The Magician's Guild

The Black Magician Trilogy: Book One

By: Trudi Canavan

Narrated by: Richard Aspel

Sonea is caught up in a confrontation between the hated Guild magicians and the angry youth of the slums. To her dismay, she discovers that she possesses the same powers as the reviled magicians. To avoid capture, she must seek protection from the city's feared underworld, The Thieves. In return, she must use her powers for them, but her magic never seems to do quite what she intends it to.©2004 Trudi Canavan (P)2004 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd.

Critic reviews

"The first part of the Black Magician Trilogy, this captivating tale has already been hailed by critics as a 'must for lovers of good fantasy'." ( Marie Claire)

Okay story; very hard to relate to the characters

Any additional comments?

The plot was decent but slow at many points, and the characters were shallow and hard to relate to. They felt more puppets, jerking without consistency to the pre-determined plot.

Pro tip: Speeding the narration up to 1.50 times

Don't forget about the slow/speed toggles you have in the Audible App. It helps make slow narrators like this bearable. 1.50 is the sweet spot for me. You find yours.
As far as the book goes, it has a pretty slow start but picks up near the end. I think this Author may have barely got me intrigued for book two.

Great story with interesting characters

The story is great, but the reader pauses constantly and it kind of drives me crazy. He’s a great narrator except for the sinking pauses every fourth word.

Loved the story and characters though.

Proceed with Caution

What did you like best about The Magician's Guild? What did you like least?

It's fantasy.
The slow pace - it takes a long time for the main character to move on from her initial setting.

Would you ever listen to anything by Trudi Canavan again?

Possibly, but would definitely read reviews (here & Amazon) to determine if it's worth another try.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Richard Aspel?

Sure.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No.

Any additional comments?

As before, the plot moves very slowly & it seems chapters are repetitive action. I have felt more engaged with the "slum/ underground" settings in other series (i.e. Fiest). I listened through, hoping the rest of the series would have more action & expand the world the story is set in.

It's like reading anime, characters and all.

It put's me in an anime world. It's very dark. Distinct character groups. Good story line.

great book

love this book. have read it several times. the narrator took some getting use to.

Completely sucked in...

Where does The Magician's Guild rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book is in the top 5.

What did you like best about this story?

This book completely sucked me in, I listened to it while walking, late at night, in the car...loved it!

What about Richard Aspel’s performance did you like?

His voices were wonderful.

kept my attention!

I hesitated to get this book because of the review about the narrator, but I read Magician's Apprentice (new hardcover) first, like it, and decided to try the audio book. I am enjoying it very much, and the narrator seems fine to me. The harsher voice (described by another reader as a smoker's voice) reminds me somewhat of Jim Dale-though he is in a category by himself!- the book is certainly worth reading, and I intend to get the rest of the series.

Good story but YA

It is a nice spin on "child discovers magical talent and must be taught" but definitely YA. Good enough to finish, but a tad young for me.

On to book 2

My headline is pretty self explanatory. however, I have to use fifteen words to review.