Magician: Apprentice (Riftwar Saga)

Magician: Apprentice (Riftwar Saga)
Average customer rating:

Great Story, But Skips Around...

Magician apprentice

A nice intro to two vast worlds

Close But No Cookie

Magic in a book

Magician: Apprentice (Riftwar Saga)
Raymond Feist
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553564943
Release Date: 1993-12-01

Book Description

To the forest on the shore of the Kingdom of the Isles, the orphan Pug came to study with the master magician Kulgan. But though his courage won him a place at court and the heart of a lovely Princess, he was ill at ease with the normal ways of wizardry. Yet Pug's strange sort of magic would one day change forever the fates of two worlds. For dark beings from another world had opened a rift in the fabric of spacetime to being again the age-old battle between the forces of Order and Chaos.

Customer Reviews:

Great Story, But Skips Around..........2007-09-20

The story is well told and it's about one race invading a fantasy realm full of humans, dwarves, and elves. (War of the Worlds - Fantasy Style)

The characters are likeable, funny at times, and inspiring.
The battle scenes are well written and exciting.
The setting is fairly standard, but good.

I only have one gripe and that some chapters skip months or years ahead. Feist always catches the reader up to speed in the first couple of pages, but you end up saying, "huh?" and checking to see if you skipped a page at times.

Overall, the book is a good one, and I'll be picking up the second book of the series.

Magician apprentice.......2007-09-17

Pug was my character in almost all my adventures: D&D or online playing thats the impression the book left with me. I have read this one plus the next three and am would recommend this to anyone.

A nice intro to two vast worlds.......2007-09-17

Pug, a local boy in the town of Crydee, feels himself very unimportant, that is until the Duke's Magician chooses him as his apprentice. This tale follows Pug as he begins on his path to being a Magician, and perhaps more. Also, the entire Kingdom is being threatened by an invasion, from another world!

This book is a great introduction to two vastly different worlds, joined in what later becomes a common danger to them both. Once you begin reading this story you won't want to put it down, as Fiest throws you one twist after another. I would recomend this book to any Fantasy fan.

Close But No Cookie.......2007-09-12

I'll sum it up as quickly as I can. After reading about 2/3 of this book, I wasn't sure I wanted to finish, and I don't plan on getting the next book in the series.

Pros: a couple of interesting ideas; Pug is a likeable character and the best developed
Cons: lots of re-tread ideas, especially from Tolkien; reads like a beach novel (lots of starch, not much protein); some completely unbelievable character exchanges (teenage boys don't act like that); some pretty saccharine dialogue and descriptions.

Magic in a book.......2007-09-02

This book is compelling, and explored the realistic ways of life in a medieval culture. Plenty of realism, but enough fantasy to make that needed tweak of reality making you know "This is not going to happen." If you are not paranoic then this book is great for you.
Feist explores new ground in the fantasy realm with this series. He tells a spellbinding tale that you won't want to leave even at a dark hour, later than midnight.

Pug is an interesting character, a young boy raised in a coastal duchy, known to the town as a runt. He expects not to be picked for anything at the career choice thing, but is instead called for apprenticeship by Kulgan, a wizard living just outside the town. His friend, Tomas, is, however, picked to by Swordsmaster Fannon's apprentice, meaning he will almost certainly be a warrior when he grows.

Then comes a discovery of the Tsurani, an oriental race of beings from a world with Mexican climate. The Tsurani are from the world Kelewan, and have powerful military might, and soon Pug and some companions must adventure to Rillanon to warn the king.

The tale is a reminiscant of Tolkien, and is a great book for the younger fantasy crowd as well. Strong-willed characters line the realistic setting, and titanic battles are always boiling.

Enjoy.

