Book info

• Title Magician: Apprentice
• Author Raymond E. Feist
• Year 1982
• Genre Fantasy

Orphaned boy Pug is apprenticed to a powerful court magician named Kulgan in the world of Midkemia. Though ill at ease with the normal ways of wizardry, Pug soon earns his place as a squire after saving the life of one of the royals at court. But his courage will be tested still further when dark beings from another world open a rift in the fabric of spacetime to rekindle the age-old battle between the forces of Order and Chaos. Now the lives of Pug and his friend Tomas are thrown into danger and disarray. Only Pug's strange brand of magic might yet turn the tide, in the struggle to repel the invaders and restore peace to Midkemia.

Thoughts

I wouldn’t normally attempt one of these sprawling sci-fi fictions because I tend to get overwhelmed by the scope of them. So many new words to learn in such a short space of time. This was part of my Big Read list, though, so I dived in and gave it a go.

There were parts of it that I couldn’t concentrate on, the overarching politics of two very different worlds, and the occasional history of a species, but actually I found it to be far more accessible than I’d expected. The problem I have with some books is that they throw you in at the deep end, with so many unfamiliar nouns and you’re expected to go along with it all. Here, it seemed a far more gentle introduction, much easier to get immersed in.

The story of Pug, too, was a fascinating underpinning to the whole saga. From such lowly beginnings, through wars and slavery, love and loss, to an eventual happy, if not quite finished, ending. I’m definitely tempted to read the next book of the three, and see what happens next!

Rating: 4 / 5