For many generations, the five great Kingdom's had enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity. Each realm had its own Monarch and the story begins with a great battle and the betrayal of Steveren Langene, the King of Ithrace. He is known as Firemane because of his bright red hair and his Kingdom was a place of arts, culture, and merriment. His former allies are looking to execute him, his family (not excluding the women and children), and leave his city and legacy in ashes. After the Firemane house's inevitable demise and when the conflict has concluded the powerful Baron Daylon Dumarch finds a mysterious young child in his war tent just before his army is about the return to his freehold of Marquensas. As a former close acquaintance of Firemane's, he believes that this baby is the last of the late King's children and has somehow escaped the rest of his families fate.

The characters were depressingly two-dimensional and the overarching story the epitome of convenient contrivance. By the end of the book I’m fairly certain everyone was related to everyone else or had at least arrived at the same location “by happenstance”– the author’s pen strokes blatantly obvious. While Declan’s story was at times intriguing, it was marred by overbearing contrivance and laziness, while Hatu’s story and his character development were simply abysmal. At some point towards the end of the book the narrator explains that Hatu was not prone to introspection – which made me laugh aloud, considering that the majority of his chapters were overburdened with his weirdly ignorant obsession with life around him and the author’s preternatural need to “tell” us everything instead of “showing” us anything. This novel is traditional epic fantasy. By that, I mean that unlike much of today’s “gritty” fantasy, the heroes face tough situations and decisions and make their way through them much like a true hero would. They may make mistakes but their motivations are good. You will not find F-bombs in this book nor anti-heroes as main characters (at least not yet…some are still sufficiently vague to really know for sure). All in all, this is a wonderful opening novel in what will be known as “The Firemane Saga”. I’m not sure how many books will be in the series but if they are all as good as this first one then I will be onboard for all, even if there are 30 of them. As for this one, it is due to be published on 5/8/2018.This is my first read from the critically acclaimed Raymond E. Feist so I was very excited to read this. It it similar to Brandon Sanderson's book The Way of Kings in that most of the book is setting up the rest of the series and dealing with character development but I found King of Ashes to be a much more satisfying book then The Way of Kings.

For centuries, the five greatest kingdoms of North and South Tembria, twin continents on the world of Garn, have coexisted in peace. But the balance of power is destroyed when four of the kingdoms violate an ancient covenant and betray the fifth: Ithrace, the Kingdom of Flames, ruled by Steveren Langene, known as “the Firemane” for his brilliant red hair. As war engulfs the world, Ithrace is destroyed and the Greater Realms of Tembria are thrust into a dangerous struggle for supremacy. The narration of King of Ashes takes the form of two perspectives—that of Hatu undergoing his education as a future sicari and through the eyes of Declan as he strives for greatness in his chosen profession of weapon smithing. Initially one may feel as though the changing points of view have no purpose as the young men involved have never been associated. By the end of the story however, it is obvious that each man has his part to play in the restoration of their once great land. Overall, King of Ashes is an excellent addition to Raymond E Feist’s repertoire of hard-hitting fantasy novels. Full of lush imagery, immaculately outlined characters and a narrative which will satisfy even the fussiest reader, the cessation of Feist’s hiatus from the written word could not have come at a better time. So he had betrayed a man he loved like a brother to spare his people future ravages. As the priests of the One God would say, Daylon had made his pact with the Dark One; he had sold his soul.” No. Normally my constructive analysis allows me to figure out who might be a more appropriate audience for a given title. Or at the very least, I concede that it might be just me who didn’t like it. In this case, I know it bothered me more than most, but I still wouldn’t hand it to anyone and would actively discourage someone from reading it. It was that bad.

