Raymond E. Feist

Collaborations can be a challenging way to tell a story, especially when both authors have an established voice. Ultimately, if done well, they are like an interesting ice cream swirl, something of the flavor of both authors creating a pleasant compination. Andre Norton is one of those authors that seem to collaborate well, although I'm not sure if that's partly because she was the idea generator and then had a co-writer do more of the heavy lifting, especially in her later years. One of the best examples of co-writing I remember is [b:Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot|64207|Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate, #1)|Patricia C. Wrede|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328875743s/64207.jpg|505], largely because it used letters between two young girls as the primary framing device, allowing the voices of both authors to shine. Daughter of the Empire was the result of a collaboration between Janny Wurts and Raymond Feist, and though I haven't read any Feist, I have to say it blends well, and Feist's influence tempered Wurt's writing and made it infinitely more palatable.

I've avoided writing about Wurt's books since meeting her in one of my GR groups, as she is a truly wonderful, generous and respectful person. Her contributions to different book discussions are thoughtful and circumspect, and she's willing to share her time if readers are interested. The information she shared about the collaboration was interesting, and gave a great deal of insight into the process. If you've read this book or are a fan of Wurts, I highly recommend checking out her comments.

To the book itself: it is a detailed epic fantasy, and would likely appeal to those who are looking for something in the genre that is more female-centered than most. It follows young Mara as she is pulled from a life of religious devotion and into the political games of the local fiefdoms, to both survive and to defend the honor of her house.

A note on style: Wurts' writing usually has too many superlatives for my taste, and she ends up resorting to italics in order to make her points in the more emotional sections. It must be Feist's or the editor's influence, because for one of the first times reading her books, I found myself able to concentrate on the story and characterization without being distracted by the writing. In this sense, the book worked for me.

Plotting is acceptable. However, Mara develops the habit of keeping her plans to herself, since she doesn't want to argue with her former nursemaid or her man-at-arms. This both aids and detracts the story; aiding because it keeps the reader in suspense about what she will do, but detracting because it means her actions are often not quite comprehensible to the reader. If she explains it over-much to her people. the story risks losing its sense of legitimate dialogue; if it isn't explained, readers are left with a culture and heroine that is just slightly incomprehensible. Thus, after I finished reading, I wasn't sure if I disliked Mara because of a lack of understanding, or because I disliked her because she was a truly dislikeable person. It reminds me, just a little, of the issues I faced in [a:Joe Abercrombie|276660|Joe Abercrombie|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1207149426p2/276660.jpg]'s First Law series, only he was able to build a sense of complexity that lent itself to compassion. Mara just seems largely incomprehensible, except for the single-minded goal of avenging her family, a fact itself that seems inconsistent with a woman who had left her family for a religious life some time ago.

The only spot that the collaboration seemed not to have worked quite as well was the introduction of the cho-ja, the insect-like sentient beings. They played an enormous role in one chapter, and despite "Gaining this new hive would do more to preserve Acoma survival than any dozen clever plots on the High Council," they are only mentioned twice more in the rest of the book. It felt a little intrusive, and when I understood they were of Feist's creation for another aspect of the world, it made more sense. Less for the story, but more sense for the collaboration.

One of my largest barriers to enjoyment was Mara's marriage and the subsequent abuse she endured. The cynical part of me wonders if Feist wanted Wurts involved for that perspective alone, and to help legitimize a storyline that was extremely unpalatable. Regardless, my personal issues with that type of plotline are such that I will almost never like a book that involves that kind of abuse, unless done very, very, well. This was not, as it seemed mostly designed to create sympathy for Mara and how her husband was destroying her heritage--sort of. I actually ended up wondering how calculating she really was from the start, which made me like her less. It seemed clear that her intent was all along to kill her husband; to be fair, it seemed none of the choices would have been willing co-rulers, but I'm not sure she ever genuinely tried.

