Taking place hundreds of years before the events of "The Magicians' Guild, The Magician's Apprentice "is the new novel set in the world of Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy.
In the remote village of Mandryn, Tessia serves as assistant to her father, the village Healer. Her mother would rather she found a husband. But her life is about to take a very unexpected turn. When the advances of a visiting Sachakan mage get violent, Tessia unconsciously taps unknown reserves of magic to defend herself. Lord Dakon, the local magician, takes Tessia under his wing as an apprentice.
The hours are long and the work arduous, but soon an exciting new world opens up to her. There are fine clothes and servants and - to Tessia's delight - regular trips to the great city of Imardin. However, Tessia is about to discover that her magical gifts bring with them a great deal of responsibility. For a storm is approaching that threatens to tear her world apart.
My thoughts:
So this is a prequel to the Black Magician books, but you can read it before, you can read it afterwards.
But yes it does remind me a bit of The Black Magician books. Character wise and story wise. It took the same path, but eh, I could still read it.
It's about Tessia who finds out she is a magician. She gets to learn magic and then the adventure really starts. Bad magicians on the move. War, death, loss.
One thing I did not like was that suddenly after half the book (and this is a big book!) another POV showed up and I was all what? When did this happen? A half Sachakan (the bad guys) who shows us life there. Which was interesting, but even at the end I was all wtf is her point? There is no point to her story. Was is something I read in the BM series? God knows.
Conclusion:
A good fantasy book. The story began and ended. That's rare so for once, yay, no more.
cover
eh
Paperback, 702 pages
Published April 1st 2010 by Orbit (first published 2009)
The Black Magician Trilogy 0.5
Fantasy
Library
I hate it when a point of view is added late in the story. It just never works for me.
ReplyDeleteIt was so weird! There was nothing wrong with her pov, but this was not her book, and suddenly it was her book too
DeleteI do love when a story wraps up in one book, it is rare these days. Weird that a rather random POV popped up that late in the book, but glad to see you enjoyed it overall!
ReplyDeleteIt was very strange, no warning either, and like I said, no real point to it. It could have been handled better
DeleteI've heard a lot about this series and it's one I want to try out soon for sure--glad you liked it!
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteGotta love sudden and random POV changes.
ReplyDeleteIt was so weird. I could understand why she wanted to have it there, but it should have been done in another way
ReplyDeletei do read them fast ;)
ReplyDeleteYea... that wouldn't work for me either. I'm not a fan of multi-POVs but can work with them. However, introduced late? No thanks.
ReplyDeleteAnd not mentioned in the blurb either, so I was all...WHAT?
DeleteWell that's really different. I don't mind 2nd POVs but don't remember having one jump in so late in the game like that.
ReplyDeleteI do not mind many Povs, I do might so late on, and so surprising
DeleteWeird that a POV comes in halfway through...
ReplyDeleteYup
DeleteIf character-wise and story-wise it is similar to Black Magician I'll probably take a pass for now, since I haven't even finished the trilogy! And my co-blogger read this and I think she said she wished she had started with Black Magician book one.
ReplyDelete~Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
Oh if you have read that one then to not read this. it was the exact same story
DeleteThere are just too many covers with mysterious hooded men on them - they blur.
ReplyDeleteI love hoods!
Deletelol you're right. It's weird about the POV but well it's nice to see we can read out of order.
ReplyDeleteRead the prequel now, read it later :)
DeleteThis is another book I have in my TBR for quite sometime but haven't read it yet. Someday...someday...
ReplyDeleteSigh, that evil someday
DeleteOhmigodohmigod! I liked the sequel series as a kid but left after the second book because I didn't like the turn of the romance and I was stupid. Ever since then, I've been avoiding the name Trudi Canavan because I think there's a series about the MC's kids and I don't want to know anything because curiosity. AND THIS IS MOSTLY UNRELATED OHMIGOD THANK YOU SO MUCH!
ReplyDeleteYES THERE IS!!! OMG! Lol, sorry, I had to, cos when I saw the sequel I was all SHIT, HIDE! I did not want to know what it was about, but as I finished the trilogy I know about that kid
DeleteIt's no fun when an unexpected POV shows up that makes you go WTF, but at least the story came full circle which, as you mentioned, is rare in Fantasy.
ReplyDeleteA nice little prequel
DeleteI've read the Black Magician trilogy and really liked it. I got this one in my TBR shelf... still not sure if am going to pick it up... not fond of surprise and pointless character POVs in the middle...
ReplyDeleteShe was so weird, sigh. But I wanted to read about and and see how the waste spoken of in the trilogy came to be
DeleteCos it was the end.
ReplyDelete