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xavierdragnesi 's review for:
Magician
by Raymond E. Feist
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.