I would not go as far as qualifying him as a genius but Raymond E. Feist has written many, many fantasy books and most of his series are a must-read for fantasy fans. As his great books introduced me to the fantasy genre, Feist has definitely deserved his spot in the list of best fantasy authors.
About Raymond E. Feist
Raymond E. Feist is an American fantasy author born in Los Angelos and currently living in San Diego. After publishing Magician in 1982, he became a full time author, which resulted in a long list of novels taking place in his fantasy universe of Midkemia (and Kelewan).
His works & style
The books of Feist are high fantasy, with elements of heroic fantasy as the development a young hero, encountering dangerous situations all the time, is of the center of the story.
Feist has written many fantasy series so far, most of them taking place in one fantasy realm with one overarching theme. The fantasy series and books are known as the Riftwar Cycle.
The first series in this fantasy universe was The Riftwar Saga, which started out with the famous book Magician.
Another one of series that I really enjoyed is The Empire Trilogy, which Feist wrote together with Janny Wurts. The series is set on Kelewan, the world on the other side of the rift. Instead of focusing on battle, this series has more eye for political intrigues.
Several other well-known Riftwar series are The Serpent War, Krondor;s Sons, Conclave of Shadows, Darkwar Saga, Demonwar Saga and, still in progress, Chaoswar Saga.
Conclusion
You know what you will get when you start out with a novel of Feist; the stories are creative and well-written but don’t expect anything extraordinary or far-fetched.
As mentioned, Feist introduced me to the genre of fantasy and I thank him for that. He is not my favorite author but keeps writing great and easy to read fantasy books and by doing so he is a valuable asset for the genre.
Official website of Raymond E. Feist
Tags: Fantasy Authors, Raymond E. Feist
