The Magicians' Guild - Trudi Canavan

...a city called 'Imardin', in the country of 'Kyraelia.' Like majority of the citizens, Sonea was unfortunate enough to be brought up and live in the 'Slum'. The Slum is where 'normal' people lived and those who are not Magicians. It is a poor, ruthless, corrupted and daunting place to live in.

Every year, the 'Magicians' are responsible for taking part in 'the purge'. This is an unpleasant task of clearing the streets in the Slum, such ...
...contributing their parts to the society and are waste of space. Even though the people of the Slum hated this purge concept, there was not a lot they can do. Their weapons are defenceless against the mighty Magicians' power. The Magicians work incredibly well as a team and can magically produce an invisible shield to prevent them getting hurt by objects the Slum people would wish to throw at them.

This is no surprise as to what the ... more

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SYNOPSIS
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This book focuses on a young girl, named 'Sonea', whom lived in a city called 'Imardin', in the country of 'Kyraelia.' Like majority of the citizens, Sonea was unfortunate enough to be brought up and live in the 'Slum'. The Slum is where 'normal' people lived and those who are not Magicians. It is a poor, ruthless, corrupted and daunting place to live in.

Every year, the 'Magicians' are responsible for taking part in 'the purge'. This is an unpleasant task of clearing the streets in the Slum, such as getting rid of the homeless citizens who are not contributing their parts to the society and are waste of space. Even though the people of the Slum hated this purge concept, there was not a lot they can do. Their weapons are defenceless against the mighty Magicians' power. The Magicians work incredibly well as a team and can magically produce an invisible shield to prevent them getting hurt by objects the Slum people would wish to throw at them.

This is no surprise as to what the people of the Slum thinks of the Magicians. Obviously there is a mutual hatred, though the Magicians are only following the orders of their King. There is a real sense of a class system, which is not that much different compared to any societies.

One day Sonea reunited with her friends, 'Harrin' and 'Cery' after a long duration apart. Like the old days, they were always getting her into trouble, therefore her aunt and uncle forbid Sonea to see them again. And as they were up to no good again, Sonea got caught up in a war. Harrin and Cery were sticking up for their citizens by protesting a riot against the Magician's purge. Sonea decided to help her two best friends by joining in. All of a sudden, the stone she threw at the Magicians shone a flash of blue light, which surprisingly penetrated through the Magician's shield and injured the forehead of a Magician called 'Fergun.'

This caused a major stir to the world of Magicians' Guild. Only one of them called 'Rothen' actually witnessed the throw by Sonea. They must hunt down the girl as soon as possible as she could be dangerous, as an untrained Magician. The big question was whether Sonea would trust and join the Magicians if she was found; as they are basically her enemy, enemy of the Slums.

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REVIEW
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The first thing I found about this book was that it was quite political, compared to other Fantasy books that I have read. There is definitely clear line of hierarchy, whether it is in the city of Imardin or within the Magician's Guild. Everything seems clear and rules were written with precised guidance until Sonea's incident occurred. The Guild always only accepted Magicians who are rich and has connection to the Guild. Sonea caused a lot of head-banging as she has natural magical power (which is non-existent), and worst, she was from the Slum, which is considered to be the lowest of the lows. The Guild has got a serious reputation to sustain, but keeping Sonea on the loose can be hazardous to the people and herself.

I bought this book from Waterstones and they were on offer, original price of £7.99 but they were selling it for £5.99 each. As they were also in hardbacks, I could not resist, as I am a big fan of the fantasy genre as well as Trilogies. 'The Magician's Guild' is the first instalment of 'The Black Magician's Trilogy.' So excited to read this book, I could not believe it has took me almost three months to actually finish the first instalment.

Somehow, something did not work for me. I felt the first chapter was too hectic too early on. Not only were Sonea, Harrin, Cery, the Magicians and Imardin was introduced, but also the Purge. I felt that I have not fully absorbed the town and culture well enough before a great event has happened, which basically forms the structure and basis of the entire story.

