• MAGICIAN: APPRENTICE begins with two apprentice boys, Pug and Tomas, who live in the town of Crydee on the far coast of the enormous Kingdom of the Isles. Pug and Tomas are unexpectedly thrust into the center of great events when they make first contact with a man from another world, and alert their lord the Duke of Crydee to the presence of invaders in his lands. The invaders have come from the distant world of Tsuranuanni by means of a magical "rift" in space. Their goal is to conquer as much of Midkemia as possible, partly because they need its resources, but partly because they are a warrior people and conquest is what they do. Pug and Tomas then join the Duke in a journey to the Kingdom's western capital city of Krondor, in search of aid for the war against the Tsurani. Along the way, Tomas befriends a dying dragon, who gives him magical weapons and armor. Meanwhile, Pug is slowly learning his own destiny as a magician of unusual power and skills. This was Feist's first-ever novel. It's not as well-written as later books in the series, and the origins of Midkemia as a fantasy role-playing milieu are obvious, but it's still a very good read for all that.

• MAGICIAN: MASTER continues the story where MAGICIAN: APPRENTICE leaves off. While Pug rises from slave to master magician on the alien world of Tsuranuanni, Tomas uses his magic weapons and armor in the war against the invading Tsurani. In the process Tomas finds that the weapons are using him as much as he is using them, transforming him into an avatar for the power of Ashen-Shugar, a member of the long-dead race of demigods called the Valheru. Meanwhile, Arutha, the son of the Duke of Crydee, seeks to get more troops and aid for his father from the King of Isles. To his dismay, he finds that the monarch is on the edge of madness and real power has fallen to the rogue lord Black Guy of Rillanon, who may be plotting civil war.

• SILVERTHORN picks up the story several years after the war between the Kingdom and the Tsurani was ended in a failed parley and the destruction of the rift that provided passage between the two worlds. A mysterious warchief named Murmandamus has appeared and is working to unite the moredhel ("dark elves") into an army powerful enough to destroy the Kingdom. As one of his first steps, he seeks to fulfill an ancient prophecy by killing "the Lord of the West," Prince Arutha of Krondor. However, the assassination misfires and instead leaves Arutha's bride Anita fatally injured by a poisoned crossbow bolt. While a spell woven by the mage Pug preserves Anita's life, Arutha undertakes a desperate mission to find a cure for the poison. He is dogged in his mission by more assassins and other attacks sent by Murmandamus.
  
• A DARKNESS AT SETHANON completes the Riftwar Saga with the story of Murmandamus and his war on the Western Kingdom: what he is, what he wants, and how it ties into the Riftwar, the world of Tsuranuanni, and Tomas's ancient power.

PRINCE OF THE BLOOD is a stand-alone novel set twenty years after the end of the Riftwar. Borric and Erland, eighteen-year-old twin sons of Prince Arutha, undertake a mission to the court of Great Kesh, the vast empire that forms the Kingdom's southern border. In the process, they run afoul of bandits and political intrigues which nearly kill both of them and do kill several of their companions. I personally think this is the weakest of the Midkemia books. I don't think that should stop you from reading it, but I wouldn't be expecting too much from it either. In its favor, it does advance the ongoing story arc, and it revisits old characters and introduces some new ones all of whom play vital roles in later books, such as James the thief-turned-noble, Pug the master mage, and the strange maybe-wizard named Nakor the Blue Rider.

The series starts moving again with THE KING'S BUCCANEER. Nicholas, youngest son of Prince Arutha, is sent to Arutha's homeland of Crydee for experience and in the hope it will cure Nicholas of a dangerous overcaution that Arutha has seen in him. Only a few weeks later, Crydee is attacked and nearly destroyed by mysterious enemies from across the sea. Nicholas leads an expedition in pursuit of the bandits and the captives they took. The pursuit leads to the distant land of Novindus, which no Kingdom man has ever seen before, and into the lair of an evil sorcerer of amazing power. This is a self-contained story which also acts as a prelude to the Serpentwar Saga, the second major epic in the Midkemia story.

The Serpentwar Saga tells of the rise of a new power in Novindus, and its development into a gigantic attack against the Kingdom of the Isles. The story involves several familiar characters from the Riftwar Saga, and several new ones as well.

