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Riftwar Cycle
Midkemia: The Chronicles of Pug
The world of Raymond E. Feist is brought to stunning life in this illustrated deluxe compendium, complete with maps, character drawings, and first-person narrative text by the master of fantasy fiction.
Part travel log/journal and part atlas, The Chronicles of Pug brings the fictional world of Midkemia to vivid, illustrative life, and gives readers a completely new look at the creative genius of Raymond E. Feist. Written in first-person—a first for veteran bestseller Raymond Feist—the book details the life and times of Pug of Stardock, the hero of Feist’s The Chaoswar Trilogy. Beautiful hand-drawn maps illustrate the changes in Midkemia’s geography as war ravages the land and physically alters the landscape; dedicated readers and fans can literally trace the changes made by each battle. Complete with thirty pieces of specially commissioned artwork, this book is a totally immersive look into the world of Midkemia as never experienced before.
Part travel log/journal and part atlas, The Chronicles of Pug brings the fictional world of Midkemia to vivid, illustrative life, and gives readers a completely new look at the creative genius of Raymond E. Feist. Written in first-person—a first for veteran bestseller Raymond Feist—the book details the life and times of Pug of Stardock, the hero of Feist’s The Chaoswar Trilogy. Beautiful hand-drawn maps illustrate the changes in Midkemia’s geography as war ravages the land and physically alters the landscape; dedicated readers and fans can literally trace the changes made by each battle. Complete with thirty pieces of specially commissioned artwork, this book is a totally immersive look into the world of Midkemia as never experienced before.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
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About the author
Raymond E. Feist
289 books9,536 followersRaymond E. Feist was born Raymond E. Gonzales III, but took his adoptive step-father's surname when his mother remarried Felix E. Feist. He graduated with a B.A. in Communication Arts with Honors in 1977 from the University of California at San Diego. During that year Feist had some ideas for a novel about a boy who would be a magician. He wrote the novel two years later, and it was published in 1982 by Doubleday. Feist currently lives in San Diego with his children, where he collects fine wine, DVDs, and books on a variety of topics of personal interest: wine, biographies, history, and, especially, the history of American Professional Football.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
February 24, 2018
Just as Dragonlance started my love for fantasy, The Belgariad fuelled the flames and The Riftwar Saga forever cemented it. I have since read Magician possibly three times, and the trilogy at least twice, but it was only five years ago that I've finally finished the Riftwar Cycle. There are, however, a few sub-series that I have not read, i.e. The Empire Trilogy (which I will address soon), The Riftwar Legacy and Legends of the Riftwar.
This book is pretty much fan service and unless you are a die-hard like me, it is not something one picks up for enjoyment. Chronicling the journal entries of Pug and his collection of Midkemian maps of the world, cities, seas and islands, with annotations from his son, Magnus, this volume really serves as a compendium of the entire Riftwar Cycle series. The narrative summarises the key events told from mainly Pug's point of view and some of Magnus', and is laden with descriptions of the land, its people and cultures, and the political environment across generations in Midkemia. Reading this book made me realise and appreciate now how extensive the worldbuilding had been; something which was probably lost on me as I binge read through 21 books a few years back. Save to say that this book contains spoilers for the complete series.
In the end, it made me want to read through the whole massive series again. Recalling the poignancy of the final epic climax of the very last book as I read this brought back tears to my eyes. Even the introduction in this book made me emotional, so in that respect and in my heart, the book has done its job.
This book is pretty much fan service and unless you are a die-hard like me, it is not something one picks up for enjoyment. Chronicling the journal entries of Pug and his collection of Midkemian maps of the world, cities, seas and islands, with annotations from his son, Magnus, this volume really serves as a compendium of the entire Riftwar Cycle series. The narrative summarises the key events told from mainly Pug's point of view and some of Magnus', and is laden with descriptions of the land, its people and cultures, and the political environment across generations in Midkemia. Reading this book made me realise and appreciate now how extensive the worldbuilding had been; something which was probably lost on me as I binge read through 21 books a few years back. Save to say that this book contains spoilers for the complete series.
