Silverthorn by Raymond E. Feist                                                              A Darkness at Sethanon by             Released: 7 May 1985                                                                                        Raymond E. Feist
Pages: 432                                                                                                            Released: 7 February 1986
Source: Gift                                                                                                          Pages: 466
                                                                                                                               Source: Gift


Synopsis: 

Silverthorn: With the Kingdom of the Isles at peace, Prince Arutha can at last look forward to marrying the Princess Anita in the city of Krondor. But the capital in the west harbours many shadows. When Jimmy the Hand, a young thief in the Guild of Mockers, upsets an assassination attempt on Arutha, a sinister plot is uncovered...

A Darkness at Sethanon: Here is the final dramatic confrontation between Arutha and Murmandamus - and the perilous quest of Pug the magician and Tomas the warrior for Macros the Black. Will Arutha, Pug and their companions win the fight?


The Short

I've joined this two books into one post as they are companion novels - the story continues between them without any pause. There was so much action packed into this two novels and I loved being able to delve deeper into the world of Midkemia. At first I was upset that we weren't following Pug's story line as much but the more I read the more I feel in love with Arutha's side of the story. As noted with the first novel - Magician - there are heavy undertones of Tolkien so lovers of Lord of the Rings, you will love this series!


The Long

This was a huge series both page wise and action wise. Following on from book one you are instantly sucked back into the world of Midkemia and though time has passed you are instantly caught up with all the characters once again. When I started Silverthorn I was slightly worried that I wouldn't enjoy it. As Magician focused mainly on Pug I feel in love with the character and was sad to leave him in Silverthorn. Fortunately though, after reading a few chapters, I found Arutha's storyline so intriguing and full of twists and turns.

Although Pug isn't the primary character throughout these two books he does play a heavy role. I really liked how Feist alternated POV between characters too. It enabled for easy access to what they were doing and where they were as many characters are spread between time and space in these two novels.

I really liked the fast paced, action packed A Darkness at Sethanon but one thing that did annoy me was the occasional lack of explanation. Some characters and beings were quickly introduced and described in a way that they were there all along even though we hadn't been introduced to them before. As a reader it left me wondering if I had somehow missed these introductions in previous chapters and books.

The ending of this series was great and it left me feeling so happy and wanting more. Although some characters died and some lost love ones, Feist left the reader with a sense of happiness and hope for the future of these characters.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series and I'm so glad I got the set as a gift from my family. As I said in my review of Magician - it wasn't what I expected but I loved it nonetheless.