These three books form a new fantasy series "The Serpentwar Saga" in the same universe of Feist's "The Riftwar Saga". If you've read all the Riftwar and the continuing books and you miss Pug and the conDoins, this series will be a real treat. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for fantasy, but I think Feist is an incredible author and these more recent books just served to reinforce the feeling.
The first book continues in the wake of "Prince of The Blood" introducing a major threat to the Kingdom: the serpent people, the Panthatians, and the lizard people, the Saaur, get ready to launch a massive campaign against the Kingdom. It starts out in the small town of Ravensburg introducing the two main characters in this new saga: Eric and Roo. Eric is basically the nice guy: although massive and strong this apprentice to blacksmith has a gentle and kind soul. Roo is the cunning kid and Eric's best friend. Something major happens to change their lives and put them on the road to Krondor, one of the Kingdom's capital cities and off they go in their adventure.
From the point of view of role playing (and much of Feist's work can be seen from that perspective), this first book is about a warrior type. It's about military campaigns and battles, about hacking away at living beings and about Eric's development as a soldier. The second book is quite different, since the focus is more on Roo and how he grows to become the rich man he always intended to be. It's about business and treachery, about big sharks and little fish.
Throughout these two books, the unifying thread is the campaign the Dark Queen is preparing against the Kingdom. Here is where some favourite characters like Pug, the magician, and many others from previous books come into play. Macros The Black, Tomas, the half-human half-Valheru warrior, the people of Elvandar, the thief Jimmy The Hand now Duke of Krondor, Nicholas conDoin and some other old friends are all there.
I won't tell you much more for fear of spoiling the story for you, but what I can say about the series as a whole is that this is quintessential Feist and if you've been enjoying all the books set in the world of Midkemia, there is no reason you wouldn't like these. Feist has the knack for telling a good story and like a practiced "Dungeon Master", he's careful enough to take characters out of play when they become invincible only to reintroduce them in the face of more potent enemies keeping the universe in balance. If you thought that Pug had become the cure for all evils in Midkemia, think again... maybe that was just because the didn't have a match for a while...
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