Second Breakfast

This is the second half of the Serpentwar Saga, the first half of which I commented on previously. The last two books in the series provide a fitting and exciting conclusion to the action, and I mostly enjoyed the plotting. Feist never wraps up all of his loose ends (there’s too much going on in Midkemia for that to be practical), and there’s of course another series in the wings.

The big themes here are typical to heroic fantasy - overcoming adversity, adventure, war, and resisting evil. In this case the unprovoked war that was impending in the first two books is finally unleashed, but we learn that there are far larger, darker powers at work, and Midkemia itself is once again in peril (this particular world seems to be on the verge of obliteration on a yearly basis). While there’s nothing incredibly original going on here, Feist’s writing is fun, absorbing and he knows what he’s doing.