Flight of the Nighthawks: Book One of the Darkwar Saga

By Raymond E. Feist

The New York Times bestselling author revisits his signature world of Midkemia in this first book in a new trilogy that ushers in the third, and most dramatic, Riftwar yet: the Darkwar

Flight of Nighthawks picks up two years after Exile’s Return as Pug, the powerful sorcerer, awakens from a nightmare that portends destruction for all of Midkemia. Disturbed by his dream, Pug calls for a convening of the Conclave of Shadows.

Meanwhile, in a small town on the other side of Midkemia, two young brothers are coming of age. As they travel away from home, towards apprenticeships and adulthood, the boys are attacked by bandits and mistakenly transported to Sorcerer’s Isle, the home of the Conclave of Shadows.

Though they are untrained and unready, the brothers will join the powerful, mysterious Conclave to confront Midkemia’s most looming evil yet—the Nighthawks, assassins feared throughout the centuries. And Pug will face his old nemesis, the evil wizard formerly known as Sidi, now Leso Varen, in a confrontation with everything at stake: his honor, his life, and the future of Midkemia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061794780

Raymond E. Feist

Raymond E. Feist is the author of more than thirty previous books, including the internationally bestselling “Riftwar Cycle” of novels set in his signature world of Midkemia, the Empire trilogy co-authored with Janny Wurts,  as well as a stand-alone novel, Faerie Tale. The Firemane Saga is his first all-new epic fantasy series. He lives in San Diego, California.

Reviews for Flight of the Nighthawks

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A return to form for Feist in my opinion. Fantasy tropes galore but that's what I came here for.

[johnfair_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Conclave of Shadows finds itself fighting a two front war; on the one hand the talnoy located by Kaspar in the previous series prove to be a beacon for a power from a lower plane of existence that if it made its way through to that occupied by Midkemia and Kelewan would totally overwhelm the combined armies of both worlds. It also looks like the deadly assassins, the Nighthawks, are back and the evidence seems to indicate that they are being controlled by the deadly Leso Varen who's been shown to find it difficult to stay dead and those nighthawks have a plan involving the royal family of Greater Kesh.. Into this confused mess come Tad and Zane, a couple of wayward lads come under the care of Caleb as he investigates Kesh. All in all, the series was becoming a bit of a drag and while this was a reasonably engrossing film, especially when dealing with Kesh I found it relatively difficult to finish this book

[edwinkort · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dit verhaal speelt verder in de toekomst dan 'De oorlog van de grote scheuring'. Puc is ouder geworden, en zijn eerste vrouw is al lang geleden overleden. Hij is nu getrouwd met Miranda, de dochter van Macros. De hoofdrollen zijn echter vooral weggelegd voor hun zonen, Magus, een grote magiër, en Caleb, die geen magische geven heeft.

Er is iets vreemds aan de hand in Kesh. Nobelen worden er vermoord, en er gaan geruchten over een groep mensen die zich in de schaduw ophouden. Puc en zijn twee zoons werken samen om de geheimzinnige moordenaars (bekend als de Nachtraven) op te rollen.

In het begin loopt het boek wat langzaam, maar gaandeweg komt de vaart er in, een nieuwe personage, Bek, wordt geïntroduceerd, en hij is een interessante toevoeging.

Wat ik jammer vond, is dat de stiefzonen van Caleb, niet echt uit de verf kwamen, en we ze weinig in actie hebben gezien.

Die nieuwe Nederlandse vertaler heeft schijnbaar niet de eerdere boeken gelezen, want anders had deze vast de naam van Claudius Haviks aangehouden, in plaats van Engelse naam.

[booksfordinner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Leso Varen won't die!

[yonitdm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great intrigue I can't wait to finish the saga.

[lithicbee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book mixes the core characters from the Conclave of Shadows with a few new (but very familiar) ones, such as Tad and Zane (think Erik and Roo from the Serpentwar saga). Thankfully, Tad and Zane's training only takes up one or two chapters and is not the main focus of this book, as it was with Talon of the Silver Hawk in his eponymous book. If I seem to be comparing this book to earlier books in the grander Riftwar saga, it is because many of them share a common story: ordinary person actually has magical or superhuman powers and is trained to be a super-weapon against evil. Flight of the Nighthawks is a nice break because we finally get to see a bunch of these superhumans start to battle it out against the super bad guy, Leso Varen. The story keeps you moving along to a grand ending that makes you want to pick up the next book, Into a Dark Realm, right away.

[oogod · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As my favorite fantasy author its always a good read...I do wonder how much longer he can drag out the Pug story line.

[karlstar_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I normally like Feist's books a lot, but this one feels like some of his other books, its just the same action over and over. The good guys try to sniff out the secret cabal that is threatening the world, while thinking they are just investigating some little bad guys. Along the way they get caught not being quite prepared enough for the badness, but the major good guys survive, uncover the plot, and then proceed on to the next book to uncover more hidden bad guys. I thought it was interesting, but it felt way too much like a repeat of the books featuring Jimmy the Hand, just with different characters and a different location.

