Silverthorn first edition cover
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Author | Raymond E. Feist |
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Cover artist | Kinuko Y. Craft |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | The Riftwar Saga |
Genre | Fantasy novel |
Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date
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May 7, 1985 |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Pages | 352 pp (first edition) |
ISBN | |
OCLC | 10301472 |
813/.54 19 | |
LC Class | PS3556.E446 S5 1985 |
Preceded by | Magician |
Followed by | A Darkness at Sethanon |
Silverthorn is a novel by Raymond E. Feist, the sequel to Magician. Released in 1985, it was followed by A Darkness at Sethanon, the final book in The Riftwar Saga.
A year after his brother Lyam's coronation as king, Arutha returns to his city as the new Prince of Krondor, to begin plans for his wedding. Jimmy the Hand, a young thief, foils an assassination attempt on the prince by a fellow thief, and feeling loyalty toward the prince from previously aiding his escape from the city with Princess Anita (in Magician), he chooses to warn the prince of the attempt on his life instead of reporting the traitor to the Mockers, Krondor's powerful and highly organized guild of thieves. Arutha seeks the Mockers' cooperation to obtain more information on the assassins, and at their request, makes Jimmy a squire of his court. Setting a trap, they capture two agents, who are revealed to be operating out of the temple of Lims-Kragma, Goddess of Death, one of whom is a moredhel whose appearance has been altered. During interrogation, both prisoners will themselves to death rather than divulge their plans. As the High Priestess of Lims-Kragma seeks the truth by bringing them back from beyond the grave, one of the prisoners rises by the power of an unknown enemy, and attacks his captors, slaughtering many royal guards, and addressing Arutha as "Lord of the West" before being destroyed by Father Nathan, a priest of Sung.
Injured in the attack, the High Priestess warns Arutha that the forces which opposed him were so powerful that they held the gods in contempt. Arutha leads a strike on the assassins' hideout in Krondor, but even as the assault appears to be going in their favor, the assassins begin rising from the dead and renewing their attack. Many of Arutha's men are slain, and the Black Slayers are only defeated when the entire building is burned to the ground. Believing the threat to be over for the time being, Arutha proceeds with his wedding. Just before the ceremony, Jimmy senses something is wrong, and finds the same assassin from the first attempt on Arutha's life hiding on the roof. He manages to disrupt the assassin just as he is firing at Arutha, but the poisoned bolt strikes Anita instead. The assassin is interrogated, and reveals the enemy to be Murmandamus, a moredhel chieftain and powerful sorcerer. According to a prophecy, Arutha is the only force that stands in the way of Murmandamus's total destruction of the Kingdom and domination over the realm. The assassin also reveals that the poison was given to him by a moredhel agent, who called it "silverthorn".