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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4.5 ⭐️
This book made me cry a total of 3 times. I mean, ugly, sobbing, lump in the throat crying. It was awesome.
The storytelling in this book was superb. The novel spans, but it doesn't feel rushed, it doesn't feel like I was missing any of the action even when it jumped weeks, months, and years into the future, and even as the characters went from tiny children I had to protect with my life, to young adults that I also had to protect with my life, I was aligned with them the whole way. Feist made complicated, diverse, morally grey characters that I love to see, and I'm honestly heartbroken that the novel is over and I had to say goodbye (until I buy and read the third and fourth ones, and THEN what am I meant to do???). While encompassing such a huge expanse of time and place, he put an immense amount of detail into carving out the characters, in dialogue and action. This book was so well crafted I'm in awe. Everything in this book happens for a reason, and some event's importance isn't revealed until much later when it hits you in the guts and you think oh my god, it finally makes sense!
This book is very political and wargame heavy, but Feist writes it in such a way as it is clear and concise, and doesn't dry out the story. I found it easy to follow, but it doesn't sacrifice complex political organisations and war strategies. He just writes it in such a way as it is mapped out easily and quickly.
But, hidden amongst all the GREATness, was something that just irked me to no end. This book would have been a 5/5, but the raging feminist inside me just wouldn't let me do it. While all the male characters were so well crafted, well rounded, layered and complex, with warring emotions and morally grey alignments... the female characters had the personalities of wet lettuce, at best. Somehow, Feist fell short in creating female characters with the same density of his male characters and left them feeling hazy and transparent, with no clear motives or desires. All the women just seemed like an accessory that the men could wear and talk to all their friends about. And this pained me because I actually LIKED the female characters... I just wish there was MORE to them, to the same extent as their male counterparts.
And there is not one instance that a female character is present in which she does not CRY! I noticed this after probably the third time it happened, and then it KEPT HAPPENING! Bar one or two whole times in the novel, every time a female character is shown, she sheds tears for one reason or another. This especially irked me with It's not that they are showing emotion that bothers me, it's that they were written to different to the men and that their emotions are not parallel to the male's emotions throughout the novel. If they were showing so much emotion, I want the men to show that emotion too.
DON'T GET ME WRONG! I absolutely loved this book, and it really deserves 5/5 stars, I just couldn't bring myself to give it a perfect rating when women were sidelined and undermined under the guise of creating "complex characters". In saying that, even as the raging feminist I am, I absolutely adored this book, and I don't think it's downfalls are to such an extent that it shouldn't be read. It is an epic, epic fantasy, and I would read it again in a heartbeat.
This book made me cry a total of 3 times. I mean, ugly, sobbing, lump in the throat crying. It was awesome.
The storytelling in this book was superb. The novel spans
Spoiler
over 10 years and two realmsThis book is very political and wargame heavy, but Feist writes it in such a way as it is clear and concise, and doesn't dry out the story. I found it easy to follow, but it doesn't sacrifice complex political organisations and war strategies. He just writes it in such a way as it is mapped out easily and quickly.
But, hidden amongst all the GREATness, was something that just irked me to no end. This book would have been a 5/5, but the raging feminist inside me just wouldn't let me do it. While all the male characters were so well crafted, well rounded, layered and complex, with warring emotions and morally grey alignments... the female characters had the personalities of wet lettuce, at best. Somehow, Feist fell short in creating female characters with the same density of his male characters and left them feeling hazy and transparent, with no clear motives or desires. All the women just seemed like an accessory that the men could wear and talk to all their friends about. And this pained me because I actually LIKED the female characters... I just wish there was MORE to them, to the same extent as their male counterparts.
And there is not one instance that a female character is present in which she does not CRY! I noticed this after probably the third time it happened, and then it KEPT HAPPENING! Bar one or two whole times in the novel, every time a female character is shown, she sheds tears for one reason or another. This especially irked me with
Spoiler
the elf queen: the strong, independent, leader that she was, was shedding tears at crucial times, and letting her young lover take the reigns because she was just too fraught with emotion??DON'T GET ME WRONG! I absolutely loved this book, and it really deserves 5/5 stars, I just couldn't bring myself to give it a perfect rating when women were sidelined and undermined under the guise of creating "complex characters". In saying that, even as the raging feminist I am, I absolutely adored this book, and I don't think it's downfalls are to such an extent that it shouldn't be read. It is an epic, epic fantasy, and I would read it again in a heartbeat.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Very dated in it's depiction of women
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A 3.5 star was really needed for this. It's definitely better than good, but I'm not sure it quite makes it to great.
I've come to the The Riftwar Saga rather late in my list of fantasy to-reads, especially given the age of the series. Unfortunately, I think it is that age which drags it down a little. The story itself is pretty awesome - the whole notion of a young magician, coming into his own against the background of an inter-world cross-cultural clash and domestic political upheaval, and learning about the extent of his power across both worlds, is a thrilling and exciting premise with the potential for great plotlines, expansive world building and complex characters. However, while I enjoyed seeing the story unfold, I felt my engagement with Midkemia and Kelewan rather lacking.
