Mediocre at best, poor at worst
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As mentioned in a previous review, it was said as this is not written by Raymond E. Feist and is the other author's interpretation of the world of Midkemia to be true, as the major inconsistency I found was the use of swearing. I can understand that the author may have wanted to create a veneer of authenticity for his "rough and ready" mercenaries and I personally do not have anything against swearing in literature as long as it's consistent with the setting and relevant to the work. Unfortunately I can't say that here. Overall I found the story line mediocre and the interpretation of Feist's world to be poor.
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One star only!
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Murder in Lamut was a poor compared to Honoured enemy and Jimmy the Hand, the other two Legend's of the Riftwar books.
I thought the idea of writing of collaborations was a good one but in this instance the result was disappointing. It just wasn't my cup of tea and i really struggled to finish it, the story never got near to grabbing hold unlike most of Raymond Feist's stories.
One star and a waste of time!
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A different aproach
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I must say that I have really enjoyed this particular book!! I have been a Feist fan for many years now and was excited with this book because:
1)With all the grand saga's popping up all around us, this was a refreshing break without travelling too far from the main plots of Feist his books. (There are several referals & names that a Feist reader would recognize from the Rift War Saga).
2)The three main characters are versatile and definately not the regular hero's you would expect in a Fantasy novel:-) Which makes it a somehow different approach but certainly not less than other Feist books.
3)Easy to read and definately with a degree of humour & without the need to read all the other Feist books to understand the world in which it is playing.
All in all it is different: with three very unlikely hero's being drawn into something they certainly do not want to be a part of. And an investigation for a murderer with a solution that describes the 3 hero's perfectly.....
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Mystery in the Rift War
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This book was definately of a very different flavour than the rest of Feist's novels, however I believe it definately worked. If you are looking for an epic volume in the grand scheme of the Riftwars then this book is not for you. However, if you have fallen in love with Midkemia and Kelewan and you want to explore nooks and crannies of these worlds then Murder in LaMut is excellent. Rosenberg successfully exports Kethol, Piroji, and Durine from his Guardians of the Flame series and they are unlike any of Feist's normal characters. Most of the original Riftwar cast consists of nobles, Elves, and honourable folk. These three however, are only in it for the money. It is refreshing to realize that there are more than just despicable villians and honourable hereoes in Midkemia--we get a close view into the life of three commoners (albeit well traveled mercenary commoners ;-)). Now that I think about it I believe I would have been disappointed if this novel had followed the usual Feist fantasy "formula" (not that his writing is truly formulaic) and been some sort of a grand quest. This novel was meant to be a divergent view into Midkemia and it succeeds admirably in my view. It isn't just the books that I enjoy, it is the worlds Feist has shown us and Murder in LaMut exposes an entirely new dimension of Midkemia. One last point, the murder mystery proper doesn't show up until the end of the book--however I believe this is a mistake on the publisher's part when they wrote the description for the back of the book. Really this book is about Kethol, Pirojil, and Durine more than just the murder. Furthermore, the mystery may not be polished--but this isn't a world of precise police procedure, or modern investigative methods, and the three mercenaries aren't professional detectives. :-) I would also reccomend The Empire Trilogy written with Janny Wurts for a similarly expansive and different view of Feist's world.
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Better than the reviews I read before the book.
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THE STORY:
Durine, Kethol and Pirojil find themselves stuck in LaMut during an especially harsh winter of the Riftwar. When a Kingdom noble and his wife are murdered in their beds, the three mercenaries have to find the killer or face dire consequences.WHAT'S GOOD:
I know this is an unpopular book, but I think that's largely because it's such a radical change of pace and scale to Feist's other books, which puts Feist fans off. Personally, I was interested to see how a very different type of story could be played out against the familiar background of the Riftwar. What we get is a classically-styled murder mystery, but where the sleuth's aren't Poirot or Miss Marple, but a trio of cynical, self-interested mercenaries. This clever twist is capped nicely by the final result of the investigations (I won't tell you whodunnit). . WHAT'S BAD:
To be honest, apart from being set on Midkemia, there's very little fantasy to this story, which will put off those looking for wizards and dragons etc. Similarly, fans of 'Magician' will find this book too small scale and differently styled.
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