The Magicians' Guild - Trudi Canavan
This was something of a disappointment. The blurb sounded very promising - citywide purges by a mysterious guild of magicians, rebellion from the streets - but the book itself turned out to be rather wet. The author's just too damn nice about everything - yes, the magicians purge the city, but they don't actually kill anyone (except by accident), they just push them out through the gates. Yes, the guild is trying to hunt down the rogue magician, but only so they can help her. Yes, there's a bad guy with a wicked plan, but it's actually not very wicked at all, just a bit petty and snobbish.
Canavan also has an annoying habit of making up words for things that already have names, thankyouverymuch (a "bolhouse"? Oh, it's just a pub, where they drink "bol"). If it's a spider, then call it a bloody spider. Made-up words rarely add anything to a story, and they're usually just slightly irritating.
To be fair, I did manage to finish the book, and if you're a teenager you may well enjoy it, but it doesn't have a lot to offer an older audience. I won't be reading any more of hers unless she gets considerably nastier.
2/10
posted by Alice at 11:30 am
8 Comments:
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Good stuff! I'm fed up with people constantly recommending this trash to me! I mean seriously, its not as if these books are shite. It's just that there are so many better, even for teenagers (or 'young adults'). Lian Hearn for a start....
bullcrap review. how is the end all pretty and sweet when the kid is locked away and has to shit in a corner?! have you read the next two as well when hundreds die and are forced to watch others die? i dont think so. you write and a better book then you can comment on others and say they are rubbish.
I loved it... am i the only one... maybe its just cuz im a teenager... The second and third one are better....
I agree with much of what you said, the book is very bland, but it is very good entertainment if you are too busy to get a long and complex series such as ASoIaF or MBotF. Sort of like a sorbet course between the main courses
I agree with your comments and if I had'nt bought the second book with the first I wouldn't have bothered. Fortunately the second is considerably better. I've since read her second series. May not be nasty enough for your tastes but there are some original ideas here.
I agree. It's not gratuitous cruelty that's lacking but just a basic sense of danger. There's almost no sense (to the reader) that the heroine might die, especially since from very early on we learn that the guildsmen just want to be her friends.
I wasn't much fussed with the names, either. I've heard it described as "Calling a rabbit a smerp", where the author tries to create exoticism without changing very much.
Not a bad book as such, just a rather mild one.
So your crazy... the series is amazing!
you obviously just don't have any imagination to fill in the gaps... just because people aren't slaughtering each other it does not mean its too nice!
and using different words just supports the idea that this is a different world to our own. The characters are interesting and REALISTIC! you make it seem like because they aren't all murderers they couldn't be real. Let me ask you, have you ever just killed someone! And it gives good reasons for why she was invited to join the guild but you obviously aren't intelligent enough to notice them!
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