Trudi Canavan's THE MAGICIAN'S GUILD
In this book, the first volume (2001) in Canavan's Black Magician trilogy, let us return to GoodReads again: it's a "cute little start to what seems to be a simple and inoffensive fantasy trilogy" (Jen3n) and "fairly gentle book that lacks threat and (for much of it) tension" (Mark Lawrence). Both remarks are 100% on the mark with this one.
Compared to the last two books of epic fantasy I mentioned in this blog, though, The Magician's Guild arises up to the level of competent-if-undistinguished, at least.
The good guy protagonists, Rothen and Ceryni, are both basically, well, "good guys." Not much depth to them. The main female lead, Sonea, is another typical fantasy tomboy girl who, in this instance, is also ridiculously mistrustful. The bad guy, Fergun, is not quite the mustache-twirler as in the last two books, but it's close -- only a bare slight twist at the end gestures to some possible complexity.
But, overall, the main conflict in this book is a rather obvious class antagonism. It centers on the magicians who rule the city and the slums which need a periodic purging. I say "obvious" because, although the dwells are constantly angry at the magicians, Canavan's wizard-guide figure Rothen makes a perfectly defensible and uncomplicated defense of the Purge's necessity. So, even without reading the rest of the trilogy, her solution is basically, "The ruling class is right to do as it well, but maybe they could be slightly less arrogant about it."
There's also a dull, bland "does teenager A love teenager B" storyline that, well, blech.
Still, at least The Magician's Guild wasn't actually a painful experience. Check this one off my list.**
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**** Incidentally, much like the first book in Kingmaker, Kingbreaker by Miller, I found this book referenced in Edward James's keynote to ICFA 2017, later published in JFA.
Compared to the last two books of epic fantasy I mentioned in this blog, though, The Magician's Guild arises up to the level of competent-if-undistinguished, at least.
The good guy protagonists, Rothen and Ceryni, are both basically, well, "good guys." Not much depth to them. The main female lead, Sonea, is another typical fantasy tomboy girl who, in this instance, is also ridiculously mistrustful. The bad guy, Fergun, is not quite the mustache-twirler as in the last two books, but it's close -- only a bare slight twist at the end gestures to some possible complexity.
But, overall, the main conflict in this book is a rather obvious class antagonism. It centers on the magicians who rule the city and the slums which need a periodic purging. I say "obvious" because, although the dwells are constantly angry at the magicians, Canavan's wizard-guide figure Rothen makes a perfectly defensible and uncomplicated defense of the Purge's necessity. So, even without reading the rest of the trilogy, her solution is basically, "The ruling class is right to do as it well, but maybe they could be slightly less arrogant about it."
There's also a dull, bland "does teenager A love teenager B" storyline that, well, blech.
Still, at least The Magician's Guild wasn't actually a painful experience. Check this one off my list.**
-------
**** Incidentally, much like the first book in Kingmaker, Kingbreaker by Miller, I found this book referenced in Edward James's keynote to ICFA 2017, later published in JFA.
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