Where to Start with Raymond E. Feist: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Raymond E. Feist — whether to begin with Magician: Apprentice, Magician: Master, or A Darkness at Sethanon. A complete guide to the Riftwar Saga.
Raymond E. Feist (born 1945) is the American fantasy author whose Magician (1982) — published in the United States as Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master — launched the Riftwar Cycle, one of the most expansive worlds in commercial epic fantasy. The Riftwar Cycle currently encompasses over thirty novels written by Feist and various co-authors, set in the world of Midkemia across multiple centuries and storylines. Feist’s writing is approachable, well-paced, and grounded in a genuine affection for the epic fantasy tradition; his original Magician is considered a classic of the genre and remains the most widely read and most highly regarded work in his catalogue.
Where to Start: Magician: Apprentice (1982)
The essential Feist — and the book on which the entire Riftwar Cycle is built. Pug is a kitchen boy in the household of the Duke of Crydee, a castle on the western frontier of the Kingdom of the Isles. He has no family background, uncertain prospects, and an unusual relationship with magic that the court magician Kulgan notices and eventually agrees to develop. His best friend Tomas is training to be a soldier.
Then the Riftwar begins: an interdimensional rift opens between Midkemia and the Tsurani homeworld, and an invading army unlike anything the Kingdom has seen begins pushing east. Pug is captured and taken to the Tsurani world. Tomas finds an ancient elven armour in the ruins of Macros the Black’s castle and begins to change into something more than human.
The novel is comfort epic fantasy in the tradition of Tolkien and LeGuin, written with genuine skill and an original conceit (the interdimensional invasion, with its culture-clash implications) that gives it more freshness than most 1980s fantasy managed. Feist draws on his experience as a Dungeons & Dragons game-master; the world has the specific texture of a setting that has been lived in and thought through.
Magician: Master (1982)
The direct continuation of Apprentice — Pug’s transformation into Milamber the Great Magician in the Tsurani world, and the resolution of the Riftwar. The two volumes should be read consecutively. The payoff is earned.
A Darkness at Sethanon (1986)
The conclusion of the original Riftwar Saga — Pug and Jimmy the Hand must stop a threat that makes the Riftwar itself look like a prelude. The book that concludes the saga while opening the larger Riftwar Cycle; the cosmic expansion is handled well.
Why Magician: Apprentice Is the Ideal First Book
For a reader new to Raymond E. Feist, Magician: Apprentice is the ideal first book because it is his celebrated debut, the beginning of his beloved Riftwar Saga, and the fullest expression of his gift for immersive, classic epic fantasy. Magician: Apprentice introduces the richly imagined world of Midkemia and follows a young keep boy who becomes a magician’s apprentice and is drawn into a great conflict, beginning the epic story that has delighted fantasy readers for decades. As an entry point, it is the natural beginning of Feist’s beloved saga and the fullest expression of his gifts, the immersive world-building, the classic epic fantasy adventure, and the engaging characters and story. It welcomes the newcomer with its richly imagined world, its appealing hero, and its epic story, drawing the reader into a classic epic fantasy. It is his celebrated debut and the start of his beloved saga, so that the new reader begins where his most popular story begins. For the newcomer, then, Magician: Apprentice is the natural and ideal starting point, the debut that launched his beloved fantasy saga.
What to Expect as a New Reader
As a new reader, you can expect Magician: Apprentice to be a classic, immersive, and engaging epic fantasy, marked by rich world-building and a compelling coming-of-age adventure. You can expect a richly imagined world, for Feist creates the detailed fantasy world of Midkemia, with its own geography, peoples, magic, and history, and immerses the reader in it. You can expect a classic epic fantasy premise, for the novel follows a young keep boy who becomes a magician’s apprentice and is drawn into a great conflict, a beloved hero’s journey in the grand tradition of the genre. You can expect engaging characters and a compelling story, for Feist draws the reader into the lives and fates of his characters and the unfolding of his epic conflict. You can expect the pleasures of classic epic fantasy, adventure, magic, a great conflict, and the growth of a young hero. You can expect the beginning of a long and beloved saga. Expect, in short, a classic, immersive, and engaging epic fantasy of rich world-building and compelling adventure, a welcoming introduction to Feist’s beloved saga.
Going Deeper After Your First Book
Once Magician: Apprentice has drawn you into Feist’s world of Midkemia, the natural next step is to continue the Riftwar Saga and his wider body of work set in the same world, following the epic story and the beloved characters across the many books. The Riftwar Saga continues the story begun in Magician: Apprentice, and Feist went on to write many further novels set in Midkemia, building a vast and beloved body of epic fantasy spanning multiple series and generations of characters. Reading these after Magician: Apprentice deepens your immersion in Feist’s richly imagined world and allows you to follow its epic story across the many books. His characteristic gifts, the immersive world-building, the classic epic fantasy adventure, and the engaging characters, run through his work, and the reader who has enjoyed Magician: Apprentice will find them across his saga. Building your reading journey through Feist’s work is a matter of continuing the Riftwar Saga and following his epic fantasy across the world of Midkemia. The reader who begins with Magician: Apprentice will find a vast and beloved body of classic epic fantasy to immerse in.
Reading Raymond E. Feist
Begin with Magician: Apprentice and read it as a single continuous novel with Magician: Master. Complete the original Riftwar Saga with A Darkness at Sethanon. Continue with the Empire Trilogy (co-written with Janny Wurts) for the best of his subsequent work.
For the full Raymond E. Feist bibliography, reviews, and biography, visit the Raymond E. Feist author page on Editors Reads.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Raymond E. Feist?
Magician: Apprentice (1982) is the essential starting point — the first half of the original Magician novel, introducing Pug, a kitchen boy who discovers an unusual gift for magic and is apprenticed to the court magician as the Kingdom of the Isles faces invasion from another world. Feist's world of Midkemia and the Riftwar Cycle built on this foundation has produced over thirty novels; Magician: Apprentice is the only place to begin. The two Magician volumes are sometimes published as a single book.
What is the Riftwar Saga?
The Riftwar Saga is the four-book sequence that begins the Riftwar Cycle — Magician: Apprentice, Magician: Master, Silverthorn, and A Darkness at Sethanon. The saga follows Pug the magician and Thomas the warrior-king of the elves through the Riftwar (an interdimensional conflict between Midkemia and the Tsurani world) and its aftermath. The original Magician novel (published as Apprentice and Master in the US) is the essential core of the saga and the book on which Feist's reputation rests.
Is the Riftwar Cycle worth reading beyond the original Saga?
The original Riftwar Saga (particularly Magician) is the strongest part of Feist's very large body of work; later series in the Riftwar Cycle vary in quality. Readers who love the original Saga typically continue through the Empire Trilogy (co-written with Janny Wurts) and the Krondor duologies, both of which maintain the quality of the early work. The Riftwar Cycle in its later stages is most rewarding for readers who are already committed to the world.
Do I need to read Apprentice and Master as separate books?
Magician was originally published as a single novel in the UK; US publication split it into Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master. They are one continuous narrative and should be read consecutively. Many editions are now available that combine both volumes into the single Magician. The split between volumes is logical (Pug leaves for the Tsurani world) but arbitrary in terms of narrative completion.
