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Summary
Summary
Phil Hastings was a lucky man-he had money, a growing reputation as a screenwriter, a happy, loving family with three kids, and he'd just moved into the house of his dreams in rural of magic-and about to be altered irrevocably by a magic more real than any he dared imagine. For with the Magic came the Bad Thing, and the Faerie, and then the cool. . .and the resurrection of a primordial war with a forgotten people-a war that not only the Hastings but the whole human race could lose. From the Paperback edition.
Author Notes
Fantasy writer Raymond E. Feist was born in Southern California. He received a B.A. in Communication Arts with honors from the University of California at San Diego in 1977.
His first novel, Magician, published in 1982 is the first book of The Riftwar Saga. His other series include The Serpentwar Saga, The Empire Trilogy, The Riftwar Legacy, Krondor's Sons, Legends of the Riftwar, Conclave of Shadows, Darkwar Saga, Chaoswar Saga, Demonwar Saga, and The Firemane Saga.
Feist's work appears regularly on the bestseller lists of The New York Times and The Times of London. He has also worked with Sierra Studios and PyroTechnix to produce a role-playing game.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Feist, author of the popular Magician fantasy trilogy, turns to the horror genre in this slick, only partially successful novel of a very modern family newly settled into a house on the edge of an enchanted woods. Each member of the familyretired actress Gloria Hastings, her novelist and screenwriter husband Phil, his teenage daughter by a previous marriage, their twin eight-year-old boys, and a dog and a catis touched in some way by ``the Bad Thing,'' as the boys call it, which turns out to be a forest spirit out of ancient folklore. Feist builds atmosphere with intimations of the supernatural that soon escalate into outright violence. It is the boys who most clearly perceive the Bad Thing, and who eventually confront and defeat it. While the plot has some intriguing features, the book is afflicted by a superficiality of characterization and a flat, uninteresting style. 150,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; BOMC and QPBC selections. (March) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Backed by an extensive promo campaign, Feist leaps from epic fantasy (the Riftwar trilogy) to the dark fantastic with a robust and engrossing tale of Irish folk critters on the loose in rural N.Y. Feist offers a classic horror setup as the model Hastings family (top-author Dad; homemaker step-Mom; teen daughter Gabbie; eight-year-old twins Sean and Patrick) settle from California into the isolated Kessler farm. Idyll soon churns into nightmare as a host of creatures from Celtic legend menaces the children. The twins are stalked by ""The Bad Thing""--a pint-sized goblinesque being that ""shudders in dark anticipation"" of causing pain--while Gabble, who's romancing local boy Jack Cole, finds her carnality inflamed by muscular mythic blacksmith Wayland Smith and then violated in a near-rape by the legendary Puck himself. Meanwhile, occult scholar Mark Blackman befriends the family while tracing links between old man Kessler and a breakout of occult mania in 1903 Germany. Oddness multiplies--leprechauns, fairies, and other twinklies appear; the Hastings find a horde of gold on their property--and culminates in the kidnapping of Patrick. it seems, Blackman finally lets on, that this all is, as in 1903, a periodic appearance of the ""Good People""; but the Hastings' finding the gold has broken an ancient pact between humanity and fairies--monitored by an order of Magi, of whom Kesser was one--and made possible a coup d'État in the fairy kingdom--with Patrick a captive of the evil Fool and a pawn in the power struggle. Blackman and Dad rush to save Patrick, but they're beaten to the punch by Sean, who with guidance from an old Irishman sets off on an quest into the fairy lands to save his twin. Too diffuse to grip fully (only Sean's final quest, with its unifying hero and goal, soars) and too weak in its villains really to scare; still, Feist milks his characters and material with energy and flair, creating a believable and memorable fantasy backdrop to doings that always entertain even if they rarely astonish. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Californians Gloria and Philip Hastings migrate to upstate New York to live in an old farmhouse near a stretch of virgin forest. The three Hastings children are soon caught up in a love-hate relationship with Celtic creatures of mythology that inhabit the dark and mysterious wood. An oft-told tale of a new family in a haunted house/land, this better-than-average dark fantasy novel features solid writing, strong development of both human and nonhuman characters, and a well-realized sense of geography. A tantalizing sense of foreboding permeates the novel and makes it highly readable. By the author of Magician , this is recommended for middle-sized and larger public libraries. BOMC featured selection. James B. Hemesath, Adams State Coll. Lib., Alamosa, Col. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.