I began this with a little trepidation. I mean, any book that starts referring to its video game companion but still firmly in the author's Riftwar bibliography could kinda go either way. Is this a game advert or is it more its own thing? Either way, the game was a hit in the nineties and may be rather hard to find nowadays. :)

What was I expecting? Well, after the last four-book epic taking place 50 years after the first Riftwar, full of its own troubles, I half-expected something pushing the timeline forward. Not backward. Not back to a young middle-aged Jimmy the Hand and barely gray Pug with Prince Arutha still in his prime.

But, hell, okay! Cool! Side-story time! Big side-story time with all my favorite characters back in their prime and a slew of new, weaker peeps finding their own way.

I am not disappointed. At all. I really loved the progression and the wealth of new-and-old worldbuilding. The drill-down. :) And it really can't go wrong when we dive into so many cool new elements.

Yes, the central story is actually written around the main plot of the game. It's a collaboration with the game-makers. But you know what? I have no problems with it. It is a great story. :) ( )

Krondor: The Betrayal is the first book in the Riftwar Legacy subseries in the middle of the very large Riftwar Cycle series. It’s set about 10 years after the end of the original subseries, chronologically before the last two subseries I read while going in publication order. As I mentioned in a previous review, it’s less confusing to read these subseries in chronological order rather than publication order since this story is referenced in earlier books due to the fact that it’s based on a video game that was published earlier.

Yes, this book is actually a novelization of a video game, Betrayal at Krondor, released in 1993. I played it a few years after its original release when it was released as freeware to promote the sequel. I enjoyed it so much that I sought out Feist’s books. That led to my addiction of the fantasy genre itself. The book follows the same basic story as the game and hits the same major plot points, but it fleshes things out and changes some details, adding more realism and back stories.

It doesn’t really read like it’s based on a video game to me, maybe because I started (re-re-re-)playing the game at the same time I started the book so the differences were more obvious. At least, it skips most of the battles and treasure finding and dungeon crawling and such and even skips or glosses over a lot of the travel. It’s basically the story parts of the game fleshed out, with more character interactions added.

It was fun to go back in time and hang out with some of my favorite characters. Arutha doesn’t get as much page time as I would have liked but he does get some, and Jimmy gets quite a lot as does Locklear. (Spoiler for an earlier subseries that's set later chronologically.) There’s a point in the book when Jimmy jokingly predicts how Locklear will die which was kind of a funny-not-funny moment. The unique characters created for the game are just as prominent in the book and they’re interesting and likeable characters. I found the plot a little thin, and maybe a little more convoluted than necessary, but it’s based on the video game story which was not originally written by Feist as per the author’s notes at the end. I was able to buy into everything well enough to enjoy the story which for me was more about the characters than the plot. ( )

It's been a long time since I read one of Feist's books. I liked this, but had the distinct impression he was documenting a game of Dungeons & Dragons. ( )

On the website it said this should be read after Shards of a Broken Crown, I disagree as events take place after Mistress of the Empire and before Prince of the Blood. A dark elf, wanting to save his people turns to the humans to warn them of a coming invasion. He runs into Owyn and they both learn their races are not what they believed. Interesting read, a little predictable but engaging.
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It's always been somewhat of a criticism of Feist's novels that they read like novelizations of computer games and in this book we get to see what that really looks like. The basis of this book is the computer game from the mid nineties (no, I'd never heard of it either!).

The basis of this story sees us back in the aftermath of the events of 'Darkness at Sethanon', Squire Locklear had been exiled to the Northern Marches when he intercepts a band of moredhel who were attempting to kill one of their own even to extent of ignoring the human patrol unless they got in the way. With the renegade moredhel rescued, Locky is given some news that he knows is impossible: Mumandus, the really evil guy from Sethanon, is back. Having been there, Locky knows he was never real in the first place...

What follows is the description of a journey back to Krondor that is full of trials and tribulations as Locky and the moredhel are joined by an apprentice magician who'd become disillusioned with the magicians at Stardock. Meanwhile, Pug, who's magical abilities would be able to counter what was brewing has been sidelined by his former associates of the Assembly on Kelewan when his daughter Gamina is kidnapped.

The book is fairly formulaic but it's not too bad as these things go and the interplay between the moredhel and Locky in particular quite fun. Again, it was a fast read. ( )