has a number of children but at the same time starts an affair with Sylvia Esterbrook, a callous but beautiful woman who seduces Roo under the orders of her father and Roo's Principal business rival Jacob Esterbrook. Near the end of the book, we follow the war more closely, as Miranda, Calis, Erik, and their squad find that there is a "third player" at work—someone is already slaughtering the Pantathians. It turns out to be a demon. This greatly aids their quest, as it is a tremendous distraction to the Serpents. As they delve deeper into the mountain they find that the Pantathians have used thousands of human sacrifices to infuse life force into a gem as a "key" to open the Lifestone. But Calis discovers something unexpected—the Key is not what it appears. Nor are the Dragon Lord artifacts they find. Something has contaminated them. Miranda brings the Key and a Dragon Lord helmet to Elvandar, where Pug, Tomas, and the Spellweavers attempt to discern its use. Erik tosses the rest of the artifacts into lava, which releases tremendous energy. He, Calis, and a small squad escape the mountains, but their way home is lost. They are eventually rescued by Nakor and Roo, who decided to sail to Novindus to save them. The book ends with many unanswered questions: who is the "third party" at work? how were the artifacts corrupted and why? is another force after the Lifestone? are demons somehow involved, fooling the Pantathians? Reception Dean Evans reviewed Rise of a Merchant Prince for Arcane magazine, rating it a 7 out of 10 overall. Evans comments that "the book is excellently written but, like an old car on a winter's morn, it takes a while to get going. But when Feist does eventually get into his narrative stride, he writes with a colourful verbosity. I'm a sucker for his sagas and this one is far from the expected gap-filling potboiler. All in all, it's a great read." Reviews Review by Carolyn Cushman (1995) in Locus, #416 September 1995 Review by Jon Wallace (1954 -) (1996) in Vector 188 Review by Alan Fraser (1996) in Vector 189 Review by Don D'Ammassa (1997) in Science Fiction Chronicle, #192 June 1997 References 1995 novels 1995 fantasy novels American fantasy novels Voyager Books books Novels by Raymond E. Feist