Canavan, Trudi. The Magician's Apprentice.This novel is a stand-alone prequel to Canavan's Black Magician trilogy (which I haven't read). The novel kept me occupied, but not fully engaged. The world Canavan has created is adequate in some ways, but for some reason fails to create the involvement one hopes for in fantasy.
The characters never quite come off the page and the plot builds tension that isn't sustained. The "war" and the tactics/strategy are a large portion of the book and strangely insipid. However, when your armies consist of 100 or so magicians on either side, it is a bit difficult to muster a sense of two countries at war.
Tessia, daughter of a Healer, discovers that she also has magical abilities. Lord Dakon takes her on as his second apprentice. Magicians draw magical abilities from their apprentices in exchange for teaching them. The "good" guys are conscientious about this magical draw; the "bad" guys are not. Magical powers seem remarkably dull and frequently useless in this book.
In the last 100 or so pages, there is a definite change in direction as the author (evidently) prepares the ground for the trilogy already published. I didn't find this switch a comfortable one; it seemed contradictory to original characterization and to previous goals.
Fiction. Fantasy. 2009. 588 pages.
Darn, the cover made the book look more interesting than that. Since I already have a long list of fantasy books to read, I'm glad I don't feel compelled to add this one. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteFramed - It is a good cover! The truth is that we all like different kinds of fantasy, and I'm sure that there are lots of readers who would enjoy this book. It just wasn't what I was hoping for.
ReplyDeleteI have been meaning to read her, but haven't got around to it yet!
ReplyDeletekailana - I got the impression that most people liked the trilogy much better than the prequel, but I'm no longer interested. :(
ReplyDeleteI have read the trilogy and am waiting for this to come out in paperback. I liked the trilogy but didn't love it. Sounds like this is on a par.
ReplyDeleteRhinoa - I might have had a different feeling if I'd begun with the trilogy, but this one was pretty mediocre.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't she say somewhere that she wrote this while in the middle of a terrible house move? I think it shows. I thought this was very much a potboiler to keep her public happy and I was disappointed. I hope she gets back on song soon.
ReplyDeleteAnn - Since this was a new-to-me author, I had no idea about the house move, but can understand that it would make writing terribly difficult. I also think that writing a prequel to an established series would offer some trials of its own!
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