Friday, June 6, 2008

Thorny Situations

Silverthorn by Raymond E. Feist
The next book in the Riftwar saga, by Raymond E. Feist is Silverthorn. Nifty name, huh?

This book introduces us more to Prince Arutha. We saw a bit of him in the Magician books, but this is a whole book dedicated to just him. Which was fine with me, because when reading Magician, I was half in love with Arutha.

He just seemed, I don't know ... so dashing. Young, handsome, with dark hair, a great swordsman, and a tendency to "brood" upon heavy matters.

Unfortunately for me (fortunately for husband splorp!), Arutha is only a character, so I couldn't get too attached to him.

Anyway, in Silverthorn, Arutha is about to marry the woman he loves, the Princess Anita. Technically she's a distant cousin, but you know how these royals are, they all inter-marry so the powerful positions stay in the family.

So, Arutha and Anita are about to be married, when the young thief, Jimmy the Hand, saves Arutha from being assassinated, but causes the assassin's crossbow bolt to hit Anita instead. But, uh-oh! Not only was she shot, the crossbow bolt was poisoned with a strange exotic poison. Enter the magician from Magician, and Anita is semi-saved. Basically she's frozen in time, so Arutha has time to find the antidote and save her.

Arutha was a great deal of fun, but we also got to learn more about Jimmy the Hand, a character who was only barely touched upon in the Magician books.

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