In the end, it made me want to read through the whole massive series again. Recalling the poignancy of the final epic climax of the very last book as I read this brought back tears to my eyes. Even the introduction in this book made me emotional, so in that respect and in my heart, the book has done its job.
March 11, 2017
In 2013 Raymond E. Feist concluded his Riftwar Cycle of epic fantasy novels. The sequence that began in 1982 with the publication of Magician concluded with Magician's End, resulting in a massive series consisting of thirty novels spread over ten sub-series. Six of the novels were co-written with other authors, but the rest are solely by Feist. However, it's less well-known that the world of Midkemia is not Feist's creation, instead being conceived by Stephen Abrams. Abrams and Feist attended the University of San Diego together in the late 1970s and Abrams created the world for use in roleplaying games. Feist later (with Abrams's permission) used the setting for his novels, fleshing it out further.
Thirty-five years later, Feist and Abrams have regrouped to deliver a companion book to The Riftwar Cycle, featuring maps, artwork and further information on the world of Midkemia not given out in the novels. Whilst I haven't followed the later Riftwar novels (I bowed out after the quite amazingly boring Talon of the Silver Hawk), I did enjoy the early ones and particularly liked the worldbuilding (haphazard as it was) depicted in the books and the spin-off computer games (Betrayal at Krondor and Return to Krondor), so I was looking forward to seeing that background fleshed out.
I was disappointed. As a companion book, Midkemia: The Chronicles of Pug is sorely lacking in almost every department. The first thing that grates is a lack of proof-reading: the book is riddled with spelling errors on both the maps and in the text (Shamata is frequently rendered as 'Shomata', whilst 'Murmandamus' is spelt in several different ways depending on the writer's whim of the moment). The maps are pretty, but difficult to use. The fonts render many names difficult to read and the artist seems to frequently get bored and only fill in the trees around the edges of the forests, making it look like Midkemia's woodlands are all plains surrounded by a ring of trees. Also - though this is a long-standing problem from the book maps as well - the mountains are depicted as quite ludicrously-sized given the scale used. The continent of Novindus continues to look like a small island instead of a huge landmass. There is also a discrepancy between the size of the Empire of Great Kesh on the maps and its reported size in the books (several times that of the Kingdom, whilst the maps show it as roughly the same size), and contradictory statements in the book which say that Kesh is sparsely-populated with the cities separated by vast gulfs of wasteland, whilst the novels report that Kesh has many times the population of the Kingdom. There's also the problem of the maps featuring locations that don't actually exist when the map was supposedly made: Port Vykor (or Vikor, as the maps never seem to agree on a spelling), founded after Rage of a Demon King, is shown on maps pre-dating Magician, more than fifty years earlier. Oh yes, and there's supposed to be two world maps of Midkemia, showing the state of the world at the start of Magician and after Magician's End (both visible on various fansites promoting the book) but only one of the two world maps is actually in the book. The other one seems to have simply been forgotten. This is made more amusing by the surviving book having 'MAP II (2)' written on it with 'MAP I (1)' nowhere to be found (in the UK first edition, it should be noted).
Then there's the actual text itself. Those expecting a book which talks about geography, history, society, customs, cultures and so on will be in for disappointment. The text is a fairly basic plot summary of the events of The Riftwar Cycle. Sidebars and illustrations show there is some potential in this approach: a map of Sorcerer's Isle appears at the relevant point in the text, followed by maps of the Sunset Islands when they first appear and so on. Occasionally the summary of plot elements the reader is probably already familiar with is interrupted by a little bit of background information on politics or culture, but such moments are rare and fleeting. The depth and usefulness of the plot summary amusingly mirrors the general consensus of the quality of the books: the events of Magician are covered in substantial depth, then Silverthorn through Rage of a Demon King in somewhat less detail, and then all of the books afterwards (which is almost two-thirds of them) are covered in just a few pages of confusingly repeated names and events which sound generic to the point of painfulness (having bailed out after Talon of the Silver Hawk, I see I'm not missing very much).
