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Fantasy Book Review: The Novice by Trudi Canavan
Review by Joshua S Hill
The second book in Trudi Canavan’s The Black Magician trilogy continues on from the first flawlessly, almost as if there should not have been a break. Sonea has decided that staying at the Guild is in the best interests of all she cares about, and is not entirely as distrustful of magic as she had been starting out in book one.
As such, she begins her studies as a novice in the Guild University. Subsequently, Sonea’s storyline is very much a similar story to that of Harry Potter. The magician from a lowly station, with great power, suffers the ill attentions of the class king, despite her best attempts to remain anonymous.
While sometimes a story that mirrors another can be a detriment to the second, in this case it is not so. Trudi Canavan has a better grasp of storytelling and writing ability than Rowling does, and makes Sonea’s journey through her classes all the more interesting. She does not fall for creating a character that is flawless in every regard, but simply allows the well established upper class distaste for “dwells” carry the antagonism.
Read the full Fantasy Book Review of The Novice
Trudi Canavan was born on the 23rd October 1969 in Melbourne, Australia. She won the Aurealis Award for her fantasy short story Whispers of the Mist Children in 1999 and has never looked back. In 2001 she further established herself as a fantasy writer of rare talent with The Magician’s Guild, the first book in a trilogy which included The Novice and The High Lord.
Posted: July 14th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Fantasy Book Review, Trudi Canavan
Comments
Chris Warren
I haven’t yet read book one of trudi’s trilogy, but one of the comments in the article will direct me towards doing so. The fact that book two is a seamless continuation is, I believe so important in a series of this nature (take the Tolkein example if you like).
I’ve tried to adopt this in my recent book – Randolph’s Challenge Book One-The Pendulum Swings. I’m well into writing book two now – A Wizard’s Lot and i’ve had Randolph step straight out of the last chapter of book one and straight into the first of book two without tripping over his own feet.
Chris Warren
Author and Freelance Writer
Randolph’s Challenge, Book One-The Pendulum Swings
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