Book Review: Silverthorn by Raymond Feist (Riftwar Saga #2)

  After I discovered the treasure that is Magician, I paddled on, and read the second book in Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist, titled Silverthorn. In terms of the sizes of these books, Silverthorn is only 380 pages, not even half as long as Magician which is 840 pages. The general consensus from Goodreads (and from other book review sites), is that Magician is the best book in Riftwar Saga. In fact, a few people even claimed that Magician is the best book Raymond Feist has ever written. As a result, I lowered my expectation as I ventured into Silverthorn. Yet, the question remains, even if Silverthorn cannot fully re-create the charms of Magician, does it stand up as a worthy sequel to Magician? Let's find out.

Synopsis:

Following the events in Magician, the Kingdom of Isles enjoyed one year of peace under the reign of her new king, Lyam coDoin. While his younger brother, Arutha, ruled as the Prince of Krondor. More blessings greeted the already peaceful kingdom, when Prince Arutha and Princess Anita announced the news of their engagement.

Tragedy struck at Arutha and Anita's wedding ceremony, when an assassination attempt left Princess Anita wounded by a deadly, poisonous dart. To save his beloved, Arutha must discover the cure. Old and new friends joined Arutha on this mission, as they set out on a race against time, to uncover the cure to the poison. However, our band of brave heroes could not have foreseen, that their quest would unveil a sinister plan at work, manipulated by an ancient, dark power seeking to dominate Midkemia.

What I think about this book:

I was surprised at how good this book is. Perhaps this is because I lowered my expectations for Silverthorn after reading various book reviews. In my opinion, I do think Silverthorn is not as charming as Magician, because not only is this a much shorter book, but the scope in Silverthorn is also much narrower than in Magician. In other words, while Magician gave readers a very “epic” feel, Silverthorn feels like a much narrower, specific story. Instead of having a storyline that spanned over a decade like in Magician, the story in Silverthorn took place over a much shorter period of time.

Another major difference between Magician and Silverthorn is, while Magician had a theme that's not common in fantasy fictions, the theme in Silverthorn is a one that is more typical to a novel in the fantasy genre. i.e. At its core, Silverthorn is a quest story, where a band of heroes travel to a certain location to fulfill a mission, while combating the minions of a dark lord. Furthermore, unlike Magician, Silverthorn is not a stand alone novel. The ending of Silverthorn has a cliffhanger, where the story would be completed in the final book in Riftwar Saga.

Having said all of these, I still think Silverthorn is a good book. While it is not in the same league as Magician (but again, not many fantasy novels are as good as Magician), still it spellbinds its readers with its own strengths. For starters, Silverthorn is supported by a very strong cast of characters. Not only do readers meet returning characters such as Arutha, Lyam, Martin, Pug and Tomas, but this book also introduced a very interesting, new character called Jimmy the Hand. He is a witty, young thief who became a loyal friend to Arutha, and provided invaluable aids to his quest. The story in Silverthorn is much darker than in Magician, but Jimmy's occasional, witty humor certainly brightened up our heroes' perilous journey. I really like Jimmy the Hand, I think he is a fun and interesting character, and I can't wait to see more future stories featuring Jimmy.

Feist also did an excellent job at creating mysteries and suspense in the story. Several plot twists and mysteries unfolded gradually as the story progressed, and the suspense was gripping enough to keep me guessing throughout the whole book. I was surprised by several unexpected twists and turns in the story. While reading this book, I never knew what to expect in the next chapter, although at the back of my mind, I knew our heroes weren't going to endure any permanent harms in the story, but I still felt a real sense of danger for the characters anyway.

The scope of Silverthorn is nowhere as grand as in Magician. Nevertheless, Feist still jam-packed a lot of story elements and sub-plots into Silverthorn. Despite the large amount of contents in this book, it never became convoluted, and it was really easy to follow the story. Feist seem to be a master storyteller who is able to spin a yarn loaded with contents, yet still tell it in a most simple, unconfused way; complex but not complicated. The pace of the book flowed smoothly, I cannot recall a single, dull moment while reading this book. When I turn to the last page of Silverthorn, I was eager to start reading the next book.

I enjoyed reading Silverthorn. While it may not be as epic and charming as Magician, but Silverthorn has its own unique beauty, enchanting its readers. It has a very strong cast of characters, and a gripping story to warrant a fun, enjoyable read for lovers of fantasy fiction.