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A review by poisonenvy
Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Review for both Apprentice and Master.
Was this really only one book? Because I feel like I just finished an entire trilogy here. One that I was sort of... idk, luke warm on?
I found the writing.... not great, though I'll admit that it did seem to get better by the end of the book. The characters all seemed rather flat and two-dimensional. The only characters who seemed to have any personality were Amos and Martin (and even Martin's personality was... wishy-washy?). There was a lot of describing how a character apparently acted, but very little seeing that on screen. This was especially egregious with the female characters. All the characters seemed to just be getting dragged along by the plot instead of having any of their own agency.
For an author who insisted on giving all his characters romances, he didn't seem to want to develop those romances at all. It seemed to be insta-love at first sight with zero development thereafter. The only exception to this wasRoland and Carline's romance and then he... killled Roland off? Off screen? Because of cows? I don't know, it seemed very strange. Very "Oh well, I'm tired of this guy now." If he actually ends up being dead I'm going to be confused and a little miffed, since he seemed to have such build-up, especially with the whole drinking scene with Pug and Tomas where they promised to be best friends forever.
The transitions between scenes were non-existent, which sometimes led to some confusion while I listened to the audiobook. The book seemed to jump around all over the place.
There was one scene where our heroes free a slave and are like "Well, your name's too hard so we're changing it lol you don't get a choice in this" and then another scene later wherePug and Laurie 's slavemasters make a point of learning out to properly pronounce their names, and... that was a very strange choice too?
I had thought there had been some foreshadowing to a massive conflict betweenPug and Tomas and that ended up never coming, so I was a little sad about that, but I fully admit that that one's probably on me.
Also, Feist seems to be a big fan of constantly stating "Never before in history had x happened." There was a single chapter where I swear it was said at least six times.
I <i>did</i> enjoy this book, probably enough to finish the trilogy (if not the 30 book series). There was just... a lot I did not enjoy.
Was this really only one book? Because I feel like I just finished an entire trilogy here. One that I was sort of... idk, luke warm on?
I found the writing.... not great, though I'll admit that it did seem to get better by the end of the book. The characters all seemed rather flat and two-dimensional. The only characters who seemed to have any personality were Amos and Martin (and even Martin's personality was... wishy-washy?). There was a lot of describing how a character apparently acted, but very little seeing that on screen. This was especially egregious with the female characters. All the characters seemed to just be getting dragged along by the plot instead of having any of their own agency.
For an author who insisted on giving all his characters romances, he didn't seem to want to develop those romances at all. It seemed to be insta-love at first sight with zero development thereafter. The only exception to this was
The transitions between scenes were non-existent, which sometimes led to some confusion while I listened to the audiobook. The book seemed to jump around all over the place.
There was one scene where our heroes free a slave and are like "Well, your name's too hard so we're changing it lol you don't get a choice in this" and then another scene later where
I had thought there had been some foreshadowing to a massive conflict between
Also, Feist seems to be a big fan of constantly stating "Never before in history had x happened." There was a single chapter where I swear it was said at least six times.
I <i>did</i> enjoy this book, probably enough to finish the trilogy (if not the 30 book series). There was just... a lot I did not enjoy.