Magician - Raymond E. Feist

I picked this up after reading Talon of the Silver Hawk and King of Foxes, both fairly good books and enjoyable reads. I had heard of Feist and Magician and thought this will do when i seen it in the newsagent (i was going on a 6 hour train journey at the time). I can safely say this is one of the top novels I have ever read. This book, unlike his later novels is VERY Tolkein influenced but there's nothing wrong with that, I dare say there isn't a fantasy writer out there who can lay claim to 100% original ideas not based on something Tolkein related. The characters are well developed, towns and cities fantastically described allowing you to get ...  Read the complete review

(Firstly it should be noted that you can't buy this book in one volume very easily any more, it has been split into three! However, even if you get the three books they are still a thrilling read - I have written this opinion assuming that you can buy the one volume Magician) Magician is the first book in a trilogy based predominately in the land of Midkemia. Darkness at Sethanon, the second in the series, is more like a separate interlude, while Darkness at Sethanon, culminates the story started in Magician but leaves a few loose ends for the next series (or two or three!) The writing style and content is similar to the classic Lord of the ...  Read the complete review

The book that started a set of novels that shaped fantasy writing to the same effect that Tolkien had done 30 years before- 'Magician'. When I first began reading fantasy I spied this book in my dads collection and began to read it feeling nothing could shape up to the world of Middle-earth that Tolkein had so vividly potrayed. I was in to be suprised!! From the outset the reader is whisked off to a different world where the realism makes you beleive it exsists (and in your head it does). Feist's use of descriptive language is to thank for this and even though the styles of Tolkien and himself are very different they both have the same effect on the ...  Read the complete review

Until I found this book, well it was actually recommended to me, I had only read science fiction and had never realised that there was so much more to the authors of this world. Magician is set on two planets at war with one another and chronicles the life and times of two characters. The star of the book, Pug, starts off as what is described as asimple keep boy, who has been taken care of by the family of one of his friends, Tomas. The story starts in the sleepy little town of Crydee which is an outpost at the far west of Midkemia (where the war takes place). Within the first couple of chapters I was gripped to the point where I had to take days out of my social ...  Read the complete review

My only experience of Feist's work prior to reading "Magician" was "Faerie tale" and I don't read a great deal of high fantasy, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I had some initial reservations, but soon found I couldn't put the book down. Pug and Tomas are boys who work for the Duke of Crydee. Tomas trains as a soldier, while Pug is apprenticed to Kulgan, the local wizard. When Pug rescues the Duke's daughter Carline from trolls, she falls for him and romance starts to blossom. A strange foe appear, and war is declared. Soon the two lads are caught up in the fighting. Lo and behold, there's a ranger, and some dwarves, ...  Read the complete review