TheWell Bookshop

Series · fantasy

Legends of the Riftwar

by Raymond E. Feist

The Legends of the Riftwar series by Raymond E. Feist has 3 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Honoured Enemy (2001).

Books
3 books
First published
2001
Status
completed
Last checked

Start here: Honoured Enemy (2001) — then read straight through in publication order.

Cover of Honoured Enemy, the first book in Legends of the Riftwar

Reading order

The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.

  1. Honoured Enemy

    Novel

    View book

  2. Murder in LaMut

    Novel

    View book

  3. Jimmy the Hand

    Novel

    View book

About the Legends of the Riftwar series

Legends of the Riftwar is a trilogy of standalone side-adventures set during the original Riftwar, each one co-written with a different collaborator and following a different cast of soldiers and mercenaries caught up in the war's margins. Honoured Enemy (with William R. Forstchen) strands a Kingdom patrol and their Tsurani prisoner behind enemy lines in a brutal winter survival story; Murder in LaMut (with Joel Rosenberg) is a fantasy whodunit set in a besieged garrison town; Jimmy the Hand (with S. M. Stirling) sends a young Jimmy the Hand -- not yet the polished courtier of later books -- on a rescue mission through the city of Krondor's underworld.

Published between 2001 and 2003, the three novels aren't sequential chapters of one story; each is a fully separate, standalone adventure loosely tied together only by sharing the Riftwar's timeframe and occasionally overlapping characters. They function as side-quests for the main Riftwar Cycle rather than required reading, giving Feist's regular collaborators a chance to put their own stamp on Midkemia. Readers who've finished the Riftwar Saga and want more from that specific era, without committing to another multi-book saga, are the natural audience.

How to read this series

There's no fixed reading order -- the three books are standalone stories set during the same war rather than a continuous plot -- though publication order (Honoured Enemy, Murder in LaMut, Jimmy the Hand) is the conventional way they're packaged and sold. Come to this trilogy after the Riftwar Saga; it's set during that war's events and assumes you know the basic conflict, though none of the three require having read Krondor's Sons or the later sagas.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in Legends of the Riftwar?

Three: Honoured Enemy (2001), Murder in LaMut (2002), and Jimmy the Hand (2003).

What order should I read Legends of the Riftwar in?

There's no required order -- each is a standalone story set during the Riftwar -- but they're typically read in publication order.

Why does each book have a different co-author?

Feist paired with a different collaborator for each entry: William R. Forstchen, Joel Rosenberg, and S. M. Stirling.

Do I need to read the Riftwar Saga first?

Yes -- these three novels are set during that war and assume you know its basic events.

Are these books connected to each other?

Loosely -- they share the Riftwar's timeframe and setting but follow different casts and standalone plots.

Reading order last verified .