Post by Taika of Narfell on Jan 6, 2007 5:11:38 GMT 1
Don't let the title deceive you, it is not accurate. This is a good book, no doubt about it, but if you (like me) have had it recommended warmly by many and have heard it praised to heaven by all of those, don't expect all those praises to hold true. They didn't in my case.
Feist's writing is a pleasant change from the rather simple writing that has a tendency to hold a lot of ground in the fantasy genre. His is descriptive and actually gives you a good feel of the places he introduces; a very commendable feat. You don't get the feeling he's talking down to you in childish language like you do with so many others. He simply tells his story as he wants to tell it, and that makes it worth a read.
To be frank, I was disappointed, but mostly because I had been given the impression that this book was the oracle of fantasy on a higher literary level. It is not. While Feist is indeed good he is not as special as some would have me believe. But looking beyond that initial disappointment that he wasn't what I'd been promised he was, I did greatly enjoy the book.
Feist manages to introduce not one but two worlds and he actually manages to make them both fairly convincing in their social structure. However, this incredible amount of work it takes to present the reader with two worlds sadly take away from character development. The book is called Magician so when we at the beginning are introduced to the boy, Pug, who has a strange kind of magical powers it is fairly clear that this is Feist's intended main character. This doesn't last, though.
Along the way though still fairly early in the novel the boy Tomas also takes up the mantle of main character. The two boys are friends, have grown up as brothers, and while Pug is the smallish boy with some magic talent Tomas is the big guy with a penchant for winning the fights he gets into. Two (more or less) opposite views on the world, and this works fine - at first. As the story unfolds and the impressively grand plot is unveiled, Pug ends up alone on his own personal adventure that, while he is more or less solo, still has consequences for the two worlds. The same goes for Tomas, he experiences something very unique that gives him am equally unique advantage. Sadly, we never really get to know either of the boys and the feel of them as main characters fades somewhat.
War is tearing the boys' homeland and world apart, and they both play a part in the resolution of the conflict. However, as Feist all the time makes a point of describing the lands our friends move through he is suddenly at a loss when he has sent off both Pug and Tomas to their individual and very unique destinies. Feist suddenly had no main character through whose eyes he could describe what the war did to the lands. And thus a third character becomes a main characrer of sorts, in order to have some eyes back at home.
This may sound a bit confusing - it is really not that bad. My complaint about this is that from the book's title I was of the impression that Pug would be the main character and I had an expectation of getting to know him over the course of the book. I didn't. On the blurb it is expressed that both Tomas and Pug are main characters, but I don't really get to know Tomas either. The only character I feel I know is the third main character who at first wasn't really intended to be one (or so it seemed). I'm talking about the Prince Arutha, as you'll find out when you read the book.
It is fairly plain to me why the book had this outcome. As stated: Feist introduces two worlds in one and the same novel. That's a lot. And as he seems to be very conscious of making the worlds convincing it takes quite a bit of space to do so. This takes away from how much space can be used for character development, though, so that is what our friends suffer from - lack of space, plain and simple.
Magician is the first book of a series so at least the next books will not suffer from the introduction of two completely new settings, so I have hopes that they will show more character development than I've seen in Magician. Seeing as the setting has already been introduced and described quite thoroughly there is no excuse for not making deep and convincing characters in the sequels.
All in all Magician is a good book. It is epic fantasy and it is in quite good shape, the only actual drawback is the lack of character development, but if one can live without a lot of weight on that aspect there's no reason to stay away from this book. The action scenes are a joy to read, and descriptions of places and scenery are very engaging. This makes the book highly recommendable, though I will not say it's among the best ever. I've read better books, but I have most certainly read many more worse books.
Feist's writing is a pleasant change from the rather simple writing that has a tendency to hold a lot of ground in the fantasy genre. His is descriptive and actually gives you a good feel of the places he introduces; a very commendable feat. You don't get the feeling he's talking down to you in childish language like you do with so many others. He simply tells his story as he wants to tell it, and that makes it worth a read.
To be frank, I was disappointed, but mostly because I had been given the impression that this book was the oracle of fantasy on a higher literary level. It is not. While Feist is indeed good he is not as special as some would have me believe. But looking beyond that initial disappointment that he wasn't what I'd been promised he was, I did greatly enjoy the book.
Feist manages to introduce not one but two worlds and he actually manages to make them both fairly convincing in their social structure. However, this incredible amount of work it takes to present the reader with two worlds sadly take away from character development. The book is called Magician so when we at the beginning are introduced to the boy, Pug, who has a strange kind of magical powers it is fairly clear that this is Feist's intended main character. This doesn't last, though.
Along the way though still fairly early in the novel the boy Tomas also takes up the mantle of main character. The two boys are friends, have grown up as brothers, and while Pug is the smallish boy with some magic talent Tomas is the big guy with a penchant for winning the fights he gets into. Two (more or less) opposite views on the world, and this works fine - at first. As the story unfolds and the impressively grand plot is unveiled, Pug ends up alone on his own personal adventure that, while he is more or less solo, still has consequences for the two worlds. The same goes for Tomas, he experiences something very unique that gives him am equally unique advantage. Sadly, we never really get to know either of the boys and the feel of them as main characters fades somewhat.
War is tearing the boys' homeland and world apart, and they both play a part in the resolution of the conflict. However, as Feist all the time makes a point of describing the lands our friends move through he is suddenly at a loss when he has sent off both Pug and Tomas to their individual and very unique destinies. Feist suddenly had no main character through whose eyes he could describe what the war did to the lands. And thus a third character becomes a main characrer of sorts, in order to have some eyes back at home.
This may sound a bit confusing - it is really not that bad. My complaint about this is that from the book's title I was of the impression that Pug would be the main character and I had an expectation of getting to know him over the course of the book. I didn't. On the blurb it is expressed that both Tomas and Pug are main characters, but I don't really get to know Tomas either. The only character I feel I know is the third main character who at first wasn't really intended to be one (or so it seemed). I'm talking about the Prince Arutha, as you'll find out when you read the book.
It is fairly plain to me why the book had this outcome. As stated: Feist introduces two worlds in one and the same novel. That's a lot. And as he seems to be very conscious of making the worlds convincing it takes quite a bit of space to do so. This takes away from how much space can be used for character development, though, so that is what our friends suffer from - lack of space, plain and simple.
Magician is the first book of a series so at least the next books will not suffer from the introduction of two completely new settings, so I have hopes that they will show more character development than I've seen in Magician. Seeing as the setting has already been introduced and described quite thoroughly there is no excuse for not making deep and convincing characters in the sequels.
All in all Magician is a good book. It is epic fantasy and it is in quite good shape, the only actual drawback is the lack of character development, but if one can live without a lot of weight on that aspect there's no reason to stay away from this book. The action scenes are a joy to read, and descriptions of places and scenery are very engaging. This makes the book highly recommendable, though I will not say it's among the best ever. I've read better books, but I have most certainly read many more worse books.