When Empires Clash. (Magician - Raymond E. Feist)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	Magician - Raymond E. Feist
Date:	29/11/01 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: gripping plot, breaks with the cliches, copious amaonts of excellent detail.

Disadvantages: impossible to put down.

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, there are elves in the woods, magical ancient armour found in an ancient mine and I am starting to think "hmm, bit of a Tolkien thing going on here then.' I've read enough books and backs of books to know that a great deal of fantasy literature is dedicated to rewriting the Tolkien books, usually very badly.

However, the fighters come to Midkemia are aliens who have harnessed a rift in the fabric of the universe. Pug is drawn through into their land, where he is first a slave, and then trained as a magician under their system (hence the title.) Tomas finds that his magical armour is not entirely benevolent, and both young men must grapple with ancient forces for the good of their worlds.

There is no battle between good and evil, only men and women caught up in war and politics. At first, the invading army seems like the evil bad guy cliche, but as the plot evolves, you start to see them as people, as flawed as anyone else, but not inherrently bad. Even the villanous creatures have odd moments of redemption.

This book has a massive pace - in 680 pages, Feist covers nine years of war, politics, love, training, magic and two civilizations. The writing is amazingly dense, containing huge amounts of detail, vast swathes of action and still managing to get in some ch
aracterisation for all of the major and a good few of the minor characters.

The attention to detail is what really makes the book work - the number of fantasy books I've encountered that offer you unpronouncable-the hero off on his quest for some thing, fighting the ultimate evil and falling in love with some beautiful woman whose name seems to be a random collection of consonants doesn't ebar thinking about. Feist fills his work with details of life, some familiar, someno, details of existence that bring a reality and substance to the work. The writing has a depth often lacking in the fantasy books I've read.

Having canvassed the opinions of friends, I gather that Feist has a very good reputation as a fantasy writer. Readers who share my fear of genre cliches and Tolkien rip -offs would do well to give these books a look. They have a great deal of merit and are remarkably well written. Fantasy tends to have a reputation for being a touch low brow, and even in my limited reading experience, this often seems justified. This book however has a lot to say about human qualities, about love, death, honnour and warfare, and I would wholeheartedly recomend it as a fine read.

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