The first dose of Raymond Feist's world of Midkemia I ever got was not from a book. It was from an old computer game called Betrayal at Krondor. Back in the mid-1990s, we had a copy of the CD version of the game and I found it really interesting, especially the writing. The intro to the game mentions Feist, but I was too young to make the connection.
Then, one day, as I was wandering around in probably a Borders bookstore, I saw a book: Krondor: The Betrayal. I was taken aback. Was the game based on a book? Later on I would discover, no, it was the other way around, but I picked up that book and it made me into a Feist fan.
The game was written by Neal Hallford and John Cutter, and they licensed the setting from Feist, who maintained an option to novelize their story some time in the future.
Krondor: The Betrayal is the first of three books in the "Riftwar Legacy" saga. It was written by Feist after the game--he basically novelized the main plot of the game, getting rid of the fluffier and sillier side-quests.
The "Riftwar Legacy" saga was written long after Feist had moved on a few generations in his Midkemia books, and it fits in between the Riftwar Saga and the Krondor's Sons Saga. This cuts the time between sagas from about a generation, to more like half a generation. We get a lot more Jimmy the Hand, Arutha, Locklear, and Pug, and the overall "magic level" is lower, which I think is where Feist does his best writing.
This book is actually really good, adding some Saga-specific characters, and mostly following Owyn Beleforte and Gorath the dark elf on an adventure across Midkemia. It has a fairly complex plot with a lot going on, and several "splits," where the party changes, as happened at chapter boundaries in the game.
It has a fairly serious tone with the usual occasional sprinkling of light comedic relief. There's a lot of combat and lots of little "combat magic," paralysis and blinding spells, etc. As usual, Feist does an excellent job describing small-unit combat and thievery. And Feist's descriptions of one-on-one combat are also unusually good in this book. He starts a cliché in this book, but it wasn't cliché yet at this point, if you catch my drift.
We get a few good twists and one excellent twist in the story, making it a satisfying and fun read. We get to see a lot of Midkemia, too, which gives us more of a feeling of the distinctions of local cultures in the Kingdom.
For my reactions to spoilers, check the "Spoiler Section" chapter in the embedded video.
Bottom line: this is the best book in this saga, and most representative of the subtle intrigue and small-unit tactics that I think are Feist's best work. Later books in this saga get a little "table-toppy," which doesn't make them bad, but makes them feel less meaningful and serious.
Check out this book here:
https://a.co/d/djIJxua
Oh, and you can get the game here:
https://www.gog.com/en/game/betrayal_at_krondor
If you like this one, you might like the next two in the saga, but proceed with caution!
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