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Magician (Riftwar saga) | 
| Author: Raymond E. Feist
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  154 reviews
Sales Rank: 1346
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2nd Revised edition
Pages: 704
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.4 x 1.7
ISBN: 0586217835
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780586217832
ASIN: 0586217835
Publication Date: June 28, 1993
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Like a venerable patriarch, Magician stands at the head of a great tribe of fantasy writing. When Raymond Feist's enormous novel was published, critics called it "the best new fantasy concept in years", and Feist has refined and explored that concept over a dozen novels. His "concept" was to bring together two (and later, more) whole, intricately realised fantasy worlds. Midkemia is a Tolkienian realm, a European- Medieval series of kingdoms in which magic is prominent, and where men share the earth with dwarves and elves. Feist's genius was inventing another sword and sorcercy realm based more closely on eastern models, the Empire of Tsuranuanni, as vast as Ancient China, as formalised and devoted to the arts of war as a samurai Japan. A magical rift in time-space brings these two worlds clashing together, and the young boy Pug and his soldier friend Tomas are thrown into the ensuing maelstrom of invasion and epic battle, before embarking on a more fundamental magical journey towards the very roots of evil itself. Feist's two sequels to Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon complete the richly conceived Riftwar Saga, and Feist has gone on to chronicle other aspects of his invented worlds. With Janny Wurts he wrote the Empire trilogy, which charts the rise, through the rigid patriarchy of the Empire of Tsuranuanni, of a remarkable female heroine, a woman who eventually reaches the heights of the imperial throne itself Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of Empire. More recently he has returned to the world of Medkemia, and to his hero Pug, with the Serpentwar saga, beginning with Shadow of a Dark Queen and continuing with Rise of a Merchant Prince, Rage of a Demon King and Shards of a Broken Crown. Heroic Fantasy is a crowded-enough field, but Feist stands out in it for his sheer inventive power, the scope and range of his narratives, the diversity of his characters and his thundering battle sequences. Start reading here, and you may find yourself unable to stop until you have followed the saga right up to date. --Adam Roberts
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| Customer Reviews: Read 149 more reviews...
 fun with elves and dwarves December 4, 2008
Where to go after Tolkien and Lord of the Rings? Here's not a bad place to start.
Epic fantast is overloaded with authors these days, each offering what could be called 'map' fiction. You know the type of book- big map in the front intended to show the epic scope and scale, and depth of the world you're about to enter.
Magician goes one better than most- it has two maps, and two fantasy worlds across which the story unfolds. A neat trick, and one handled quite well in this first book of the riftwar saga (although it stands well enough on its own).
In this, the revised edition, you get 600-odd pages of story with nearly ten years of events (compared to LotR's 1500 pages covering about a year). Loads of things happen, and mostly at a break-neck pace- no bad thing, and for those wanting a bit more action with elves and dwarves and dragons than you get in Tolkien, you get plenty of that.
This is very much an American book though. The characters we begin with are humble enough, but instead of Frodo-like epic heroism resulting in permanent scarring and having to leave the world they've saved, here Pug and Thomas go from young boys to well powerful beings rather rapidly. Nothing wrong with that per se, and here it's very good. In later books , it's a problem for Feist in where he can take the characters (just like in Dungeons and Dragons games from childhoos- if you cheat on your stats nad make yourself super powerful, it's hard to generate any real dramatic tension to what happens). So it's the American dream in fantasy form- anyone can end up the world's most powerful magician (against the melancholic realism of duty in LotR).
Don't look for high quality literature here- the writing at times is clunky ('and a and b were there, along with c and d and e and f and....'), and even potentially interesting female characters end up rather subordinate to the men (just love interests in the end). If you want literate fantasy it has to be George RR Martin BUT this is a lot of fun on its own terms.
 Unashamedly on the bandwagon November 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
As with many other reviewers, I read this book on a fairly regular basis, and perhaps the simplest and best recommendation I can make is that it hooks me and surprises me every time.
If you're looking for a classic fantasy masterwork then read this book, but be warned, you'll find yourself comparing to it every other fantasy book you read.
Out Tolkien's Tolkien September 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This certainly has to be one of the masterpieces of fantasy literature. At first it feels a bit like the Sword in the Stone but soon this is left behind as you enter an amazing story set across two worlds. With boys that become heroes and find themselves the greatest forces that their worlds have known. It has all that is required of epic fiction and while it is not the finely crafted work of Tolkien but it takes fantasy to a new level, defined by breakneck pace with a well crafted story.
Truly Epic June 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Where to begin? Having only recently been introduced to the works of Feist, I now count myself a fan of sorts. This book is a wonderful introduction to his works, and is gripping from start to finish. The word epic doesn't seem to do this justice- where many authors would be content with creating one living, breathing fantasy world, Feist has given us two in the form of Midkemia and Kelewan, along with enough characters to grace several trilogies. Magician follows the intertwined destinies of Pug and Tomas as they make the transition from lowly court boys to powerful beings of almost legendary status. That the journey never once appears farcical or unbelievable is testament to Feists fantasy writing. This book will leave you yearning for more Feist.
Magic! May 6, 2008
This is the best fantasy book I have ever read - I think it is a LOTR beater! It would make a fantastic movie, however I don't think anything would come close to the text. Characters are really well developed, the storyline is great, with every world and scene lavishly detailed. I would recommend this to anyone.
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