This is book 2 of the Serpentwar Saga, which itself is a series in the epic Riftwar Cycle, which I discussed a little in yesterday's post.

We follow Rupert "Roo" Avery, predominantly, one of the characters from the previous book, as he seeks to become the richest man in the Kingdom. As a result, this becomes a book that focuses on commerce more than action (though it does have some great action sequences).

I didn't expect to enjoy pages and pages of characters trying to get the upper hand on trade deals, but I did. Feist wrote some incredible intrigue into Roo's get-rich-schemes, with opposition attempting to ruin him and others preferring to see him skewered.

Roo was also written as a flawed character. He has a great mind for trade but struggles in other areas. As a husband he is inattentive, as a friend he is somewhat selfish, but he somehow remains likeable, and I felt he showed some good development as the story came to a close.

Other characters were great, too. It was a treat to meet characters like Duke James - formerly Jimmy the Hand - again. We also got to follow Erik, protagonist of the previous book, as he dealt with the consequences of their previous quest. What worked so well in this book is that we didn't ignore events on Novindus; we got to see the story progressing there as well as Roo's commercial ambitions.

Feist delivers solid world-building, engaging characters, and tense encounters. The pacing is fantastic, and Feist doesn't hang around in a limited time frame; sometimes months have passed between scenes or chapters, but it never feels like we've missed anything.

I am biased, as Feist is one of my absolute favourites. I used to struggle with the length of his chapters, but after reading the Witcher books they didn't feel so bad after all. My only complaint was that some things towards the end felt like they were wrapped up a little too conveniently, but there were some major implications set up that make me look forward to the next book in the series.