''The Riftwar Cycle'' is the name given to the series of books authored or co-authored by Raymond E. Feist that revolve around the fantasy worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan.

The Riftwar Universe

The majority of Feist's works are part of The Riftwar Universe, and feature the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan. Human magicians and other creatures on the two planets are able to create rifts through dimensionless space that can connect planets in different solar systems. The novels and short stories of The Riftwar Universe record the adventures of various people on these worlds. ''Midkemia'' was originally created as an alternative to the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' (D&D)

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

. When Feist studied at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

, he and his friends created a new role-playing game based on their own original world of Midkemia. They called themselves the ''Thursday Nighters'', because they played the Midkemia role-playing game every Thursday evening. After some time, when the group changed and began meeting on Fridays, they became known as the ''Friday Nighters''. The original group have since formed a company called Midkemia Press, which has continued publishing campaigns set in that universe. Feist acknowledges that the Tekumel setting from M. A. R. Barker's '' Empire of the Petal Throne'' was the source for much of Kelewan. The original D&D campaign which he based his books on had an invasion of the Midkemia world by Tekumel. As a result, much of the background of Kelewan – the Tsurani Empire, the lack of metals and horses, the Cho'ja, the pantheons of 10 major and 10 minor gods – comes from Tekumel. Feist claims to have been unaware of this origin when he wrote '' Magician''.

Works

Most ''Riftwar'' novels' stories occur in chronological order following the publishing order, with a few exceptions. The Empire Trilogy starts during ''Magician'' and concludes after ''A Darkness at Sethanon''. The Riftwar Legacy occurs between the Riftwar Saga and Krondor's Sons. The Legends of the Riftwar novels occur between ''Magician'' and ''Silverthorn''. Novels are grouped into their respective series, with series ordered by the publishing date of the first novel in the series. * The Riftwar Saga *# '' Magician'' (1982), later republished in two parts in the United States as '' Magician: Apprentice'' (1986) and '' Magician: Master'' (1986) *# '' Silverthorn'' (1985) *# '' A Darkness at Sethanon'' (1986) * The Empire Trilogy *# '' Daughter of the Empire'' (1987) with Janny Wurts *# '' Servant of the Empire'' (1990) with Janny Wurts *# '' Mistress of the Empire'' (1992) with Janny Wurts * Krondor's Sons *# '' Prince of the Blood'' (1989) *# '' The King's Buccaneer'' (1992) * The Serpentwar Saga *# '' Shadow of a Dark Queen'' (1994) *# '' Rise of a Merchant Prince'' (1995) *# '' Rage of a Demon King'' (1997) *# '' Shards of a Broken Crown'' (1998) * The Riftwar Legacy – Takes place chronologically between the Riftwar Saga and Krondor's Sons *# '' Krondor: The Betrayal'' (1998) *# '' Krondor: The Assassins'' (1999) *# '' Krondor: Tear of the Gods'' (2000) *# '' Jimmy and the Crawler'' (2013) – a novella replacing the cancelled novels ''Krondor: The Crawler'' and ''Krondor: The Dark Mage''. * Legends of the Riftwar *# '' Honoured Enemy'' (2001) with

William R. Forstchen William R. Forstchen (born October 11, 1950) is an American historian and author. A Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina, he received his doctorate from Purdue University. He has published n ...

*# '' Murder in LaMut'' (2002) with Joel Rosenberg *# '' Jimmy the Hand'' (2003) with S. M. Stirling * Conclave of Shadows *# '' Talon of the Silver Hawk'' (2002) *# '' King of Foxes'' (2003) *# '' Exile's Return'' (2004) * The Darkwar Saga *# '' Flight of the Nighthawks'' (2005) *# '' Into a Dark Realm'' (2006) *# '' Wrath of a Mad God'' (2008) * The Demonwar Saga *# '' Rides a Dread Legion'' (2009) *# '' At the Gates of Darkness'' (2010) * The Chaoswar Saga *# '' A Kingdom Besieged'' (2011) *# '' A Crown Imperilled'' (2012) *# '' Magician's End'' (2013)

Short stories

*Profit and the Grey Assassin (1982) in ''Fantasy Book'' (Journal) *The Wood Boy (1998) in

Legends A legend is a historical narrative, a symbolic representation of folk belief. Legend(s) or The Legend(s) may also refer to: Narrative * A fictitious identity used in espionage Books, comic books, and theater * ''Legend'' (Gemmell novel), a 1 ...

*The Messenger (short story) (2003) in Legends II

Other media

The videogames ''

Betrayal at Krondor ''Betrayal at Krondor'' is an MS-DOS-based role-playing video game developed by Dynamix and released by Sierra Entertainment, Sierra On-Line in the summer of 1993 in video gaming, 1993. ''Betrayal at Krondor'' takes place largely in Midkemia, the ...

'' and ''

Return to Krondor ''Return to Krondor'' is a role-playing video game set in Raymond Feist's fictional fantasy setting of Midkemia. A sequel to 1993's ''Betrayal at Krondor'', it was released for Windows on the PC in time for the 1998 Thanksgiving and Christmas s ...

'' were developed with input from Feist and take place during the Riftwar cycle, their stories were also novelized by Feist as part of his Riftwar Legacy books. On February 2, 2022, Six Studios, a production company started by Jeff Huang and Carl Choi, announced it would develop the first six books in The Riftwar Cycle into a TV series.

Hannah Friedman Hannah Friedman is an American writer, producer, musician and director. She is known for writing and producing roles in film and television, including projects with ABS, Amazon, CBS, Comedy Central, Conaco, Disney, DreamWorks, Hasbro, Imagine, ...

, Jacob Pinion and

Nick Bernardone Nick Bernardone is an American writer, producer and director from Syracuse, NY. His credits include ''Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'', ''30 Rock'', ''Marvel's Wastelanders'', '' The Walking Dead'' and ''Fear the Walking Dead''. Nick has been nomin ...

are attached to write.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riftwar Cycle, The High fantasy novels Works by Raymond E. Feist