Collegia Magica, by Carol Berg

[Teresa Edgerton]

Although I don't usually like stories that are grim and/or dark, I would enthusiastically recommend these books. Cruel, awful things happen in this trilogy, often to main characters, but the plots were so original, the characters so engaging, and the turns the story took so often unexpected, I was won over. (Besides, all the horrifying developments are intrinsic to the story, and none of it is gratuitous or sensational -- or at least I didn't think so.)

I found these books genuinely edge-of-the-seat suspenseful. The first volume took a while to set things up but once it got going I could hardly put the book down. With the second and third, I was in a state of anxiety from the first to last page each time.

No wars, no armies, but court intrigue at it's finest, with magic and religion mixed in.

Has anybody else read these books?

 

[The Bluestocking]

No, I haven't read these books but I'm going to search for them now!

 

[Heather Myst]

I also liked these books. Her Rai-Kirah series is even darker. Transformation is book one and if you like darker fantasy I think this series is worth a look.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Transformation is book one and if you like darker fantasy I think this series is worth a look.

I liked Transformation but it didn't catch my imagination in the same way that the Collegia books did. The setting of the Collegia trilogy felt like a later period, which was refreshing, but also I think it was just a matter of personal preference.

The Song of the Beast appealed to me. And I quite liked the Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone duology (there is an upcoming sequel, and I look forward to it), but the Collegia Magica books are my clear favorite.

Before The Daemon Prism came out, I was hoping there would be a fourth Collegia Magica, but after reading number three I could see how anything else in that setting would have to start an entirely new story, and now she has other stories in other worlds that she wants to write about. On the other hand, she probably thought there was nothing coming after Breath and Bone and there is that sequel coming out, so maybe in a few years she will change her mind about Collegia Magica.

 

[Hex]

I found the Collegia Magica truly amazing. They were so grown up for fantasy novels. That sounds kind of odd, so bear with me... I probably found them that way partly because I read a lot of middle-grade and young adult, but they were also complex and intricate and the reader had to work.

I've loved her other books (especially Transformation and the Flesh and Spirit/ Breath and Bone duology), and they are dark -- there's a particularly horrible scene in Breath and Bone (I think) that won't get out of my head. The Bridge of D'Arnath stories also have a terribly dark underpinning. But the darkness seems to me to be contained -- bad things happen to a few people, and while that sets everything off and makes the dangers grimmer and more immediate, it's not continual. They are necessary to the plot, and the characters are mourned in a genuine and ongoing way by the changes that other characters make to their own behaviour and lives.

I think I've rambled about this before, but what struck me about Transformation was that despite the appalling situation Seyonne finds himself in, he is unbeaten -- he has given up in so many ways, but he holds on to the core of who he is -- and he is a genuinely good and moral man. A real hero.

(similarly, I think, Melina Marchetta's books, Finnikin of the Rock etc are quite dark, but their darkness is also focused, not everywhere, so I find them absolutely entrancing).

My favourite Collegia Magica book was the middle one of the trilogy; I found myself struggling a little by the last one. I couldn't really put my finger on why -- and it was still better than anything I'd read for years -- but I wonder if it was the POV choices.

I loved the complex world that she created -- it's different from anything else I've read -- but the heart of the books was really one incredible character, or perhaps two, and the portrayal was so strong and real that it almost feels like he's real.

I must go and read the books again!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I loved the complex world that she created -- it's different from anything else I've read -- but the heart of the books was really one incredible character, or perhaps two, and the portrayal was so strong and real that it almost feels like he's real.

The world and the magic are so entrancing (though horrifying, too) and I think that Portier is such an amazing character, the way we see him develop is quite extraordinary, from The Spirit Lens through The Daemon Prism. The story is really about his journey, and that is what makes the trilogy so self-contained, so I see why there are no sequels planned. (Though one can hope.) He and Anne are not at all flashy characters, which makes them feel so true, though their experiences are so very far from ordinary. And how could anyone not love Ilario?

Do you think the split viewpoint in the third book was the reason why you didn't like it as much? It was a little disconcerting for me after the way the first two books were written. I don't see how it could have been any different, and yet there was something that was lost. But still it was a powerful book and a powerful end to the story.

But the darkness seems to me to be contained -- bad things happen to a few people, and while that sets everything off and makes the dangers grimmer and more immediate, it's not continual.

This is certainly true for the Collegia Magica books. It's all so focussed and intense because the terrible things that happen are not trivialized by making them commonplace

 

[Hex]

Actually, I was in love with/ fascinated by Dante; although I loved the character of Portier, I thought the stories were really about Dante (in the same way that, from certain angles, the Harry Potter books are actually about Snape). Because Dante is such an amazing character, and so powerful and ambiguous, seeing things from his perspective sort of weakened the story for me.