AUDIOBOOK REIVEW: The Magician's Guild
Title: The Magician’s Guild
Author: Trudi Canavan
Audiobook Narrator: Richard Aspel
Series: The Black Magician Trilogy
As a child of the slums, Sonea despises the magicians. How could she feel differently, when once a year they purge her neighborhood of its poorest (and therefore least desirable) members? Everything changes when Sonea discovers that she can do magic, making her one of the people she most despises. When the magicians discover her existence, they launch a massive manhunt to track her down before her untrained powers become too dangerous. With no place to turn, Sonea is forced to turn to The Thieves, but even they may not be able to shield her from the powerful organization that is The Magician’s Guild.
I picked up The Magician’s Guild after seeing the author interviewed on the web show, Sword and Laser. As someone who has enjoyed stories about young magicians in the past, it seemed like a good fit for me. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Canavan seems like an incredibly nice person, I had a hard time with this book (which will make writing this review, very hard. Why couldn’t she have been snobby and mean!). Although it certainly has its moments, The Magician’s Guild lacks compelling characters, and is ultimately held down by its meandering and even predictable plot. On top of that, the audiobook’s narrator has the most unappealing way of delivering young voices. This is a problem given that two of the most important characters in this book are quite young.
It’s hard to give this book a fair review without getting too deep into spoilers, so I apologize if I seem overly vague. Basically the book is divided into two sections, the first containing about 60% of the book, and the second taking up the rest. I can’t help but feel that all of the books strong moments are in that second section, meaning that you must wade though over half the book in order to get to them. The early chapters of the book contain a lot of running around, but not all that much is accomplished in the process. Yes, it’s important to establish the relationship between Sonea and Cery, but beyond that it kind of felt like a waste of my time, especially when it’s pretty obvious how the standoff between The Guild and The Thieves is going to end. The second section of the book has some really effective character moments between Sonea and a mentor figure, but it’s still pretty uneven. Similar to the first part of the book, it’s pretty obvious how everything is going to turn out, making the journey feel a little pointless. I also found myself struggling to connect with the characters, including the protagonist Sonea. I didn’t quite buy the villain, not necessary for his opinions on the lower classes, but for the lengths at which he was willing to go to take her down based on those opinions. On a positive note, I did end up liking Sonea’s mentor.
Thoughts on the Audiobook: While I have no complaints on Richard Aspel’s voices for the adult characters in this book, I took issue with how he handled the younger ones. He often gave Sonea, Cery, and other young characters an unattractive whiny tone to their voice while the they were under stress. It was just like nails on a chalkboard to me.
Final Thoughts: The Magician’s Guild is not without its merits. I found the second half to have some really good moments, and I really liked one of the characters. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend a book based on handful of good scenes and one likable character. The book simply wastes too much time on elements that ultimately don’t matter, and the predictability to the plot doesn’t really help it much either. I’ve heard from other reviews that the series does improve from here on out, but there are simply too many good books out there for me to read to continue a series that just don’t work for me. Two and a Half Stars
Author: Trudi Canavan
Audiobook Narrator: Richard Aspel
Series: The Black Magician Trilogy
As a child of the slums, Sonea despises the magicians. How could she feel differently, when once a year they purge her neighborhood of its poorest (and therefore least desirable) members? Everything changes when Sonea discovers that she can do magic, making her one of the people she most despises. When the magicians discover her existence, they launch a massive manhunt to track her down before her untrained powers become too dangerous. With no place to turn, Sonea is forced to turn to The Thieves, but even they may not be able to shield her from the powerful organization that is The Magician’s Guild.
I picked up The Magician’s Guild after seeing the author interviewed on the web show, Sword and Laser. As someone who has enjoyed stories about young magicians in the past, it seemed like a good fit for me. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Canavan seems like an incredibly nice person, I had a hard time with this book (which will make writing this review, very hard. Why couldn’t she have been snobby and mean!). Although it certainly has its moments, The Magician’s Guild lacks compelling characters, and is ultimately held down by its meandering and even predictable plot. On top of that, the audiobook’s narrator has the most unappealing way of delivering young voices. This is a problem given that two of the most important characters in this book are quite young.
It’s hard to give this book a fair review without getting too deep into spoilers, so I apologize if I seem overly vague. Basically the book is divided into two sections, the first containing about 60% of the book, and the second taking up the rest. I can’t help but feel that all of the books strong moments are in that second section, meaning that you must wade though over half the book in order to get to them. The early chapters of the book contain a lot of running around, but not all that much is accomplished in the process. Yes, it’s important to establish the relationship between Sonea and Cery, but beyond that it kind of felt like a waste of my time, especially when it’s pretty obvious how the standoff between The Guild and The Thieves is going to end. The second section of the book has some really effective character moments between Sonea and a mentor figure, but it’s still pretty uneven. Similar to the first part of the book, it’s pretty obvious how everything is going to turn out, making the journey feel a little pointless. I also found myself struggling to connect with the characters, including the protagonist Sonea. I didn’t quite buy the villain, not necessary for his opinions on the lower classes, but for the lengths at which he was willing to go to take her down based on those opinions. On a positive note, I did end up liking Sonea’s mentor.
Thoughts on the Audiobook: While I have no complaints on Richard Aspel’s voices for the adult characters in this book, I took issue with how he handled the younger ones. He often gave Sonea, Cery, and other young characters an unattractive whiny tone to their voice while the they were under stress. It was just like nails on a chalkboard to me.
Final Thoughts: The Magician’s Guild is not without its merits. I found the second half to have some really good moments, and I really liked one of the characters. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend a book based on handful of good scenes and one likable character. The book simply wastes too much time on elements that ultimately don’t matter, and the predictability to the plot doesn’t really help it much either. I’ve heard from other reviews that the series does improve from here on out, but there are simply too many good books out there for me to read to continue a series that just don’t work for me. Two and a Half Stars