The book is accompanied by artwork from Steve Stone. These aren't actual illustrations, however, but rather stiff and unconvincing 'photo art' featuring posed models in front of CG backgrounds. Occasionally this is effective (Amos Trask's ship running the Straits of Darkness is pretty good) but most of the time it's awful, not helped by occasional re-use of the same model to depict completely different characters.
There are moments when the book comes to life: the opening couple of chapters feel more inspired and some of the maps expanding on the somewhat-confused geography of Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon are genuinely useful. Occasional bursts of background material hint at much more interesting detail. Getting 'canon' maps of the Keshian Confederacy and the full Empire is also gratifying (though it turns out they are pretty much the same as the ones that have been available on the Elvandar website for many years). But ultimately this is a companion book which tells us almost nothing about the history, chronology, societies and cultures of the world it's named after, which is a baffling choice.
Midkemia: The Chronicles of Pug (**) is a disappointing volume, featuring almost none of the information that I suspect readers will really be interested in or expecting. Instead, it's an unproofed plot summary of books they've already read, interspersed with bad artwork, ill-detailed maps and an astonishing number of spelling mistakes. There are a few, scant interesting nuggets of new information to be found and some maps that helpfully clarify confusing descriptions in the books, but beyond that this book is not really that useful. One for die-hard fans and completists only.
Thirty-five years later, Feist and Abrams have regrouped to deliver a companion book to The Riftwar Cycle, featuring maps, artwork and further information on the world of Midkemia not given out in the novels. Whilst I haven't followed the later Riftwar novels (I bowed out after the quite amazingly boring Talon of the Silver Hawk), I did enjoy the early ones and particularly liked the worldbuilding (haphazard as it was) depicted in the books and the spin-off computer games (Betrayal at Krondor and Return to Krondor), so I was looking forward to seeing that background fleshed out.
I was disappointed. As a companion book, Midkemia: The Chronicles of Pug is sorely lacking in almost every department. The first thing that grates is a lack of proof-reading: the book is riddled with spelling errors on both the maps and in the text (Shamata is frequently rendered as 'Shomata', whilst 'Murmandamus' is spelt in several different ways depending on the writer's whim of the moment). The maps are pretty, but difficult to use. The fonts render many names difficult to read and the artist seems to frequently get bored and only fill in the trees around the edges of the forests, making it look like Midkemia's woodlands are all plains surrounded by a ring of trees. Also - though this is a long-standing problem from the book maps as well - the mountains are depicted as quite ludicrously-sized given the scale used. The continent of Novindus continues to look like a small island instead of a huge landmass. There is also a discrepancy between the size of the Empire of Great Kesh on the maps and its reported size in the books (several times that of the Kingdom, whilst the maps show it as roughly the same size), and contradictory statements in the book which say that Kesh is sparsely-populated with the cities separated by vast gulfs of wasteland, whilst the novels report that Kesh has many times the population of the Kingdom. There's also the problem of the maps featuring locations that don't actually exist when the map was supposedly made: Port Vykor (or Vikor, as the maps never seem to agree on a spelling), founded after Rage of a Demon King, is shown on maps pre-dating Magician, more than fifty years earlier. Oh yes, and there's supposed to be two world maps of Midkemia, showing the state of the world at the start of Magician and after Magician's End (both visible on various fansites promoting the book) but only one of the two world maps is actually in the book. The other one seems to have simply been forgotten. This is made more amusing by the surviving book having 'MAP II (2)' written on it with 'MAP I (1)' nowhere to be found (in the UK first edition, it should be noted).
Then there's the actual text itself. Those expecting a book which talks about geography, history, society, customs, cultures and so on will be in for disappointment. The text is a fairly basic plot summary of the events of The Riftwar Cycle. Sidebars and illustrations show there is some potential in this approach: a map of Sorcerer's Isle appears at the relevant point in the text, followed by maps of the Sunset Islands when they first appear and so on. Occasionally the summary of plot elements the reader is probably already familiar with is interrupted by a little bit of background information on politics or culture, but such moments are rare and fleeting. The depth and usefulness of the plot summary amusingly mirrors the general consensus of the quality of the books: the events of Magician are covered in substantial depth, then Silverthorn through Rage of a Demon King in somewhat less detail, and then all of the books afterwards (which is almost two-thirds of them) are covered in just a few pages of confusingly repeated names and events which sound generic to the point of painfulness (having bailed out after Talon of the Silver Hawk, I see I'm not missing very much).
