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If there were two more impetuous and carefree men in the Kingdom of the Isles, they had yet to be found. Twins Borric and Erland wore that mantle proudly, much to the chagrin of their father, Prince Arutha of Krondor. But their blissful youth has come to an end. Their uncle, the King, has produced no male children. Bypassing himself, Arutha names Borric, the eldest twin by seconds, the Royal Heir. As his brother, Erland will have his own great responsibilities to shoulder. To drive home their future roles, Arutha sends them as ambassadors to Kesh, the most feared nation in the world. Borric and Erland will be presented to the Queen of Kesh--the single most powerful ruler in the known world--at her Seventy-fifth Jubilee Anniversary. But they have not even left Krondor when an assassination attempt on Borric is thwarted. Aware that he is being provoked into war, Arutha does not rise to the bait. His sons' journey will not be deterred, for nothing less than peace is riding on it. Yet there is to be no peace for the young princes. When their traveling party is ambushed, Borric disappears and is presumed dead--sending Erland into spirals of rage and grief as he is forced to navigate alone the court intrigues at Kesh. But unbeknownst toanyone, Borric lives and has escaped his captors. In a strange land, with a price on his head, Borric must use all his wits and stamina to find his way back to his brother. On separate paths, the two men--one a fugitive and one a future king--make their journey toward maturity, honor, and duty. For every step they take could sway the fragile peace of the land, as those who crave war rally against them--and become ever more daring.… (more)
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Someone wants to start a war between the Kingdom and Kesh and the easiest way to do so, it seems, would be
I enjoyed this book quite a bit and unlike most of Feist's Midkimia books this one was more of a who-dun-it. Since I like mysteries as well I thought it was a nice change from the rest.
The novel itself is engrossing and kept me very involved. I usually do not like coming of age stories, but this one did not bug me as much as other ones, since it was not focusing as a coming of age novel, and rather had that theme more half hazardly thrown in as an afterthought. Which unfortunately is how the book is ended, half hazard and as an afterthought. Everything is just wrapped up in a bow within a chapter or two of pages. The author should have easily taken another 100 pages to find a creative and less run of the mill way to end the book. That is the main knock I have against this book. Other than the ending this book decent read.
Unlike most of the books in this series, it's fairly light on the fantasy elements but it introduces us to the Empire of Great Kesh, the Kingdom's greatest rival on
Along the way, the Krondorian party travel to Stardock where they take advice from Cousin Pug and while there, James is introduced to Gamina, Pug's adopted daughter and they find they are soul-mates so the party expands as James and Gamina are married. On the way down there, the party is attacked by supposed bandits, after Borric had already survived an assassination attempt back in Krondor. The party is separated and while the main party goes on to Inner Kesh Borric finds himself on the way to the slave pens in Durbin.
As stated above, the fantasy elements are practically non-existent but the elements set in Krondor, especially the football match, and the assassination attempt were good, and I quite enjoyed the bits set in Durban and the palace in Kesh so overall I have to say that I quite enjoyed.
Back to a regular old, ripping yarn after the few books that were based on video games. They were fun, but this was much more on the level of the early books. Five stars, like usual!