Shards of a Broken Crown

Serpentwar Saga, Book 4

By: Raymond E. Feist

Narrated by: Peter Joyce

Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

“Undeniably riveting.” (Booklist)

The terrible Emerald Queen is vanquished...but the war in Midkemia is not yet won, as the remarkable Raymond E. Feist concludes his magnificent Serpentwar Saga with Shards of a Broken Crown - a spellbinding tale of magic, conflict, and treachery that sees the rise of a new threat from the ashes of defeat, an evil poised to strike mercilessly at realm triumphant but weakened by war. 

This is epic fantasy adventure at its finest - a classic that stands tall alongside the best works of Terry Goodkind, George R. R. Martin, Terry Brooks, and other acclaimed fantasists. Feist once again works his breathtaking magic in Shards of a Broken Crown, and, as always, he “brings a new world alive” (Portland Oregonian). 

©2009 Raymond E. Feist (P)2020 HarperAudio

Great book, marginal narrator

I’ve been reading these books since the mid ‘80s. Very wonderful stories that keep the reader, or in the case of audible, listener engaged.
The narrator, however, drives me up the wall. Where do his pronunciations come from? Aruta? Gatis? What is a leftenant? Nicholas Guy Smith did an excellent job with the first four books. Why couldn’t he continue with the rest?

Good Finish

good Finish to the series, although I still want more. will have to read more of his stories

well done

I loved it and the voices were well done. I'm just adding words so I can submit this

not satisfied with characters ending not knowing

narrator is great 10 things a little weak to me I'm not satisfied with the ending of characters not knowing what's going on not enough

By far the worst book of the saga.

I've absolutely loved the previous three books. This one seems to be jumping from one story, character to the next. Two main characters were basically forgotten. The book is a big disappointment in my eyes, unfitting ending to great saga.

ending issue

Listened to all 4 books, loved them all until the ending. Felt like a lecture, as if it was turned over to a liberal professor at the very end. Definite ideology applied to ending not appreciated. Satisfaction denied. Had I stopped after the 3rd book I would have felt better about them.

Feist is a master craftsman of words.

no time spent listening to Feist is lost time. His insight and brilliance is art and more than worthy of your consideration.

Disappointing "conclusion"

Feist was one of my early introductions to Fantasy back in the early 90's, in part thanks to the ground breaking computer game "Betrayal at Krondor". And, up through the previous book "Rage of a Demon King" Feist's writing style and skill improved and the story naturally built from what had come before.

This book really doesn't feel like it should be part of the Serpentwar Saga. The culmination of "Rage" really brought a conclusion to several threads that had been building on a foundation going back all the way to "Magician: Apprentice".

Had this been a stand alone book focusing just on the adventures of Eric von Darkmoor and the Jamison boys and the efforts to reclaim the Western Realm and the rebuilding of Krondor - it would have made for a solid story.

But, it suffers badly from the Pug problem - by this point, Pug has become almost a force of nature and Feist has to level up the powers of the big bad that he must be occupied by. Where in the previous books of Serpentwar, everything builds and we see perspective of other players and demons. With this, the "big bad" is an all new macguffin that doesn't really get revealed at all until the very end and requires a whole separate info dump by Nakor after it's over to make any sense at all.

It's all just feels tacked on and rushed and these characters deserved better.

Killing off Characters is Not Plot

Shards of a good series is more like it. First book was great, but each addition lacked something, this book was ok. Does not encourage me to take on next series of Feist. Probably going to take a long break from him.

Loved it

Another gem of a narration by Peter Joyce, would thoroughly recommend it to any and all,