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A review by oldenglishrose
The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
3.0
I thought that The High Lord was a tremendously satisfying end to The Black Magician Trilogy: it ties up all of the loose ends from the previous two books while still leaving room for further development if the author decides to revisit the series. What I liked most about this book was that it actually managed to surprise me, unlike its predecessors. Trudi Canavan’s system of black magic is intriguing and different, not least because of the culture that she has created around it. I thought that the tension that builds up as Sonea and Akkarin try to counter the Ichani on their own is well sustained, helped by the continued futile or dangerous attempts of others to defeat them. The plot twists are excellent, making this definitely the best book in the trilogy and a fitting culmination.
My only issue with the book is that Trudi Canavan’s habit of picking up and dropping characters as it suits her rears its ugly head again. I was pleased to see that Cery makes a return after being mostly (and inexplicably) absent from the middle installment, but other characters suffer the same fate. The first half of the book is set in the Guild and yet Regin, the focus and driving force behind The Novice, is mentioned once in passing and never appears again. I can understand him not being physically present, but Sonea doesn’t even think about him, despite the important role he plays in her development. I like what Canavan did with Regin in the end, but his sudden disappearance prior to that irked me. The same is true of Dorrien, who was also fairly significant in The Novice but isn’t even thought of until the mid point of the book. The part he plays in this final book is also unrelated to his importance in the previous book, which seemed a little disjointed to me. On the whole though, while I would have preferred more consistency, I really liked this trilogy and will definitely be investigating Trudi Canavan’s other books.
My only issue with the book is that Trudi Canavan’s habit of picking up and dropping characters as it suits her rears its ugly head again. I was pleased to see that Cery makes a return after being mostly (and inexplicably) absent from the middle installment, but other characters suffer the same fate. The first half of the book is set in the Guild and yet Regin, the focus and driving force behind The Novice, is mentioned once in passing and never appears again. I can understand him not being physically present, but Sonea doesn’t even think about him, despite the important role he plays in her development. I like what Canavan did with Regin in the end, but his sudden disappearance prior to that irked me. The same is true of Dorrien, who was also fairly significant in The Novice but isn’t even thought of until the mid point of the book. The part he plays in this final book is also unrelated to his importance in the previous book, which seemed a little disjointed to me. On the whole though, while I would have preferred more consistency, I really liked this trilogy and will definitely be investigating Trudi Canavan’s other books.