Magician: Apprentice, By Raymond E. Feist

Pug is a very ordinary boy of the castle of Crydee. His dreams are much like that of the other boys his age: to be chosen as an apprentice to a Master of the keep, and come into manhood. But when the choosing ceremony takes place, something goes horribly wrong. No Master is willing to take him as an apprentice—except for the Duke’s magician, Kulgan. And even though being a magician isn’t quite a proper calling, Pug accepts because he has no other real option. His studies in magic go very slowly, and soon it is apparent that his magic might in fact be different from the only sort of magic practiced in Midkemia. For instead of needing to read a spell off a scroll, Pug can recite it from memory; unheard of in the magical world. But his studies are soon interrupted by a most startling of events. It appears that somewhere in the wilderness surrounding Crydee, an alien race from another world is preparing to invade. They call themselves the Tsurani, and are fierce fighters, rather fighting to the death than be taken alive. Soon this simple boy is finding himself getting swept along with the Duke’s household in an attempt to understand these strange people, and find a way to stop the Tsurani from conquering their world.

Magician: Apprentice is the first book of the Riftwar Saga, and in more ways than one it seems a typical fantasy series. We’ve got elves, dwarves, wizards, simple boys becoming much more than they were, and a thoroughly cliché sounding book. It’s not really, even though some parts made me snort because of how generic they were. Especially the haunted dwarven mine beneath the mountain sequence. Especially that. But the mere fact of the Tsurani make the book more than just a rehashing of the common quest motif. It spins it off into a different direction that is very interesting to read about, especially the fact that the Tsurani have very little metal but make all of their tools and weapons out of coated wood/paper that is almost as strong as steel.

Feist writes an interesting world filled with strange and interesting people and events. The characters are more than simple cutouts, with complex motives and feelings. There is an aura of mystery surround the story that entices you further and further until the book is at an end and you are searching around you for the sequel. Feist is not a perfect writer, he has a few issues with the need to describe everything, and the strange and only slightly annoying habit of starting each chapter with a blank statement like, ‘so and so looked out the window.’ Or, ‘the day was sunny.’ As I said, it’s odd, but only slightly annoying when you notice it. The good of the rest of the book far outweighs the bad of this ‘problem,’ and lets you slip into another world, which is what a good book should do.