MSL

Magician Apprentice Volume 1 Premiere HC (Magician Apprentice)

Average customer rating:

Magician Apprentice Volume 1 Premiere HC (Magician Apprentice)
Raymond E. Feist , Michael Avon Oeming , Bryan J. L. Glass , Brett Booth , and Ryan Stegman
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0785127224

Book Description

Pug and Tomas are two kitchen boys who dream of being heroes one day in the medieval fantasy world of Midkemia. But as the boys start on the path to manhood and begin their apprenticeships to their respective masters, they one day stumble upon a strange shipwreck and learn that invaders from a strange and distant world have found a way to invade Midkemia through portals known as "rifts" and are preparing for a full scale assault. As Tomas learns to be a soldier and Pug studies the path of a magician, both boys find themselves growing into the heroes they had hoped to become - but growing apart as the effects of the Riftwar change both of their lives forever.

Average customer rating:

A new Era
Epic fantasy.
A great starting place for sci fi/fantasy.
Masterfully Written
Draining

Magician: Apprentice
Raymond E. Feist
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553267604
Release Date: 1993-12-01

Customer Reviews:

A new Era.......2005-09-06

Raymond Feist was not the first author I read a book from when first coming into fantasy, but I wish it had been, he is by far the best in his class next to Tolkien. In the First book magician Pug And Thomas, I gat shivers thinking about it i have never enjoyed another book better then Feist's book's in my 20 years living I would say if you hadn't read this book you missed out on an experience. The transformation that Pug and Thomas go throw both being so unique and so original in thinking that i was blown away.; Arutha by far is the greatest charater in both a book world and someone you might meet on the street. Every character Feist introduces It's hard to explain it's almost like there real just coming out of the page and talking to you face to face he really makes it good and thr depth that the story goes into is almost feels like it could happen. The theres that deep family feeling that comes at you when you read about Duke Borric and Arutha and Lyme and of course Martin WOW!!!!!! Thats something only a Master of words can accomplish.

Epic fantasy........2005-07-21

Magician is the first book in Raymond E Feist's epic Riftwar series. Set primarily on the world of Midkemia, a medieval, rural type world, the story centres on two boys, Pug and Tomas. Pug's ambition is to be a magician whilst Tomas wants only to become a soldier. All is going well in their lives until war erupts, changing the boys' lives forever. The twist in this tale is that the invaders are from another world, a place called Kelewan that is medieval Chinese in style, populated by a harsh and cruel race. They have discovered a rift in space/time that allows them to cross to Midkemia where they cause havoc, murdering and enslaving the Midkemians. Naturally, as with all fantasy books, the two youngsters are, in their differing way, to become heroes and to save the day. One criticism could be that there is not much detail given regarding Kelewan but Feist (along with Janny Wurts) has brought out the Empire trilogy which is a series set on that world. For anyone wanting that extra information, they will find those books a real treat.
This book seems (judging by previous reviews) to be one that you will either love or hate. Many have tried to compare it to Tolkein whilst others belittle that view. It certainly isn't Tolkein, but is an original and interesting book in its own right. Sure, many of the staples of fantasy are there such as elves and dwarfs, swords and sorcery etc. but there is enough originality in this book to make it a very worthwhile read.
This is a big book to read (in the USA it has now been split into two volumes) but don't let that put you off, it's not so heavyweight that it becomes a chore to read, nor so lightweight it becomes boring. It's certainly worth the time of any lover of fantasy fiction.

A great starting place for sci fi/fantasy........2005-05-04

This is my favourite science fiction fantasy book of all times. Raymond E. Feist created a masterpiece in this book which he continued over his next set of books.

I loved the excellent character development in this book. Pug and Thomas are amazingly complex characters that you feel like you know after reading the book.

I find it very hard to believe that this amazing book has gotten so many bad reviews here. I don't expect everybody to like science fiction/fantasy but if you do, you will love this book.
In fact if asked to recommend a starting science fiction/fantasy book I will always recommend this book.

Myself I have read it many times and no doubt I will read it again. Although some of his later books were excellent none of them came close to this wonderful book until the daoughter of the empire series which was co-written with Janny Wurts.

