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sophiebilsby 's review for:
Magician
by Raymond E. Feist
adventurous
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I'm having conflicted feelings and opinions about this book! Overall, I'm sad to say it was a bit of a disappointment—I was entertained but it just felt quite flat throughout. I was so excited by the blurb when The Broken Binding announced their next series, and the edition they've made is abbbbsolutely gorgeous; the illustrations, the quality of the edges and the hardcover are just amazing.
But sadly, I really struggled with Raymond E. Feist's writing—it's very middle-grade, and some sentences are quite awkward and mediocre. It's also full of clichés, which normally doesn't bother me too much, but there were so many aspects that were very reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings that it was a bit much—elves, dwarves, and humans being the main races in the world. Martin Longbow was giving Aragorn vibes, Dulgan was giving Gimli vibes, and Pug and Tomas at the start were low-key giving Sam & Frodo vibes. Elvandar is basically Lothlórien; Mac Mordain Cal and the whole scene under the mountain was basically the march in Khazad-dûm, etc etc.
My other issue was that I couldn't really get myself to truly care for the characters. They felt hollow, somehow, with no charisma or real personality, even the main character, Pug. Women are practically nonexistent, and the sole reason for the existence of the few women who are there is just to be a man's wife, with no personality, voice, or agency whatsoever.
The storyline didn't really hook me in either, and the time jumps didn't help. That said, I can totally see 13 years old me absolutely loving this book—I think a lot of the better reviews on Goodreads are from people with nostalgia-tinted glasses, which I can't blame them for! I'm the same for Eragon, which I'm sure has much to criticise and I can see no wrong in it myself haha.
Overall, I will keep reading this series, and I will keep the books as The Broken Binding editions are gorgeous. The first book felt like it could be a standalone, so I'm very curious to see what the second one will be like. Also, despite all the bad points I've raised, I did overall enjoy reading this book, although it was quite slow at times. I was hooked on the last 200 pages! My husband is about to listen to it as an audiobook, and somehow I can see this making the reading experience better. 🤔
But sadly, I really struggled with Raymond E. Feist's writing—it's very middle-grade, and some sentences are quite awkward and mediocre. It's also full of clichés, which normally doesn't bother me too much, but there were so many aspects that were very reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings that it was a bit much—elves, dwarves, and humans being the main races in the world. Martin Longbow was giving Aragorn vibes, Dulgan was giving Gimli vibes, and Pug and Tomas at the start were low-key giving Sam & Frodo vibes. Elvandar is basically Lothlórien; Mac Mordain Cal and the whole scene under the mountain was basically the march in Khazad-dûm, etc etc.
My other issue was that I couldn't really get myself to truly care for the characters. They felt hollow, somehow, with no charisma or real personality, even the main character, Pug. Women are practically nonexistent, and the sole reason for the existence of the few women who are there is just to be a man's wife, with no personality, voice, or agency whatsoever.
The storyline didn't really hook me in either, and the time jumps didn't help. That said, I can totally see 13 years old me absolutely loving this book—I think a lot of the better reviews on Goodreads are from people with nostalgia-tinted glasses, which I can't blame them for! I'm the same for Eragon, which I'm sure has much to criticise and I can see no wrong in it myself haha.
Overall, I will keep reading this series, and I will keep the books as The Broken Binding editions are gorgeous. The first book felt like it could be a standalone, so I'm very curious to see what the second one will be like. Also, despite all the bad points I've raised, I did overall enjoy reading this book, although it was quite slow at times. I was hooked on the last 200 pages! My husband is about to listen to it as an audiobook, and somehow I can see this making the reading experience better. 🤔