Darkwar Saga Books in Order

The Darkwar Saga pushes the Riftwar story beyond familiar continents and into another plane of reality altogether. Where earlier wars were fought between neighboring worlds, this conflict involves the Dasati—an alien civilization from a lower, harsher plane whose idea of normal makes even Midkemia’s worst tyrants look tame.

The opening volume, Flight of the Nighthawks, begins in relatively familiar territory. The necromancer Leso Varen has survived previous defeats and is working through new bodies and proxies. The Conclave of Shadows, still led by Pug, must untangle plots in the vast Empire of Great Kesh, where assassins known as the Nighthawks are killing nobles and sowing chaos. At the same time, young troublemakers Tad and Zane, and their streetwise friend Jommy, stumble into Conclave business and begin their own training.

As the saga moves into Into a Dark Realm, the scale changes. Pug, Magnus, Nakor and the violent enigma Ralan Bek embark on a journey across planes, through staging worlds and strange societies, toward the Dasati home realm. That realm exists on what characters call the Second Plane, a place so steeped in violence and oppression that its people have built an entire culture around serving a Dark God. Along the way, Feist alternates between the Conclave’s point of view and that of Valko, a young Dasati warrior slowly realizing that not everyone in his world serves darkness willingly.

Wrath of a Mad God brings the threads together. Leso Varen’s schemes are revealed to be tied to a godlike entity whose hunger threatens not just Midkemia but entire planes of existence. Pug and his allies must work with the Dasati resistance, the mysterious “White,” and gods who don’t always agree with one another to prevent annihilation on a scale no previous Riftwar has approached.

The Darkwar books blend epic fantasy with almost science‑fictional world‑hopping. Demons, soul‑filled constructs like the Talnoy and plane‑shifting gods sit alongside court politics, family drama and the coming‑of‑age arcs of Tad, Zane and Jommy. The mood can be bleak—many of the places visited are cruel by design—but there’s a persistent thread of defiance and oddball humor, often carried by Nakor.

For readers following Feist’s work in order, this saga marks the point where hints about “other planes” and deeper enemies finally come into focus. It sets up both the Demonwar and the final Chaoswar, while giving long‑time characters new challenges that can’t be solved by simply closing a rift or winning a single battle.

If you’re interested in seeing how far the Midkemia stories can stretch without losing their core, Darkwar is essential reading.