fantasy, but still good for those who have already read plenty in the genre.
Yes
Original riftwar, Empire trilogy and the serpentwar Saga are all my favorites. It's hit and miss for me after that with some amazing books, some good ones and some I didn't like that much.
I think rage of a demon King is one of my all time favorites that never gets as much love as magician.
Other than Empire (because I never read it) I 100% agree with all of this.
@@dominishbooks Highly reccommend the Empire Trilogy. Janny Wurts helps bring the writing to a whole other level and adds elements Raymond couldn't have achieved by himself. Plus you get to see some of the big events from Magician from the perspective of the Tsurani characters.
@@Timzdametal Totally agree
Mara of the Acoma is, by far, my favorite character of the whole series. Loved her!
I always love to see reviews of older fantasy. Many good memories with these two worlds. Haven't read all books in the series but those I've read were either really good or at least decent. Books co-written with J. Wurts are amazing. One of the best written female characters I'e ever read about.
I love me some classic fantasy. So many people rave about the Empire trilogy, but for some reason it just never appealed to me. I think when I started to read it, I really didn't want something as political as it seemed it would be, and I just never went back.
@@dominishbooks I found the politics well thought out and added a lot to the Magician series.
I loved "Magician" (both early books in one) but much preferred "Magician APE Author's Preferred Edition" where Raymond was able to put back around 15,000 words taken from the first publication of "Magician".
I've only read the combined (author's preferred) edition, but I can imagine it would be quite different with such a chunk added back in.
@@dominishbooks More detail of life in Crydee.
I've only read the Riftwar Saga and Prince of the Blood - love the Riftwar Saga
A guy who I used to work with refused to read them because he thought they were ripped off from Empire of the Petal Throne. As I haven't read Empire of the petal Throne I can't say for sure
That first saga and then the Serpentwar Saga were my favourites by a decent stretch, so I definitely recommend carrying on at least through those next four if you've enjoyed the other early books. I've heard comments about Empire of the Petal Throne, but haven't looked into it in any great detail. The only time I've ever heard of it though is in relation to Riftwar.
Read about 20 of them, Magician trilogy, Empire, Serpentwar and some others. Initially I skipped the Empire trilogy, thirty years later I found them as audiobooks on TH-cam. Listened to them, wow, they were good! I think the cover, coauthorship, blurb, less magic, put me off initially. Now, I'm sorry I didn't read them earlier. Two authors, double impact.
I keep saying that one day I might get to the Empire trilogy, but honestly, I think I'm past that now. Next for me in that vein will be the Firemane Saga.
Yeh still the best series ever for me
It's not the type that you tend to see anymore, and although I feel it lost its edge toward the end, it was still a great series.
@@dominishbooks I think I'm a little biased as this was the first ever fantasy series that I read from start to finish and I found it by complete and total luck, I used to work at a recycling factory part time to get some cash during highschool and I found Prince of the blood in amongst all the cardboard, the cover was in rough shape but all the pages were still intact so I took it home and gave it a read. I was hooked instantly and slowly purchased every book ray ever wrote.
Missed fairytale. Might be kind of easy to miss however i tried reading it 8 times and could not get past 5 chapters so it's a hard name to forget. Or I have ADHD and you did mention it.
Faerie Tale isn't part of the Riftwar Cycle, it's set in our world 👍🏼
Have you read the fire mane saga yet?
Not yet. I have the first book on my shelf though.
@@dominishbooks i suggest you get into them. Youll be pleasantly surprised im sure.
@@codyschoffner3314 It's definitely on my list!
You really should read the Empire series. I'd say it stands the test of time.
Just started Magician today
I hope it goes well for you!
so Pug not a favorite character?
He's a good character overall and has some great storylines/scenes, but I have several characters from the series who I much prefer (and I really don't like his name! 🤣)
Empire trilogy is incredibly amazing
Female lead character of all time is mara of the Acoma
Wow- it's nearly as long as Wheel of Time (4.4 million words) 🤔
There are a lot of books there-it's basically twice the number, but half the individual book length!
So 30 plus things to read right ? 😂 but such a wonderful thing that it’s under 1000 pages each
Also I didn’t realize that it ended so recently … I must go back and restart. Thanks for the video 🙏
Yeah, I think the longest book, maybe the longest two when I checked, were in the Empire trilogy. That obviously depends on edition, but the longest solo-Feist ones were in the 600 page range, and there were only one or two of those.
also finished them all great books and i have read them more than once my oldest daughter is named after the empire lead character at least the dutch version of it and combined it with her adversary the concubine as second name
That's great!
Squire James...
started reading in 1984 magician and ended with magicians end i disagree with the reviewer all the novels are mandatory reading i own the entire 30 book series in hardcover
What about fairytale. I have tried so many times and I put the book down 1 hour in and start from the magician in hopes it will convince me to read it to see if it's about the enemy, I have not read magician end or the one before it I saw fairytale the other day and started again cause I knew I had 2 more books maybe more. I'm also interested if pug is macros or related, cause I remember thinking they were the same person.
30 books wtf
Yep, 10 individual series make up the wider story, although about 10 of the books are in series not considered essential to the main storyline, so you can cut those out and still read the whole main arc.