Even though Sonea was the heroine of the story, I was more interested in learning about the Guild and the Magicians and their journey of finding her instead. I was not particularly warmed towards Sonea, and even if I was, it wasn't the most compared to other characters. Perhaps it is because I felt that I don't know enough about her at the beginning of the book and that her character was not developed enough then, that I have lost the enthusiasm for her along the way.

On the other hand, I really liked the character of Cery, which was one of Sonea's best friends and went through a lot of perils and sacrifices to help her. He had one of the worst up bringing, which meant he committed a lot of petty crimes. However, Cery has got a very good heart and is obviously deeply in love with Sonea. Without Cery's knowledge, Sonea would not have managed to hide from the Magicians for so long.

Canavan has described her world superbly, with great attention to details, which enabled me to build a world inside my head. However, this could also be the downfall for me. As a personal opinion, I find that there was a lack of dialogue between characters, which does not allow me to get a strong feeling on relationships between characters. She spent so much time describing the world; I felt that she has forgotten the importance of the reader liking chemistry and frictions between characters. Perhaps she wished to do all the describing in the first instalment before going on to character details in later books. The long and detail descriptions of Kyraelia also tells me that this book is perhaps for an older audience of 14 years of age and older, as younger audience will lose interest through it.

Another thing that really lost my passion for this book was that the Magician's mission was to find Sonea after the incident during the purge. It took 248 pages out of 463 pages to eventually find her. I found the cat and mouse chase to be extremely tedious rather than exciting, as there was so many opportunities for them to find Sonea, yet she narrowly escapes every time.

Perhaps it's because I was so interested in the Magician's world rather than the Slum world; I just want her to get into the Guild so I can read more about it. It is wonderful that Canavan has spent so much time designing the Magician's world. I can vividly see their cloak, and how each element - herbal, weapon and alchemist specialist has different colour as well as different motifs for hierarchy ranks. I also loved the court case that was held, as there were some brilliant dialogues within the Guild. There was plenty of added tension between characters that was fantastically written as subtext; therefore it is not what they say but perhaps, how the characters might have said it.

I thought it was a bad idea to have a Glossary, as well as Slum Slang at the back of the book, which covers four pages in total. It was frustrating to keep turning back and forth. Also for those words that you might think is in the glossary may not be there. This causes lack of pace and stopping the flow of the story to engage me. Perhaps it is easier to place footnote at the end of the page, or at the end of the sentence so, as a reader you knew when and where to look it up.

I did find the story somewhat predictable. I sort of knew that the Magicians will eventually find Sonea and the good will win over the bad. However, I was surprise that there was no obvious 'baddies' in the book. There was the Thief who everyone was afraid of in the Slum, but there was no real enemy that Sonea has to defeat. Originally I guess that the Magicians were her enemy, though they were not bad and had her interest at heart. And there was Fergun, the Magician whom Sonea injured. As an internal baddy, I did not feel that Fergun was particularly powerful compared to other Magicians and his sly personality ring some bells very early on in the book. This meant that his movements were hawked by the goodies, which made it less exciting and predictable.

Even though with all these negative opinions, I will continue to finish the Trilogy at some point. After all, I have already bought the book and just because this book didn't appeal to me, it doesn't mean that the other two 'The Novice' and 'The High Lord' would not be as appealing. I am sure that Sonea will be discovering more about herself, as she was raised by her uncle and aunt. I am sure that Sonea will develop her magical power. I am sure that Sonea will make some new friends, and hopefully, so strong enemies. And I do hope that Cery and Sonea will eventually get together!

I do recommend 'The Magician' Guild' to others to read, as many of my friends actually really enjoyed it. Just because it did not work for me, it does not mean it is a bad book. It is a matter of opinions and the author can't please every reader in the world.

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INFO
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Hardback- £5.99 (£2 from Waterstones (You may find cheaper price on Ebay and Amazon)
Year - 2004 in UK (Copyright from 2001)
ISBN - 1 904233 66 X
Publisher - ATOM
Pages - 463
 

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