An easy read although a little disappointing. The premise - a society where extremes of poverty and wealth exist, and where prejudice ensures that no one from the slums is examined for magical potential and offered a place at the Magicians' Guild university - is interesting. A young woman, Sonea, accidentally discovers she has magic when she throws a stone at the magicians as they perform the periodic 'clearing' of slum people known as the Purge. They recognise her ability, because her anger drives the stone through their protective magical shield, and for 250 pages search for her in the slums while friends, and then the Thieves organisation, hide her and move her from one safe house to another. Meanwhile, her awakened magic is asserting itself every time she becomes emotional, until it becomes a threat to those around her.

Although there are interlude scenes and chapters where we see some of the magicians who are sympathetic to her plight, she doesn't arrive at the university until around page 250, at which point the story becomes more interesting. A villain tries to discredit her, but all ends well although there is a future threat in the background.

It strikes me that this initial volume is a tale that could in another book be just the first third or so before getting into the story. As the reader sees the magicians' POV as well, it's obvious that there are good guys who are trying to capture her for her own good, and the city's, before her powers become uncontrollably destructive, so it becomes rather boring and frustrating to have repeated scenes of her in one safe house or another, being discovered, and then eluding the magicians once again. Although the sections from the goodie magicians' viewpoints do develop their characters to some extent, they also have the effect of dissipating any tension - Sonea and her supporters believe that the magicians will kill her, as they (accidentally) killed a boy when she threw the stone - but the reader knows that they are only trying to help.

I also didn't find any of the characters particularly well developed, although I liked the two goodie magicians, Rothen and Darryl. The protagonist, Sonea, for me is a bit of a cipher and had no real character. Her one characteristic is that she distrusts nearly everyone around her apart from her friend Cery, who is a bit more interesting. The element in the second part of the book that falls a bit flat is that Sonea gives in very easily to the villain's blackmail: it seems obvious that she should tell her mentor, who would then organise the necessary search and sort out the problem, so again, the level of narrative tension is undermined.

There are maps at the front of the book which show the layout of the magicians' living area, the city and the country. I found the city map confusing because although there are frequent references to the slums being beyond the 'Outer wall', they are not shown at all on the map - it just looks as if there is empty countryside outside the outer parts of the circular city - so it was difficult to envisage how the two areas interacted.

I had nearly finished reading when I discovered that there was a glossary to all the invented terms used in the story and a slang dictionary, at the back of the book. I didn't feel either were needed as you could guess what things were from the context, but a lot of the substitutions are rather forced; why is it necessary to have invented terms for strong drink, beverages, various rodents etc, when surely the usual ones could have done? Or else just have one or two, not loads. If it's meant to be a world building facet of the book, I didn't find it helpful/convincing.
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First of all I must say that although I only rate this novel three and a half stars, I enjoyed this book a lot and I am about to start the second installment of the series today.
"The Magicians' Guild" starts with a very poignant scene that draws you in immediately. After that, the world of Kyralia is established within a few chapters: The rich and poor citizens, the thieves who live in an underground system of tunnels, and the magicians, who are supposedly there for the safety of the city but are hated by the poor. Sonea, the protagonist, is one of those poor townspeople and her family has just been evicted from their home. She fiercely hates the magicians, so it is a shock when she discovers that she can perform magic, too - and it is an even bigger shock to the magician's guild because no one of lower rank is expected or desired to be a magician and it would upend the social design of Kyralia if it became known that there are common people who are capable of working magic... Thus, Sonea has to flee.
What I liked about this book is the style that is flowing and easy to read. It is also a book with many shades of grey and not a strict good/bad characterization, which I always appreciate. Sonea is a great character and the world building is plausible and thorough, including the sociological aspects that really stand out.
Unfortunately, though, I found the first two thirds of the novel dragging a lot sometimes. I just wanted the story to proceed and Sonea's situation to change. There were also too many characters in the beginning, and it was a bit confusing. I would have wished for a more distinctive description of characteristics in the beginning.
However, I loved the last third of the novel and there are all the positive points I mentioned before, so I will definitely continue the series. In addition, this book ends with a really exciting revelation, so I cannot wait to see what happens next and to learn how Sonea develops and, hopefully, grows more confident. ( )

Your typical run-of-the-mill fantasy story. All in all a pretty decent adventure and intriguing story within a magicians’ guild. However this is no high-fly politics and the outcome ends up being pretty dull. Also no real substance and nuance in characters and wrapped in very basic writing. There is some good rhythm and a few memorable action scenes. ( )

2539

First of all I must say that although I only rate this novel three and a half stars, I enjoyed this book a lot and I am about to start the second installment of the series today.
"The Magicians' Guild" starts with a very poignant scene that draws you in immediately. After that, the world of Kyralia is established within a few chapters: The rich and poor citizens, the thieves who live in an underground system of tunnels, and the magicians, who are supposedly there for the safety of the city but are hated by the poor. Sonea, the protagonist, is one of those poor townspeople and her family has just been evicted from their home. She fiercely hates the magicians, so it is a shock when she discovers that she can perform magic, too - and it is an even bigger shock to the magician's guild because no one of lower rank is expected or desired to be a magician and it would upend the social design of Kyralia if it became known that there are common people who are capable of working magic... Thus, Sonea has to flee.
What I liked about this book is the style that is flowing and easy to read. It is also a book with many shades of grey and not a strict good/bad characterization, which I always appreciate. Sonea is a great character and the world building is plausible and thorough, including the sociological aspects that really stand out.
Unfortunately, though, I found the first two thirds of the novel dragging a lot sometimes. I just wanted the story to proceed and Sonea's situation to change. There were also too many characters in the beginning, and it was a bit confusing. I would have wished for a more distinctive description of characteristics in the beginning.
However, I loved the last third of the novel and there are all the positive points I mentioned before, so I will definitely continue the series. In addition, this book ends with a really exciting revelation, so I cannot wait to see what happens next and to learn how Sonea develops and, hopefully, grows more confident. ( )