The book is accompanied by artwork from Steve Stone. These aren't actual illustrations, however, but rather stiff and unconvincing 'photo art' featuring posed models in front of CG backgrounds. Occasionally this is effective (Amos Trask's ship running the Straits of Darkness is pretty good) but most of the time it's awful, not helped by occasional re-use of the same model to depict completely different characters.
There are moments when the book comes to life: the opening couple of chapters feel more inspired and some of the maps expanding on the somewhat-confused geography of Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon are genuinely useful. Occasional bursts of background material hint at much more interesting detail. Getting 'canon' maps of the Keshian Confederacy and the full Empire is also gratifying (though it turns out they are pretty much the same as the ones that have been available on the Elvandar website for many years). But ultimately this is a companion book which tells us almost nothing about the history, chronology, societies and cultures of the world it's named after, which is a baffling choice.
Midkemia: The Chronicles of Pug (**) is a disappointing volume, featuring almost none of the information that I suspect readers will really be interested in or expecting. Instead, it's an unproofed plot summary of books they've already read, interspersed with bad artwork, ill-detailed maps and an astonishing number of spelling mistakes. There are a few, scant interesting nuggets of new information to be found and some maps that helpfully clarify confusing descriptions in the books, but beyond that this book is not really that useful. One for die-hard fans and completists only.
August 24, 2014
This book is fine but nothing special. To be fair, the title says it all so it's probably not going to surprise anyone that it's basically just a summary of Feist's books with a little more emphasis on the first couple series. Thirty minutes of skimming was all I really needed, but I'll concede there might be some hidden gem in there somewhere that I missed. Feist has also tossed in some new maps (towns, the countryside, whatnot), but few look like they took more than 20 minutes to produce. Worse are the CGI pictures with costumed people photoshopped in, all looking like it was done with the same technology used to design the 1993 computer game Betrayal at Krondor. If it's your goal to collect every book that has Feist's name on the cover, maybe owning this would make sense? Otherwise, I say just get it from the library.
February 13, 2015
awesome...Feist you are the man!
May 8, 2020
This companion book to the Riftwar series is one I have owned since it was published, but have only just got around to reading for the first time (too many books to read, not enough time!), and so I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it for the first time yesterday.
As a reader of Feist since his first book, Magician, was published 30 years ago, the Riftwar series is something I've read, and re-read, many times, except for this one, and the first book in the Firemane series (which I read a few days ago).
I loved this book, not only for the more intimate look at Pug, and Marcus, but also for the wonderful artwork! The picture and maps were something that I, as a die-hard fan of these books, will abolutely treasure for as long as I am able to keep reading, as they bring both the characters, and the places in the books, alive in a way I hadn't seen before.
I think, though, that this is a book to appeal to the long-term reader of Feist's works, although it is so wonderfully set out, that it should also appeal to any fantasy fan out there, too.
This was a great collaboration between two excellent writers and artists! Well worth the space on your shelves!
As a reader of Feist since his first book, Magician, was published 30 years ago, the Riftwar series is something I've read, and re-read, many times, except for this one, and the first book in the Firemane series (which I read a few days ago).
I loved this book, not only for the more intimate look at Pug, and Marcus, but also for the wonderful artwork! The picture and maps were something that I, as a die-hard fan of these books, will abolutely treasure for as long as I am able to keep reading, as they bring both the characters, and the places in the books, alive in a way I hadn't seen before.
I think, though, that this is a book to appeal to the long-term reader of Feist's works, although it is so wonderfully set out, that it should also appeal to any fantasy fan out there, too.
