Book review: The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan

So the book begins.... :

It is said, in Imardin, that the wind has a soul, and that it wails through the narrow city streets because it is grieved by what it finds there.

The Magician's Guild is the first book in the Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan, this is the first book I have ever read by the author. I've just finished the audio book version so I thought it would be nice to write a few words about this book.

Book description:

"We should expect this young woman to be more powerful than our average novice, possibly even more powerful than the average magician."

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.

My thoughts:
The Magicians' Guild book is kind of like an introductionus to the trilogy's characters and the magical kingdom they live in, Kyralia; we meet the magicians, the thieves and the dwellers. The narrator switches back and forth between some of the books main characters point of view, I think it is a nice way to let the reader get to know a little at at time about each of the characters. In the book there's an enigma, in the end of this first book it is still undecided how the matter is going to be solved. I'm really eager to find out how they are going about it in the sequel The Novice.

There is some made up slang in this book and I find that slightly annoying, especially since the glossary is the very last thing on the audio book version, at least in the book one can look it up. It disturbes a bit of the experience of the book when one has to stop to look up words.

All in all Canavan has written an entertaining book and there's no doubt that I'll read the sequels.

My review: 3.75 out of 5.

Book details:
• Reading level: Young adult
• UK edition: 469 pages
• Publisher: Orbit Books (2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006057528X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060575281

Short about the author, Trudi Canavan:

Trudi Canavan was born i Australia in 1969. While Trudi was working on establishing her career as an author she worked as a graphic designer.

Trudi is best know for her Black Magic Trilogy and The Age of Five trilogy.

For more information about the author or about her books visit:

Trudi Canavan's homepage
Trudi Canavan's blog