Article written by Ashleigh Lowry and Rory Hawkins.
Welcome to the first of many Paint the Bookclub, where we of the Literature department band together in review and discussion of a monthly selected book. If you’ve read the title, then congratulations! You can read, you have come to the right place, and this month we’re talking about Magician.
Author Raymond E. Feist will be visiting Brisbane on June 20th to celebrate his most recent release: King of Ashes. Tickets for this evening event are available at eventbrite.com for free. So we thought, what better than to think over Feist’s first ever release, sparking his career as an author and his best-selling series.
That book is Magician.
I’m Ashleigh, a would-be storyteller and fantasy geek. Fantasy has always been one of my favorite genres to read and write so I am very much looking forward to discussing this month's suggestion.
And I’m Rory - a ‘kind-of’ writing student who likes pies and has too many fingers. If you’ve read anything of mine, you’ll know I’m trying but still am a slave to fantasy.
As we build Paint the Town, we’d love to have more people join in on this series - so don’t expect to always see just the two of us. Hopefully, more and varied reviews to come.
Rory:
First, a quick plot introduction. The kingdom of Midkemia lives in general peace, and friends Pug and Tomas have reached the age when children are assigned a trade.
Whilst all the other children of Crydee Castle are obviously suited to whatever roles, Pug - an orphan without any known family - seems to be forgotten. The court magician, Kulgan, sees something in the boy and takes him as an apprentice. In fact, that’s the name of the first half, Magician: Apprentice.
However, soon after this there are sightings of people altogether foreign to the world of Midkemia. Magical rifts open to an alien world, and an invasion force the likes Midkemia has never seen threatens all Pug and Tomas have known.
Ashleigh:
What I found really interesting is that this ‘alien group’ are actually just another human civilisation - and they serve as the antagonist! More often than not in fantasy novels, a main villain or antagonist group are another race, something classically evil like orcs or dark elves.
Though, yes Midkemians do talk about a previous war with dark elves and goblins, it is never more than in passing. Instead, we have this completely foreign human force acting for political reasons.
Rory:
We’ll talk about them, along with the other characters, later on. Back to plot.
To me, after reading the whole thing, part 1 seemed to just be backstory to set up the rest of the events in Magician. Its tone is very ‘coming-of-age’ - the protagonists are working out where they fit in social standing/capability.
Some major plot points are dropped and the story progresses, but it’s nothing that heavy. I think it could’ve been a shorter set-up for the characters.
Ashleigh:
I will… respectfully disagree. To me both parts of the book are equally essential: you form connections and you watch the struggles.
It may be a very coming of age style of writing, however it gives us a chance to see these characters before they become the almighty heroes. We aren’t deluded by the powers and strength characters possess in the second half because you know what they went through to hone them.
There’s not so much self a sacrifice but just straight hardship they have to go through. You know that underneath their stoicism, they’re still just regular people.
Maybe this is just my enjoyment of connecting with these type of characters as even though I am 23, I am still struggling to find my place and learn the skills I need to know to improve in what I see is my future career. I always enjoy stories where the characters grow into who they are instead of just start at all powerful.
Rory:
Okay, well then we just need to talk about characters now!
Pug is the main protagonist, and I think Feist does really well in telling us how he didn’t just age but changed as a person over the course of the novel. Tomas was equally interesting too, not just in his situation but how he approached it and it affected him. It was support cast that I don’t think much of…
Ashleigh:
I agree with what you say about Pug and Tomas, Feist does a wonderful job of giving these two character’s personalities that complement each other so well, but still evolve and change as the two characters grow. They still stay best friends and brothers-in-arms.
But I’m going to be honest, the worst is the elven queen. She feels more than a little useless and (forgive me) airyfairy. At one point, her kingdom and people are under real threat of being wiped out and she’s thinking about a guy!
I’m a romance reader, and I still think she needs to get her priorities straight. There’s none of that wildness or dangerousness in her that other fantasy writers put into elves - even the good ones.
Rory:
I’ll say that that problem doesn’t just end with her or just elves; neither elves and dwarves feel largely different to humans. I haven’t read anything else Feist (so this mightn’t be indicative of all his work) but they just feel like easy reskins of just having a different cultural lifestyle.
Elves equal forests, dwarves mean mountains and caves; other languages are mentioned but not explored or made important (not complaining). Particularly with the elves, there’s no drastic fey-like otherness to them - Tomas is an easy example of the little hurdles between living with them.
You could put this shortcoming down to the set-up and idea: two alien worlds clash over land resources… so naturally, the Midkemians had everything they wanted and were relatively peaceful/stagnant beforehand.
That said, the diversity Feist puts into his antagonists - the Tsurani - is AMAZING. You can see where he was inspired by Eastern cultures and the contrast between the Midkemian’s standard medieval setting works beautifully.
Slight spoiler: reading the second half will take you to their homeworld, and it will add plenty of depth where Apprentice focussed on the boys.
Ashleigh:
Okay, so we should wrap this up with final thoughts. First, I’ll admit that I have two family members that have already read Magician and really love not just this book and but the whole series. So I wanted to like it and I do. I enjoy how he writes and how Feist sets out his story.
Spoiler free: there’s one character-thread I didn’t see coming towards the end, and that weirded me out a little. I was either not paying attention to whatever subtlety, or it just wasn’t touched on to make it seem relevant.
Overall though, I really enjoyed Magician. I’m looking forward to reading more of his novels in future (I’m sure my family will be willing to spare me copies).
Rory:
The prose in Magician is easy to follow and I was never at a loss as to what was going on. After finishing his first trilogy, I might try out something he’s written later - see if his style or world-building’s developed over time.
Despite the change in tone between the parts, overall Magician’s tone feels like LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea meets Dances with Wolves: a protagonist working out where they fit in the world at large, coming to terms with magical power and responsibility whilst bridging the gap between two vastly different cultures.
Whilst I enjoyed the simplicity of the overall novel, sometimes I felt like I just wanted that little bit more than a fantasy adventure. I really enjoyed the political spice added by the Tsurani later on. It was the parts only touched on that made me want to know what would happen next.
Ashleigh:
I agree with the simplicity of the novel, however I disagree with the wanting more. For me, the writing style gave me exactly what I wanted in the story.
I didn’t get confused with unnecessary lore or description dumps or random jumps to other characters for background. It stuck with the people I wanted to know about the most. I didn’t need it to be more.
It definitely has the feel of a true fantasy novel for me - like something you’d read when you were younger, but oh so much grander in scale.
Thank you for reading our first ever Paint the Bookclub! Though opinions may differ here, we both recommend trying out Magican or another of the connected series.
If you’re already a fantasy-nut and want to try out older stuff, Feist is great place to start. And if you’re not, you won’t be swamped with unbearable amounts of information. It’s a win-win for any reader!
And remember! Raymond E. Feist - the author of Magician and a great number of other fantasy novels - will be visiting Brisbane on June 20th to celebrate his most recent release: King of Ashes. Tickets for this evening event are available at eventbrite.com AT NO COST! That’s right: COMPLETELY FREE! Register now to get ‘em whilst they’re still available.
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