• In SHADOW OF A DARK QUEEN, two friends named Erik von Darkmoor and Rupert "Roo" Avery find themselves drafted into a small company of desperate men being sent to Novindus, to join the army that is conquering that land, and hopefully to learn who leads the army and what its ultimate goal is. They are led by Calis, the part-human, part-elf, part-Valheru son of Tomas called Ashen-Shugar and Aglaranna the Queen of Elvandar. Also along for the ride is the curious man named Nakor, who is part con-man, part Fool, and a magician with knowledge and power to rival Pug's. They learn far more than they expected: that the conquering army is led by a witch named the Emerald Queen, and that she is conquering Novindus in order to turn that whole continent into a base for a massive invasion of the Kingdom.

• RISE OF A MERCHANT PRINCE follows Erik and Roo after their return from Novindus to the Kingdom. While Erik stays in the army and rises steadily in skill, experience, and rank, Roo sets about becoming a rich merchant. In the process, he runs afoul of enemies more dangerous than any he faced on Novindus. While Roo fights for his property and his life, Erik and Calis return to Novindus, where they find that an old, old enemy, the Pantathian serpent people, are behind the Emerald Queen's army and power. They also find that there's a third player in this lethal game, a demonic power based far beyond Midkemia.

• In RAGE OF A DEMON KING, Erik, Roo, Nakor, Pug, Prince Nicholas, and many other characters from throughout the entire Midkemia series come together in the final defense of the Kingdom against the army of the Emerald Queen. In doing so, they find that the enemy army is no longer led by the Emerald Queen. Instead, it's been taken over by a powerful demon who seeks the same Valheru artifact that Murmandamus attempted to seize so many years before. While Erik and James lead the final defense of the Kingdom against the demon-led army, Pug, Macros, Nakor, and Miranda combine their wizardly talents in an attempt to defeat the demons at their source.

• SHARDS OF A BROKEN CROWN is a 'wrap it all up to mail' book, more or less. The great invasion has been beaten off, but at a staggering cost. The remnants of the army from Novindus occupy part of the Western Kingdom and dig in there, while Erik and the Kingdom commanders make plans to rebuild the destroyed city of Krondor and either destroy or conquer the invaders. Meanwhile, Pug and his fellow wizards Miranda and Nakor seek to understand and counter a force of dark magic that is still aiding the enemy army, even after the deaths of both the Emerald Queen and the demon who took her place.

KRONDOR: THE BETRAYAL is a novel based on the storyline of the computer game Betrayal at Krondor. The game was very good; the novel is less good, but still a worthwhile read. Several familiar Riftwar characters, mainly Squire Locklear and Squire James, aka Jimmy the Hand, find themselves involved in a plot by the moredhel chieftain named Delekhan to assemble an army and attack the Kingdom. Delekhan seeks to rescue Murmandamus and seize the secret hidden within the abandoned city of Sethanon. He is aided by six mysterious magicians and opposed by a renegade moredhel named Gorath. The novel's origin as a game shows, but not badly so -- since Midkemia originated as a world for fantasy role-playing games, a novel based on an RPG storyline isn't as out of place here as you might think.

Second in the Riftwar Legacy is KRONDOR: THE ASSASSINS. Set immediately after KRONDOR: THE BETRAYAL, it continues the story arc that the previous novel set in motion. William, son of Pug and soldier of the King, joins Squire James in tracing the secret of the renegade thief-lord known as the Crawler. The trail leads the two men to a complex plot of dark magic and darker goals, based in an abandoned Keshian fortress south of Krondor.

The Riftwar Legacy series ends with Book 3, KRONDOR: TEAR OF THE GODS, which is based on the second Krondor computer game, Return to Krondor. The newly appointed Court Mage for Prince Arutha turns out to be a beautiful young Keshian woman named Jazhara. Her arrival in Krondor coincides with still another magical plot against the Kingdom, this one led by a mysterious magician and a berserker pirate. The pirate Bear attacked and sank a ship that carried a vital artifact called the Tear of the Gods. Squire James, William, Jazhara, a warrior-priest named Solon, and an inexperienced mage named Kendaric must retrieve the Tear while unraveling the dark magic that protects Bear and seeks to seize the Tear for its own ends.