This was a great collaboration between two excellent writers and artists! Well worth the space on your shelves!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2018
While not a bad book, still a bit of a disappointing one for me. I'd hoped it would be a sort of first person brief trawl through Pug's life, but instead it came across more of a travel guide to Midkemia. I enjoyed some of that, finding out more about the world than is clear sometimes in the books, but I wanted more of Pug's and other character's perspectives on things, but they tended to gloss over a lot of the actual important events. The first part was a bit stronger, as did feel a bit closer to what I'd hoped for covering the events of the first trilogy and prince of the blood / king's buccaneer, but after that drifted further away from that, to the point that events of several of the last few books seemed to be covered in less than a page. One plus is it did cover a couple of items that weren't in the books, and I did like some of the maps, especially the 'after' maps. The pictures were a bit of a disappointment though, being just actors / actresses in front of computer generated scenes, with some of the mythical beasts somewhat poor in quality I felt.
February 28, 2025
It pains me to write this but I question the purpose of this book and its execution. I love Feist and the world he has created. It is rare that a day goes by that I don’t briefly think about Pug or Arutha, Mara and Lujan, Nakor, Jimmy or a whole host of others. The story is epic in scale, time, universes and complexities. It brings joy to me.
This instalment did not.
It kind of added nothing and was a good glossing-over of the vast series that preceded it. I struggled to see why this was written. It was akin to a tele-movie episode of Battlestar Galactica where they retold the story of the series from the perspective of the cylons- just reusing clips from the show (like an eighties sitcom clip show).
This book is frankly insubstantial, adding little to nothing, and too succinctly told to really invest time and energy in.
In a word…..
Unnecessary.
This instalment did not.
It kind of added nothing and was a good glossing-over of the vast series that preceded it. I struggled to see why this was written. It was akin to a tele-movie episode of Battlestar Galactica where they retold the story of the series from the perspective of the cylons- just reusing clips from the show (like an eighties sitcom clip show).
This book is frankly insubstantial, adding little to nothing, and too succinctly told to really invest time and energy in.
In a word…..
Unnecessary.
August 6, 2019
Probably not the first Riftwar book one should read, but it was the only one in my local library. I put it down after reading about a third of it. Each chapter is an excerpt from a magician's journal, plus comments from his son, as well as various quotes from persons involved in the Riftwar saga. I'm not sure how much of an audience this book would appeal to. It seems more an exercise by the author, filling out the history of his Riftwar saga.
October 13, 2021
A beautifully illustrated synopsis of R. E. Fiest’s Magician series.
If you want to cheat anywhere along the way, this is the book to do it.
If you want a re-cap, or a way to summarise, here you go.
If you just want amazing art work to enjoy, each linking to a specific book, this is the place.
Or lastly, my main reason, a way to celebrate and indulge in a series that educated me in a genre that would shape and define so much about me…
This was gift, from someone who simply knows me 🤓 ⚔️
If you want to cheat anywhere along the way, this is the book to do it.
If you want a re-cap, or a way to summarise, here you go.
If you just want amazing art work to enjoy, each linking to a specific book, this is the place.
Or lastly, my main reason, a way to celebrate and indulge in a series that educated me in a genre that would shape and define so much about me…
This was gift, from someone who simply knows me 🤓 ⚔️
October 16, 2023
Magician was my first paranormal fantasy read. I fell in love instantly and the rest as they say is history. I have each and every book in this series and they are so old the pages are yellow but that doesn't stop me from re reading them all the time.
Raymond E Feist is an author like no other.
Do yourself a favour and get stuck into this series now. You will love Pug and his journey through life and the many other characters in spin off books.
Raymond E Feist is an author like no other.
Do yourself a favour and get stuck into this series now. You will love Pug and his journey through life and the many other characters in spin off books.
June 25, 2021
Raymond Fiest, thank you for all of your works!
I am now reading on Kindle however I have purchased all of your hard cover books as well as paperback books where available. I actually had one autographed book from a store in Clairemont which I cherish.
Thank you again for your creative efforts which have allowed me to mentally visualize your words!
Dave N. San Diego.