Masterfully Written.......2004-10-15

This book was simply amazing. At times it felt like I was reading one of the Lord of the Rings books but besides that everything seemed creative and original. Feist threw many very good ideas together in the book. He did a good job in making everything nice and understandable. While I was reading the book I felt like I was actually connecting with the characters. If you like fiction books then picking this up would be no mistake.

Draining.......2004-06-12

Reading Magician took a lot out of me. I could only read it in 50 page bursts. There are so many threads to the plot that are woven, unraveled and rewoven together. For all of its details, descriptions, characters and plot developments, many of the most interesting threads I fear are left dangling. Book 1 held my attention better than Book 2. By about page 400 I was ready for the book to be over but I felt I had enough invested in it to finish.

Average customer rating:

Great Exotic Travel Read
Perfection
Surreal indeed!
Now that's not magic
Entertaining, fascinating, and occasionally magical (a trick?)

Sorcerer's Apprentice
Tahir Shah
Manufacturer: Arcade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Amazon.com

Do you nurse the fond desire to try your hand--or feet, that is--at firewalking? Go ahead. Tahir Shah writes in this beautifully conceived and executed work of literary travel, "Contrary to popular belief, firewalking is dead simple. The skin on the soles of the feet and the ash which covers the coals are both poor conductors of heat. Anyone can do it."

Do we dare trust Shah's word on this point? Maybe so, maybe not, for, though another character in his book bears the sobriquet, Shah is a superbly engaging trickster. The English-born scion of Afghani nobility, Shah takes his readers on a whirlwind trip across southern India that has at its heart one of the most unusual missions in goal-directed travel literature: namely, to find and learn the art of magic from one of India's greatest practitioners, a mysterious fellow named Hakim Feroze. Finding the master in Calcutta, Shah begs Feroze to accept him as a student; unfortunately, as we see, Feroze does so, though not without hesitation. Shah takes us inside sorcery boot camp, which involves strange drills such as digging a deep hole with a dessert spoon, left-handed; separating dried rice and lentils blindfolded; and catching a dozen cockroaches at once in a small tin mug. In recounting his education, Shah reveals a few professional secrets. For one, the Indian rope trick, that classic of conjuring, is effected not by legerdemain, but by the use of hallucinogenic smoke. And as to snake charming, well, 90 percent of India's snakes are nonvenomous, and it's easy enough to find a nonfatal variety that looks like one of the killer breeds.

Full of conjures and trickery, Shah's book offers an often humorous, sidelong education in the dark arts and more: it brings readers along on a surreal tour of India, affording a window to places well off the tourist track. It all adds up to a first-rate adventure. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

As a child, Tahir Shah learned the first secrets of illusion from an Indian magician. Two decades later, he set out in search of this man. Sorcerer's Apprentice is the story of his apprenticeship to one of India's master conjurors and his initiation into the brotherhood of godmen. Learning to unmask illusion as well as practice it, he goes on a journey across the subcontinent, seeking out its miraculous and bizarre underbelly, meeting sadhus, sages, sorcerers, hypnotists, and humbugs. His quest exposes a side of India that most writers never imagine exists.

Customer Reviews:

Great Exotic Travel Read.......2007-05-14

I loved this book !!! It is the second book I read by this author (the first was the Caliph's House which I also loved) and I intend to read ALL his books past and future.
I simply fell for his style of writing, it goes to the core and makes you feel like you are present and for me that is what books should do, suck us into the narrative. I had a travel guide of India by me to look up all the locations mentioned in the book and i just marvelled at the amount of information I learned about magic tricks. I hope more people read his books and that he keeps writing.

Perfection.......2007-03-10

I ordered my book and got it in 3 or 4 days in flawless
condition. Many thanks.

