Krondor: The Assassins (Hardcover)

The first thing I have to say is that this is far better than Krondor: The Betrayal. This book feels more like a story rather than a series of action scenes slapped together and called Midkemia. The book opens shortly after The Betrayal and advances the story of something/someone threatening the kingdom. Squire James has more of a role in this book, as does Prince Arutha. For the first time in the series, William (the son of Pug) has a major starring role.

Something bad is going on in Krondor. There are mysterious murders occurring in the city, but instead of it being nobles or common folk, it seems that a lot of criminals are being killed. This wouldn't raise up a red flag, except that they are members of the Guild of Thieves: The Mockers. James is sent to investigate and learns that the Mockers have been overrun by a gang ruled by someone known as The Crawler. The leader of the Mockers, The Upright Man, is presumed dead and James suspects this is part of a plot not only against the Mockers but against the Prince as well. Someone is stirring up trouble.

At the same time, the Duke of Olasko (a duchy later appearing in The Conclave of Shadows series set a century later) is passing through and visits Krondor. He wants to hunt, so Arutha assigns William and some other soliders to escort the Duke. During the hunting trip they are attacked and it seems that someone is trying to start a war between Krondor and Olasko (or the Kingdom of the Isles, and the East). This raises the stakes even more as this mysterious enemy is fighting on several fronts.

Krondor: The Assassins deals with the fight to save Krondor from within as well as stop those trying to kill the Duke of Olasko and prevent a war. As I said, this was much better than Krondor: The Betrayal, and while it doesn't measure up close to Feist's other work like the Riftwar Saga, this was a fairly enjoyable read. It is a step back in the right direction, at the least.

The first thing I have to say is that this is far better than Krondor: The Betrayal. This book feels more like a story rather than a series of action scenes slapped together and called Midkemia. The book opens shortly after The Betrayal and advances the story of something/someone threatening the kingdom. Squire James has more of a role in this book, as does Prince Arutha. For the first time in the series, William (the son of Pug) has a major starring role.

Something bad is going on in Krondor. There are mysterious murders occurring in the city, but instead of it being nobles or common folk, it seems that a lot of criminals are being killed. This wouldn't raise up a red flag, except that they are members of the Guild of Thieves: The Mockers. James is sent to investigate and learns that the Mockers have been overrun by a gang ruled by someone known as The Crawler. The leader of the Mockers, The Upright Man, is presumed dead and James suspects this is part of a plot not only against the Mockers but against the Prince as well. Someone is stirring up trouble.

At the same time, the Duke of Olasko (a duchy later appearing in The Conclave of Shadows series set a century later) is passing through and visits Krondor. He wants to hunt, so Arutha assigns William and some other soliders to escort the Duke. During the hunting trip they are attacked and it seems that someone is trying to start a war between Krondor and Olasko (or the Kingdom of the Isles, and the East). This raises the stakes even more as this mysterious enemy is fighting on several fronts.

Krondor: The Assassins deals with the fight to save Krondor from within as well as stop those trying to kill the Duke of Olasko and prevent a war. As I said, this was much better than Krondor: The Betrayal, and while it doesn't measure up close to Feist's other work like the Riftwar Saga, this was a fairly enjoyable read. It is a step back in the right direction, at the least.

The Legacy series was based on the Betrayal at Krondor and Return to Krondor games, neither of which I ever played. But, even someone who has never ventured into the digital version of Midkemia will immediately recognize many, many videogame trappings within both Betrayal and Tear of the Gods. Fetch quests abound, plot points are thrown at us so conveniently, as if the novel was actually moonlighting as a strategy guide. The results are two ultimately disappointing slices of bread that sandwich what is actually a pretty darn good novel.

Assassins is about Squire James, formerly Jimmy the Hand who is trying to find out what's going on to drive the Mockers, the guild of theives that operates in the sewers of the city Krondor, to near exinction. He must find out what is causing this, plus what other evil rests within the city, in the form of someone known as the Crawler. Throw in the possibility of an unknown element poised to ignite a war between two nations and you have the makings of a rousing adventure.

Ok, this isn't on par with the amazing story arcs in the Riftwar and Serpentwar sagas but it is leaps and bounds better than both Betrayal and Tear of the Gods. We get to see Jimmy and William, the son of Pug, Duke of Stardock, fleshed out a bit more, and along the way we get some pretty good, not great, but good reading to boot. Recommended.