Reviews & Overviews by Rod Cameron
| The Novice – Trudi Canavan | |
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This is the second book in a series by Trudi Canavan, an Australian author. I reviewed the first, Magicians’ Guild last month. It concerned a girl, Sonea from the slum quarter of the city of Imardin, in a land where magic works under strict rules that have to be learned at the Magicians’ University. The first book saw her discovering that she had magical potential, and trying to avoid being recruited by the “big bad” magicians. The Novice starts with Sonea joining the Magician’s Guild and it’s University. Unfortunately, her troubles have only just begun as her presence is resented by her peers who are all from rich, spoilt backgrounds. In particular one boy, Regin bullies her unmercifully, and spreads malicious rumours. This storyline could have been very similar to other coming of age books such as those in the Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling. But fortunately there are a number of other plotlines which help to give the book a different and original direction. Sonea is given a guardian Rothen. His other student, a magician called Dannyl is sent overseas officially as an ambassador, but with the background task of researching the High Lord Akkarin’s past. Rumours of his being a Black Magician surfaced in the first book, and these are developed further. The practising of black magic, by the way, is proscribed and punishable by death. Akkarin’s character is developed very well in this second book, particularly when … but no, I won’t spoil it for you. This is a much more complex story than the first novel. And is most enjoyable. Thankfully, it doesn’t fall into the trap of second novels being fillers between the first and third. The story is well written, and there is a lot of rich characterisation which is used to good effect. Some indication of how well written this book is can be taken from the fact that Rothen’s bullying started to get me really annoyed after a while. I just wanted him to stop – come on Rod it’s only a book! The third book is called The Black Magician and is already in print. If you are at all interested in fantasy novels, go and buy them immediately. |
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Publisher:
Atom (Time Warner) |
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