I am now reading on Kindle however I have purchased all of your hard cover books as well as paperback books where available. I actually had one autographed book from a store in Clairemont which I cherish.
Thank you again for your creative efforts which have allowed me to mentally visualize your words!
Dave N. San Diego.
Read
August 10, 2020Now I own this book. Rounds out the series nicely. I first read Magician in 1983 stationed in Germany(single book, not split version). While certain books have parts that fall a little flat, the whole series is a must read! Thank you R.F.
February 8, 2021
Not particularly useful or necessary if you've already read the Riftwar books, but beautifully presented and containing many, many maps - some of which might have been a little more helpful in the respective novels, but you can't have everything.
December 5, 2021
A great overview of the series
This book contains a great overview of The Magician series which was 18 books long. I read the whole series, but this book really pulled the series together for me and explained things I didn’t pick up on until now. It’s well worth reading.
This book contains a great overview of The Magician series which was 18 books long. I read the whole series, but this book really pulled the series together for me and explained things I didn’t pick up on until now. It’s well worth reading.
June 8, 2018
awesome...Feist you are the man!
May 3, 2019
A great recap on a fantastic story..
August 28, 2019
3 stars for content, 5 stars for the maps, illustrations and overall beauty of this book
December 13, 2019
I think this book is mainly for fans of the series. It is nice to see someone's artistic interpretations of events and to get the over viewpoints of amazing moments one loves and remembers.
September 29, 2020
Fantastic. The maps and illustrations bring the whole series together
March 26, 2021
A gorgeous addition to the Feist's Riftwar Cycle.
January 15, 2022
The graphics in this book are terrible. It’s looks like entry level photoshop at best. I’m so bummed that I spent money on this.
June 9, 2024
Nice maps but I was already very familiar with the timeline so didn’t feel it added much for me that way
sff-ok-r
February 16, 2025Rokp
August 21, 2015
I generally don't read these types of books but as i read all of the works set in this world it appealed to my inner completest.
I've now read from cover to cover over the period of several months and initially i was a little sceptical. I wondered if it was just going to summarise the plot of each book sequentially and to an extent, it does do that but with the added perspective of Pug who was writing it almost as a log of what happened at or near the time it happened but with interjections, musings and additional insight in hindsight from the perspective of Magnus.
It acted as a reminder of the, for the most part, wonderful adventure that Feist took us on, drawing attention to details and connections that joined what was some of the most enjoyable fantasy trilogies together into one major story arc.
I was mixed on the illustrations diagrams and Maps. The maps and diagrams were a wonderful resource, highlighting the parts of the world most relevant to the part of the story being relayed. They added texture and were done beautifully. It is with the Illustrations that i had most difficulty. I'm not really a fan of the almost photorealistic art much preferring a rougher more obviously hand drawn style. These looked as though they were done exclusively on a computer. It’s simply a matter of taste. For me they worked best when there were no figures in the scene or the figures were not the main focus.
I also find that someone else’s interpretation of a place or a person can often disappoint. Our minds draw such clear pictures that often being confronted by someone else’s interpretation, even one who has worked closely with the author, just feels wrong. That said it is a beautiful book, wonderfully presented and full of interesting detail that can add to the experience of the novels.
I've now read from cover to cover over the period of several months and initially i was a little sceptical. I wondered if it was just going to summarise the plot of each book sequentially and to an extent, it does do that but with the added perspective of Pug who was writing it almost as a log of what happened at or near the time it happened but with interjections, musings and additional insight in hindsight from the perspective of Magnus.
It acted as a reminder of the, for the most part, wonderful adventure that Feist took us on, drawing attention to details and connections that joined what was some of the most enjoyable fantasy trilogies together into one major story arc.
I was mixed on the illustrations diagrams and Maps. The maps and diagrams were a wonderful resource, highlighting the parts of the world most relevant to the part of the story being relayed. They added texture and were done beautifully. It is with the Illustrations that i had most difficulty. I'm not really a fan of the almost photorealistic art much preferring a rougher more obviously hand drawn style. These looked as though they were done exclusively on a computer. It’s simply a matter of taste. For me they worked best when there were no figures in the scene or the figures were not the main focus.
