Author: Trudi Canavan
Publisher: EOS
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 2004
This book almost lost me after 12 pages. How is it that a street urchin can be ripped from her normal surroundings, discover previously untapped magical powers and be thrust into city-wide turmoil within 12 pages? It’s the kind of start that had me rolling my eyes simply because it happened so fast and the magic “system” consists of the magic user (in this case, the urchin) really, really, really wanting something to happen and so it does. Kind of like, “Hmm… I really, really, really want a fudge brownie sundae to appear in front of me right now *creases forehead with concentration*” What, no sundae? I guess I’m not magical…
But, fret not friends. This is just my overly critical, sarcastic nature shining through. Take my advice and wear your “I’ve seen this all before” smirk through the first couple of chapters and the story will begin to unfold. We don’t achieve anything epic here (nor are we supposed to), but the characters do develop and the intrigue of watching the more occluded tactics of the thieves war against the overt power and organization of the magicians is fun to watch.
Back to the magic system. We don’t get a lot of detail in this book about the nature of magic in this world. We know that you have to “control” your magic and that your magic is applied to certain disciplines, but honestly, there’s not much meat on the bone here for magic buffs. I expect to see much more in the next installment, “The Novice” which is Book 2 of the series. I’d say the book follows along a thievery, snoopery, stealthy kind of thread which I enjoy almost as much as a good magic yarn.
Book 1 also invokes a Dacco pet peeve – Using fantasy-ified names where normal ones would suffice. Examples: Dannyl instead of Daniel, Sonea instead of Sonya. I made a concious effort to thwart this evil tactic by pronouncing the names in my head as “Dan-il” and “So-nee-uh”. It is my quiet rebellion against this practice…
If you sum this all up, basically you have an eminently enjoyable read without requiring a glossary to follow the plot. There is excitement, tension, good character development and choices for the main characters to struggle with. Enjoy this book over ice with salt.
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