Product Description

The demon has been defeated and the Kingdom rejoices as the threat to the existence of every living thing on Midkemia has passed, but out of the ashes of war new problems arise, in the brilliant sequel to Rage of a Demon King! Shards of a Broken Crown, Volume IV of Raymond E. Feist's Serpentwar Saga, tells the story of the survivors of the great assault on the Kingdom by the hordes of the Emerald Queen. An ambitious General has picked up the fallen reins of command and seeks to build a personal empire out of the wreckage of the Western Realm. It is up to a handful of committed men and women to oppose him. In the forefront of this conflict stand Jimmy and Dash, grandsons of the legendary Jimmy the Hand, who alongside Erik von Darkmoor and Roo Avery must contest on every hand as rival Empires seek to gain from the Empire's loss. While war rages on two borders, mysterious agencies of dark powers move behind the scenes, from the mountains to the north to the sewers under the burned-out cities of Krondor. Dark powers move, too, behind the scenes, and Pug the Magician and his allies attempt to engage and defeat them, while the Kingdom struggles to gather together the shattered pieces of the nation and forge a new future.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16332 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Customer Reviews

What next?
As I have been in a reading frenzy of Feist books for the last year, from the Magician to the Sepentwar Saga, I found this book cleverly written but not as exciting as the first ones. Maybe that comes with a familiarity of characters, but Pugs characteristics and motives seems to be transparrent here. However, I can only applaud the way that Arutha, Dash, James and Patrick have been woved into this part of the story. Dealing with their own "ghosts" and the continuously moving events seems very real to life.

This is more of a set of personal struggles being overcome rather the the good guys against the bad guys kind of book. The only thing that really leaves me wondering about is, "who is Nakor?". His character and past are revealed more in this book than any other in the series, and yet you still find yourself knowing very little about him. Its that strange conflict, that again can happen in real life, that makes it such a point of interest.

I guess the whole of the books of the Serpentwar saga could have been reduced somewhat in volume, but now Feist has a set of people with real characters of their own. Not just puppets of the writers whims. I know he has written more books, and I want to read them, but I want to believe that the excitement will come back to his books.

Agree with both
To be honest I agree with both the praises and criticisms of the book. Yes it was not the most original book, or ground breaking however it did expertly bring the end to an otherwise excellent series. Of course, it does not capture the Riftwar's magic but on it's own it is a superbly written series, and this last book was no exception.

Feist did not sell out and re-hash time-worn fantasy cliches. Instead he kept it real and believable and this was demonstrated in the unceremonial deaths of many key characters, keeping them real and brutal - not overdressing.

I was worried when reaching the end of the book as so much was going on with little pages left. However Feist created a well thought out and un-rushed conclusion. Although it has shamefully left the door open to further adventures (as has been noted), the truth is you want more...

Gotta disagree with you guys
I sometimes wonder what people really want. Any series as long running as this is bound to get somewhat familiar. IF anything, it's a tribute to Raymond E Feist that he can still entertain with this. In particular, I gotta say that I can never get tired of Nakor's whimsical view of life, no matter how much religious fervour he takes on. Sure, there are only so many times you can battle the Valheru, or grow characters that are already staggering. It was with this is mind that I was particularly pleased with the larger roles given to James & Dash, allowing relatively new characters to come more to the fore. It's no Magician, but then nothing is. It's still a damn good book, written in Feist's normal readable style, and is well worth the read, especially considering the lack of really good authors in this genre. Keep it up Raymond.