Talon of the Silver Hawk

In the first book of the Conclave of Shadows we met Talon of the Silver Hawk, (and hence the name of the first book) an Orosini boy who lost his whole village to the murderous machinations of the Duke of Olasko. He was rescued and trained to become the ultimate spy. Now he must use the opportunities gained in the last book to earn Olasko's trust so that he can help the Conclave figure out Olasko's larger schemes. Forced to swear fealty to the very man who ordered the slaughter of his people, Tal Hawkins must carry out some fairly horrible missions and bide his time until Olasko betrays him and frees him from his oath. The time is not long in coming, and soon Tal finds himself a prisoner on the island Fortress of Despair.

I rather liked the last book, but it was more preparation than action in some ways. This book is all about action and is really exciting as well as interesting. Court politics, daring escape plans and even more daring invasion plans make this book fly by. Like in the last book, you can delight in meeting some old faces, such as Pug, who was the star of the very first Feist book I ever read.

It's not all adventure, though. Tal is faced with some genuine moral dilemmas. In general, when you have a fantasy/revenge adventure and you go along with the hero, you generally feel justified in everything he does. The people deserve to die for what they've done. Feist doesn't make it that easy for Tal, and while his actions against Raven in the last book are re-justified in this book, he finds himself having a hard time once in awhile. Sometimes he gets kind of close to almost liking or maybe admiring Olasko, and events in the book will force him into an unlikely partnership with the last of the three he is sworn to kill. This, along with the other things he struggles with that go against the teachings of his people, make for some thought provoking scenes. It's hard not to like him, because we understand exactly where he's coming from and exactly where he's trying to go. Even when he does things that are questionable, we stick by him because he's worked so hard to get where he is.

As I intimated in the last sentence, the bad guys are not really all black in this story. Quint comes across well as a career soldier who follows even when he shouldn't, and Olasko has the same sort of charm that I'm sure the Medici or Borgia displayed...and the same ruthlessness.

Despite my wishes to the contrary, this second book seems to really tie everything up for these characters. But it's the sort of offering that you want more of... I'd love to spend more time with Magnus and Caleb, who we barely, if at all, saw in this book, and I hope to explore more of the Conclave proper. If nothing else, Feist has proven that this world has many, many stories left to tell.