Raymond Feist & William Forstchen, Honoured Enemy - Legends of the Riftwar

When I read Magician, the first book involving the Kingdom and the Tsurani, I thought that I had finally found a series to get my teeth into. Magician was a work of genius, great characters, great story, and it was set on such an epic scale, covering a time period measured in decades.

Unfortunately, the follow on books were not quite so epic, but still enjoyable. To me, they were much more of a run-of-the-mill type fantasy story which I have read hundreds of times already.

Then we had the Legacy books (Betrayal, Assassins et al), but by this point I had started to find the characters a wee bit 2 dimensional, and to be honest boring and predictable and just a little too nice (I love a flawed hero). That aside, the books were still very enjoyable, and I did persevere with all three, but I would probably not read them again.

On a visit to the local library I saw a book that I had never even heard of, Honoured Enemy - Legends of the Riftwar. 'Uh Oh' I thought, 'a spin off. More clean-cut fantasy hero's, thanks but no thanks. Enough is enough'.

So I put it back on the shelf.

However as luck had it, there was naught else I wanted to read, so I took the book to the counter, took it home, and it sat unread on my shelf until a few days ago when I had nothing else to read.

Thank Goodness I did.

It is totally brilliant. William Forchester has come along and helped to bring new life into a tired old saga. Please be aware at this point, I am NOT implying that he is solely responsible for this novel, R.A.Feist is a great author, but there is definitely signs of another influence here.

The story revolves around a bunch of crack kingdom troops called Hartraft's Marauders, a unit who specialise in making life very difficult for the Tsurani out in the Northlands of the Kingdom. They are also a damned gritty bunch, trained to survive in the harshest environment, as there is little civilisation in the cold Northlands.

However after an unsuccessful assault on the Tsurani, which results in many deaths, the group are forced to take shelter in an old garrison. As luck would have it, a group of Tsuarani have also come upon this garrison, also seeking respite, but circumstances are going to force these two groups together as unlikely comrades with a very shaky alliance.

Dennis Hartraft, a troubled man who despises the Tsurani invaders, leads the Marauders. Years ago his wife of only a few hours was slain by a lone crossbow man when the Tsuarani attacked his village. This has made him a bitter man, with a huge chip on his shoulder. Dennis is a warrior with few equals, made hard by his decade of wilderness fighting against the Tsurani, but it is in his comrades that his strength lies, as they bring a sort of balance to his existence, and temper his harsh approach to certain situations. These comrades have the same kind of relationship to Dennis that Spock and Dr McCoy from Star Trek had with Capt. Kirk, in allowing him with their arguments to see the impartial and emotional choices, allowing him to take a middle path of his own.

Of the comrades, Gregory and Tinuiva are the most important. Gregory is a Natalese Ranger, who is very fair and level headed in his approach, and frequently has to remind Dennis of his own mistakes when he punishes those under his command. That aside, Gregory is still a deadly warrior, with incredibly skills, and who fears no foe.

The other companion is Tinuiva, an elf and master bowman. He has little say in the running of the marauders, but his knowledge of the wilderness, and great scouting skills allows Dennis to make great strategic decisions based on the elf's advice. As the story progresses we start to learn that this elf is not like any other of his race.

These friends may not be enough however when Dennis comes into close contact with his worst and most hated enemy (at a personal level), the Tsurani.

**************************************

Asayaga took a deep breath. 'We cannot settle this war here, at

this moment, Hartraft,' he said quickly, as if these words were hard

to say. 'Time is spinning out and soon they will attack.'

Dennis continued to smile without any hint of warmth. 'Yes.

Maybe we should sit here and argue until they come and kill

you for me.'

Asayaga hesitated; wondering for a second if this mans hatred ran

so deep that he would do such a thing. 'You are saying then that you

command and we are to follow?' he asked finally.

'Something like that,'

Honoured Enemy (c) 2001 R.A.Feist / W Forstchen

***************************************

The leader of the Tsuarani is Asayaga, a war veteran of over two decades. Tired of playing 'the Game' (this is the term given to Tsurani politics) he struggles to make the right choices in this campaign, always aware that his decisions could influence the standing of his house back home. His life is not made easy when his men come in contact with the Kingdom Raiders. He can join with the Raiders and survive, but chance losing face back home, or betray his unlikely comrades, and take back one of the most wanted killers (Hartraft) his people have faced, but at the cost of his men's lives.

**********************************

In an instant it was done. The shaking, wide-eyed soldier was

lifted and carried by four men, and the noose was placed around

his neck. Another half-dozen Tsurani hauled away and Fukizama

seemed to spring into the air, as if fetched heavenward by a

giant's hand. His neck snapped audibly when the Tsurani let

the rope drop a couple of feet then pulled it taut again, and

even battle-hardened Kingdom soldiers flinched at the sound.

He hung twitching for a minute while the rope was tied off.

Asayaga threw the paltry coins to the ground.

'Anyone else?' Asayaga barked, glaring at his men.

No one spoke

'I will tolerate neither a thief nor a disobedient man. Fukizama was

both. Now form ranks.'

(Excerpt from Honoured Enemy (c) 2001 R.E.Feist / W Forstchen)

*********************************

The story takes us on a high-tension journey, with the two enemies having to rely on each other's skills to survive against a mutual enemy. On one hand we have the Tsurani soldiers, almost without peer when it comes to infantry fighting, but ill equipped for Wilderness living in a cold / temperate environment, and on the other we have the Kingdom troops, great at holding a defensive position, and fantastic at laying traps and wilderness survival.

Both have to make a choice on who they hate the most, each other or the common enemy threatening them both. The alliance that is formed is brittle and at times seems to fly apart in spectacular fashion, resulting in a total bloodbath. The tension is wonderfully described and certain events happen which are totally unexpected.

Throughout the tale, we reminded time and time again, without actually being directly told that wars are not really fought by the men in the field, who are in actuality just following orders laid down by their leaders. As one wise old man states at some point in the book 'If the kings of both races sat down with a keg of ale, they could probably sort it out in a night'.

The two groups of soldiers are from vastly different cultures, yet they still share many things in common. It is these simple things that enable them to find some common ground, yet still retaining the power to surprise the other.

The beauty of this book, and its appeal is a total lack of magic or other kinds of sorcery. Tactics, heroism, engineering and sheer bloody determination are the main tools of this story, No Gods, magic weapons or spells are going to save the day against a relentless foe, who will stop at nothing to make sure Hartraft is destroyed. But is Hartraft the one the enemy is truly after, read the book to find out.

After years of disappointment, Feist has managed to come up trumps with a fantastic page turner of a book, gripping action from start to finish, high tension, great characters, well paced story, wonderful alien cultures and rituals, and above else a story of bravery and perseverance that will no doubt be read by myself many times in the future.

Here is looking forwards to the next book in the series, and you can guarantee that I will be buying this one to put on my shelf.

Honoured Enemy - Legends of the Riftwar

Raymond E Feist

William Forstchen

Published 2001 Voyager Books

ISBN - 0-00-224718-6

323 Pages

Praise for Raymond E. Feist

"Tons of intrigue and action"

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Epic scope... vivid imagination...a significant contribution to the field of fantasy'

WASHINGTON POST

'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'

- An old Arab proverb

'Fare thee well, my sweet Kingdom lassie,

Fare thee well, and I bid you goodbye,

For I'm off with the dawning to cold northern mountains,

Off to the north, where for King shall I die...'

? Wolfgar, Bard of the Kingdom

(taken from Honoured Enemy (c) 2001 R.A.Feist / W Forstchen)

This review is 100% Compiled and written by MVWMAIL