Fantasy Series We Recommend

So, when I heard that Feist was starting a new series I jumped at the chance to jump on board, and King of Ashes arrived on my doorstep in all its hardcover glory. As different as the setting and world of the Firemane Saga can be, there are nonetheless echoes of Magician: Apprentice in this first book of the new trilogy, mainly from the slow-burn character development, minimal plot progression and extensive worldbuilding. For centuries, the five greatest kingdoms of North and South Tembria, twin continents on the world of Garn, have coexisted in peace. But the balance of power is destroyed when four of the kingdoms violate an ancient covenant and betray the fifth: Ithrace, the Kingdom of Flames, ruled by Steveren Langene, known as "the Firemane" for his brilliant red hair. As war engulfs the world, Ithrace is destroyed and the Greater Realms of Tembria are thrust into a dangerous struggle for supremacy. Since when did the genre known as Fantasy come to mean "political intrigue in a fake medieval Britain, plus some running away from bad guys"?

Hatu’s story line follows his exploits as he serves the Nocusara, the “hidden warriors” of the Kingdom of the Night. In fact, I found that Feist could be downright frank in his writing style, cutting straight to the matter while leaving no room for subtlety. Everything is spelled out for the reader when it comes to his characters’ thoughts and motivations, and there is little finesse or attempt to show instead rather than tell. To be fair, this isn’t always bad; the writing is reminiscent of what I would call a classic or old-school style, in that it is very straightforward and easy to read. However, at times it made his characters feel flat and difficult to connect with, a prime example being Hatu when he was just becoming aware of his attraction to Hava. Their ensuing romance, if you could even call it that, felt awkward and forced, for you had the author laying out Hatu’s feelings with all the emotion of a dry clinical report. There’s a strong sense of “what you see is what you get” when it comes to the characters, placing them behind a layer of detachment which made it hard to feel invested in them. Soon, the two young men—an unknowing rightful heir to a throne and a brilliantly talented young swordsmith—will discover that their fates, and that of Garn, are entwined. The legendary, long-ago War of Betrayal has never truly ended . . . and they must discover the secret of who truly threatens their world.The world-building of King of Ashes is thoughtful, expansive, and detailed. A well thought out world is Feist’s wheelhouse. Although his stories tend to be character-based, Feist gives the perfect amount of detail to his worlds so that the reader can get a clear picture in their head. Any missing information can be filled in by imagination. The characters are highly detailed, and the dialog does not ever have a forced or static feel to it—the bane of many fantasy books. Feist’s characters tend to speak like humans and have human reactions. Honestly, Raymond Feist is a master at this kind of fantasy. You would think that a lost child destined to save the world, might be a little tropey. In any other hands, it probably would be. But this is Feist, and he could write a phone book and have it be engaging.

While there is a smattering of other POVs peppered throughout the novel, King of Ashes is mainly told through the eyes of these two young men—Hatu and Declan. For the most part, they are very archetypal characters, i.e. the lost heir and the bastard apprentice, and no doubt avid fantasy readers will have seen their like many times before. And yet, Feist prevents them from feeling too stale by keeping his story moving at an energetic pace. It’s rather common for first volumes of new epic fantasy series to become bogged down by the minutiae, taking forever to get started, but I was happy to see that this is not the case here.Few authors have had the effect that Raymond Feist has had on the fantasy genre. He is as synonymous with grand fantasy novels as Stephen King is with horror. As of right now, Feist has written 30+ books, most notably the Riftwar Cycle. A collection of fantasy stories that revolve around the world of Midkemia and Kelewan. However, Feist’s newest series, The Firemane Saga beginning with King of Ashes, has the potential to be as widespread and loved as the Riftwar Cycle. As a Free Lord, Baron Daylon Dumarch owes allegiance to no king. When an abandoned infant is found hidden in Daylon’s pavilion, he realizes that the child must be the missing heir of the slain Steveren. The boy is valuable—and vulnerable. A cunning and patient man, Daylon decides to keep the baby’s existence secret, and sends him to be raised on the Island of Coaltachin, home of the so-called Kingdom of Night, where the powerful and lethal Nocusara, the "Hidden Warriors," legendary assassins and spies, are trained. I am a huge fan of Raymond Feist and he does not disappoint in this new epic fantasy about the journey of two young orphans, one raised by a group of assassins and spies, and another by a master swordsmith, to learn their fate and the fate of the world on which they live.