The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan

This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work--until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders ... and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield. What the Magicians' Guild has long dreaded has finally come to pass. There is someone outside their ranks who possesses a raw power beyond imagining, an untrained mage who must be found and schooled before she destroys herself and her city with a force she cannot yet control.

This was a reread for me, I first picked up this series 10 years ago and adored it. in fact, it was the series that got me into reading properly. And it inspired in me a love of fantasy that still burns today.

The first book in the trilogy is a fair bit different to how I remember it, the plot moves slower than I remembered. Nevertheless I enjoyed the book and it's many characters. I get a good sense of the people in this book and their mannerisms and relationships. While some characters and their plotlines are boring and predictable for me, overall the book was a very interesting and engaging read.

I will say that the book does more for the trilogy as a whole than it does for itself. And by that I mean that the plot of book one is not particularly complex or compelling. Rather, the book sets the world up well and builds a strong network of characters I feel connected to. This means it sets up the following two books very well indeed without being considerable as a standalone. Actually I wouldn't read this if it were a standalone. But the plot of the trilogy will uphold the first book enough that the development makes it worth it.

I encourage everyone to try the series, particularly the second book. It's a strong favourite of mine.

The book seems to be written in the 70s, when people didn't yet know to write good fantasy novels. WAY too slow, too much focus on mundane activities. And for what I have seen, this will be a book about a young kid learning how to be a wizard. I hate “learning how to be a whatever” stories.

Reading the other reviewers, 50% of the book, 300 pages, is about the kid running away because she is afraid she has angered the magician's guild. Not interesting.

Read 1:45 / 14:17 12%

A book that has been sitting on my shelf for too long and it did not disappoint!

I love each of the characters, I love the hiorchary of the magicians and the darkness that surrounds them.

Engaging read. Trudi Cadavan does not disappoint