Alice Smith Book Reviews: Home

**** / 5

Magician is one of those books that sits quietly on many of the “top 100 books of all time” lists and waits. It doesn’t jump out at you. It doesn’t even march into Hollywood (or New Zealand) and demand a movie series. Like its protagonist, Pug, Magician just minds its own business in a non-descript manner, taking up just an average space on the store shelf until you notice it’s there and decide to see what it’s about. And then, just like Pug, it changes everything.

In his medieval-type fantasy kingdom, Pug is a fairly average teenager. At least, that’s what he has believed for most of his orphan life. But early in the story he finds out that he has magical powers: wild magical powers that he doesn’t understand and can’t control. The story follows his life as he trains from a frustrated and unsuccessful apprentice to the greatest magician in two worlds.

If the story, or general formula of the story, sounds familiar that’s because a lot of fantasy authors and film makers have been influenced by Magician as it set the tone for coming-of-age fantasy novels after Tolkein.

If you’re used to 21st century fantasy writing you might find the descriptive language in this one a bit heavy to get into at first, with some long paragraphs and a lot of sensory description; but once you get used to this style you’ll find it gives you a much richer experience as a reader: with images and scenes that stay with you long after you’ve put the book down.

By the way... Feist is one author who has never stopped working. The series that began with Magician in 1982 is set in the Riftwar universe, and he’s still writing stories in this universe.