Put your questions to Fantasy author Raymond Feist

[Moejoe]

http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2009/04/0...raymond-feist/

Next week we are going to be running an interview with legendary fantasy author Raymond Feist - author of over 25 books including the seminal Magician (1982) and the numerous other stories of the Riftwar Cycle

From bookgeeks.co.uk

[kevindorsey]

I have one of his books sitting in my collection, but his fans will probably love this.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by kevindorsey

I have one of his books sitting in my collection, but his fans will probably love this.

I just bought in hardcover his newest book (released in the past couple of weeks) Rides a Dread Legion and I have to say I find it boring and dragging. I like Feist -- or did until this book -- but I'm struggling to read this one. It seems like a poor rehash of prior books and the characters are cardboard.

[PKFFW]

Feist has gone drastically downhill since the Serpent War Saga in my opinion. The Riftwar Legacy was absolute tripe that grew out of a computer game! Conclave of Shadows was boring as bat shite.

The first two of the Darkwar Saga I found to be midly enjoyable and I actually really enjoyed the third. I was hoping that was an indication that he might be returning to good form. I guess not

I remember the days when I would buy his books in HB as soon as they came out! Not anymore.

[pepak]

True. Until Serpentwar, I liked almost every book very much (almost - Prince of the Blood and King's Buccaneer weren't all that enjoyable for me). After Serpentwar, I only liked a few books, mostly from the Legends series (Feist's world, other writer's story).

[PKFFW]

I really enjoyed Kings Buccaneer but agree that Prince of the Blood was a bit ho-hum. Still better than his later tripe though.

I must admit I've only read the first two in the Legends series as I heard the last one about Jimmy the Hand was atrocious so I never bothered.

[pepak]

Originally Posted by PKFFW

I heard the last one about Jimmy the Hand was atrocious so I never bothered.

Even worse than that.

[bbusybookworm]

Have to agree that his recent work has really not been up to par for me.

I Used to grab everything I cou;d get by him untill the Serpentwar (Though I did get through them), but stopped afterwords. Now, while I did pick up one of his recent books to flick through, I couldn't care enough to plunk down the £6-8 for that one book.

While his Empire series was intresting, it did seem that his co-writer, Janny Wurts did most of the work as the style was quiet different.

Having said that, his earlier books, Magican, Silverthorn, etc are still some of my favorites.

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

While his Empire series was intresting, it did seem that his co-writer, Janny Wurts did most of the work as the style was quiet different.

While I agree with the general assessment that his latest offerings are quite a bit weaker than his earlier efforts, I need to defend him in this case. The Empire series was a truly collaborative effort, with Feist and Wurts swapping chapters back and forth, rewriting each other's scenes. Yes, the style is markedly different from REF's usual fare, but it's also quite (but IMO not as vastly) different from Wurts' style. There are occasional scenes where you can still detect who wrote what (the scene where Mara's spy master infiltrates the Hamoi Tong HQ is definitely showing REF's signature, e.g.), but to say that Janny Wurts did most of the work is grossly unfair and, from what I know, plain wrong.

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by Gudy

While I agree with the general assessment that his latest offerings are quite a bit weaker than his earlier efforts, I need to defend him in this case. The Empire series was a truly collaborative effort, with Feist and Wurts swapping chapters back and forth, rewriting each other's scenes. Yes, the style is markedly different from REF's usual fare, but it's also quite (but IMO not as vastly) different from Wurts' style. There are occasional scenes where you can still detect who wrote what (the scene where Mara's spy master infiltrates the Hamoi Tong HQ is definitely showing REF's signature, e.g.), but to say that Janny Wurts did most of the work is grossly unfair and, from what I know, plain wrong.

Could be, as I've not read much of her other work.

I assumed that she did much of the work as there was such a change in style, which in most collaborative works I've read means that the someone other then the headline writer did most of the work.

So If I'm wrong, I'll apologize but withe the caveat that by the time I got to the Empire books, I had gotten a bit fed up with the repetitiveness of Fiest's work, and as such did to pay as much attention to the Empire books when reading them as I did his earlier books.

[Over]

Raymond Feist is one of my favourite fantasy authors. I loved the Magician and the other two books in the trilogy.

My first contact with the author was with the Serpentwar Saga, which I loved.

Conclave of Shadows was not in the same level, not because it sucked, but because the other books were excelent.

Anyway, Raymond's style is a joy to read. At least for me. I didn't read the last trilogy yet, but I already have the first two pbooks (the third iis on the way) and will start reading fairly soon.

I think there's somewhere a video interview of more than 40 minutes, for those interested.