Surreal indeed!.......2006-06-13

Tahir Shah is an Englishman of Afghani/Scottish descent who writes what may be a new form: The eccentric maybe true, maybe not true, but true on a metaleval travel book. What I mean by that is that, while the details of his day-to-day experiences may be exaggerated and padded to make the book work with a coherent theme, the facts about the country remain true. I genuinely enjoyed this second book of his that I have read. In it, an 11-year-boy meets the guardian of his ancestor's tomb, learns a bit of magic, grows up, travels to India to tour and meet the guardian again, hoping to learn more slight of hand illusion magic. From there he is referred to his teacher's teacher, who is definitely the archytypical teacher as sadist. As Mr. Tahir learns the craft, we learn a great deal about India, about the travelling magicians, godmen, sadhus, charletans, etc. I found the book engaging from beginning to end and highly recommend it.

Now that's not magic.......2006-04-13

The jacket blurb describes Tahir Shah as an "uproariously funny writer". Well, I cracked a smile once or twice, but funny this is not. The dialogue is weak, the clumsy attempts at wit are forced and toe-curling, and Shah comes across as a tetchy,irritable and intolerant foreigner.The book tries to pass itself off as a travelogue but the hokey, conveniently slapstick encounters appear contrived. There is a suspicious lack of photographs of any of the main characters or more sensational events in the book and I ended up believing very little of the narrative. Which is a shame, because buried very deep under the poor writing (see how many verbs Shah can use to avoid the perfectly adequate "said")is an interesting look at the resourcefulness of India's poor. A decent rainy day read but a missed opportunity by the writer.

Entertaining, fascinating, and occasionally magical (a trick?).......2005-08-09

This book has one of the finest first chapters I've ever read: one day a man from India shows up at an English boy's house to protect him. Note that the book is non-fiction. The rest of the book is how the author (who was that boy) many years later decides to go to India to learn how to be a magician like the man who came to him. At times the author seems to purposely act too credulous and think odd thoughts, to the point where you feel he's being that way in order to make for a more mystical read. He's also a bit disingenuous, in that the book implies he gives up a staid life for adventure; judging from his other books, he has never been too bored or boring. It's nonetheless a fun read, as he goes through many peculiar experiences and learns all sorts of strange knowledge about magical tricks and India itself. A surprising and wonderful (though sometimes slow) book.

Average customer rating:

What a great story

Magician's Apprentice
Raymond E. Feist
Manufacturer: Spectra Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553255754

Customer Reviews:

What a great story.......2007-04-17

This books a great start. Like most epic series books, this one takes a little time to get into, but he does a good job and getting you into it after pretty quick. You will love all the characters.

Wow, I have read the 1st 7 books. They are so great. I love the character. Pug is a good character a standard reluctant hero, but boy does his story change after the 2nd book.

Average customer rating:

An outstanding children's book
Beware of What You Wish For
Beautiful retelling

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Nancy Willard
Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Aida

ASIN: 0590473298

Customer Reviews:

An outstanding children's book.......2004-07-05

Thanks to Captain Katie's review for bringing this children's book to my attention. It is a variation of the story of the sorcerer's apprentice. It is written as a long poem with large, full color illustrations. It is suitable for pre-school or early grade school children, particularly young girls. The exact age depends on their reading level, but the recommended age range of 4 to 8 years old ssems about right (although I am 68 and thought it was a delightful story). Be sure you get the book with the dust jacket because the introduction to the story is on the inside of the dust jacket (for whatever reason).

Sylvia goes off to become an apprentice to the sorcerer Tottibo, but discovers that an apprentice starts at the bottom doing drudge work. She is assigned to making lots and lots of clothing. She decides the work would be easier if she could use magic on the sewing machine, but - well, the results are unexpected. "It stitched the dishes to the table, it stitched the noodles to the ladle." You get the idea. The sorcerer finally has to come to the rescue.

For some reason good children's books always seem to go out of print. Some copies are available (new and used) from secondary sources at this writing (July 4, 2004). One could hope it would go back into print before the Christmas season.

