This was a nice read. It's the first of a trilogy, so there was some time spent on setup, but it moved along. Feist is good at action sequences and creates some good characters. A pretty good start to another series by Feist.

I don't know why, but I seriously struggled with this book.

It's only the second Raymond Feist book I've read and they both felt like such hard work. It took me nearly 2 whole weeks to slog through this.

There's a lot of unnecessary pomp in this book I think. A lot of description for description sake. Talon is a very lacking character who uses vengeance as a personality trait.

Overall I didn't enjoy it, which is a shame, because I really wanted to.

The first book of feists series are always the best ones, with decent world building and character growth. It helps that in this one the set up has been explained in previous series, so while Tal doesn’t know why he serves, I do (it makes it no less frustrating that we’re repeatedly reminded that Tal isn’t privy to the master plan).

Some of the past tropes were frustrating (how many times is he going to be ‘as weak as a day old kitten?!’ Is there no other metaphor available for use?!) but otherwise, I enjoyed meeting the new characters, and the gentle cameos seen through a new perspective was also refreshing.

Nakor and his oranges always delight. Was horrified at the ease of alysandras objectification. Nice to see more of pugs compound, and some insight into the east.

Curious about what the next two books will be like.

I enjoyed the character of Talon. Well written. This book was all build up and setting up the story for the series. It was a little slower to read. I kinda got tired of all the secrecy of why they were training Talon. Just tell him! I hope the next books are good.

Returning to Raymond E. Feist's lengthy Riftwar Cycle is like coming back to an old stomping ground: I know what to expect, it's comfortable, and not much has changed.

Talon, the titular protagonist is, depending on how you count them, Feist's third or fourth protagonist who shares some commonalities. He, like Pug, Eric, and to some extent Roo (all from previous books): is a young man who comes from humble origins, is mentored by powerful and skillful men due to a tragic event that brought him to them, is an especially apt student at what they teach, and finds himself playing a central role against an evil, world-threatening conspiracy.

I actually liked this book a lot, but I'm sorry to say that Feist is coming across as a bit one-note to me. I don't really mind, but it's definitely jumping out at me with this book.

So, the story: Talon is a young man of the mountain Orosini tribe, which is attacked and slaughtered by a mystery army while Talon is away from the village on his name-day ritual. He returns and fights some of the soldiers before being struck and left for dead. A passerby happens to find him and and nurses him back to health. Said passerby happens to be a colleague of Pug, the most powerful magician in the realm. Talon is brought into the Conclave of Shadows, an organization devoted to fighting a mysterious evil that's spanned centuries.

I liked it! I do wish there could be a bit more variance in structure in this series, but I'll continue reading nonetheless.