Saturday, December 12, 2009

Book 22: Magician by Raymond E. Feist

Of course being number 22 in the top 100 books as voted by the Australian public and being fantasy I've already read the Magician but since it was in my classic fantasy collection and on the list I was very pleased to have an excuse to read it again.

This story of Pug, the keep orphan, and his journey through life is a bit of a door stop running to 831 but it is epic fantasy at its best. As a young adult I loved fantasy because it gave me an escape from the real world and the Magician is a book that I would recommend to people in their early teens.

Some more cynical than myself, ok no it's actually me, might draw scathing comparisons between Magician and Tolkien's famous trilogy Lord of the Rings and it's true there are some similarities. Elves in a magical Elven place like Lothlórien, lead by an ageless stunning queen like Galadriel, dwarves and a journey under the mountain through old tunnels (like the Mines of Moria), which results in the loss of a party member to the baddies and epic wars but there is enough strong character development in the main character Pug to keep me interested.

The part that doesn’t mirror Tolkien doesn't have is a vibrant and well thought out alternate universe, called Kelewan which is as different from our traditional kings, castles, damsels in distress fantasy as chalk is to cheese. The alternate world reminds me somewhat of feudal Japan with it’s honour codes and political intrigue.
There’s a smattering of love interests and some nicely tied up plot endings that make this a read which won’t leave you crying into your bellybutton. I would say that this is a feminine book even though it was written by a man, Raymond E Feist, and enjoyed by many a gentleman the world over.
I would heartily recommend you all to read the story of Pug as he journeys between these two worlds to find his path to become a Magician.

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