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Read Jimmy The Hand (2015)

Jimmy the Hand (2015)

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Rating
3.9 of 5 Votes: 1
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ISBN
0006483909 (ISBN13: 9780006483908)
Language
English
Publisher
voyager

Jimmy The Hand (2015) - Plot & Excerpts

Jimmy the Hand is the third Rift war collaboration book (outside the Janny Wurts Empire series) that Feist wrote with different authors. This time the author is S. M. Sterling. Sterling is the author of Dies the Fire, the only other book I’ve read penned by him.Overall, Jimmy the Hand is an OK read. I wouldn’t recommend it to friends, but I wouldn’t slap it out of their hands if they picked it up to read it either.I thought the book would revolve chiefly around the exploits of Jimmy the Hand and starts out as such, but Jimmy seems to lose favor with Sterling about a third of the way through when new characters are introduced and the story moves from Jimmy’s exploits to those of Laurie, Bram, and her brother Rip. There’s a witch hunter in here somewhere, but I forget his name—Ahh, Jarvis Coe (had to look it up), which is sad because Coe is a very interesting and new character in the Feist universe that hasn’t been explored before. I’d read an entire series on him if Feist decides to follow up on that some day.There are parts that are written well enough, but these are overshadowed by those that are not. The biggest problem is the children protagonists. As many authors and readers know, writing a book with children in adult settings is difficult. Often the kids either act too old for their age, or act their age and the story doesn’t progress because they are children trying to do adult work. That’s the issue with Jimmy the Hand, both issues actually. Sterling develops some of the children as older than they are, or younger than they are, or older than they are and unable to think as an adult would, or older than they are and thinking better than most adults would. This story telling could work, but at least stick with one characterization and develop it more. Don’t have a child older than his years design a successful physical confrontation with a man, and later describe how just month before he put itching powder in someone’s underwear. I don’t know any adults how flop between mature and immature, let alone any children. Unlike Sterling, Feist has a knack of rendering younger characters as viable players in adult-driven stories. Feist doesn’t force his young actors into a role they are unfit to play outside the boundaries of their age limitations. This is lacking in this story.At times it feels as if Rip was put in the story as a simple prop needed to propel the characters and the plot forward. His involvement has something to do with a strange power to sense family members, but this power is never explained nor fully developed. Neither is it fully developed as to why these powers are important to the baron, nor is there an explanation or development of how the baron knows the children he’s captured have different powers; such as Neesa. It reads more like Sterling is telling the reader that the magician did it.Feist isn’t the world’s greatest writer, in regards to thought-provoking stories, but his works are entertaining and this entertainment is what draws readers in and keeps them fans for life. I believe Feist is OK with that, I know I’d be if I could write as he. Sterling, on the other hand, misses the mark with this one, just as he did with Dies the Fire.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:The third novel of Feist's successful collaborative series. From the endlessly inventive mind of one of fantasy's all time greats, comes a spellbinding new adventure of high magic, treachery and bloody war. This time in conjunction with master of alternative US history, Steve Stirling, Feist returns to tell the full tale of one of his fans' favourite most colourful Riftwar characters, pickpocket, montebank and confidence trickster Jimmy the Hand. Jimmy the Hand, boy thief of Krondor, lived in the shadows of the city. The sewers were his byways and a flea-ridden, rat infested cellar his home. Gifted beyond his peers, he was still but a nimble street urchin, a pickpocket with potential. Until the day he met Prince Arutha. Aiding the Prince in his rescue of Princess Anita from imprisonment by Duke Guy du Bas-Tyra, Jimmy ran afoul of Black Guy's secret police. Fearing reprisal and seeking an opportunity to advance his place in life, Jimmy fled the city and ventured north to the relatively safe haven of Sarth. Suspecting the rural villagers had never encountered a lad with his talent and nose for finding wealth -- other people's wealth, Jimmy was unprepared for what greeted him. For Sarth was home to others who trod the dodgy path, and more, to a darker secret, a dangerous presence unknown to even the local thieves and smugglers. Jimmy's youthful bravado and courage plunge him deep into the maw of chaos and death.