I have other small quibbles that I won't go into, save to note they were there. Ultimately, though I read fantasy, this was not my type of sub-genre, so my thoughts are not predisposed to be generous. Two and a half stars.… (more)

I liked the one book I read in the second series of the Riff War Saga. I don't have the first book in the original series, this is the second. The first two books were originally published in a more edited form as one book. These first two books are the author's expanded version.I suspect the original editor knew what they were doing.

I got about one-quarter of the way through the book. The beginning was interesting, I wanted to find out more about the characters. One character Pug was in the second series. But then the book went into a deep data dump and then a lot of exposition on the politics of this world along with protracted strategy and tactics of war. I found it boring and not worth my time.… (more)

The Riftwar saga is the introduciton to Feist's worlds of imagination, but until this book really is laboring under its heritage as his homebrew DND world.

In this book, Feist finally throws the doors to his cosmology wide open as an author, and it is a banger. I find Prince Arutha and Jimmy the Hand less than inspiring, but Pug and Macros the Black and the final answer to what Tomas is was worth the wait. As was the answer to the Chaos Wars and the Great Enemy. Well worth the series to get to this ending.… (more)

Daughter of the Empire – Raymond E Feist & Janny Wurts (1987, my copy 1st Edition PB)

Reading the original Riftwar Saga (a Trilogy as published in the U.K) on publication I considered it as one of my top Fantasy series. It would have made sense for me to continue reading the author’s work. This however did not happen, for some reason my life got in the way and I never got to the Empire Trilogy. 34 years later I have finally got to it. I am doing a big read of the Riftwar Cycle as a kind friend donated to me all their Raymond Feist collection which means I now have the books I was missing; I therefore have no excuses but to catch up on this expansive work. It may take some time to get through all 30 books, but I’ll get to them all eventually.
If you don’t know the original Riftwar saga stars with the beginnings a war between worlds. The world of Midekemia and the more Alien feeling world of Kelewan. The small insights we see into the world of Kelewan, the Tsurani Empire and their culture are fascinating and that’s what the Empire Trilogy explores (Daughter of the Empire being the first).
Daughter of the Empire written in conjunction with Janny Wurts follows Mara who through circumstance ends up being the head of the Acoma house, she fights for her House and family name to survive in the political games that occur. This book is a fascinating insight to the political manoeuvrings within the Tsurani home world and the place of Women within their society.
I’ve not read any of Janny Wurts solo novels so I’m unsure what are her touches and Raymond Feists. For me there is not a huge style change in the writing style from The Riftwar Saga but the development of Mara’s character is well executed and descriptive wise I would guess this is where Janny Wurts biggest contribution was.
What Daughter of the Empire does is expand on the political manoeuvrings suggested in the original Riftwar Saga. The world created feels very Korean based to me and doing some reading around this was one of the elements used to base it on. The authors have done a great Job of developing the culture that we are involved in. The political games are as enthralling as any action adventure. Mara as I said before is a well developed character but so are those around her from her Military Commanders Keyoke and Papewaio to her spy master Arakasi.
My one disappointment with the book was that although the culture was well developed it didn’t feel Alien enough for me. I remember when I read the original Magician and even when I re read it recently the small insights into Kelewan and the Tsuranni culture felt so Alien. In this book to me it didn’t feel that Alien, I’m not sure if I would have felt any different if I had read it on release.
There are some scenes of domestic violence in this book, to me I believe they were handled well and are there for a reason. It is one of those things that totally shoots down this strange and unfounded idea that seems to prevail that only modern Fantasy has dealt with Darker issues and older Fantasy never did.
I really liked the book, Feist's prose along with Janny Wurts make this book one you can just keep reading. The main protagonist being such a strong female character must have been refreshing on publication and is still better written than some more modern female characters. My only reservation is I was a little disappointed that the world felt so much like ours, but I do understand it is very difficult to make something feel so incredibly Alien.
It's a shame Goodreads don't allow Half Stars as I would rate it 3 1/2 but because it has to be whole ones I give it the benefit of the doubt.

***Once I have read all 3 Books in this series I will do a deeper dive on my Blog***… (more)