The Novice

Title : The Novice
Author : Trudi Canavan
Reading Dates : 11 June - 13 June 2010

The Black Magician Trilogy. The Novice is the second book in Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician trilogy. The books in the trilogy include :

• The Magician's Guild
  
• The Novice
  
• The High Lord
  

Book Summary of The Novice.

As if Sonea didn't have enough to contend with adjusting to her new life as a novice in the Magician's Guild, she must also endure the prejudice and bullying of her fellow students. All of whom come from a certain pedigree. And its not long before her chief tormentor, Regin, turns even most of the magicians against the sole slum girl in their midst. The best Sonea can hope for is for the novices to grow tired of their games.

What Sonea and the rest of the guild doesn't expect is for the High Lord Akkarin to take over her guardianship from Rothen. To the outside world, she's suddenly an object of envy and jealousy. After all, she is now the High Lord's favorite. The truth is far more sinister. Sonea is Akkarin's hostage to prevent Rothen and Administrator Lorlen from revealing Akkarin's secret usage of taboo magic.

The only benefit of being the High Lord's novice is the stop her teachers from neglecting her and curbing her fellow novices' attacks. This doesn't last long however when Regin realizes that Sonea is afraid of Akkarin and will not report their actions to him.

Book Review of The Novice.

Reading The Novice has reinforced my dislike for the Magician's Guild and her members. You can see the prejudices the magicians hold against the slum dwellers in their treatment of Sonea. The few times that Regin is actually caught, the punishment never seems consistent with the mischief wrought. This despite the entire guild being well aware of the harassment Sonea constantly faces. I ask you how could temporarily withholding extra lessons for a few months compare to gathering a group of novices to magically harm another ?

Also, Sonea herself seems to have almost given up on trying to change the guild. The yearly Purge is still being carried out and she has difficulty believing that she could stop it even after she graduates. And when at one point it was explained that due to the lack of Healers, they have restricted their services to those who could pay, I could not help but wonder at the hypocrisy and Sonea's lack of protest. Luckily, she still has enough fire to challenge Regin when finally provoked and the will to endure what she must until she can break free of the High Lord.

The first time I read this, wanting to know Sonea's fate and the mystery of Akkarin's behaviour was a sufficient hook to read on. This time round, there are several reasons to read on. The first is comparing what the magicians believe against the actual history depicted in The Magician's Apprentice and guessing how the mistakes or differences could have evolved. The second is knowing how it all ends and wanting to root for my favorite characters. And the last is trying to predict if any of this gives any hints to the story in Trudi Canavan's upcoming Traitor Spy Trilogy.

I'm having fun reading this. Definitely not to be missed by Trudi Canavan fans.