What do You think about Jimmy The Hand (2015)?

I so desperately want to give this a 5, as I loved it that much, but there are a couple of minor niggles that make it hard to do so. But, I will explain those later.First of all, it appears that I am biased, or perhaps unbiased, in the fact that I haven't read the main series yet - my introduction to Feist has been through the Legends series, so I don't have the familiarity with characters like Jimmy the Hand, who others have seen later on in his life in other books.But, for me, it wasn't a bad place to start, as there are no spoilers of what's to come. And I did absolutely love both the story and the writing. It took me about 10 pages to get into it properly, but once I did I felt like the story flowed.But, for the negative side of things... Firstly, the description on the back cover (the generic one that's used for this edition is similar enough to give you an idea), it doesn't really seem accurate. Normally I expect to read a book and get to a certain point where there's an "aha!" moment when the description comes to life within the story. In this book, that never happened. For one thing, Sarth isn't mentioned at all. In fact, he headed in entirely the opposite direction! With Sarth in mind as I read it, looking out for that as a reference and it not coming, it was rather odd.The only other thing that really annoyed me was in a couple of places where references and descriptions seemed vague, too vague to completely follow or understand without rereading that part and having a fuller explanation later on. It is written with plenty of information for those who haven't read the main series, so that is not what I'm referring to. I'm referring to minor "plot holes" I guess, but not even that drastic as everything was explained in the end. There were just a few, "huh?" places, where I didn't really understand what was going on.The latter is a relatively minor niggle compared to the former, and I guess it might be one of the down sides of how he chose to write his collaborative books. The former is just... Totally wrong. Getting a place name wrong like that just doesn't make sense at all.Anyway, all that aside, there were a couple of really comical moments that left me in stitches as much as the characters seemed to be, (view spoiler)[like with the guards and the pinecones...! (hide spoiler)]
—Susie

This book was the best in the Legends of the Riftwar series...but I am a little biased since Jimmy is one of my favorite characters. However, this one felt like I was reading an adventure instead of a long and drawn-out story of other characters I honestly did not care for in the predecessors. The chemistry between Fiora and Jimmy was interesting to read, but I still wish she was mentioned in the previous books that take place after these events. It seems like it is just an internal story even though it led Jimmy to return to Krondor.Jimmy was also an enjoyable character. I liked how the book took place after the events of rescuing Arutha but before he was given any titles. This shows a different attitude of Jimmy like when he contemplates helping Lorrie find Rip. Despite being almost impossible to find where I am at, I eventually got ahold of a copy and enjoyed the nice read.
—Nicholas Burress

Raymond Feist is my favorite fantasy writer and his character Jimmy The Hand is one of my TOP 5 characters not only in his books, but like ever. So a book just for him is like paradise for me.I think that everyone who reads Feist and read this book, can see the difference in the writing style and the way the story is presented because of Sterling. The book gives you an entirely different view on Jimmy's character and it's really different than the rest books by Feist. Instead of a huge wild war, we have a smaller adventure after the events at The Magician #2 of Riftwar Cycle. The story is not as impressive, but it is an easy read that can be read fast.Jimmy is a young boy here, before he starts being awesome. It's funny because i never payed attention to him at that age at the rest books so it was a little difficult to connect with him. I like how honorable and a good man can be for a thief. I certainly didn't enjoy his character as much as the other books. He seems way more complex and interesting in the rest series while here, he is a simple character that doesn't stay at your mind at the of book. If he wasn't Jimmy, i would have forget all about him.Still i quite enjoyed the book. It's one of the optional books written for the series of Feist. Certainly not as good as King's Buccaneer or Princes Blood but good enough. I have some of the rest optional books already at my shelves waiting to be read. I hope to do it soon.
—Splash Of Our Worlds *Yiota*

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