Trudi Canavan

[rune]

Has anyone read her series The Black Magician Trilogy. Or any of the books in this series?

 

[tonic]

Hehe Rune it seems Im the only one answering your posts today. The Black magician trilogy was pretty good, reminded me of Harry Potter but it was stilll good. I don't really know what to say, it starts out like any other old fashioned fantasy novel with a girl finding out she has magical powers and being taught how to use them, though Trudi really pulls you into the story and you find yourself getting attached, at least I did. I think the author is from Australia and it's really famous there but I can't seem to find the last book of the series here even though it's been released for awhile. Anyways if your wondering about anything else just ask.

 

[The Master™]

I've recently started The Magician's Guild (book one of the series)...

I am really enjoying it... Similar, I think, to Magician (by Raymond E Feist)... Young person of low-birth finds that they have a magic talent (and they could be one of the most powerful practitioners of their time)... But I don't think book (or series) has quite the massive scope that Feist has shown...

But still, it is a good read so far... And look forward to continuing to read it... As I've posted in other threads, I am starting to read more women writers to see how a feminine perspective deals with Fantasy...

As for the third book in the Trilogy, it was recently published in paperback in the UK.. Saw it in WH Smith on Wednesday...

 

[rune]

I've also read the The Magicians Guild the first book in the series I found it to be a fair read, could have been more exciting and mature. But it had promise.

Wondering if anyone had read the other two books yet and what they thought of them.

 

[Mark Robson]

I've also read the The Magicians Guild the first book in the series I found it to be a fair read, could have been more exciting and mature. But it had promise.

Wondering if anyone had read the other two books yet and what they thought of them.

I just finished the last book yesterday and I really enjoyed it. The story didn't quite have the satisfying ending that I was hoping for, but all of the books were well thought out with good characters. The twist at the end of the second book was nice, but I had (unfortunately) anticipated it.

There were some really interesting ideas in the conceptualising of magic and how it works in this series. I particularly liked the twist on 'black magic', which I won't put here for fear of ruining the story.

I thought this was a very good debut series.

 

[rune]

I just finished the last book yesterday and I really enjoyed it. The story didn't quite have the satisfying ending that I was hoping for, but all of the books were well thought out with good characters. The twist at the end of the second book was nice, but I had (unfortunately) anticipated it.

There were some really interesting ideas in the conceptualising of magic and how it works in this series. I particularly liked the twist on 'black magic', which I won't put here for fear of ruining the story.

I thought this was a very good debut series.

It sounds promising and I am more and more tempted to get the rest of the books . My problem is what to buy next when I have so many ongoing series. So I have to prioritise as in what I think will be the best read

 

[The Master™]

Rune, you need to become independently wealthy and spend all day reading all the good books out there...

You need the Ring of Power to give you unnatural long life and that'll help you get through a lot of books!!!

 

[dwndrgn]

This set is on my 'to read' list - I even have it on my wishlist at amazon.com (which I use to keep track of those books I'm waiting to buy or rent).

I'm looking forward to it.

 

[rune]

Rune, you need to become independently wealthy and spend all day reading all the good books out there...

You need the Ring of Power to give you unnatural long life and that'll help you get through a lot of books!!!

You are so right I keep thinking someone will leave me all the fantasy books (that just happen to be all the ones I want) in their will

 

[The Master™]

Go for the money, then you can buy the ones you want!!!

 

[rune]

Go for the money, then you can buy the ones you want!!!

You're quite right . Lots of pennies to spend on all the books I want (85 at present )

 

[rune]

I had a long reading session yesterday. Recovering from a miserable week in wet wensleydale. And got through The Novice

I thought it was much better than the first book and found myself really enjoying Sonea's misery at the Guild. Not that I wanted the poor lass to suffer, but you know what it's like when misery is just the thing you want to read

This book was more mature than the first book too, which was good as i felt the first one did craft the character as well. I didnt find Dannyl's journey that engaging to be honest, as I much preferred the intrigue at the college

 

[dwndrgn]

I finished the second one but have yet to get the third. I've just loaned them out to a new friend who is also a reader (yay! finally someone to swap books with!). Once she gives them back I may end up donating them to the library, or not depending on my mood at the time .

