Magician's End

June 10, 2013
Readers who have experienced all, or most of the preceding 29 books in Feist's best-selling epic fantasy series, will be eager to find how it all ends. But even those who have kept up religiously with the characters and plot may find the resolutionâwhich does not shut the door to more books set in the world of Midkemiaâpredictable and somewhat anticlimactic. His initial protagonists Pug, a master wizard, and Tomas, a superior warrior, are still around, and committed to fighting the forces of darkness to save their world. Pug's fate is heavily foreshadowedâas early as chapter one, he's warned that he must prepare "to sacrifice everything to save everything." That ultimate confrontation is a long time coming, and long stretches of the book pass with Pug offstage. There's not much here to distinguish this from countless other fantasy tales (the political intrigue is very dull), and the freshness that marked Feist's earlier workâincluding his ruthlessness at killing off significant playersâhas dimmed, unsurprisingly, after so long.

Starred review from May 15, 2013
The riveting conclusion to the Chaoswar Saga and the Riftwar Cycle is satisfying in every way. The story of Pug, an orphan boy of Midkemia who faces war and slavery on an alien planet and survives to become a master magician, is nothing short of exceptional. In this, the final episode of his life, he grapples with the concept of a higher being that is nearly impossible for mere humans to comprehend. Physics, astronomy, philosophy, and the meaning of the universe are all discussed, and the characters are almost secondary to such ruminations. A series of lessons is taught to a select group of magicians including Pug, which they must then use to determine how to overcome the evil that threatens their world with annihilation. While these magicians are learning their lessons, there is a civil war in the Kingdom, and the Taredhel have unleashed the Dread into Midkemia. Feist has created a universe that is every bit as captivating as Anne McCaffrey's Pern, Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar, and Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover. In Magician's End, he has masterfully brought the entire epic in a full circle.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)