Raymond E. Feist - Talon of the Silver Hawk

I'm a Feist fan.  I have been for a long time. Not because I think he is a brilliant writer, or because his stories are particularly original. He isn't and they aren't.  I'm a fan because he has a laundry list of publications, all in the same world, all interconnected. I've only had to deal with completely unfamiliar territory once or twice in what - fifteen books? And there is something to be said for familiarity.  Sometimes I just want to read a generic fantasy novel, and Feist scratches that itch admirably.  Throw in an interesting character every now and then, and I'm a happy man. It's like cheesy harlequin romance for fantasy fans. Anyways, onto the novel of the night.

Talon of the Silver Hawk is book one in the Conclave of Shadows series.

What Doesn't Suck:   I would say the best aspect of this book is the main character himself, Talon. He starts out as your perfect little orphan Mary Sue, but as he develops he gains some rather nasty bad habits; womanizing, gambling, and a serious hankering for vengeance. Which is good, really.  A character needs some vices. I'm glad Feist didn't fall into the cliche of making him an excessively honorable, boring barbarian. Instead, he's got a bit of style. And of course, he's the best swordsmen in the world.  But who isn't these days?

As always in a Feist novel, the supporting cast is familiar to the point of cliche, but I find them reassuring all the same.  In particular, Magnus is a pretty cool, young, badass wizard type.  I predict cool developments for him in tomorrow's update (Book 2)

What Sucked: The plot.  The entirety of book one was a drawn out quest for vengeance and that's been done...oh lets say eleventy billion times before. That number sounds about right. There are hints of something larger, some grand overarching reason for what is actually going on...but end book 1, and nothing of consequence.  We'll see tomorrow.

Deep Thoughts: Satisfying in the way that a rerun of Seinfeld is satisfying; no surprises, but the characters are amusing and you don't have to think too much.  I'll be continuing the series. And yes, I'm aware this review sucked.  But you know what?  Screw you.  You're not even reading this.

Rating: Meh