I decided I’m going to give my thoughts on the books I have read recently, whether they be new books or books I’m re-reading. I will warn of spoilers so if you are reading the books yourself and don’t like the plot spoilt, do stop then.
I am a finicky but voracious reader and my genre of choice is Fantasy. I am however, usually loathe to read fantasy by authors I’m unfamiliar with because of a few reasons. Fantasy books tend to come in a series and if you don’t get it all at one go, you might have to wait months to find the next book. If you buy the whole series at one go, you risk it being a boring read and an unknown writer is an unknown risk to take.
So, when I first picked up the Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan at a book sale, I did not know what to expect. You see, the cover of the books by Orbit did not appeal to me. They look scary 
and I loathe scary because I have a hyperactive imagination.
Still, it was a book sale and it was only RM10 and I could not find any of the other 2 books in the sale so on a whim I got it. Ah! Big mistake! It turned out to be GOOD and I had to scour the bookstores for the remaining 2 books in the series – I hit 3 MPH bookstores before I got the whole set by the same publisher so I’d have matching covers – I’m anal that way
When I read the Magician’s Guild (Book 1 of the Black Magician Trilogy) I had no expectations. So, I took my time reading a few pages a night until I was done. This was not so with the Novice (Book 2) and The High Lord (Book 3). I took 2 nights to read the Novice (staying up till 5am to finish it) and I devoured The High Lord in one sitting!
Gist of the Black Magician Trilogy
Magician’s Guild – Sonea is a girl from the slums who one day managed to hurt a Magician. It is discovered that she has latent magical powers and is very powerful. The Magician’s Guild goes all out to find her, to take her into their fold to teach her to control her powers. Sonea witnesses the High Lord of the Guild performing “black magic” and together with her guardian and mentor Rothen, is forced to keep it secret. Black Magic is banned by the Guild.
The Novice – It is a few months after Rothen takes Sonea under his wing as her Guardian and she is admitted into the Magician’s Guild as a Novice. She has a hard time at University because the other novices are from rich families and so she gets bullied. Halfway through, the High Lord Akkarin takes an interest in her and takes over her Guardianship and her fears of “black magic” is resurrected. She deals with the head of the bullies in a magic challenge and finally earns the respect of the teachers and the students.
The High Lord – The High Lord of the Guild Akkarin reveals secrets to her about his doings and what is perceived to be “black magic”. She is torn between her loyalties to her friends, mentors and to the High Lord because she does not quite know what to believe. In the end, she and Akkarin are banished from the Allied Lands and they must work fast to ensure the survival of the Guild against its enemies.
My Thoughts (Spoilers ahead)
The Black Magician Trilogy was rather unexpectedly a good read. The frustrations of the protagonist Sonea in the first 2 books were easy to relate to. They were a little bit draggy in parts though and the build up of Akkarin’s secret was commendable.
I however felt that the last book The High Lord felt a little rushed. In the first two books, Sonea is frustrated and scared of Magicians, other students and of the High Lord Akkarin and the buildup to the climactic parts is slow but sure. She fears him and other than the dark presence of Akkarin and of “black magic” looming throughout the books, you don’t get much of an impression of Akkarin. In fact, mentions of Akkarin are made in hushed tones and there is no essence of his character felt at all.
In the 3rd book however, Akkarin suddenly becomes the forefront of attention and suddenly he is humanized and he explains himself to Sonea things which one does not quite expect him to. He is after all the High Lord and has no need to bring himself down to the level of a Novice even if she’s under his guardianship and even if he felt he needed her approval to do the things he does. I did not quite get that – why he had to show her of all people that “black magic” was not bad but essential to the survival of the Guild against their enemies who were attacking the city.
The other thing that made The High Lord feel rushed was also the introduction of new characters and peoples, and a sudden enemy threat which was never hinted at in the first 2 books and a war that looked to me too sudden. Also, there was a sudden emphasis on Sonea’s old friend Cery of the Thieves who was also markedly missing from the 2nd book.
The only character which I felt was properly fleshed out throughout the whole series was Dannyl, who started out an alchemist in the Guild and who was Sonea and Rothen’s good friend. In the 2nd book, we learn he has been appointed the 2nd Ambassador of the Guild to a neighbouring allied country Elyne, and he carries out research into ancient magic at his friends’ request. In the 3rd book, we see that he has come to his forte, handling matters concerning him in more responsible manner and also learning to accept the fact that he’s a “lad” i.e. attracted to men (but this is quite a common theme in fantasy books so nothing to get shocked over). Although Dannyl isn’t a main character, I felt that his was the only character that truly grew and matured throughout the 3 books.
In the first book and in the first half of the 2nd book, Rothen was portrayed as a patient mentor and father figure to Sonea. But in the rest of the 2nd book and 3rd book, after Akkarin takes over guardianship, he suddenly looks like a bitter jealous old man and I’m left wondering if his interest and concern in Sonea was truly only fatherly or in his son’s interest or in her interest. It was quite ambiguous.
Sonea goes from young scared slum girl to poised confident heroic black magician under the tutelage of Akkarin who I was not quite surprised to learn in The High Lord, her subsequent love interest. I was however terribly upset to learn that Trudi kills off Akkarin during the final battle with the Sachakan enemy magicians. I felt it was unnecessary because the Guild had already accepted the fact that he was right about the enemy and that some knowledge of “black magic” was essential to their survival. So even if he was no longer to be High Lord, he would have been useful to their cause to fight the Sachakan enemy and to teach the other senior Magicians the secrets of “black magic” as he taught Sonea. Akkarin is supposed to be the hero and heroes don’t die! 
So boo! for killing off Akkarin just when I was getting to like him!!
Do I recommend this?
Despite the draggy bits and the fact Akkarin gets killed, I say YES!! If you enjoy magical fantasy books, you will enjoy the Black Magician series. It fires up the imagination and if you have a hyperactive imagination like I do, don’t try reading the books in one go like I did. I was left with graphic dreams for days and lack of sleep is a terrible thing to have when you have to work on top of everything else!
Thumbs Up!
{ 1 comment }
The books that you can’t put down and have to finish in one sitting and lingers in your thoughts afterwards… those are the best kind of books!
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