Beware of What You Wish For.......2004-06-24

Nancy Willard has written in verse a new version of "The Sorcerer's" Apprentice and Leo and Diane Dillon have painted the pages with beautiful illustrations that make the story come alive.

In this version, young and impatient Sylvia has come to the sorcerer Tottibo to learn his magic. Tottibo tells her that she has to take it slowly, learn a little at a time, and then he assigns her the job of sewing new clothes for all his animals. However, Sylvia spies a modest bottle full of sand next to a book of spells. She pours the sand on the sewing machine and commands it to sew, but the machine won't stop. Like Lizzy Bordon, she gives the machine forty whacks (well maybe not forty) and every time she whacks the machine it turns into another, till she has lots of machines, sewing and sewing.

Fortunately Tottibo comes and saves the day and we learn our little moral. I love reading this book to my nieces. They love the sound of the rhymes as they look at the pictures. If you can find this book, you should get it, even if you don't kids, as it's a work of art. Five stars from Captain Katie.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Beautiful retelling.......1998-12-17

This book has beautiful pictures and a new twist on an old tale. I highly recommend it!

ASIMOV'S SF ADVENTURE - Volume 1, number 2 - Spring 1979: Second Coming; Starschool; Conan the Limmeriean; Keepersmith; The Magician's Apprentice; Under the Rainbow; Through Time and Space With Ferdinand Feghoot; The Casque of Lamont T. Yado

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ASIMOV'S SF ADVENTURE - Volume 1, number 2 - Spring 1979: Second Coming; Starschool; Conan the Limmeriean; Keepersmith; The Magician's Apprentice; Under the Rainbow; Through Time and Space With Ferdinand Feghoot; The Casque of Lamont T. Yado
George H. (editor) (L. E. Modesitt Jr.; Joe Haldeman; Jack C. Haldeman II; L. Sprague de Camp; Randall Garrett; Vicki Ann Heydron; Barry B. Longyear; Craig Miller; Grendel Briarton; Victor Milan; Isaac Asimov) Scithers
Manufacturer: Davis Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IA6D8K

The Dabel Brothers' Magician Apprentice #4 (Marvel Comics)

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The Dabel Brothers' Magician Apprentice #4 (Marvel Comics)
Raymond E. Feist , Michael Avon Oeming , and Bryan J. Glass
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Product Description

The Riftwar is coming! Pug and Tomas have discovered the shipwreck of a strange group of foreign invaders, and the court of Crydee is alarmed as the mens strange armor and weapons are examined. But an even more peculiar twist reveals that these men are not from Midkemia at all - they have traveled through a magical rift to conquer worlds outside their own. Midkemia will soon be overwhelmed by the armies of the Tsurani - unless the rest of the kingdom can be warned in time

The Dabel Brothers' Magician Apprentice #5 (Marvel Comics)

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The Dabel Brothers' Magician Apprentice #5 (Marvel Comics)
Raymond E. Feist , Michael Avon Oeming , and Bryan J. Glass
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

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Product Description

The Riftwar has begun! Magician apprentice Pug may have lost his mentor as Kulgan, the Master Magician of Crydee, lies wounded by a strange attack from the Tsurani invaders. But more exciting events are about to unfold as Queen Aglaranna and her delegation from Elvandar arrive to discuss the Tsurani threat. Can the elves and the people of Crydee find a way to repel these invaders before they storm into the world of Midkemia... or will they have to send for the distant king's aid as they prepare for all-out war?

The Dabel Brothers' Magician Apprentice #6 (Marvel Comics)

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The Dabel Brothers' Magician Apprentice #6 (Marvel Comics)
Raymond E. Feist , and Bryan J. Glass
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

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Product Description

The Riftwar has begun! Pug and Tomas travel with a party sent to Elvandar to consult the elven queen about the invading Tsurani. But their path is fraught with peril, and they'll have other problems along the way, like raiding parties from the moredhel, better known as the Brotherhood of the Dark Path.

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