The nature of reality, the role of the gods, and the balance of good and evil are all themes that Feist explores quite openly and directly, seizing the opportunity to really drive home some of the key themes from the series.

On that note, for those readers who've become accustomed to the leaner, harsher, simpler books that seems to rule the series for a while, it must be said that this is a book that's quite philosophical. Their conversations with the likes of Pug, Magnus, Nakor, and Miranda are important, imparting lessons that are needed to see the heroes through to the final confrontation. Yes, it was nice to exchange words with the likes of Kulgan, Borric, Macros, and all the rest, but did they really need to come back, even if just for a while? Well, maybe they didn't need to, but Feist certain gives them a purpose, which is all a reader can ask. It's a book that pays homage to the past, touching on key characters who've long since left the page, without getting distracted by the need to tie off every possible loose end.Īt first, I cringed at the dreamlike encounters with dead friends and allies, fearful that Feist was trying to do too much, to satisfy the demands of too many fans. Feist has done an admirable job here of returning to his roots, recapturing the magic of those first few books, and providing us with a satisfying end to the saga. With an open-ended series like this, where each subsequent book has added more characters, more plot threads, and more mythology, the demands upon the author to nicely tie up all those loose ends in one final book often seem to get in the way of the story.įortunately, despite a hiccup at the halfway mark that nearly relegated this to the did-not-finish pile ( more on that in a moment), Magician's End turned out to be one of the most satisfying concluding volumes in quite some time.

The final book of any series is always a difficult one to read, and it often seems as if the longer the series, the greater the potential for disappointment. And so we find ourselves at the end of another long-running fantasy series, left with nothing more than the pages we hold in our hands to provide some sense of closure.

Magicians end