scroggin_cooper's review against another edition
4.0
4.5/5
This book made me fall in love with this world.
Liked:
1. Laurie. Laurie is an interesting character. He's a friend to Pug when he's enslaved to the Tsurani, and he gives off a Thom Merillin vibe. Probably my second favorite Wheel of Time character. He's just plain awesome, helping Pug stay sane.
2. The continuous plot. After reading this book, I can definitively say that this book really did need to be two books. The books are so different from one another that it only made sense to do that. Everyone's little things build up to a climax of sealing the Rift.
3. The final battle. The climax of this book is short but sweet, it's so fun, a climactic battle against the Tsurani, which culminates with the heroes sealing the Rift. Feist is still really bad at writing combat scenes, it's seriously on like High School-level writing.
Disliked:
1. How little Pug is in the story. Pug's a cool guy, he is barely in this book. While he did get the majority of the POVs in the last book, he gets about five in this book, but we get a lot of development from other characters such as Arutha, Tomas, and Kulgan.
2. Roland getting the axe. Roland shouldn't've died this early in the series. I sort've expected him to die at some point, but not this early. I assumed it was so Pug and Carline could get together, but that didn't happen. They do say that people die in war, but he should've died later on.
3. Lack of Garlic of characters. Like many classic fantasy books, the characters don't exactly grow that much from beginning to end. The closest I can think of is Pug accepting his fate so he can seal the Rift, but that's about it.
This book made me fall in love with this world.
Liked:
1. Laurie. Laurie is an interesting character. He's a friend to Pug when he's enslaved to the Tsurani, and he gives off a Thom Merillin vibe. Probably my second favorite Wheel of Time character. He's just plain awesome, helping Pug stay sane.
2. The continuous plot. After reading this book, I can definitively say that this book really did need to be two books. The books are so different from one another that it only made sense to do that. Everyone's little things build up to a climax of sealing the Rift.
3. The final battle. The climax of this book is short but sweet, it's so fun, a climactic battle against the Tsurani, which culminates with the heroes sealing the Rift. Feist is still really bad at writing combat scenes, it's seriously on like High School-level writing.
Disliked:
1. How little Pug is in the story. Pug's a cool guy, he is barely in this book. While he did get the majority of the POVs in the last book, he gets about five in this book, but we get a lot of development from other characters such as Arutha, Tomas, and Kulgan.
2. Roland getting the axe. Roland shouldn't've died this early in the series. I sort've expected him to die at some point, but not this early. I assumed it was so Pug and Carline could get together, but that didn't happen. They do say that people die in war, but he should've died later on.
3. Lack of Garlic of characters. Like many classic fantasy books, the characters don't exactly grow that much from beginning to end. The closest I can think of is Pug accepting his fate so he can seal the Rift, but that's about it.
raj_page's review against another edition
3.0
This was a hard decision.
I've so many conflicted emotions about this book.
It lacks a sense of continuity in my opinion. Too many story threads. Too many places. But I love that sort of books. But somehow, that's what made me give this book only 3/5.
Pug's storyline is awesome. I love every moment of this book when we saw Pug. But Tomas' inner turmoil felt vague. The politics in King's world was fun but it felt that it paled a lil after reading about the Empire.
Loveable characters and undeniably beautiful worlds. But somewhere something was missing. Maybe the next books might have changed that.
I've so many conflicted emotions about this book.
It lacks a sense of continuity in my opinion. Too many story threads. Too many places. But I love that sort of books. But somehow, that's what made me give this book only 3/5.
Pug's storyline is awesome. I love every moment of this book when we saw Pug. But Tomas' inner turmoil felt vague. The politics in King's world was fun but it felt that it paled a lil after reading about the Empire.
Loveable characters and undeniably beautiful worlds. But somewhere something was missing. Maybe the next books might have changed that.
rasmus's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
charlibirb's review against another edition
2.0
OOOOOPH.
Magician: Apprentice was such a good start to a traditional fantasy story, but this book falls so flat. SO many of the potential conflicts are wrapped up with Deus Ex Macina-type solutions, there are ZERO women characters with ANY effect on the plot, they are only princesses that are basically love-interests.
There are better series out there, don't bother.
Magician: Apprentice was such a good start to a traditional fantasy story, but this book falls so flat. SO many of the potential conflicts are wrapped up with Deus Ex Macina-type solutions, there are ZERO women characters with ANY effect on the plot, they are only princesses that are basically love-interests.
There are better series out there, don't bother.
meeeeeeeeee's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
georgeberry's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
poisonenvy's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Review for both Apprentice and Master.
Was this really only one book? Because I feel like I just finished an entire trilogy here. One that I was sort of... idk, luke warm on?
I found the writing.... not great, though I'll admit that it did seem to get better by the end of the book. The characters all seemed rather flat and two-dimensional. The only characters who seemed to have any personality were Amos and Martin (and even Martin's personality was... wishy-washy?). There was a lot of describing how a character apparently acted, but very little seeing that on screen. This was especially egregious with the female characters. All the characters seemed to just be getting dragged along by the plot instead of having any of their own agency.
For an author who insisted on giving all his characters romances, he didn't seem to want to develop those romances at all. It seemed to be insta-love at first sight with zero development thereafter. The only exception to this wasRoland and Carline's romance and then he... killled Roland off? Off screen? Because of cows? I don't know, it seemed very strange. Very "Oh well, I'm tired of this guy now." If he actually ends up being dead I'm going to be confused and a little miffed, since he seemed to have such build-up, especially with the whole drinking scene with Pug and Tomas where they promised to be best friends forever.
The transitions between scenes were non-existent, which sometimes led to some confusion while I listened to the audiobook. The book seemed to jump around all over the place.
