Lucidonline

The first proper fantasy book I ever read was of course the Hobbit and that was quickly followed by the Lord of the Rings trilogy. That was when I was about 7 or 8. Unfortunately I gave up on reading for some years. When I was about 14 in secondary school my English teacher used to bring in a selection of books that the school had bought for us to read.

I read some strange sci-fi that I really didn’t care for. Then one Thursday afternoon I found Magician by Raymond E. Feist. I spent the next two days devouring this book and thoroughly enjoying it.

Magician follows Pug, an orphan, Thomas, a cooks son and Arutha the son of a duke. An invasion by peoples from another world begins a tale that spans both worlds and many years. The war brings about events that change the life of the three main characters, revealing impressive destinies for all of them. It is western fantasy at its best with a mixture of Asian culture mixed in.

We really care for the characters as there is great development of their personalities, their fears and their strengths. Any lover of fantasy should give Magician a go.

It has unfortunately come under some heavy criticism recently, especially when it was voted into the top 100 great British reads. The problem is that Magician is typical of its genre and people are expecting some new and different. But these people are forgetting that Magician was first published in the 1980’s. Since then a flood of this kind of fantasy has filled the market.

My wish is that people give magician a chance and remember how long this book has been around.