[miketheriley · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Pretty average start to a new series. Sees the return of Pug, Miranda and Nakor. Didnt really hold my interest and the characters felt a bit worn. Nakor especially seemed to be a differentcharacter from the earlier novels. Really only completed it because I had hired the three books in the series from the library

[homechicken · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was certainly an average Feist book, but nothing spectacular. There were a couple really odd errors that apparently were never caught by the editor (nice going, chump). I'll post about them later, when I have the book in front of me and I can quote it directly.Several new characters were introduced, including a nobody with an Australian accent that just walked into the story and became an important character. Lame Feist, lame. Oh, I'm sorry, he's from the other continent of Novindus. My bad. I guess they're Australian there.The plot with the Talnoy was barely advanced (oooh, they're researching the Talnoy!), but mostly it was about the evil sorceror Leso Varen. Or Sidi. Or whatever else he goes by now. This time they found his "soul jar" and smashed it, then killed Varen, but he still got away. Come on! Kill him and make a new bad guy.It seems like Feist's writing is going steadily downhill, his earlier books were so good… For example:"Servants led Kaspar and his escort through gallery after gallery, many adorned with fountains or exotic birds, until he found himself in a gigantic room, dominated by an enormous bed. The bed easily measured twelve square feet, and it sat on top of a dais in the center of the room." (p. 264)Twelve square feet? That's enormous? Twelve square feet is 3'x4', or 6'x2', neither of which I would like to sleep on. Perhaps he meant twelve feet square? Doh!On p.139, Pug says to his son Caleb at Caleb's wedding:"I'm sorry to say you only have a few days, as I need you down in Great Kesh within a week."But on p.141 Feist writes:"A heavy sadness descended upon him as he considered just how he would tell her that he and their sons would be leaving without her at first light."Ummm, okay, what happened to a few days?All right, those are my two most annoying errors anyway. It does make me wonder, though, who reviews this before it gets published?

[reading_fox · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Continuing the stroy of Leso Varen and his atrocities as defeated by Pug and his band of allies - the Conclave of Shadows. Not convincing and rambling in places this is very much setting the scene for the next in the series. A process that has been dragged out a bit too long now. Leso can change bodies - as one dies he can transfer to a new. This was a plot device a couple of books agao and is now starting to wear a bit thin. It causes Pug's team some effort to track him down again. Celeb re-appears as a key characters and this time manages to become involved with another pair of promising young lads. Also a repeated plot point of this series. The descriptive passages from tehyoung lads' viewpoint when they realise that they aren't giong to be pesants' sons anymore and have to learn lords skills are quite good. The rest of the book is average to unbelivable.The Nighthawks ofthe title are Leso's trained and deadly force of super secret killers. Who, in the style of bad movies everywhere, manage not to kill any heros even though said hero was laid most seriously low by a couple of bandits. These extremely dangerous henchmen have great difficulty even with the children! Poor plotting. Eventually Kasper and Talwin resurface in Kesh and try and unravel Leso's schemes there. Nakor tries to determine the roles of the gods in this great ame they are involved in. Although teh light fantasy style is easy reading the poor plotline didn't really help much. there is just about enough of a hook to wonder how it will all be brought to a close, but the preposterous levels of enemies and allies' powers is starting to intervene in any level of belief suspension.

[beezermn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Flight of the Nighthawks by Raymond Feist is the first book in his latest sage titled The Darkwar Saga. In order to fully appreciate the events of this book, and understand the names of countless characters that are merely mentioned, I think any reader should start at the very beginning of Feist's writing. That would mean starting with Magician: Apprentice and working your way up the story line. I realize there are a lot of books, and some better than others, but as a reader - you will get much more out of it that way. With that being said fans who have kept up with the story, many names and faces will be familiar. Mr. Feist does a good job at blending old characters, Pug, Nakor, Kaspar etc with some new characters Zane and Tad to name a few. However, even though Mr. Feist adds new character perceptive readers will realize that while the names are different, the `character' is largely the same from previous books. Zane and Tad particularly stick out, and I am almost positive other readers will agree with that. While that may, or may not (depending on your views) be the case the characters in this book do have some character development thrown in for good measure. Some characters who you would expect to progress are rather stagnant, but other characters have a flurry of development. The majority of the character development is solid, and it is quite evident that (for some characters) there are bigger and better things planned for them. Overall, I found the characters solid, is, at times, rehashed versions of previous characters. The plot of this book is clearly a larger set up for a future `big event(s)' Mr. Feist has some big things planned for these characters and allows the plot to slowly unfold. Fans of Mr. Feist will find a familiar feel to this novel. Its flow and pace are typical Feist, and I mean that in a good way. It lends itself to being an easy read, but one that also covers a lot of ground. However, much like the characters, at times this plot feels like I have read it before from Mr. Feist. There were no less than three instances where I knew what was going to happen in this novel, simply because I had read it before in a different novel from Mr. Feist. I usually don't have a problem with a slightly repeated plot, but from the same author and with the same outcome - is a bit much. There is no question that Mr. Feist is a very good author. I have enjoyed the vast majority of his books. In particular the first two books in the Riftwar Saga were simply fantastic and I would recommend them to any fan of the fantasy genre bar none. While there have been some bumps in the road to the Darkwar Saga, I would still count Mr. Feist as one of my favorite authors and I fully intend to read future books from him. Never-the-less, I feel I would be remiss if I did not express a little dissatisfaction with the rehashed plot points and the couple characters. This simply could be Feist not being able to live up to my high expectations of him. However, I think there is some validity to my minor criticisms. With that said, if you are a fan of the fantasy genre then I firmly believe you need to give Mr. Feist a shot, but as I said in the opening, start at the beginning and you will be more happy and have a fuller appreciation of his world, characters, story and just overall quality of his novels. I would still recommend this book to fans. I don't think it will disappoint even the hardened fans. There is something in it for everyone. Just make sure your expectations are tempered a little. All in all a good read.