************Possible Spoiler below - read at your own risk************












I quite liked Dannyl's journey - I liked how the two characters were separate but still connected. I'm intrigued by his character, especially now that he's discovered more about himself and magic. What is annoying me is the ambiguity of whassname, the bad guy who may be a good guy in disguise. That shouldn't bother me but I think it is so blatant that it is annoying. More subtleties are called for. The one bit I really didn't like is that even though the ancient text Dannyl read wasn't important to the story he was looking for, we still have no clue what it was about. I'm too curious for that kind of thing. I want to know why something can be so sacred that no others can read it. And I want to know now! *in my best Violet whine*

 

[The Master™]

I've read all three... Some time back now... The first and second books were great... The mystery, the intrigue, the various factions...

But the third one was a bit of a let down at the end... A VERY OBVIOUS ENDING... I was expecting more... Guess I've just been too spoiled over the years...

 

[rune]

I finished the second one but have yet to get the third. I've just loaned them out to a new friend who is also a reader (yay! finally someone to swap books with!). Once she gives them back I may end up donating them to the library, or not depending on my mood at the time .

************Possible Spoiler below - read at your own risk************












I quite liked Dannyl's journey - I liked how the two characters were separate but still connected. I'm intrigued by his character, especially now that he's discovered more about himself and magic. What is annoying me is the ambiguity of whassname, the bad guy who may be a good guy in disguise. That shouldn't bother me but I think it is so blatant that it is annoying. More subtleties are called for. The one bit I really didn't like is that even though the ancient text Dannyl read wasn't important to the story he was looking for, we still have no clue what it was about. I'm too curious for that kind of thing. I want to know why something can be so sacred that no others can read it. And I want to know now! *in my best Violet whine*

I actually thought this quest into finding the ancient and secret text didnt take the story forward enough. I think that's why I didnt get engaged with these parts of the 2nd book.
Now the college storyline did at least let Sonea grow and hint at the High Lords possible collusion with the dark arts. I would have liked more background into the High Lords motives though. I've read hints that the last book may be a bit crammed with these answers. It will be a while before I can get the last book, but I will be interested to see how the author pulls it all together

 

[Animaiden]

It is a good series. I have read all three. I thought that The High Lord was the best of them. It, kinda, tied up most of the loose ends. You got to find out why the High Lord uses black magic. The ending wasn't the greatest, though. I wanted to know more, like how did Ceryi(sp) make out, among other things. I am always wondering what happens to characters after the book ends, though. That's just me.

 

[The Master™]

I agree that there should have been more... Maybe enough to start another little series???

Problem with final books in series, is that there are things to "tie up", but I find authors like Raymond E Feist (Shameless promoting) don't tie things up, and that seems to work better... IMNSHO!!!

 

[GOLLUM]

To Rune and anyone esle who may be interested..

UM.. I don't know if I mentioned this but I'm posting you guys from the Modern Myths And Ancient Legends Conference here in Australia's capital city Canberra held over our national long weekend where we honour our ANZACS, basically those Aussie women and men who have served in major wars ilke WWI, WWII, Vietnamn etc..

Aynways Trudi is one of the panellists here and I had a chat with her about upcoming series. Incidentally she's a pretty cool lady and lives not that far away from moi in Melbourne in the beautiful Dandenong hills.

Generally whilst I liked her Black Magician Guild trilogy (The Magician's Guild, The Novice, The High Lord) I did find it a little derivative but still enjoyable. Now she's basically completed a new trilogy (first 2 books and first draft of book 3) called The Age Of Five Gods revolving around god-like figures and their potential actions and reactions when having relationships with mortals. She describes the books as much more "adult" than her first trilogy. Contracts with Orbit UK and Harpercollins US have been occurring.

Age Of Five Gods series:
1. Priestess Of The White (Novemeber 2005 in OZ and maybe UK and US)
2. Last Of The Wilds
3. Voice Of The Gods

She's also heading off to WorldCon 2005 in Glasgow in August 2005 for anyone who may be going there.

Once she returns she'll be continuing work on a new prequel trilogy to Black Magician.

Hope this info proves useful.

OH BTW Jennifer Fallon is Guest Of Honour here. If you haven't read her books yet I'd suggest you give them a try, pretty good!

 

[rune]

Thanks Gollum for the info, you're a star The new series sounds really good and I'm hoping it is released later this year

Good to hear too it's got a more mature theme. I quite often find that when YA author's get into more adult stories they can really shine

 

[rune]

OH BTW Jennifer Fallon is Guest Of Honour here. If you haven't read her books yet I'd suggest you give them a try, pretty good!

I have read Medalon by Jennifer Fallon, and found it to be fair read. I'm in two minds about continuing with this series though. And wondering of some of her other books may appeal more