The
Riftwar Series
To enjoy
these books to the fullest they must be read concurrently with
The Empire Sequence as our main Character, Pug, appears in both
trilogies.
Read Magician
until the end of Chapter 19 and then read Daughter
of the Empire.
Then read
Servant of the Empire until the end of
Chapter 5, where we meet up with Pug again.
Then start
reading from where you left off in Magician up until the end of
Chapter 22 and then go back to where you left off in Servant.
Read Servant
until the end of Chapter 14 and then read Magician until the end
of Chapter 28.
Now you have
arrived at the the Stadium Scene. You now have a choice.
The Stadium
Scene is where Pug awakens to his true powers. You can ether read
this first from Pug's perspective by reading Magician, or you
can stay with Servant and read this first from Mara's perspective
as an outsider who doesn't know Pug.
Read until
the rift is closed, and then catch up with the other book until
the rift is closed.
Now read
Servant until it mentions the rift is open again.
Now finish
Magician, then read The Wood Boy, Silverthorn
and A Darkness At Sethanon.
Now finish
Servant and then read Mistress of the Empire.
Magician
The Wood Boy
Silverthorn
A Darkness At Sethanon
Magician
The beginning
of something great.
I bought
this book from an Oxfam shop in Ireland many years ago for something
to read on the way home. Little did i know at the time how long
this tale would become.
The Magician
in question, Pug, begins life as a castle orphan on the world
of Midkemia, which is a bit like medieval Europe with Elves, Dwarfs
and lots of other stuff.
If you like
sword fights, medieval castle seiges, battles and lots of magic
stuff thrown in for good measure then you'll love it.
The Wood Boy
The Wood
Boy is a short story that happens sometime within the Magician
tale. This was originally published within the "Legends"
anthology (edited by Robert Silverberg), but has since been published
as a comic strip adaptation with art work by Mat Broome.
I haven't
read the Legends' version for many years but i have just finished
reading the comic strip adaptation.
The art work
is quite something, although the story itself does fly in the
face of a lot of things we're lead to believe about the Tsurani
in Magician. For instance, allowing Lord Paul to live, when the
Tsurani put to death all captured nobles, and also allowing him
to have a slave body guard that can carry weapons when the Tsurani
hang any slave found with a weapon of any description.
To be honest,
i'd rather not have the story at all if it has to be based upon
ideas that conflict with the rest of the Riftwar stories.
But if you
can get over the conflict of ideas then it's worth a read.
Silverthorn
In an attempt
to fulfill a profecy the Nighthawks, otherwise known as The Guild
of Death, are seeking to kill Arutha, the new Prince of Krondor.
On their wedding day, Arutha's bride, Anita, is struck by a poisoned
crossbow bolt meant for Arutha and he must find the antidote to
save her.
Thus begins
his quest which will lead Arutha and his band of medieval superheroes
into the heart of Moredhel territory.
To add to
it all, it's the Moredhel who were behind the Nighthawks' attempts
to kill Arutha in the first place.
But who,
or what, is behind the Moredhel?
Brilliant
stuff!
A Darkness At Sethanon
The Winter
has ended and the Moredhel are massing in the Northlands to begin
their Summer campaign.
Arutha is
once again thrown into the breach, and is soon off to the Northlands
with the usual suspects and a couple of new ones.
Meanwhile
Pug and Thomas have found a Dragon and they set off to find Macros
to help them in the fight that is to come.