Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by kerveros
The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canavan
5.0
When I knew I was going to read the prequel and two trilogies set in the world of Kyralia I wasn't sure where I would start. I mean - yes this book is the prequel so chronologically it makes sense to start here (and it says on the back this is the perfect introduction to the Black Magician trilogy) but there's a mini intro to this book written by Dannyl presumably (from my memory) from between the Black Magician Trilogy and the Traitor Spy Trilogy so wouldn't it make sense to read this then - in the order the books were written?
I can see the pros of the latter decision - for new readers it leaves a lot of mystery in place around the first of the Magician books. It also sets things up very nicely for the Traitor trilogy - I seem to recall when I last read those books I had some questions about how well they tied into the history created here, so going straight from this into that would mean it is far fresher in your head.
Still, I opted to go for the straight chronological read-through (I did the same when re-reading Asimov last year after all) so we will have to see if that works out or whether I still have questions when I finish the Traitor trilogy.
Anyway, onto this book. A little over 700 pages that I was able to read in a single day on and off. I don't think there are many authors where I could read that many pages in a day but Canavan is one of them. I find she has an effortless writing style and the characters she creates are generally well rounded - even the 'nastier' ones are developed (at least in this book) so you can understand why they act as they do.
I really like the character of Tessia. She's a strong female lead and although she doesn't have any real flaws as such she still feels like a real person. She struggles with things and moves past them. Granted the focus of this book isn't so much on her but on the invasion by the Sachakan's. Still, seeing her merge her interest in healing with her magical learning is interesting - though part of me wishes some more time were spent in the epilogue on how she sets up the healing part of the Magicians Guild (or how Jayan set up the guild itself).
I forgot that Dakon ended upbeing assassinated off page - he was a really interesting moral character who could have done great things if he had lived longer but for the purposes of the plot told here - he served his purpose.
The second plot, with Stara, I found really rather interesting given it isn't introduced for 267 pages. Often the pages dedicated to this felt like an 'after-thought' with the main focus clearly being the invasion. Given the events with Stara play such as massive role in the Traitor trilogy having her story here be secondary is an interesting writing choice but one I like. For people new to the authors work, who were maybe reading this between the Magician trilogy and Traitor trilogy, it's a subtle nod to things to come but without being obvious. As I said, I like it - it feels different to me.
I'm pretty certain this is the longest of the books set in Kyralia. I'm interested to see if I think the other books end up being better than this and if I'll mentally adjust my rating in light of them. As it stands though, this is a clear 5 star read.
I can see the pros of the latter decision - for new readers it leaves a lot of mystery in place around the first of the Magician books. It also sets things up very nicely for the Traitor trilogy - I seem to recall when I last read those books I had some questions about how well they tied into the history created here, so going straight from this into that would mean it is far fresher in your head.
Still, I opted to go for the straight chronological read-through (I did the same when re-reading Asimov last year after all) so we will have to see if that works out or whether I still have questions when I finish the Traitor trilogy.
Anyway, onto this book. A little over 700 pages that I was able to read in a single day on and off. I don't think there are many authors where I could read that many pages in a day but Canavan is one of them. I find she has an effortless writing style and the characters she creates are generally well rounded - even the 'nastier' ones are developed (at least in this book) so you can understand why they act as they do.
I really like the character of Tessia. She's a strong female lead and although she doesn't have any real flaws as such she still feels like a real person. She struggles with things and moves past them. Granted the focus of this book isn't so much on her but on the invasion by the Sachakan's. Still, seeing her merge her interest in healing with her magical learning is interesting - though part of me wishes some more time were spent in the epilogue on how she sets up the healing part of the Magicians Guild (or how Jayan set up the guild itself).
I forgot that Dakon ended up
The second plot, with Stara, I found really rather interesting given it isn't introduced for 267 pages. Often the pages dedicated to this felt like an 'after-thought' with the main focus clearly being the invasion. Given the events with Stara play such as massive role in the Traitor trilogy having her story here be secondary is an interesting writing choice but one I like. For people new to the authors work, who were maybe reading this between the Magician trilogy and Traitor trilogy, it's a subtle nod to things to come but without being obvious. As I said, I like it - it feels different to me.
I'm pretty certain this is the longest of the books set in Kyralia. I'm interested to see if I think the other books end up being better than this and if I'll mentally adjust my rating in light of them. As it stands though, this is a clear 5 star read.