The main issues that I had with Magician were the character tropes, the passage of time, and how magic actually worked. I read somewhere that Feist's inspiration for this book arose from games of Dungeons and Dragons, and I think this is definitely reflected in the characters. Aside from Pug, Tomas and Arutha, most of the characters seemed to very clearly fit pre-existing tropes and conventions, and had rather little personality development beyond how they were influenced by events within the story. Familiar and easy to acquaint with, but also not always terribly interesting.
The time issue is linked to this - while characters aged, the majority of them did not depart from their expected 'progression' as it were. The amount of time passing between certain events also seemed completely arbitrary in nature- sometimes chapters would follow day by day, only to then skip forward by months, or even years. The scale of a 9 year war is significantly diminished when you only see events from 2 or 3 years of it.
The magic system is probably a bit of a personal gripe for me. Having come from The Wheel of Time and The Kingkiller Chronicles where the magic systems are cleverly constructed and weaved into the fabric of their universes, the magic in a book titled 'Magician' seemed underwhelming and shallow in terms of what a magician could do and how it was done. Often, it seemed impossible to determine whether something could or couldn't be done by magic, and I almost felt I knew understood less about the magic even as Pug grew to understand it more. Perhaps it lends itself to the mysterious quality of magic, but it made it difficult to connect with as a reader.
Ultimately, I think I set my expectations a bit high going into this series. I'm curious as to where it goes next, as most of the ends in Magician seem pretty well tied off (aside from whatever Macros is up to), but it'll also be interesting to see how Feist's writing develops. For this book though, my verdict is that it's an enjoyable read, but nothing to lose sleep over.
I've come to the The Riftwar Saga rather late in my list of fantasy to-reads, especially given the age of the series. Unfortunately, I think it is that age which drags it down a little. The story itself is pretty awesome - the whole notion of a young magician, coming into his own against the background of an inter-world cross-cultural clash and domestic political upheaval, and learning about the extent of his power across both worlds, is a thrilling and exciting premise with the potential for great plotlines, expansive world building and complex characters. However, while I enjoyed seeing the story unfold, I felt my engagement with Midkemia and Kelewan rather lacking.
The main issues that I had with Magician were the character tropes, the passage of time, and how magic actually worked. I read somewhere that Feist's inspiration for this book arose from games of Dungeons and Dragons, and I think this is definitely reflected in the characters. Aside from Pug, Tomas and Arutha, most of the characters seemed to very clearly fit pre-existing tropes and conventions, and had rather little personality development beyond how they were influenced by events within the story. Familiar and easy to acquaint with, but also not always terribly interesting.
The time issue is linked to this - while characters aged, the majority of them did not depart from their expected 'progression' as it were. The amount of time passing between certain events also seemed completely arbitrary in nature- sometimes chapters would follow day by day, only to then skip forward by months, or even years. The scale of a 9 year war is significantly diminished when you only see events from 2 or 3 years of it.
The magic system is probably a bit of a personal gripe for me. Having come from The Wheel of Time and The Kingkiller Chronicles where the magic systems are cleverly constructed and weaved into the fabric of their universes, the magic in a book titled 'Magician' seemed underwhelming and shallow in terms of what a magician could do and how it was done. Often, it seemed impossible to determine whether something could or couldn't be done by magic, and I almost felt I knew understood less about the magic even as Pug grew to understand it more. Perhaps it lends itself to the mysterious quality of magic, but it made it difficult to connect with as a reader.
Ultimately, I think I set my expectations a bit high going into this series. I'm curious as to where it goes next, as most of the ends in Magician seem pretty well tied off (aside from whatever Macros is up to), but it'll also be interesting to see how Feist's writing develops. For this book though, my verdict is that it's an enjoyable read, but nothing to lose sleep over.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Good fantasy book, and not too dark and grim. Would have liked some description of the magic system, but instead I got descriptions of people and their relationships which is also very nice! 😁
I had fond memories of reading this book in paperback as a young teenager. When I came across it on Audible I was excited to revisit it as an adult. But...
Firstly, I found the narration terrible. It sounded as if the narrator was reading with the tone and emphasis you would use when reading a book to a child. It was completely distracting and consistently pulled me out of the story.
Considering my dislike of the narration, I initially thought that perhaps it would be more enjoyable if I read the book rather than listened to it. But as I doggedly ploughed on (I had paid for the audio version after all...), I found the way Pug seemed to be just handed everything he could want or need, ultimately made for a rather boring tale (was I just cool with this as a child because I thought that's how life was going to be?!). So I'm uncertain if picking up the paperback again would make any difference.
It is a long book and I admittedly didn't get very far into it. Perhaps if I stuck with it until the characters had progressed a little more it might have been more enjoyable?
Firstly, I found the narration terrible. It sounded as if the narrator was reading with the tone and emphasis you would use when reading a book to a child. It was completely distracting and consistently pulled me out of the story.
Considering my dislike of the narration, I initially thought that perhaps it would be more enjoyable if I read the book rather than listened to it. But as I doggedly ploughed on (I had paid for the audio version after all...), I found the way Pug seemed to be just handed everything he could want or need, ultimately made for a rather boring tale (was I just cool with this as a child because I thought that's how life was going to be?!). So I'm uncertain if picking up the paperback again would make any difference.
It is a long book and I admittedly didn't get very far into it. Perhaps if I stuck with it until the characters had progressed a little more it might have been more enjoyable?