There was one scene where our heroes free a slave and are like "Well, your name's too hard so we're changing it lol you don't get a choice in this" and then another scene later wherePug and Laurie 's slavemasters make a point of learning out to properly pronounce their names, and... that was a very strange choice too?
I had thought there had been some foreshadowing to a massive conflict betweenPug and Tomas and that ended up never coming, so I was a little sad about that, but I fully admit that that one's probably on me.
Also, Feist seems to be a big fan of constantly stating "Never before in history had x happened." There was a single chapter where I swear it was said at least six times.
I <i>did</i> enjoy this book, probably enough to finish the trilogy (if not the 30 book series). There was just... a lot I did not enjoy.
Was this really only one book? Because I feel like I just finished an entire trilogy here. One that I was sort of... idk, luke warm on?
I found the writing.... not great, though I'll admit that it did seem to get better by the end of the book. The characters all seemed rather flat and two-dimensional. The only characters who seemed to have any personality were Amos and Martin (and even Martin's personality was... wishy-washy?). There was a lot of describing how a character apparently acted, but very little seeing that on screen. This was especially egregious with the female characters. All the characters seemed to just be getting dragged along by the plot instead of having any of their own agency.
For an author who insisted on giving all his characters romances, he didn't seem to want to develop those romances at all. It seemed to be insta-love at first sight with zero development thereafter. The only exception to this was
The transitions between scenes were non-existent, which sometimes led to some confusion while I listened to the audiobook. The book seemed to jump around all over the place.
There was one scene where our heroes free a slave and are like "Well, your name's too hard so we're changing it lol you don't get a choice in this" and then another scene later where
I had thought there had been some foreshadowing to a massive conflict between
Also, Feist seems to be a big fan of constantly stating "Never before in history had x happened." There was a single chapter where I swear it was said at least six times.
I <i>did</i> enjoy this book, probably enough to finish the trilogy (if not the 30 book series). There was just... a lot I did not enjoy.
poleksya's review against another edition
3.0
Well, this one took me by surprise. I'm still going to give it 3 stars, well 3.25-3.5, but I enjoyed it a lot more then the first one.
Even though I wasn't a biggest fan of the first book (tome?), I did want to continue reading this series. I wasn't really expecting much from this book, but I ended up enjoying it. It even made me excited towards the end and I couldn't put it down. I liked how there were less similarities with Lord of the Rings, at least I haven't noticed them that much as I did in the first book.
When I read the first book, I didn't like or felt connected to any of the characters. But that changed in this book, well at least for one character and that's Prince Arutha. He really grew on me, and I'm quite excited to read Silverthorn since the story follows him. As for the other characters, they were better, you could see growth, but I honestly didn't care for any of them. What bothered me the most is how both Thomas and Pug, became such strong and bad ass characters in a second. BAM! and he is a strongest wizard out there.
I feel like the magic system was very weak. It's like "Abracadabra!" and things happen. He yells "Water!" and water rises! I like when it's a little bit more complicated then that. I don't need everything to be analyzed down to the smallest of details, but a little explanation would be nice.
One more thing that I wanted to mention is that Tsurani's politics were a complete mess, in my opinion. I had no idea what was going on, who's who, and it really bothered me. I was going back for some paragraphs to re-read them, because I didn't understand a thing. For a book that has quite simple plot and magic, this felt like a little bit too much.
I think that everything is a little bit too simple, from the story, characters, to the magic system, and maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I read it when I was a lot younger.
But in the end, this was a fun read I have to admit. I speed through the last third of the book really wanting to know how it's going to end. It was quite exciting, it even made my heart race a bit.
It did lack a plot twist or two, since majority of the things finished the way I expected, but oh well...
Even though I wasn't a biggest fan of the first book (tome?), I did want to continue reading this series. I wasn't really expecting much from this book, but I ended up enjoying it. It even made me excited towards the end and I couldn't put it down. I liked how there were less similarities with Lord of the Rings, at least I haven't noticed them that much as I did in the first book.
When I read the first book, I didn't like or felt connected to any of the characters. But that changed in this book, well at least for one character and that's Prince Arutha. He really grew on me, and I'm quite excited to read Silverthorn since the story follows him. As for the other characters, they were better, you could see growth, but I honestly didn't care for any of them. What bothered me the most is how both Thomas and Pug, became such strong and bad ass characters in a second. BAM! and he is a strongest wizard out there.
I feel like the magic system was very weak. It's like "Abracadabra!" and things happen. He yells "Water!" and water rises! I like when it's a little bit more complicated then that. I don't need everything to be analyzed down to the smallest of details, but a little explanation would be nice.
One more thing that I wanted to mention is that Tsurani's politics were a complete mess, in my opinion. I had no idea what was going on, who's who, and it really bothered me. I was going back for some paragraphs to re-read them, because I didn't understand a thing. For a book that has quite simple plot and magic, this felt like a little bit too much.
I think that everything is a little bit too simple, from the story, characters, to the magic system, and maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I read it when I was a lot younger.
But in the end, this was a fun read I have to admit. I speed through the last third of the book really wanting to know how it's going to end. It was quite exciting, it even made my heart race a bit.
It did lack a plot twist or two, since majority of the things finished the way I expected, but oh well...
belgatherial's review against another edition
3.0
I'm sort of getting a bit more into the characters and whatnot, but I still find his narrative voice a bit grating, and oh my god, can you have even one woman who's not just a one dimensional foil for a man?
Still, if I can shut up my literary critic long enough, it's kinda fun. I'll keep reading them.
Still, if I can shut up my literary critic long enough, it's kinda fun. I'll keep reading them.