Rage of a Demon King

Conspiracies and treachery beset the realm of the Demons in this third volume (after Rise of a Merchant Prince) of Feist's immensely popular Serpentwar Saga. Pug the magician and his allies, including the sorcerer Macros, have to cross a good part of the cosmos to fight the Demon King on his own ground. Erik von Darkmoor, meanwhile, becomes a married man and a senior officer in the hosts of beleaguered Krondor, while his trader friend Rupert Avery has both woman and money troubles. As usual, Feist makes relentless use of classic fantasy elements. He also employs a vivid imagination. In Krondor, troops do not, as they do in too much other fantasy fiction, spring up at an author's command. Money needs to be raised and troops need to be trained. Feist's depiction of the fall of Krondor is grim and gripping. But against these virtues lean a pedestrian use of language and antiquated images of women. As high fantasy, this isn't state of the art, but it is commercially adept and should sell well. 100,000 first printing; author tour. (Apr.)