I also find that someone else’s interpretation of a place or a person can often disappoint. Our minds draw such clear pictures that often being confronted by someone else’s interpretation, even one who has worked closely with the author, just feels wrong. That said it is a beautiful book, wonderfully presented and full of interesting detail that can add to the experience of the novels.
June 20, 2018
Returning my last bit of manga to the library, I decided I should read more of a book-book, like a novel or something... So I decided to walk to the sci-fi/fantasy section and just started poking at the books. This one being a rather nicely bound, but plain hardcover caught my eye. So I picked it up and opened it and to my surprise I found it full of maps. I love maps. I mean, I really, really <3 maps. So I had to check this one out. I've not read any of the Riftwar Saga that this summarizes, so I'm not sure what I'll think of the actual reading of the book yet, but I can safely say I love the look & feel of the book. It's full color and the text is printed to look like an old journal, and yes the maps are awesome. There are also some pictures that are a bit cheesy, but I suppose they are a nice touch to the story too. They remind me a bit of the pictures I used to find in the children's book of Bible stories at my dentist's office, in which I found the pictures far more interesting than the text...
The story itself is a little dry, as it simply recaps the stories told in other books. However it did inspire me to pick up the other books.
The story itself is a little dry, as it simply recaps the stories told in other books. However it did inspire me to pick up the other books.
March 19, 2016
I kind of fell off the Midkemia thing during the Serpent War cycle... Just didn't like Erik and Roo as much as Arutha and Jimmy.
There are a surprising amount of typographical errors in the edition I have, a classy red glossy hardback with a dust jacket that is shorter than the book is tall. I imagine that some of the spelling errors would be authentic, due to the many different sources Pug and Magnus collected their maps from. However, mispelling names in the list of characters at the beginning did not bode well for me.
I am happy to say that once I got over the spelling issue, it was a good read. This book has tied all the books together for me, shown how they are related in a more fluid, more connected way than how I had been reading them, on and off, for years. Reading this volume has inspired me to get back into the Midkemia stories again.
There are a surprising amount of typographical errors in the edition I have, a classy red glossy hardback with a dust jacket that is shorter than the book is tall. I imagine that some of the spelling errors would be authentic, due to the many different sources Pug and Magnus collected their maps from. However, mispelling names in the list of characters at the beginning did not bode well for me.
I am happy to say that once I got over the spelling issue, it was a good read. This book has tied all the books together for me, shown how they are related in a more fluid, more connected way than how I had been reading them, on and off, for years. Reading this volume has inspired me to get back into the Midkemia stories again.
April 1, 2016
You'd expect this to be a summary of all the books but it's not quite. It really is written from the point of view of Pug (with Marcus popping in here and there), and this aspect was done well. It does recount all the tales of Midkemia, but it doesn't really go into details except as introspection or retrospection. A nice touch is that the details and fluidity of the journal format sort of reflects what Pug is supposed to be going through emotionally and time-wise. If you've been reading these tales (I actually haven't read the last series yet, so there were some spoilers here), then this is a nice nostalgic recap.
February 16, 2014
When I first heard that Mr. Feist was writing this book I was fairly intrigued, as it was intended as a cartographic companion to the Riftwar Saga. In the end, there were a few maps, but they added fairly little to what was available in the previously published books and omitted any world exception Midkemia. Further, the book itself is primarily a recap of the events of the various Riftwar books, but does not provided much insight into the story or Pug's thoughts or motivation. While it had a lot of promise, this book failed to lived up to its potential and left me feeling unfulfilled.
March 27, 2014
Don't read this unless you have read the whole series. A summary of the series with as you'd expect in an atlas fantastic maps. The photos don't always convey the scene brilliantly but that's a personal thing. Great for fans to own. Highly recommend
February 1, 2014
If you like, or loved like me, chaos/ rift war cycle this book is a must have. While it is a "recap" of the whole thing it also gives some in site into things that happened in the stores that readers had questions about.
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