I have followed the series from the beginning of the Rift War Saga. As a follow up story I loved the fact that Feist ages his characters. Here we follow the twin sons of Arutha (A hero from the Saga). As the sons of royalty, the brothers believe they can do as they please. To tame their wild nature Arutha sends them on a mission with Jimmy "The Hand" former thief, now a member of the royal court. The adventure takes a unexpected turn when the brothers are separated and each must deal with the life threatening situations. I like Mister Feist's ability to keep the novels story moving into the future, while dropping reminders to keep his earlier stories and characters alive.
A reading of the entire Rift War Saga is helpful for Feist's references especially to Pug the Magician,
A disappointment
I too am a huge Castle TV show fan, but I have to disagree with many of the reviewers. I looked forward to reading any of the Niki Heat novels. I picked up Frozen Heat, read the first chapter and a half, and close the book. Whoever the writer is, may be sticking to the show’s formula, but the complete overuse of adverbs kept throwing me out of the story.
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” Stephen King.
While I can read and enjoy novels written before publishers made a big DEAL of "Show, Don't Tell." standard, and limited use of adverbs, this book falls way short of either of those standards. Publishers reject a new writer's manuscript if it contains lot of tell and uses to many adverbs, yet in the first 13 pages the 15 adverbs used, are unnecessary. (I'm not counting the ones used in dialogue. Those are fine.)
For example, on page 4 line 8, the ride in the elevator. "-his back against the wall then SUDDENLY hers.” The use of the word 'suddenly' is ambiguous.
Anton Chekhov said, “Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
How did Niki's back wind up against the elevator wall? Did she pulled Rook in front her, or did Rook twist her into that position for more control, those actions would have painted a much better picture of the scene. On the same page, line 16. "He appeared at the door COMPLETLY naked." Use of the word 'completely' is redundant. If you're naked, you're without any cloths. Your nakedness is complete.
This continues throughout the book. For me what was an anticipated read turned into a big disappointment. One more comment. Page 12, 2nd paragraph 5th line. "SLOWLY, METHODICALLY she ran the beam of her flashlight from right to left along the bottom edge of the case." Starting a sentence with an adverb is bad enough. Two in a row, please! Whoever the writer is, go take a creative writing class and reread the quotes above by Stephen King and Anton Chekhov, and this is what Twain had to say about adverbs.
“I am dead to adverbs; they cannot excite me. To misplace an adverb is a thing which I am able to do with frozen indifference; it can never give me a pang. ... There are subtleties which I cannot master at all,--they confuse me, they mean absolutely nothing to me,--and this adverb plague is one of them. ... Yes, there are things which we cannot learn, and there is no use in fretting about it. I cannot learn adverbs; and what is more I won't.”
I gave this book one star because I had to give it something.
