Magician - Raymond E Feist
First published 1982.
Audiobook narrated by Unknown, uploaded to YouTube by Bardic Knowledge in 3 parts on 17-02-2021.
This was a very well-written book, and also well narrated, but I am going to try not to listen to an audiobook as long as this again as it takes much longer than actually reading it! Also, although YouTube can have a book uploaded for free, I'm not sure of the legality of it all - particularly when I can't find out who actually put in all the work to record it.
The book starts off following Pug, the stereotypical young orphan/kitchen boy living in a castle (Crydee), hoping for glory, and coming across a mysterious mentor in the form of the wizard Kulgan. He is trained to become a wizard/magician, while his childhood friend Tomas dreams of becoming a soldier. So far so normal. In fact, a lot of the early plot of Magician is fairly predictable and cliché, right down to the inevitable budding romance between Pug and the headstrong impetuous princess Carline.
Then it takes a bit of a left turn.
There are rifts in space and time, with access through to a completely different world, that of Kelewan. And where Pug's homeworld, Midkemia, fits the stereotypical European fantasy tropes (right down to the inclusion of elves and dwarves), Kelewan is a slightly more alien world with a distinctly Asian-inspired honour system and castes. It doesn't throw the fantasy tropes away entirely, but I do appreciate that it begins to at least bend them in new directions. The fact that Pug and Carline don't end up together is also a minor twist but at least shows some originality.
Magician differs from most other fantasy novels I've read thus far in that it also takes place over a much larger timeframe than most. Although The Lord of the Rings technically has a 17 year gap between Frodo being given the ring and setting out from the Shire, most of its action takes place in little over a year. In a similar fashion, most of Pawn of Prophecy takes place while Garion is 12, with him only 'ageing up' into the sequel. Magician, on the other hand, covers over nine years in a single book.
It is quite a big book.
Pug himself becomes a less important character for a good portion of the book as we focus on the war between Midkemia and Kelewan and the various political machinations going on, but eventually he returns to a prominent position and is able to have a satisfactory impact on the final events of the story.
I enjoyed this book. At times I was completely engrossed. I even was so frustrated by one plot development that I had to regroup before continuing to listen (I mean this in a positive sense. I was so wanting the story to go one direction that when it went elsewhere I needed to process the change).
I would like to read another of Feist's books in the future.
Just with the emphasis on read.
Completed 21 September 2021.
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