Wrath of a Mad God – Book Review
Wrath of a Mad God is book 3 in Raymond Feist’s Dark War Saga. The book, and the series as a whole, follows a number of characters, some old favorites like Pug and Nakor, as well as some new additions to the cast. While this review will mostly pertain to the final book in the series, it would be impossible to critique it without talking a little bit about the previous books. All in all, both the final book and the larger Dark War Saga are a decent plot-driven story with professional, but sometimes lazy writing, and characters that are well-developed in other books but that have no growth or added depth in the Dark War Saga.
I’m a big fan of Raymond Feist. I’ve read about 80% of his lengthy list of novels, but this series ranks on the bottom tier of his impressive portfolio. A big part of this is the new characters, Tad and Zane, two generic teenage boys that form about half of the narrative of the first two books. They are not interesting, and their storyline doesn’t drive the plot. I’m hard pressed to understand why they are present in the storyline. They were a big detractor. Thankfully Feist seems to have realized that they were just getting in the way for the final book, in which they are virtually nonexistent. It makes for a stilted narrative, having them be such a major percentage of the POV chapters, but I got a second wind when I realized they had been cut from book three. We do get a healthy dose of our favorite characters from previous books in the setting, namely Pug, Nakor, and Miranda.
By the time we reach Wrath of a Mad God, Pug has followed the trail of the deadly Nighthawk assassins and discovered the involvement of the nefarious necromancer Leso Varen, as well as discovering an ominous connection to another dimension, where a race known as the Dasati are ruled by a dark god. While Miranda fights their inroads of invasion back home on Kelewan, Pug journeys to the Dasati homeworld. The novel has a pulpy action adventure quality that is entertaining, and keeps you turning pages. This is one of Feist’s strong suits. The setting is also unique and intriguing, delving into a strange new world that is almost inconceivably dark and dangerous. Plot and setting really buoy this novel and make it worthwhile for anyone interested in a light, fast-paced read.
Earlier I mentioned that the writing felt lazy, which is harsh, but I think justified. There is a lot of telling as opposed to showing. A lot. We get quite a few info dumps, areas where the author just unloads big chunks of exposition or back story. It happens over and over again. There is even like a five or six page back story for a minor character all in a lump. This is balanced out by the fact that the world building and back stories are interesting, they just aren’t delivered optimally.
In the end, Wrath of a Mad God and the Dark War Saga are an easy, plot- driven read, that is entertaining but not particularly memorable. Tad and Zane are not interesting characters, and they clog up the first two books for no good reason. It was only my faith in Feist that got me past their portion of the narrative. In fairness this is a review for Wrath of a Mad God, which is decidedly better for their absence. As any fan would expect, there is some really awesome magic, an interesting setting, and some fun characters that we met many books ago, but the conclusion was a little anti-climactic, and the writing was phoned in. The Wrath of a Mad God is a decent, pulp adventure, set in a deeply detailed world, that has hosted more interesting stories than this particular installment.
3/5 Stars
