King of Foxes is the second novel in the Conclave of Shadows series from bestselling fantasy author Raymond E. Feist. It continues the adventures of Tal Hawkins and his quest to avenge the deaths of his people at the hands of a bloodthirsty and powerful Duke. Fantasy fans will surely enjoy this series.

I liked the first book, Talon of the Silver Hawk, even though it was somewhat predictable. Author Raymond E. Feist has created in Tal a solid and likable character who is neither too strong nor too weak, and his plight deserves empathy. Tal is the sole survivor of an attack that wiped out his entire clan, and he gets in with some wizards to help him get back at the people who did it. In order for this to work, Tal must con his way into their inner circles and actually befriend the people who he means to kill.

In this book, Tal is working up a scheme to befriend and eventually kill the Duke who led the attack on his people. The story has much more intrigue than action, and Tal ends up doing a little soul-searching in the process since it is obviously tough to get friendly with someone you so badly wish dead. At one point early on in the story, Tal actually saves the Duke's life because the time wasn't right. This got him closer to the Duke than before, which ultimately worked to his benefit.

I thought the author wrote a more interesting and less predictable novel with this book than with the first one. Toward the end of this novel, it starts heading off in a direction that I would never have foreseen after reading the first book. I really enjoyed the couple of surprises that come later on in the story, though some events could have been given more time to play out.

There was one part where Tal is faced with an obstacle that should have been nearly impossible to overcome, but it played out so quickly that I found it to be somewhat hokey. A friend who also read this book didn't like that part, either. Why put the character through something so debilitating and then resolve the matter just a couple of chapters later? You'll know what I mean when you read this book.

This series is set in a fantasy world with magic users and a few monsters. Whereas the first book had only a little magic and some mention of monsters, this book features a bunch of magic use and spells. There's one big battle involving a dark wizard that was pretty cool in some of the surprises it brought forth. It seemed to me that the author decided to have a little fun with the setting he has created, and it helped to enrich the story even more.

Because it is the middle part of a series, King of Foxes ends on a cliffhanger. It seems like the focus of the storyline is waning away from Tal, but that will have to be explored in the next novel, Exile's Return.

Recommended: Yes