Magician

Title: Magician
Author: Raymond E. Feist
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Pages: 542

     I have read Magician before but I had to read it again just to remind myself of the plot and how amazing the story is (it is my favourite novel of all time, without a doubt). Magician's plot is a very clever combination of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and how those two genres can come together to create something amazing. The novel is set in Midkemia, a fantastical place of monsters, knights, castles and magic. In Crydee, an orphan named Pug becomes apprentice to a magician named Kulgan. Pug discovers his immense power, and quickly uses it to save a princess, Carline from trolls. Borric, the Duke of Crydee, awards him with the status of scribe. One day, whilst Pug is out on a cliff, he notices a shipwreck. He quickly goes and checks it out. The people on board are very strange. Though they are human, they have elaborate clothing and unreadable pictographs etched on to their bodies. Instantly he tells Borric, who sets out for Rillanon, the capital of the kingdom. The king, Rodric, is suffering from insanity and turns them away, thinking that they are ghosts in his imagination. Upon return, Borric finds Crydee besieged. The attackers are the same people that were found aboard the ship. Meanwhile Pug has been whisked away to Kelewan, the planet that the Tsuranuanni, or aliens come from. There he practices an even more powerful form of magic, and soon learns that only he has the power to bring peace to the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan.
     I read Magician when I was eight. This was my first fantasy book, so I didn't know what to expect from it. As soon as I finished the first chapter, I fell in love. Finishing the book within a week, I went on to read the other two, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon, both of which are just as amazing. I also read the companion series, called the Empire Saga, which follows the path of a slave on Kelewan. Together the Riftwar and Empire sagas create a perfect image of the two worlds. Both have their similarities and differences. The Midkemians can be related to knights in Europe and follow a very feudal society. The Tsuranuanni can be likened to the Japanese five hundred years ago, also following a feudal society, just with more elegance and far more intelligent rulers. The one thing that has always bugged me is why in the world the author named the main character Pug. I always tried to come up with a different name for him, but never settled for one. All in all, Magician still remains the best book of all time for me, and probably always will. There is no book like it in this world, and there probably isn't in Midkemia or Kelewan either. :P