# Raymond Feist finally killing off Pug



## GeekDavid (Oct 12, 2013)

...at least that's what his latest book, _Magician's End_, seems to be doing (the title seems to be a big hint).



> Three decades . . . Five Riftwars . . . One magnificent saga: From New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist comes Magician's End, the final book in the epic Riftwar Cycle.
> 
> Thirty years ago, Feist's first novel, Magician, introduced us to an orphan boy named Pug, who rises from slavery to become a Master Magician, and to Midkemia and the Riftwar, an epic series of battles between Good and Evil that have scarred Pug's world for generations.
> 
> ...



At $12.60 for Kindle edition right now, I think I'm gonna wait to get it, but that's OK, cause I haven't read the first two books of this trilogy yet.

What do all of you think of him finally killing off such a long-lived character?


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## ThinkerX (Oct 13, 2013)

I read the hardbound edition.   (Picked it up to round off my collection.)

As to your question...hmmm...lets just say it was real obvious Feist was fond of Pug, and his particular system offers an 'out' of sorts.

Feist really, really dragged out the series.  (sorry, this gets into rant territory for me).  I consider the first four 'Riftwar' books, then and now, to be some of the best fantasy written.  The Kelewan trilogy was good, though not outstandingly so.  'Princes of the Blood' was light on plot, but still interesting, in a sort of '20 years later' way.  'Kings Bucaneer' was another high point in the series, picking up neglected threads.  Then came the 'Serpent War'.  'Serpent War' wasn't really great, but it was solid enough, logically building from 'Kings Bucaneer', ending in a dramatic fashion.  After 'Serpent War', though, the whole series went downhill.  Yes, he did introduce some good characters and there were some remarkable episodes.  But a lot of it was painful 'connect the dots and ignore the blurry background' type stuff.  Most of the books after 'Serpent War' were what I think of as 'padded books'.  To me, it was clear his idea bank was running dry.  It would have been much better if he'd either stopped at 'Serpent War', or did in one book what he tried with like eight (I lost count).


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## GeekDavid (Oct 13, 2013)

ThinkerX said:


> I read the hardbound edition.   (Picked it up to round off my collection.)
> 
> As to your question...hmmm...lets just say it was real obvious Feist was fond of Pug, and his particular system offers an 'out' of sorts.
> 
> Feist really, really dragged out the series.  (sorry, this gets into rant territory for me).  I consider the first four 'Riftwar' books, then and now, to be some of the best fantasy written.  The Kelewan trilogy was good, though not outstandingly so.  'Princes of the Blood' was light on plot, but still interesting, in a sort of '20 years later' way.  'Kings Bucaneer' was another high point in the series, picking up neglected threads.  Then came the 'Serpent War'.  'Serpent War' wasn't really great, but it was solid enough, logically building from 'Kings Bucaneer', ending in a dramatic fashion.  After 'Serpent War', though, the whole series went downhill.  Yes, he did introduce some good characters and there were some remarkable episodes.  But a lot of it was painful 'connect the dots and ignore the blurry background' type stuff.  Most of the books after 'Serpent War' were what I think of as 'padded books'.  To me, it was clear his idea bank was running dry.  It would have been much better if he'd either stopped at 'Serpent War', or did in one book what he tried with like eight (I lost count).



I sort of agree, though I did enjoy the Conclave of Shadows books and the way that the Riftwar switched from open warfare to sneaky espionage. I wish he'd followed through on that idea rather than switching back. I also enjoyed the following trilogy where he showed that a formerly evil man (Kaspar of Olasko) could turn into a good guy if given the right incentive.

I've just started the books after that trilogy, so I can't really give an opinion on those. However, with that said, pretty much all the books after the first few it did seem that he was struggling to invent new opponents. I've said before on my own humble little blog that perhaps Feist should create a different world to write about.

Myself, I have too many story ideas running around in my head -- most of them in their own little world -- to fall into Feist's pattern of writing about just one world.


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